Madras Cafe

One of my favorite places in the Bay Area. Excellent South Indian food. One of the few places that knows how to manage a crowd — you can walk in with the place being very crowded and be seated in 15 and have food in 20. Highly recommend!

Very very crowded. Also not the most hygienic places. I was very disappointed because I was yearning for a good masala dosa and filter coffee. The dosa was average, the coffee was terrible. Far from the real stuff. The wait was long. It was too loud inside and service was slow.

Have you ever had late night cravings of food? Well Madras makes their dosa’s so good, you will crave and dream about them. I keep coming back for more and more, never have i been disappointed.
This is my goto spot for dosas, they are so addicting. These are basically indian salty version of crepes, but IMO way better because its more light and crispy! And it is healthier as they make dosa out of lentil. Some days i just dream about these dosas :)
You can’t go wrong with any dosa here, they are always made to order and come out piping hot and crispy. My favorite is the special ravi dosa. The special is extra crunchy and topped with a mixed of nut and veggies. I usually ask for the potato filling on the side, so as to not get the dosa soft. The tikka and cilantra are also good choices. I love the three lentil based sauces (not too spicy) that come as a dipping, definitely addicting. The tomato rice is really flavorful too.
Definitely come here for your dosa fix, you will be addicted. Come early for lunch time, this place fills up very quick. I never thought i would be a huge fan of an indian restaurant, but Madras has me hooked and coming back for more and more dosas!

Outstanding South Indian food. The food is hot and fresh and has very authentic taste and flavors.
The reason why I’m not giving it four/​five stars is because the service here is slow and the place is not very clean. Also, the minimum wait time is 30 mins which means its a great place but also that if they can add more staff the turnaround would be better.
Overall it has great food and you will not be disappointed.

I don’t understand what the hype is about this place. This is nothing close to traditional dosas. The chutneys and sambar are tasteless. The place is dirty to bits. Last week I decided to give this place a second visit just to see if anything changed, but no! Food and service both are HORRIBLE.
Service– I asked the server to clean the floor under the table I was seated in and he was very rude about it. He picked a fight when I asked him what the problem was to do a simple sweep. I will never return to this place again.
IF YOU WANT TO EAT GOOD DOSA GO TO PESARETTU.

I consider South-​Indian food to be great to taste, wholesome and light on the stomach too. This draws me to joints serving these, Madras Café is frequented at times by me for the same.
With a large seating capacity the wait time isn’t much, even better is to get your food order placed prior to being seated.
Idli was super fluffy and soft, though sambar and chutneys other than the white coconut one were disappointing. Per plate they had a serving of 2 idlis n wadas. Medu wada crispy and well made.
Paper masala dosa was great! Rightly colored and had a good crunch to it. The masala tasted flavorful too, was served with the same 3 chutneys and sambhar as of the idli.
Filter coffee I felt was strong but to people who enjoy this its a great drink post the meal.
Serve was decent, quick enough to order yes but the hygiene needs attention.
Overall nothing fancy to this place, very ordinary but the food served is flavorful and good to taste.

We came in here on a Friday night when the place was super busy. However the wait isn’t that long. You have to order first and wait for the table. So that makes a big difference! This place primarily serves Indian tiffins. I did not find any Thali’s on the menu so I’m assuming they don’t serve them.
We have ordered Kara Masala Dosa, Chana Bhatura and curd rice. I liked the dosa, it’s really light on tummy however the potatoes inside makes it quite a meal. I was not impressed by their Sambhar for sure! Chutneys which they serve along with Dosa were quite ok too. Chana Bhatura was big no for me because their Chana curry was on the sweeter side for some reason. I liked their curd rice.
Place cleanliness: Not so clean
Quality of food: Good
Quality of service: super quick despite the rush, but the order in which your dishes come is random.
Ambience: poor
Price for quality: Inexpensive
Things that I liked: curd rice and Kara Masala Dosa
Suggestions: please try and make the Ambience little interesting… How about a theme that truly explains the culture of MADRAS!

