Dosa Factory — Restaurant in Vancouver

So, what do you do if you are craving for scrumptious chow anytime after midnight till the start of the witching hour at 3 AM when in or around Vancouver ? Forage in your fridge or pantry? BZZZZTT! Wrong!

The right answer is to set out for a late night traffic-free drive and head straight to the aptly named Dosa Factory. Or, for the not-so-outgoing kind, order delivery via Uber Eats. Been there, done that!

🍽️ Foodie Factor: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Each and every dish that we have had the pleasure of trying here has been delish, from the perfect Medhu Vada (the right level of crispy on the outside and tender on the inside), the oh-so-tasty Onion Rava Masala Dosa with Paruppu Podi (sprinkled generously with gun powder), the Gobhi Manchurian (so so good that it got me nostalgic!), the yummy goat biryani, the different flavorful curries, the spot-on green Coconut Chutney and Sambhar, to the refreshing Indian coffee. Top off the sumptuous meal with mukhwas or sugar-coated saunf (fennel seeds) when you visit the counter to pay the bill, and the entire end-to-end Desi meal experience is complete!

🤝 Service with a Smile: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What best complements the delicious food on offer here is the fantastic, friendly and prompt service, even at 1 AM! Hats off and kudos to Bhakti and co. for serving us hungry souls post-midnight, not just with yummy chow but also with their genuine smiles :)

✨ Ambiance & Vibe Check: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Given the mostly Desi crowd at all hours from day to night, the babble of conversations, the quality cuisine being served, plus the ambiance and decor with larger-than-life frames containing snippets of India's culture and its monuments, it's perfectly reasonable to feel as is you've been transported to the country itself for the entirety of your visit! Talk about a holistic and immersive meal experience which is great for dates, group meetups, and even solo treats!

🚗 Parking Pain or Perk: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Parking along Kingsway during rush hours is no cakewalk, and the limited street parking makes it a tad bit challenging. Cue, one or more times of circling the block! If you do get lucky, rest assured that parallel parking to fit into a tight spot by the busy road will whet your appetite (though you might lose it in a jiffy if you make a dent on the street before getting to make one on the plate!)

💸 Bang for Your Bite (Value/ROI): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Given the good portion sizes along with the quality of food and service, plus unlimited bottled water, you get a fair deal for the price you pay without feeling like you're splurging. Be mindful though that the EBTT syndrome (read, Eyes Bigger Than Tummy) will ensure that you end up ordering way more than you had planned to, so it's more likely than not that you will get an inflated bill with leftovers to take home.

🧼 Clean-o-meter: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The place is pretty neat, thanks to the attentive cleaning staff who are constantly on their toes, attending to plates and tables that warrant their attention. The restrooms were A-OK. All in all, my mother would approve, I think!

🧾 Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Needless to say, I'll be back here soon, risking the EBTT and ensuing food coma, just to enjoy the food-induced high! Highly...

So I'll share 2 incidents with Dosa Factory.

First was my experience last night. It was the most bizarre experience I had ever had in a restaurant. We were a party of 4 and my friend placed the first items of 2 orders of butter chicken dosa with a side of garlic naan, vegetable pakora and samosas. Then our server without saying anything just walked away to maybe presumably put in the order? We don't know. We thought maybe to get more bottled water since we only had 1 bottle? The guy never came back and we saw him go serve another table.

A few minutes later had to flag down someone else to take the remaining order for our table and had to explain the other server just took one person's order. I myself placed an order for my husband and I of butter chicken set, palak paneer dosa, can of coke and a side of cheese naan. I was informed the cheese naan takes extra time which I said was fine.

My other friend placed the final order of butter lamb with samosas.

At this point we weren't sure if my first friends order was even going to be filled. We would find out. My first friend got his samosas and pakoras quickly along with his 2 dosas which one had to be wrapped up as our other friend couldn't make it last minute as we were to be a party of 5.

My other friend received his butter lamb but no samosas came but I decided to add samosas for myself. That was brought out quickly for me but not my friend whom ordered the butter lamb.

My husband got his butter chicken set shortly after along with the cheese naan. I only had my samosas and was waiting for my palak paneer.

Several minutes later, my friend (like 10 minutes later and the one who ordered the butter lamb) asked if his samosas were coming. This is now the third server that had no idea what was going on and asked if it would be another order of samosas and my friend said no I don't want another order I want the original order I placed!

I then asked if my palak paneer was coming they said yes shortly. Another 15 minutes go by and everyone at my table finished their food. I was now not hungry as I waited so long after finishing my 2 samoas and cheese naan.

I asked for to be packed up and someone just brought a box with no containers for the liquids. Like come on... This is unacceptable and so disorganized.

We left 0 tip. Unacceptable service. The other dosa place next door has better service. I'd rather and happily give them business in the future.

The other story is, during the peak of covid I was doing deliveries. They would always be so disorganized. Always late. Make me wait and give me some sad excuses that it's 5 more minutes when it was half hour or more. Doing doordash penelized you for unassigning the orders. So you're kinda left to wait. Later on, I just would decline their orders for pick up..

As covid restrictions loosened up they were busy with deliveries and dine in so yes chaotic. Now that delivery had died down they're still disorganized.

Don't bother coming here unless you want your food packed up to eat later for cold and soggy dosa.

I haven't even touched my food since last night since I'm not in the mood for it anymore. I wanted it last...

Atmosphere - Went for lunch on a Saturday at the peak time but it was completely empty. Maybe they get more orders for take out. But it was really dull and un-happening. Nothing much to look forward on that front really.

Food -

Gunpowder idli - It was good. Nothing out of the world. Just how it’s supposed to be. Glad they did it right.

Mysore masala dosa - It was really good. The dosa size is also quite big. The masala (asked for masala on the side) was tasty as well. Although the sambhar and the chutneys they serve are only enough for maybe 5-6 big dips with the dosa (they give 1 free refill but chutneys are still not enough).

Khara butter masala dosa - The menu says that it is very spicy but my Indian palette did not find it spicy. Infact, I could taste a lot of ketchup in the dosa, which left a really bad taste in the mouth. Don’t get me wrong, it is spicy (not very spicy) but the insane amount of ketchup balances the spiciness. I think they should not label this as a “very spicy” dosa.

Service - One thing South Indian restaurants are popular for is the quick service they offer. However, this place was a massive disappointment. There was no staff in the dining area. After waiting for a while for the staff to come out from the kitchen, I had asked for a refill of the sambhar and chutney, but did not get it. The next time I had to order something, I could not find the servers again and I had to walk down to the kitchen and place the order. And this happened once more after that. So if you’re looking for good service, then please look elsewhere.

Hit or miss place - Based on this lone experience, I think you would not lose out on much if you give this...