Saravanaa Bhavan — Restaurant in Frankfurt

Why 1 star? Here's why: Service: I've been in Frankfurt for over a year and as a South Indian, Saravana Bhavan was my go-to place for comforting food. The service used to be good. No complaints. But recently, the service got really bad. I've been there with friends several times, and some servers are really grumpy. They barely speak except to take orders. Once, when we asked for more time to decide, a server rolled their eyes. When we wanted to order more after our first dish and they took away the menu, the server seemed annoyed. It spoiled the mood for enjoying the food. I get it that they might be stressed and they are also human beings, but basic politeness is what I expect. And this was not a one time experience. Obviously not everyone of them are to be blamed. Some of them are really good at their service, polite and friendly and whenever I am served by them, they do an excellent job. Now, it feels like a game of chance to see who serves you.

Food:

1. The food quality has also gone down. The coconut chutney was watery and not grinded properly. Refer the picture of the idly/vada (dosa and idly pics were taken on different days) and if you are someone from India, you can outright say "That does not look like a properly prepared chutney". Note that 9 out of 10 times the chutneys were excellent and this was just a one time thing. Still this had never happened to me in Saravana Bhavan and was shocked.
2. Paneer Makhani was way too salty, and even after we complained and got it replaced with Paneer Butter Masala, the same issue occurred.The worst part was when my friend and I were told that the salty food was normal, and we were kind of wrong about it being too salty (conveyed by the chefs via the server). Typical Gaslighting.

Pros: I do not just want to highlight the bad things and make this review really negative. Here are some of the good things:

1. The dosas, vadas, and idlis – they were really tasty and crunchy. I loved them. Would always recommend people to try it.
2. Even though the restaurant was packed, the food was served really quickly after placing the order. Commendation to the chefs for working at such a good pace to ensure everyone gets their food quickly.

It's disappointing that the service and food quality dropped, especially considering how good this place used to be. Sorry for the long review, as I wanted to highlight the things that have went wrong with this branch of Saravana Bhavan. I hope the restaurant manager or owner reads this review and takes the necessary steps to fix these issues. I really want to keep coming back to the old Saravana Bhavan for my comfort food and also recommend it...

It was my second time here, when i visited this place 1.5 years ago - it was really good. I meant the service, ambience and food! They were all equally good. But this time, they really disappointed me, first off - the guy that sat us at the table (Tall, bulky with beard who could speak german) he looked at us like worms, as if he didn't like to see brown skinned people in the restaurant (funnily enough he's an indian too) - he intially thought it was just me and he gestured like i was nothing. After we sat - it took nearly 20 plus minutes to take the order. In between, I had to go and ask whether someone would take the order but apparently the mafia divided the tables LOL! and only the guy who sat us down can take the order and he didn't even look remotely interested to do that. Finally, the mafia came to some negotiation and a girl with a tablet came over to take the order - ours was a simple two south indian special meals and a serve of sambar vadai. Actual service to get the food was much quicker - the food quality has degraded by a couple of knots from the last time. The pooris were thick and soaked in Oil, not sure if they re-fried them to make it hot. Rest of the menu items were very very spicy, so if you have a gentle stomach, please do watch out. Now comes to the ambience of the place, it looks like Hawker's corner - wasn't very clean. I suggest using the bathrooms before you eat so that you don't waste your money by going after you eat. The stench welcomes you from a distance. Saravana Bhavan was such a goto place for me back in India, franchises seem to struggle to keep up the standards.

Checkout was simple and easy, the guy with ipad to take the payment was at least smiling, he must be...

We've been visiting SB, Frankfurt since last several years. Today was one of our most disappointing lunch barring couple of items. It seems the quality of food is not the same, especially today. We ordered Idlis and they were very bad - It was dry and hard. We had to return but we were served fresh ones which was better than the first. We have had several times Idlis here and it was always great. We would request to first check the state of food before serving. The chutneys and especially sambhar were fabulous. Vada was very good as well.

We also ordered a South Indian Thali. Once again the quality was substandard. The Proiyal, Vathal Kozhumbu, raita, payasam was great. Sambhar was not tasty at all. The lady fingers in sambhar were of a bad quality and it clearly seems that the cook did not really care what went into Sambhar and more important how it tasted. The sambhar in the thali was exactly opposite to the good quality sambhar that came with Idli. The Rasam did not have taste and one could taste only turmeric. There is one thing that has been common in all my visits - Kootu and Chana. The taste was just ok to eat but could be improved. Would be great if they do not offer the same Chana that is offered with regular Bhatura/Chappati. Kurma could be a good alternative.

Dosas were fabulous and was one of the best we have had at SB, Frankfurt. Finally a bit of sourness made the taste excellent. Filter coffee was great as well.

Request the Management to improve the quality as we would love to...