Shri Dakshin - Indian Vegetarian Restaurant in Cambridge | Vegan Dishes — Restaurant in Cambridge

(Lengthy rant warning :-))

I used to love this place. When it opened as the vegetarian substitute of the location on Hespeler, we frequented and loved everything about this place. Ambience, authentic food taste, cleanliness, attentive staff, steel glasses and plates (as opposed to thermocol or plastic). Top notch experience then.

Compare with my visit last night, party of 7.we were seated in 4 by 2 formation, row of 2 tables. Service again, is prompt, seated quickly and orders grabbed quickly, a positive. Downhill thenafter. First, they bring dosa plates and stand at the edge of pax 1 and hands them to pass it to the last person. Why? Maybe once - no! They expect you to pass all food to the table, they bring to first person and just place or hand you there. Second, the chutney and sambhar are really really small portions and splashed all across plate while bringing it to table, very unappealing. Third, sambar is sweet. Maybe different cook, and individual taste difference can be ignored, still, sweet sambhar is a no no for us. Fourth, my onion masala dosa had raw onions heavily sprinkled inside with masala. Not cooked, nor mixed in batter, raw. On bringing this up, I am told this is how it is. I have eaten multiple places and no, it's not defaulted like it's onion on pav bhaji, sorry. Saving grace though, they offered to change it or make new, which I declined. However it's atleast a positive aspect of service. Fifth, our order of hot-n-sour soup comes without any spoons, neither extra Sambhar bowl. How are we supposed to take it, just pick up and pour and splash plates and table? Not as if table had any serving utensils. We could ask, but still, not ok. Lastly, when finished and they picked plates, again, they stand at corner and expect you to pass plates from all the way end of table to them. Why? Kids and elderly and others are not handling these plates and passing ot to make a mess on clothes. Not their job, not trained. Customer may chose to pass, you expecting and asking them to pass is NOT ok. I had to ask them to go around the table and grab those plates themselves.

All in all, disappointed to see one of our favorite South Indian joint, a classy fine dining experience, turning this bad. The good parts were the promptness of staff, and their filter coffee. This place was amazing earlier, recently has...

I had the absolute pleasure of experiencing the Mango Festival menu at Shri Dakshin, and it was nothing short of spectacular! Every dish on the specially curated plate celebrated the versatility and vibrance of mango in the most authentic South Indian way.

From the fiery and flavorful Mango Avakaya Pickle to the refreshingly tangy Raw Mango Pirandai Thuvaiyal, each bite transported me to the nostalgic flavors of home-cooked summer feasts. The Raw Mango Salsa in Paradise was a delightful surprise — a perfect fusion of tropical freshness and spice.

The Raw Mango Cucumber Kosambari was cooling and crisp, beautifully balancing the spice-laden dishes like the irresistible Raw Mango Vepudu and the subtly spiced Raw Mango & Banana Stem Thoran. The Mango Chitranna (mango rice) and Mango Pappu (dal) tasted exactly like my grandmother’s kitchen during peak mango season.

Special mention to the Mango Pulicheri and Mango Rasam — they were both comforting and packed with flavor, a testament to the chef's mastery over traditional recipes. The Aam Panna and Raw Mango Buttermilk were the perfect palate cleansers, light and refreshing in between the rich flavors.

To wrap up this mango feast, the Mambala Pradhaman was a decadent, creamy mango payasam with just the right sweetness, and the Eggless Mango Cake was moist, fluffy, and a mango lover's delight.

Every dish was beautifully presented, balanced in flavor, and carried the soul of South Indian culinary tradition. Shri Dakshin truly outdid themselves with this festival menu — a celebration of mango in every possible avatar.

If you’re a mango enthusiast or someone who loves discovering regional culinary treasures, this is a dining experience you don’t want to miss. Kudos to the Shri Dakshin team for delivering such a memorable, soulful, and seasonal feast!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Highly...

Edit: Everything about the restaurant changed after seeing this thing in my Sambar. I don’t wanna I walked in to pickup from Ubereats. I was craving for a good dosa, and picked up not one, two tiffin meals. And I got freaking hair in the Sambar. Everything changed. I throwed my 35$ meals. Sorry but I was unable to keep my voice down. I don’t wanna post the picture. Firstly, let me give you a glimpse of what I've known about the Restaurant.

It's an amazing story in background!

I've got a good chance to sit and chat with the owner (Gentleman), who is not just a simple man, he treats his employees with utmost respect & his customers at his best.

The way they maintained the restaurant gave me good vibes as soon as I entered.

It gave me the real authentic feel of an Indian restaurant you can see them in the photos.

The owner simultaneously manages his work and created a restaurant & managed which is unique in its own way and the dishes he mentioned in the menu are just a bliss.

Chennai IDLI & DOSA with SAMBAR are great just the way you like it back in South India. 10/10 ❤️

CHENNAI COFFEE is next level. 10/10 ❤️

SAMBAR RICE WITH GHEE. 10/10 ❤️

Overall the service they rendered to me was awesome! All of the employees treated all of the customers with utmost respect.

Kudos guys! Keep rocking I wish you all good luck. 👍👍

Parking is available, timings are listed in the maps. The location is precise.

If owner is available, say a hi to him. He is a...