Dhakshin South Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

The violent, abusive and toxic Chef Ashokan. The photos will show you the scary and violent shades of Chef Ashokan. We had a very unpleasant and forgettable experience at Dakshin yesterday. We walked in just after 2pm for a good start to the weekend. Instead of being greeted with a smile, we saw the staff looking at us with no acknowledgement; forget greeting us. The restaurant was empty, and we were the only customers. 3 mins later, the waiter arrives with a wet menu card, and an impression of his hand on it. The plastic water jug was also placed on the table and it was anything but clean and clear as we could see stain marks on the jug. While scanning through the menu, I noticed an item that said “Cochin Nandu Puttu” and in the description they call it “string hopper” (pls refer pic). Knowing Indian cuisine very well, I politely suggested to the waiter that Puttu and String Hoppers are not the same thing; as Puttu comes from Kerala, and String Hoppers originates from Sri Lanka. For a restaurant that claims authentic South Indian cuisine, I thought I was helping by providing input on getting the dishes right. I don’t think my feedback was taken well, and the waiter tells me that he’s from Nepal and he has no idea about any of these dishes (shocking that their own staff says this). We ordered a Masala Dosa and a Chicken Biryani; and when he returned to serve the Masala Dosa, he said he has spoken to the chef and that the chef disagrees with what I said, and to add that Puttu is Sri Lankan. So I smiled back and again politely said, if the chef wants to talk to me he can; but I would disagree that Puttu is from Sri Lanka, in fact it is String Hoppers or Iddiyappam that are from Sri Lanka. The waiter did not know what Iddiyappam was, although it is a separate item in the menu. I still left it as I understand the challenges if you come from a different country or region, to understand South Indian cuisine. As I started on my Masala Dosa, I found the entire Dosa roll very light and empty. When I opened the Dosa, I saw a very tiny portion of Masala in a “Masala Dosa”. So I turned back to get the attention of the waiter who had vanished, and waited for 2 mins in an empty restaurant to get his attention, so that I could request more Masala. Especially when there is hardly any chutney - see the photo of the two “bindi” dots on the plate, these are supposed to be chutney servings. After waiting another 4 minutes, Chef Ashokan charges in, in a very aggressive and disrespectful manner. It was very clear that he did not take the comment lightly. I greeted him and I said “could you give us some more Masala in the Dosa”? That’s all that I said and the volcano erupted. His body language and demeanor were very offensive and disrespectful. As you can see in the photos, he was pointing fingers initially at me, and speaking very loudly and offensively. He starts off by saying “You should go to Malabar next door and see how their portions are”. Now that was not a good start at all. (I have been to Malabar, and I can say they are 10 times better than this place). Then came the argument that Dosa is an entree item, which is a defensive excuse he always gives to other reviews also on this page. But then why charge $21 for an entree item and call it a Masala Dosa when there’s hardly any Masala in it? Then the topic jumped to inflation, and he kept arguing that he has to make adjustments. By then he was already quite eccentric and the finger pointing continued. You can see one photo where he was not even respecting the space between him and my wife who was now threatened and worried. You can see she has backed off from the table. At the point when I told him he needs to be respectful to his customers and his body language should not be so aggressive, he sarcastically bent down and made a face that was so belittling and says “do you want me to bend down and bow down to you?” in a very angry and demeaning manner. And when he turned and pointed fingers at my wife and started speaking aggressively at her, we made our way to the door....

Looking for some good Indian food and customer service? You're not going to find that here!

Ordered takeaway and headed home to find out the naan was completely burnt and inedible.

Returned to the restaurant after eating the mediocre, tiny sized portion of tikka masala and chicken tikka to request a refund for the inedible naan.

My partner explained that the naan was burnt and requested a refund to the front of house to whom then said "no refunds". We did not travel back just to give feedback when clearly requesting a refund on the naan that was clearly not edible (strong burnt smell from the bag).

Took my partner multiple attempts to explain the bread was clearly burnt and inedible before they stopped using excuses such as their oven heat is out of their control, we ordered online so we would have to pick this up through the 3rd party THEY choose to partner with.

I understand mistakes can happen, but I find the situation with the request of the refund to be quite unprofessional especially during covid times as you would think the business would want to retain customers.

The fact that the chef cooking the naan would have seen and smelt the burnt naan could have originally just remade it as well, but instead decided to give this to a customer who they think would not notice.

This place left a bad taste in my mouth, literally.

Overall will not be recommending this restaurant to anyone.

Edit: Baffled by the audacity and incompetence of this business to come up with an excuse that food was purchased elsewhere and that it does not belong to their business and that someone out there is mimicking "their business, name, logo, website and phone number"

Refer to the picture of the pick up, online order through...

The biggest put off at a restaurant can be to be served food with DIRTY cutlery on the side which speaks a lot about the mediocre hygiene standards of the restaurant and probably the kitchen. For reference I have attached a photo of the dosai that I ordered which was served with dirty spoons. Also, to note is the next to inexistent customer service at the restaurant which is so poor and irresponsive. Everyone from their staff is just sitting inside the kitchen ignorant of the diners and no ones around to help with additional orders and you might find yourself walking up to their desk every time you need assistance. Also, a highly likely chance is for them to get your order wrong the first time and then you having to wait for the correct order to arrive (we were served a Mysore Masala dosa instead of a Masala dosa that we ordered). And ironically it seemed like a regular practice as the same exact mix up with the order happened with another couple of people sitting on an adjacent table to us.

Speaking of the food, that is not too bad but just decent for the price. We ordered the Masala Dosa and the Kothu Kari Dosai (Lamb Dosa). Be mindful that the sambar and coconut chutney that come along come in really small portion sizes and if you need more, there is an additional charge.

Also, given that it says Authentic South Indian Cuisine, while I understand that includes a wide range of delicacies given the diverse food found in each part of southern India, its a shame and sort of deceiving that this place doesn’t include Idli or Vada on their menu but they found place for a North Indian favorite “Butter Chicken” on it - not too sure where the “authentic” in...