Udipi Cafe

Been to this place couple of times for lunch. Décor is simply and modern. Place is not very big, I think they can accommodate easily groups of 10 – 12. More than that not really sure. No doubt I had the best Dosa in town at this very location. My favorite is the plain paper dosa, thin crunchy goodness. Their Vada and Idly is equally good. My favorite item at this place is not their Idly or vada or dosa, it is their bisi bele bath (rice cooked with lentil and veggies, kind of Indian style risotto). Every time I enjoy it more than the previous time. Just go there and enjoy great Indian vegetarian meal, I am pretty sure you will not get disappointed.

I went in with a total of 4 adults and 2 toddlers (under the age of 3) and the service and food was horrible. They tacked on 15% automatic gratuity (even though it was 4 adults). Their menu states they add it automatically for a party of 5 or more. They counted my 2 toddlers and tacked on the tip. I would’ve been okay with that too if the service was up to par. Since they know they will get the tip automatically, they don’t bother to give good service. We had to ask 4 times for our server to bring us straws. We never got the side of rice we ordered. The water was just plain tap water. The food was oily and bland. Upon asking the manager why the tip was automatically added, he told me he counted my toddlers along with giving me an explanation of how the table we sat at (a bigger table) automatically adds he tip. He said if we had sat at the smaller table, the tip would not have been added automatically. Ummm insane !!! We didn’t ask for a bigger table… We sat where he told us to. Also, he mentioned that there is a code to revert that charge (which only the owner has). Why the heck is the manager then?!? Shouldn’t he have access to revert charges if customers are unhappy? Krishna villas has better dosas at global mall. I will not be returning back to this place and I will tell all my friends and family about the experience. If you’re gonna charge me an automatic tip, you have the ensure the server does his job right in order to deserve it ! Thumbs down all the way !!

I went there for lunch on Friday. I ordered express lunch. After 20mins. My food came and it was horrible. Dosa was so oily. I asked why is it so oily and the guy said that’s how it comes. I don’t think he care. Family of four was sitting in front of my table and they waited for 30mins. And gave up and left. Service is horrible.

I’ve been eating here two years and don’t have any complaints. I’ve been treated very well by the staff and have had a large part of their menu, all was delicious. They have a second udipi in Cinncinatti as well!!! That location serves meat though!

I’m eating my meal right now as I write.
Let me start off mentioning that 1– I was looking for indian food at 9:30 at night and 2-​since every conceivable thing closes at 10 it had to be CLOSE. I didn’t really take time to look at menus I just saw the stars, that they were open and that they were close. I grabbed my keys and threw myself into the car.
Made it JUST IN TIME. I mean, with like 12 minutes to spare. They were really cool about letting me in for a carryout order. In addition to that, I had planned on eating keema (it’s tax season, my husband doesn’t get home until late and he really wanted it). Found out there was no way this was going to happen, this joint is vegetarian and if I’d paid any attention at all I’d have realized this. It turned out the be awesome though. They threw together some kind of yummy chickpea dish I’ve never had before, nice and spicy, plenty of mustard seeds and probably some creamed cauliflower –my plate is almost empty.
They let me know that in two weeks they are opening up another location basically across the street from my house that will have meat dishes (sooo exciting). Can’t say enough about how polite the staff was and how thankful I was for their service so late in the evening. I appreciate them guiding me to making an order and for making some pretty darn great samosas! There will be no leftovers, it’s that good :)

Food was tasty, but pricey. Palak paneer and Chana masala were $ 10 each, and were very small portions! The mango lassi were very small. Service was ok…

They do a good job in all the south indian breakfast items. I tried dosa, idli and poori they turned out very good and authentic.
But the other day i tried south-​indian thali, portion size was good but the items and their taste was mediocre. Also not a good selection of dishes for the thali.

This is the worst Indian restaurant in Duluth Area. I went on saturday 9 PM with my family, they said only Dosa is available, I dont understand why they are running a restaurant with only one dish on the weekend. I have to come home and eat again.
This is a restaurant with no food.
Then coming to taste. Wow. the oil they put on dosa is disgusting. It taste like somekind of dalda.
I would never ever go to this restaurant again!!!