Doesn’t have much of a restaurant feel but it’s spacious. You order and pay at the cashier and then you wait to get seated. Someone will come out and call your name and then they’ll seat you.
Their menu is kinda extensive and there is no description of the food at all. So if you are not familiar with Indian dishes, it would be pretty difficult to order your food. (luckily I checked out other Unilocalers photos, so I came in knowing what I wanted!)
After we were seated, I swear our dishes came out in less than 5 minutes. It was super quick!
We ordered.
Channa Bhatura $ 6.99 –fluffy deep fried bread with chickpeas in a tangy tomato based sauce.
Karam Masala Dosa $ 8.50 –thin, somewhat crispy crêpe smeared with a red chili sauce, stuffed with potatoes/​onions?.. It comes with a small soup and 3 sauces. (I asked the cashier for the spiciest dosa they offered and she suggested this one)
I’m not a big fan of these types of dishes (too veggie/​healthy for my taste) but the flavors were there. Only the sides that came with the dosa seemed a little light and mellow. They all had coconut hint to them. The dosa wasn’t as crispy as I expected it to be.
It’s a great place for a quick lunch, since the food comes out super fast but make sure to come before the rush because the line for the cashier was nearly out the door by the time we left at 12:15pm.

Love the dosas here, chutneys are very tasty and especially love the tamarind rice! Service is pretty fast and efficient but go early since it gets PACKED and the the wait in the line can be very long. The only issue I have is that the restaurant can get very very noisy (all hard surfaces).

This place was recommended by a friend for us to try Dosa.
Got here at about 7:30pm and the place was fairly pack. You order at the counter and they will seat you after.
We ordered Masala Dosa and Paper Masala Dosa. Total came out to about $ 16. Got seated and our dosa came out shortly. I was surprise on how long it is. There was a scoop of potato and cook onion in the middle of the dosa which was pretty tasty to me. The dipping sauce for the dosa was yummy. All 3 of them were yummy. The dosas were light, but it did fill me up, not so much for my SO.
Overall their dosa are pretty yummy here. Will have to come back and try the other ones.

Madras Café is authentic South Indian restaurant. If you are looking for cheap and tasty food, this is the place for you!
Food — 5,
Value for Money — 5,
Ambience — 3 (Gets noisy and crowded sometimes),
Service — 4,
Overall — 4.
I am a fan of Pongal Vada here — especially three different chutneys (you can ask for more chutney if you are out of it!), sambar could have been better though. There are multiple dosa options you can choose from and this place is mainly brunch style (mostly focused on breakfast but there are some lunch options). Masala tea is flavorful, everything here is bang for your buck!
Before being seated, you have to order food and pay for it. Once you are seated, your order gets to the table pretty quick but being seated sometimes takes time — waiting staff is attentive which makes it easier. I wouldn’t suggest this place if you are not a big fan of crowds, it gets noisy sometimes.
I can’t end the review without mentioning this — The person who runs this restaurant seems to be very friendly! There was power-​cut today and even though they are open on Memorial day they had to close the restaurant temporally till the power comes back. There were just couple of to-​go options they were offering and I was craving for some Indian breakfast for my flight. My card didn’t go through because of the power cut but the owner didn’t think twice before asking me to pay for it the next time — my friend went back after power-​cut and took care of it though!

Vegan friendly; not paleo. Paleo is healthier; a rethink of veggie to combat insulin sensitivity. Lot of athletes follow a paleo like diet.
Salty/​high glycemic carbs. Fantastic taste when fresh. There are 2 types of dosas, 1 made with wheat flour and one made with rice flour. The wheat flour are the long cylindrical ones that are 2ft long. The onion rava dosa is made primarily w/​rice flour. Stays crunchy longer. Both very good. 2 types of chutney w coconut in them. One is tomato based.
Idli fermented; sour like a sourdough bread. Very good w/​chutney also. Tastes great; not good to eat daily. May be a contributor to diabetes long term.
Ordered delivery via caviar. Caviar raises the prices per dosa by 2 – 3 $ so each dosa is about ~10.00. They also add a service and delivery charge and have a minimum order so you end up having to order ~2 dosas/​delivery and some extras.

