Mr Chai-Wala — Restaurant in Berlin

I came yesterday to eat for the 1st time. I know South Indian cuisine, and I love it. When I entered, a guy sat on a high table with a laptop, I guess the owner. He looked at me as checking , and then said hello without any smile. I didn’t feel so welcome.

I sat down and wasn’t noticed for a while so I asked a waiter if this is self service and then he gave me friendly the menu. My waitress was very friendly, smiled a lot and very quick. My food was Chennai chicken, 65, a salad and garlic naan the chicken 65 was for €12.90 very little amount and not every peace juicy inside like supposed to be. Too dry! Was served only with onions and coriander, I asked for a hot sauce and I got four sauces, homemade and very delicious. I think the chicken without any ads like sauce is overpriced and if the chicken is so expensive, it must be exquisite! The salad didn’t have all the ingredients which were promised in the menu ! Also small salad and high price. The garlic naan was fresh and traditional made. Both salad and bread had poorly salt. No salt and pepper on the tables available!

Chai for €2.50 is excellent in taste but for me it wasn’t sweet enough. I wasn’t offered sugar or honey with it! For everything what is standard I had to ask my waitress! In my opinion there are missing a lot of details, because there is no professional background of gastronomy which I worked in. The design of the restaurant is artsy and beautiful. They have fresh flowers in the entrance. The toilets are clean.

But it’s all about the food 😉

Waiters: Fluent German would also be nice for German citizens who are not multilingual. See this all as well meant and positive criticism .

I don’t know if I’ll visit again because...

My Malayali husband and I finally ate here after being recommended by quite a few people. We started off with two fresh lime sodas. As refreshing as they were, I do wish it wasn't as sweet, since I'd asked them specifically to not make mine sweet.

For starters, we ordered the chicken varaval. Not sure why this was under starters because it was a main course portion and a curry! It came with 2 Kerala porottas even. Not really complaining, but we were quite full by the time we were done with the "starter". :D

For mains, we called for the beef fry and Chettinad chicken, accompanied by porottas. The chicken curry was quite delicious, a dish that reminded you of curries you get in restaurants in India. The beef fry was yummy, but not quite sure about the authenticity of it. My husband is from Pathanamthitta and the beef fry/curry there are very different (and better in our opinion). We still enjoyed it. Finally, as far as the porottas go, they were definitely made in the morning and not made fresh. We saw the chef make fresh ones after we were done with our meal. I suppose they make stacks of it and then reheat them as and when needed. Having said that, Berlin finally has legit Kerala porottas! Would go back for fresh porottas and all that Chettinad goodness.

Our server, Arathi, was extremely sweet and friendly! It sets the mood when your server always has a genuine smile on his/her face. She definitely made the...

The service at Mr. Chai-Wala was outstanding despite the busy Friday night rush, and all of the staff went above and beyond providing good service. They were extremely friendly and helpful, and I had a really lovely experience because of them! I have regrettably forgotten our server’s name, but I believe it started with a “J”. He was super sweet and deserves a raise 😄

Unfortunately I have to say that the food didn’t really match up to the level of service. We ordered: Okra Fries: I always order these from Indian restaurants and was disappointed with their take on them. Not crispy and the sauce (raita) didn’t pair well with it in my opinion. Paneer Chennai’s 65: Decent, but also didn’t feel like the raita went well with it. Chicken Chettinad Curry: Not that tasty and the chicken was not as tender as I would’ve liked. Mango Lassi: Delicious and a good portion size! Parotta: I love parotta so I’m just happy whenever it’s on the menu! Decent. Papadam: Oiler than I’ve had before. I wish they provided more sauces like chutney or pickles., however they only seem to have raita which they served with the other things that we ordered. Maybe it’s just common in more westernised Indian restaurants?

Perhaps I ordered poorly and should’ve picked other dishes! A diner from another table mentioned that the lamb chops were one of the best things they’ve ever eaten, so maybe that’s one for me to...