House of Dosas | Davie st — Restaurant in Vancouver

I attended a karaoke event held by the restaurant this NYE. I do not live in downtown Vancouver, and arranged my NYE with my 12 year old son, as there were not many other places to go that were not 19+. It takes me 90 minutes to get to this restaurant from home. We enjoyed our food, which was half price (except red meat and sea food) after 8pm. I also had a friend I invited with me. We collectively bought about $100 in food and drinks in the two hours we were there. We had our drinks refilled once, and were assisted by no less than four servers, making ordering more, asking for refills or acquiring our bill exceptionally difficult. Nobody came by to remove excess glasses, plates or beverage containers until we were ready to pay.

At 11pm the evening ground to an abrupt halt as it appeared that they were not expecting an influx of guests on NYE and the event they were holding was causing a lineup. Everyone attending for karaoke was asked to pay and leave. I had not even finished my meal when this took place. While waiting to pay our bill, a number of loud fights with physical threats took place inside the restaurant with no security in site to manage the situation. Nobody apologized, offered me anything extra or an amount of my bill, for abruptly kicking 10 tables packed with patrons out into the street because the restaurant owner felt they were missing out on other people’s money because of an event they arranged, hosted and advertised. Since they did not feel that my money is as valuable as anyone else’s, it’s highly unlikely I would go again or ever recommend that anyone else does either. If you have atrocious customer service, it doesn’t matter what’s on your menu or how little you ask for it. The thing to do here was not premiere karaoke and dancing on NYE, or complete the evening as originally planned and then discontinue karaoke going forward, not completely empty your restaurant an hour before New Years, which I got to spend in the cold walking through a rowdy crowd of drunkards in the street trying to get home with my underage child. It was also a waste of a 3 hour trip on the road.

Good, authentic Indian food is not in shortage in Greater Vancouver, and much...

One of the Worst Dining Experiences in Vancouver

Edit: We were really excited to try this place after all their 5 star reviews! DO NOT TRUST IT!

I rarely leave negative reviews, but my experience at House of Dosa was incredibly frustrating from start to finish.

We were first on the waitlist, yet they gave the table to a larger group that arrived after us. When we questioned it, they said it was because the group was bigger and "came from far away"—but so did we. That alone felt really unfair and unprofessional.

Once seated, the server looked visibly exhausted and disengaged. We had to wave at them several times just to get basic attention. Despite asking for our food to be spicy, it came out bland and cold. It arrived quickly, but clearly not fresh. When we mentioned the temperature, the staff did nothing—just made annoyed faces. No apology, no solution.

After clearing our plates, they didn’t bother bringing us fresh cutlery for the next course. Again, we had to flag them down multiple times like we were invisible. When we asked for the bill, the server literally looked like she "doesn't want to be here"—which, honestly, summed up the whole atmosphere. We waited over 20 minutes for the bill, which never came, so we walked up to the counter ourselves. Only then did they send a different server over.

The food didn’t make up for the experience either—it was forgettable at best and cold at worst. House of Dosa used to have a good reputation, but this visit showed a complete lack of care or hospitality. Definitely won’t be returning or...

First time here. This was a great place for dosa(i)s. The menu is quite extensive. We had Medu Vadai. The Vadai was nice n' crispy on the outside and well done on the inside. The red and coconut chutney were amazing. For the main course, we had (a) Podi Dosai. The Dosai was crispy on the outside and filled with Podi on the inside. The Podi was spicy and tasty. (b) Rava Dosai. The Rava dosai was big. Quite a large portion. Both the dosais came with chutneys and sambar (c) chicken chettinad. This dish came with parotta and plain dosai. The chicken was well done and bursting with south Indian chettinad flavor. The parotta was thick and awesome. Just pour the chicken gravy on it and eat it. This is not the North Indian type of parotta. This is very south Indian layered parotta. It was not oily. Definite 5/5. We ran out of chicken gravy. The chef was kind enough to bring us a small portion of chicken gravy. We finished off the lunch with a south Indian filter coffee and gulab jamun. The gulab jamun as not too sweet. The coffee was perfect. Unfortunately, by the time we got the coffee it was not piping hot (personal preference). We asked if they will heat it. They were so gracious as to make us a new batch. We felt bad to have asked them. The chef's name is Ganesh and hails from Chennai. Born and brought up in Chennai. (Pakka Chennai paiyan). He was friendly and we saw him walk around and greet the customers. We will definitely come back...