Adyar Ananda Bhavan - A2B — Restaurant in New Delhi

Not satisfied with this restaurant. Despite a decent first impression, everything quickly spiralled down, ultimately pushing me to stick to 3 out of 5 stars for this review.

I usually dine at Sagar Ratna next door, yet this time I thought of trying out Adyar Ananda Bhavan for a change. There was no waiting line, despite a packed Saturday afternoon at adjacent restaurants, and the premises were properly air conditioned, and maintained well. So, plus points for both.

The table they offered us was a tad bit congested for 3 people, but it was still bearable. What really ruined the experience for me was that my fellow companions were able to order everything they wanted, however, what I wanted was all out of stock.. Such a letdown! I had to eventually settle for a plain dosa, whilst regretting my choice to eat at this place.

As for the food, I appreciate that they offered complimentary rasam and rice papad, but the rasam was a little too salty and spicy for my taste. The food in itself was delicious and fresh, especially the tomato chutney on the side. I got it refilled thrice; it was that good! The mixed fruit juice was also refreshing and well prepared.

I'd also like to make an observation regarding the food item advertisements shown on the TV screens within the restaurant. My companions ordered filter coffees at the end of the meal, hoping that they would look exactly like they were shown on the TV, that is, sprinkled with powdered coffee as a way to add aesthetics to the preparation. However, nothing of that sort appeared on the actual coffee, which made it feel like an unfulfilled expectation. It may be a subtle thing to many, but I would have preferred that they replicated the beautiful look of the coffee as shown on the screens.

Now, what happened next was the worst part of this dining experience. Whilst paying the bill, one of their servers took a mouth freshener container with a steel spoon from the adjacent table, not realizing that one of the occupants sitting on that table had eaten the contents directly from the spoon and had placed that disgusting spoon back into the main container, thereby contaminating it fully. Thankfully, I saw it and prevented my fellows and myself from having somebody else's leftovers. But none of the servers even noticed it.. leading me to conclude that their hygienic practices and alertness are totally absent. Gross.

One more thing. The servers came across as a little unprofessional, as they kept chit chatting near our table, and didn't listen when we needed them to take our order, until we had to call out to them 3 times.

Ultimately, I wouldn't say that the restaurant is bad, but it definitely doesn't have finesse in the way...

UPI PAYMENT SCAM AT A2B JANPATH 🚨 I experienced a serious issue at this outlet which I believe could be happening to many customers.

After dining with friends, I paid the bill of Rs. 860 via GPay. The amount was successfully debited from my bank account (screenshot available), but A2B’s billing system failed to register the transaction. Despite showing my bank statement as proof, the staff and the manager insisted I pay the same amount again.

The manager casually told me, “You pay again — if it shows later, we will refund it.” But there was no process, no receipt, no written guarantee of this refund. If I had paid again, there would be no clear way to recover my money. It felt like they were trying to trap me into a double payment.

When I refused, and told the manager to call me and ill pay. Instead, the manager wrote “Pending Rs. 860” on my bill to make it seem like I was skipping payment — despite proof of payment shown to them on the spot. (Carbon copy of bill available — faded but readable.)

This appears to be a deliberate scam where small payments (Rs. 800–1000) are collected twice from unsuspecting customers. Most people don’t notice, or don’t follow up due to the...

My take at the outset : this recently opened outlet of A2B at Janpath, adjacent to Sagar Ratna and Saravana Bhavan, should generate a healthy competition amongst these three iconic chains of restaurants, famous for South Indian food....good for foodies.

Went for lunch along with a few family friends, with pretty high expectations, and came out totally satisfied. Nice basic decor, with attentive and pleasant staff. Rasam with papad was served as a welcome drink.

Each and every item we ordered was freshly cooked. Thoroughly enjoyed assortment of vadas, idlis, uthpams and dosa, served with amazing sambhar and assortment of chutneys... truly authentic Tamilian food. Only butter milk lacked in curry patta flavour. However this one off aberration does not impact my rating.

Would like to visit again.

PS : Their menu includes North Indian food as well. In a historic restaurant, known for South Indian food, we did not care to even look at this part...