This is Indian restaurant #2 for the day… I’m not going to waste too much time with this review. The food was absolutely disgusting. A heep of mess and low quality at that. Soups made with cornstarch and cheap canned ingredients. A healthy vegetarian restaurant serving artificially flavored, heat lamp food. This is the McDonald’s of Indian food in Atlanta. The absolute worst Indian food I have ever seen and sampled in my 27 years of consumption in Atlanta. it was super nasty and unbelievably rachet. But the servers were nice lol… There is too much fine-​ness in this city to settle on a meal at this place. Just say no.

Perfect spice, great flavors, well presented. Just close to perfect South Indian cuisine. Great menu for South Indian vegetarian food, love their lunch combos. They have a real great lunch deal combo and great lunch Thali. If you are hungry, it’s time for thali. The quantity of food for money is supeb. It’s just pure value for money, appetizing and filling. Love to go back again and again.

Good place to get you fix for South Indian Vegetarian Food!

Great little shop with friendly service. I loved the special spring dosai, my husband got the dhal thadaka, we shared and everyone was happy. The only complaint is that the rice that came with the dhal curry was unseasoned, steamed white rice. I would have preferred something lightly seasoned. But otherwise the food was great! I can’t wait to go back.

Good Food… near better service.

I’m so glad we found this place. I first came here with my husband and father-​in-​law. Besides a rowdy crowd of teenagers celebrating a birthday at the table next to us, the atmosphere is very nice and inviting. We went on a Saturday night and the place was packed. Food was very good, each of us ordered a different type of thali. They serve their food in very authentic way, just like in India. The second time I went with my grandma and she loved it too. Their chai is sooo amazing, it’s just out of this world. Overall, nice atmosphere, friendly staff, good price and good food. What more do you need?

For inexpensive food this place rocks. The service was quick and the staff was friendly. I went on a Wednesday night and the place, though small, was crowded. A definite place to try.

Udupi Café has come a long way from it’s original roots in Decatur. This one in Duluth is a little out of the mainstream which is such a shame because this restaurant is a gem!
The service is excellent starting with getting seated promptly, orders ready to be taken but the courteous staff willing to wait while you ponder all the excellent choices on the menu. Once ordered the food comes quickly as well.
I recommend that you order the south indian dishes because that is where udupi Café excels. We ordered the Royal thali which comes with a choice of soup or rasam — the rasam was spicy and a perfect way to start the lunch — medhu vada or idli — we ordered the vada which was cooked just right, not refried like in other places — and a choice of dosa as well — one of us ordered utthapa, another the set dosa and the third person ordered the Andhra spice dosa; this latter was super spicy, just like we wanted it to be. Our fourth guest ordered the Pesarutu dosa which is another favorite of mine because you get this uppama inside the dosa. All of the dosas were simply excellent.
I hope the restaurant does well because this one is a keeper.

Dining at Udipi Café, I had one of those moments where I hadn’t a clue what I had just eaten — but it was really good.
Lacking knowledge of vegetarian Indian fare, we simply had to take a shot in the dark when ordering off of the menu. Alas, the menu was of little help (unless you’re of Indian origin or have dined frequently on this sort of cuisine before). The menu named the dish, but didn’t really elaborate any further with what was going to be on it. So, we took a shot at two of the lunch specials — my wife ordered the North Indian Thali, I ordered the South Indian Thali.
Our Thali’s, once they arrived, looked very similar: A bowl of rice in the middle, with various types of Indian flatbread (quite possibly bhatoora, puri, and roti — but I am not certain), surrounded by eight small bowls containing various vegetarian options: yogurt, dal, sambar (a lentil-​based stew), rasam (soup), chutney, pickled vegetables, payasam (a sweet rice pudding dessert with nuts and in this case, pineapple), etc. The Southern was slightly more spicy. The Northern had a chickpea based dish (chana daal?) and saag paneer (spinach and paneer cheese).
It was a lot of food, and only a little more than $ 10 for each thali. Not bad at all. I enjoyed most of the offerings on my plate — especially the rice pudding. Yum! As others have noted, even though it is a vegetarian restaurant, you won’t miss not having meat. I encourage all fellow meat-​eaters to step outside of their comfort zone and give this place a try. You won’t regret it.

