Ramakrishna Lunch Home — Restaurant in Kolkata

Yet another icon of Kolkata bites the dust. Located in the heart of Lake Market, in a venerable old building called Bhupendra Mandsion, this place was set up by the late Shri Ramakrishna Iyer as a meal service for the young south indian bachelors who had migrated to Kolkata in the early fifties. My grandfather was one of them too and he was a regular client of their service for many years in those days. The food used to be cooked by an elderly brahmin lady and it was strictly vegetarian south indian meals including rice, sambhar, rasam, kootu, curry and some special items on weekends as well. The young men who frequented this place in those days used to love her cooking and were diehard loyalists.

As the years passed, the clientele changed, the elderly owner passed away, the management changed hands and things took a downward turn. What could have been turned into a heritage icon of the city, a shining beacon of nostalgia and history which NRI's and NRB's alike would have queued up to visit, this restaurant has turned into an idli dosa shop now frequented by very few. The menu has nothing but idli, dosa, uttapam and coffee.

The prices are too high for the fare and quality is severely compromised with the sambhar often turning out stale, esp when ordered through Swiggy or Zomato. In person service is even worse, with no care for hygiene or even a semblance of presentation. I swear, if you take a look at the chef, you will never set foot in the place or order from them again. The staff consists of a couple of insolent young men and a rude, uncommunicative character sitting at the cash desk. There are also a couple of hapless cleaners whose clothes have seen much better days. All food is handled by hand, if you know what I mean. I have been back a few times, wishing to walk down memory lane and to remember my grandfather's stories about this 'hotel' as it was called back then - but there is no match at all. I will not visit again - and I have a feeling it will not run for much longer...

ABSOLUTELY TRASH OF A MANAGER+reduced food quality on busy days! Manager has no manners.If you are visiting on a busy day, BE CAREFUL OF YOUR TURN because the manager will simply put forward his known customers before you! His behavior with all customers who are not from the local area, is extremely rude and disrespectful. He runs this place like this is some political party office - he decides which customers will have free rein, can roam around to see the "new section", choose tables, while and which customers will keep waiting endlessly. Made us 3(me, ma and my old grandmother) wait endlessly where he pushed forward 2 families ahead of us whom he was pally with. we stood confused thinking they had come before us, only to realize we have been fooled. He made ma & dadi walk around shifting 3 tables coz his favored customers came later and chose our table. Then he bluntly refused that a couple has been pushed forward to a table of 4 while larger groups waited, even after coming early. Now, the food. chutney was watery and dosa was way thinner than they usually give- just taking advantage of a house full day and serving under quality food. Instead of butter in dosa, they have given this white frozen oily lump which didn't melt al throughout our food. THIS WAS NOT BUTTER BUT SOME LOW QUALITY STUFF.They even agree "woh adha melt hota hai, adha rehta hai."Which butter stays firm and becomes a a creamy thing even after rubbing hard??Trying to pass off some word white thing as the famous white butter we all eat on parathas which melt instantly on hot food. So beware of the...

Recently visited this place with a friend after hearing a lot of good things. But after tasting the food we couldn't figure out what the fuss was all about. We ordered Sambar Vada, Ghee Butter Masala Dosa, Onion Masala Dosa and Coffee. Sambar Vada was fine. The Sambar was thick and nice. Then came the Dosas that were complete disasters. They were burnt, medium sized and comparatively thicker. The Masala was bland ( It felt like typical Aaloo Chachchori (Bengali Potato Curry) ). Ghee Butter Masala Dosa had neither the smell of Ghee nor of Butter. Never had we ever expected Dosas to be like this at a place which boasts of authenticity. You visit a South Indian food joint and it fails to make good Dosas. It's just unbelievable! Finally came the Coffee. On first sip we felt it could use a little more sugar. But when we finished the Coffee we discovered the sugar was there at the bottom of the cup, it just needed a good stir. Wow! The service was ok-ish. The waiter was almost throwing the utensils on the table. At one point, to make room, he threw away the menu card on the other side of the table. Anyway, the ambience was nice. Homely, warm. But, most likely I'm not going back to this place. A South Indian restaurant that fails at Dosas! Still...