If you love spicy food, you have to try the KARA dosa ! The dosa sizes are big and are Krispy ! The ghee dosa tastes like u are having butter in your mouth ! Kothu paratha fairly good
Had a great experience

I am giving 4 stars for food. They have amazing dosas and idlis. They are really really fresh and authentic. I have been here during lunch time and dinner time, both the times this place was filled with people. This place is that popular. Last time I went in with my colleagues and we all order different items like mysore masala dosa, onion uttapham, masala dosa, mini idli, medhu vada, idli and everything tasted amazing. Their madras coffee, mango lassi, and badam milk tastes equally awesome.
This place has no music and utensils noise make this place little more noisy. While you go in, you have to tell them number of people in your party, have to order food and pay for it at the entrance. Then they will walk you to the place to sit. Parking gets tight since this place is located in a busier shopping complex.

I love their onion rava dosa! I especially fly all the way from Michigan to have their rava dosa! Don’t forget to have their filter coffee after your meal.
Highly Recommend:
Onion rava dosa
Idli
Mysor masala dosa
Mango lassi
Masala milk
Filter coffee
Cheese dosa

If you never heard of this place, you’d probably miss it when you’re driving down El Camino. It’s located in a small complex and has simple signage.
This is a pretty authentic South Indian restaurant because my co-​workers and I were probably the only non-​Indian people there during lunchtime.
They only serve up vegetarian dishes here. Don’t worry, you won’t miss the meat with their filling options. It pays to look up the menu on their website because there are pictures and descriptions versus the menu you are given inside which is just a list of items. There is a small board with daily specials listed as well.
When you walk in, you order at the register and then the food will be brought out to you. There are a number of tables inside and even more further in the back.
Since this place is known for their dosas, I tried their onion masala dosa. It’s stuffed with potatoes inside. The dosa comes with three different chutneys and soup.
If you’ve never had a dosa before, it’s a thin and crêpe light. Don’t be alarmed when it comes out. It may look like it’s two feet long but remember, it’s paper thin. I’ve only had it one other time elsewhere but the ones here are thinner and crispier. I definitely enjoyed the dosa here more. I also ordered a mango lassi to drink. It was okay.
I would definitely come back to try their other dosas and menu options after reviewing the menu on their website first.

Madras Café was repeatedly recommended to me by my Indian friends as a go-​to place for Southern Indian food. After Madras (unrelated Indian place with the same name) was closed, we were seeking a replacement and Madras Café delivered.
While I am not a fan of the arrangement (it is not your typical sit in restaurant), but you pay at the counter and then are seated and wait for your food, the fact that at 5:30 this place was already packed by Indian people was a very good sign. Food arrived relatively fast and the Dosa Masala was much better than other dosas I have tried. The filling was somehow more flavorful and perfectly moist without being too watery.
One nit to pick is that being a germophobe, this restaurant does not make me feel like I eat in a germ-​free environment. I am sure that this is not a problem for most people, but to me the restaurant just felt kind of dirty.

Not sure what other Unilocalers are thinking rating this restaurant so high. This was probably the worst restaurant for this kind of food I’ve ever had. We tried a large variety of dosas, tomato rice, buttermilk, etc. All were completely subpar and disappointing.
The only item we enjoyed was their masala chai. Very good!

Traveling for the weekend to the Bay Area visiting friends in downtown Sunnyvale. While the majority of us have been craving some serious South Indian breakfast, thanks to fellow Unilocalers for their great reviews which lead us to this place.
We showed up at 8 for breakfast and were able to order the food and quickly be seated, to my surprise the crowd kept growing and within an hour the long line grew out of the main entrance.
We ordered the following items here,
Vada — I will rate them at 3.5, can be more crisp as one could still feel the dough inside to be uncooked.
Pongal — It was more of khichdi than pongal
Butter dosa — The best of all the food we’ve ordered and they’ve been super generous with the size of it.
Upma — Cooked to the perfection yet lacked the seasoning, had to add extra salt on top. The sambar was mediocre but the chutneys kinda made up for it.
I will still rate them at a 4 star for maintaining a consistent delivery of fresh food to such a large crowd.

Huge portions and great price.
We ordered the onion masala dosa and the special vegetable dosa and I really liked them both!
It was basically a huge thin piece of bread stuffed with pototo (masala) goodness!!! Definitely coming back in the future

Muy bueno. La comida recién hecha. Parece que hay mucha gente y será lento pero el sistema de sentarse y comer es muy ágil. Pides antes y luego te sientas. Dicen crowded pero sólo en el tiempo de espera antes de sentarse.