‘Udipi’ represents a region of a southern state in India and the ‘Udipi cuisine’ consists of dishes mainly made with grains, beans, vegetables and fruits. It’s important to understand this to set your expectation about this place.
I used to go to udipi café often when I lived in Duluth but after moving ITP, I haven’t had many chances to make a trip to dine at this place. This week I finally managed another pleasant visit to Udipi.
At first sight the menu might appear big but most of it is just a different variation of some 10 dishes. For example, they have more than 10 varieties of Dosa (crêpe made from rice and lentils) and Uthappam (pancake made from rice and lentils) each. They also have couple of pages dedicated to North-​Indian food (yes, It’s very different) but if I want north-​Indian food, I go to Bhojanic or Chat-​Patti. I go to Udipi to eat some dosas and their filter coffee.
I recommend trying their ‘Royal Udipi Dinner’ that comes with,
1) Appetizer — 2 Vada (fried lentil donuts) or 2 idli (Steamed lentil/​rice cakes). I always ask them to serve one of each, they have always been quite happy oblige. This plate is served with Sambar (lentil soup).
2) Choice of Soup — Usually tomato soup or Rasam (herb soup).
3) Choice of one Dosa or Uthappam. There are 15 options to choose from, so feel free to pick expensive ones. My favorites are ‘Spring Dosa’, ‘Special Masala Dosa’ and ‘Ghee Dosa’(Ghee — clarified butter). This is also served with Sambar.
(you basically tear a piece, dunk it in Sambar and eat it or pour sambar over the dosa, let it soak for a minute or two and eat it).
4) A cup of filter coffee (Think of it as espresso mixed in hot milk).
At $ 13.99, this is your best bet to check out South-​Indian food at ‘Udipi Café’. It’s cheap for what it offers. They also have traditional ‘Thalis’(pre-set limited meal) at same price — both south-​Indian and North-​Indian. All of these are quite tasty but I prefer dosa combo (Royal Udipi dinner).
Service in this place can be a bit hit or miss (More hit than miss) but they are generally never over-​the top. They greet you, take orders and then deliver it with occasional drinks refill. Pretty simple.
Overall, Udipi is a good South-​Indian Vegetarian restaurant that warrants a visit if you want to experience different flavors of Indian Food or if you are vegetarian looking for variety.
Four and half Stars.

You won’t miss the meat.
I will start my review off with a little social insight… If you are visiting an Indian restaurant, and you find that you are the only caucasian in the building, then chances are you are in the correct place. That being said, we stood out like a donkey wearing a pink tutu, and it makes you feel special in a way that only I seem to attract.
The food choices are far too much for any newb to partake in one visit and survive. The descriptions are done well for gringos such as myself, and the menu doesn’t quite hint at the portions, which are gigantic. Who knew that vegetarian people could eat so damned much. Andy like.
The food quality is very good, as are the flavors. We chose a variety of dishes in hopes of mixing things up, and wow did we ever hit a gold mine. Take a chance and order something off the map, and you won’t be disappointed. We are definitely returning in hopes of scouring Udipi’s menu for more things that this guy has never had in his mouth.

Bro and I had lunch here a little more than a month ago and were pleasantly surprised. We are not vegetarians by any means, but we do enjoy a good Indian meal every once in a while. We ordered the Express Lunch and and a Mini Lunch.
Honestly, I am not well-​versed enough in Indian cuisine to tell you everything that came out but we ate everything that was brought to us. I think my brother got dosa, which was HUGE. He eats a lot and was surprised by the size. We both ate some idli and like it too.
I would be willing to eat here again and will try to in the semi-​near future. Next time, I will try to remember to take some pictures and I will write up a more detailed review.