We came to this place after seeing an ad for their first day of launching the breakfast buffet…read more Totally loved it! There were so many different items and every item was made to perfection. Special mention to their amazing filter coffee. Along with idli, vada, poori, upma, punugulu, you can get a custom dosa made to order. The chutneys taste amazing as well, more like the Andhra style of chutneys and they are a bit on the spicier side exactly how we like them. Loved it so much that we went to this place back to back on 2 weekends

Unique South Indian food, across the street from Mylapore Westgate…read more Loved the Chili Cauliflower and Chennai style Mutton Biryani were delicious. Kumbakonam Coffee had a good kick. Overall, the flavors felt authentic. Chicken 909 was OK, nothing special compared to other Indian restaurants in the Bay Area. It lacked the semi gravy. Suggestions to restaurant: Add brief description of the menu items. For someone not familiar with the cuisine, it was difficult to comprehend. The staff was friendly. However, it felt awkward/uncomfortable to ask too many questions.

my new favorite biryani spot! i love their vijayawada biryani, medium spice is perfect for me. the…read morefood takes a while to come out because it's freshly cooked and PIPING hot! the interior of the restaurant is clean and bright, and service is excellent, very friendly and helpful. it's quite empty for weekend lunches, so i definitely recommend coming in then. love this place!

Happy to find an Indian place nearby that has really good Biryani. I had the goat Biryani which was…read morefluffy, savory and mildly spiced, next time I'll specify spicy, but it was excellent. Samosa was nothing special but this is expected. Also excellent were the Naan's, I had butter and plain and they were hot fresh fluffy yet chewy, just about perfect. Had boneless tandoori chicken as well and it was good, but again, should have asked for spicy, and the raita was REALLY good, glad I ordered extra! I ordered through DoorDash which I would NOT recommend, as they only offer about half the menu. I was interested in the soups, pakoda's and Dosa's but none of these were offered through DoorDash. I will try again, but this time I will either eat in or take out myself. Excited to try all the interesting things on the menu

100 stars if i l could…read more Stunning food and nice people This is 85 characters yeah ?

Wow I haven't eaten like this in a long time. My belly is super full and happy…read more Friday lunch buffet is $24. Good selection of food and some sweets. There is unsweetened tea and mango lassi. They brought us naan once we started eating. Everything was super flavorful! I have had better butter chicken and Chana but for buffet it was good. I especially liked the okra. It was the first time I tried the sweets. I liked the ball better than the diamond shaped treat ( tasted similar to baklava). The green sticky sweet rice was tasty too. So happy to finally try this place.

We visited Meenakshi Bhavan for dinner following a friend's recommendation. It is a relatively new…read morespot specializing in South Indian cuisine, and we had a good experience. The food was great, and the service was quick and friendly. Dishes we tried: - Ghee Onion Rava Masala Dosa (5/5): large portion size, dosa felt light and it was delicious. - Vegetable Kothu Paratha (5/5): good flavor with plenty of vegetables. - Guntur Chilli Masala Dosa (4/5): Very large portion size and it was ok. If you are looking to try Dosas, Rava dosa is a better choice over this.

Loved the food. We had ordered Onion Rava Masala Dosa and…read moreCombo #2 with filter coffee. Everything was tasty and freshly cooked. Would definitely recommend.

Kadhai Chicken is chicken cooked in a thick tomato-based sauce with bell peppers, onion, sautéed…read moregarlic. This dish comes dairy-free without any adjustments and it's delicious! The establishment is great at navigating allergens. In my multiple visits, every time the server will double check with the kitchen on items that they are unsure about (whether or not it contains ghee or cream) which I appreciate. Some other restaurants sometimes assume that ghee is okay for me but here they ask! I ask for my roti without ghee and I have never had an allergic reaction to my food after eating here. The interior is very clean and upscale feeling. The location is a bit unassuming located on the corner of a main road in Cupertino but they have a dedicated parking lot for the restaurant which makes things super easy!

Driven by this restaurant many times and decided to give it a try. While the service was great and…read moreour wait person was friendly and informative, the food unfortunately did not appeal to us. We dined here on a Tuesday evening and we retry had the restaurant to ourselves. We ordered the goat biryani, goan fish curry, aloo gobi and butter naan. The naan was the best dish we ordered. While the presentation of the biryani was nice - the flavor was rather flat and blah. The Goan curry was harsh - you could taste the spices were raw and had a bitter after taste. The waiter said that this was a spicy dish - not at all ! It was so mild. The fish portion was rather small. The aloo gobi was slightly overcooked and a little too salty. The butter naan was great - fluffy and tasted great. Unfortunately we won't be coming back to this place.

Change of cuisines to mix regional food. Must try this nee place now known as Bombay To Goa.read more

I can't believe I've lived in South Bay for over 3 years at this point and only just now tried…read moreSankranti. We came on Saturday evening and they had just run out of biryani which made me SO sad but it's a good reason to come back! It's spacious with plenty of seating so would be great for bigger parties too. My bf has a nut allergy so we could only order the andhra chicken curry and the goat curry (which are the same, btw just different meats.) The flavor was truly flavor-ing, and it had just the right amount of kick. I loved the spiciness!! Only note, there were quite a bit of bones in both entrees and I'm taking off a star for this. In the chicken especially, it seemed there were more bones than actual meat which was sad because the chicken was SUPER tasty. Tender and juicy and held the curry just perfect. The naan was also delicious as I prefer a thinner, flakier naan and they delivered! Also you MUST get the mango lassi here, they didn't skimp on the mango and it's the perfect reprieve from the spicy meal Will definitely be back to try their biryanis.

Great food! Best South Indian place I've been to in the US. Ambience and ready-made food is great…read moreas well. Service is amazing too

SERVICE - located off of el Camino real…read more- small parking lot in front can get crowded during busier hours like weekends and Friday evenings - expect a wait of at least 30 minutes during busier times - order at the area in the front and then find a table for the food to be brought to you - complementary chutneys and sambar served with every order - service is fast - self service take out containers in the back of the dining area MENU - homestyle South Indian food - all vegetarian with ample vegan options - average price FOOD - enne masala dosa (10/10): crispy and fluffy dosa filled with potato masala and served with chutneys and sambar. This is the vegan version of the benne dosa that is usually made with ghee. The dosa is different than standard dosas as it is very crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. It is quite oily but that is to be expected from a dish that is normally made with generous drizzles of ghee. - ratna cafe sambar idli (8/10): two pieces of idli soaked in a pearl onion sambar. The pearl onions make this sambar unique by adding a slight sweetness and tang. The idli soaks up the sambar so i would recommend eating it fresh so that it does not get soggy. WOULD I GO BACK? Yes! The food is reasonably priced and has tastes like home cooked food.

We tried the Thanksgiving Non-Veg Special Meal at Kongunadu in San Jose and it was absolutely…read moreoutstanding. Every single item on the thali was flavorful, fresh, and perfectly prepared. The Turkey Pepper Fry and Kongu Chicken Varuval were the stars--authentic spices, great texture, and full of rich Kongu-nadu flavors. The Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani was aromatic and perfectly cooked, and the side dishes like Pacha Puli Rasam, Spinach Kootu, Veg Salna, and Pollachi Chicken Kulambu balanced the meal beautifully. Even the simpler parts of the thali--steamed rice, curd, appalam, and the delicious Badam Halwa--were made with care and tasted fantastic. For $24.99, the portion size and the variety offered were totally worth it. Entire thali was excellent. Highly recommended!

I'm very torn on this review but it needs to be said. The reason I'm torn is because the food…read moreitself was pretty tasty--everything was good quality and the flavors and spice level were great. HOWEVER We ordered the Chicken Meal Family pack. It is supposed to be enough for three adults and contain 16 oz of 5 items (chicken soup, Kongunadu chicken gravy, rasam, spinach kootu, chicken 65), 8 oz of curd and vetrilai payasam, and 32 oz of white rice (8 items total). What we got was 16 oz of chicken gravy, chicken 65, 32 oz of rice with 6 basic baked chicken drumsticks, the curd and vetrilai payasam, and three hard-boiled eggs (wtf!). So six out of eight advertised dishes. And one was just eggs--they take like five minutes to make at home!!! It is hard to compare value since there were chicken drumsticks in the rice but we did not receive two entire dishes in "payment" of the drumsticks. And, ironically, we'd specifically picked this option because it was chilly and we wanted chicken soup, which ended up not being included. So...basically either false advertising or confusion at the restaurant about what is posted online. Either way, we were disappointed.

Still one of our favorite South Indian spots. Their kothu soya dosa is a standout--it gives me a…read moresolid protein boost, which is hard to find at most South Indian restaurants. The combination of dosa with podi and soya is truly legit. Their sambar and chutneys are always fresh and delicious, and I'm a big fan of their filter coffee as well. What we really appreciate is that the food is both healthy and flavorful. They offer healthier options like millet dosa that actually taste great. Service is quick, and Nitin and Praveen always takes excellent care of us.

Kovai Cafe was my first experience with South Indian food. My husband's friend was in town for…read morework, and she requested Indian. Kovai came highly recommended by my husband's coworkers. It was suggested we add ourselves to the waitlist, but on a Tusday night for dinner it appeared to not be necessary as there were several open tables. We had a couple different idly selections as well as the Roadside Kalan and the Kovai Healthy Meal. I liked the spice in the Kalan and one of the chutneys. Our friend, who makes a lot of these dishes at home, said it was all very good. The acoustics were a challenge as voices were echoey and loud. I'd imagine with a full house it'd be near impossible to have a conversation. Service was good. Food came out fast and the staff was professional. Parking is plentiful although it's a bit tricky to get out with the traffic.

Authentic Maharashtrian food tasted just like home. Tried Solkadi, kothimbir vadi, batata vada,…read moresabudana vada, khichdi, puranpoli and shrikand. Great service as well.

Two words! Authentic. Consistent…read more If you know, you know. If you don't, worth the trip to find out.