Café Manana — Restaurant in Zone 8 Anna Nagar

I live in the next street from this cafe and was excited to have a cafe down the road. So was looking forward to being a REGULAR and REPEAT customer

I visited this cafe twice. The first time was with my husband. It was a wonderful experience. The food takes a while to be prepared but it was fresh. Met the owner and she gave my husband and I a complimentary gelato. Lovely unexpected gesture

Based on the wonderful experience of the first time I visited yesterday (Sunday - September 22nd) with my teenage son and his 2 friends. We placed our orders. I ordered a soup, the 2 friends ordered a grilled chicken each and my son ordered a Lamb gyros. I double checked the order which was TYPED down by the server. I checked the TYPED order. It was correct.

Well - we got a 20 minute wait - which was on par based on my previous experience. After 20 minutes, they came with just my soup. Generally, it is considered proper table etiquette that everyone BEGINS to eat together after the hostess is served. So usually eating places serve all meals TOGETHER or if that is not possible to at least mention it. But here, unusually I was the only one who was served. What do they expect? I am supposed to eat while 3 starving teenage boys watch me eat. Very weird!

I figured that since 20 minutes had passed, the remaining 3 meals would soon be served. Nope! We then waited another 20 minutes before my son's friends got served their grilled chicken meals. Meanwhile, my soup had gotten cold. So - now I told the boys to eat and 3 of us began to eat. My son waited for his meal. He waited ANOTHER 20 minutes. That is right - after 1 hour of waiting after order was placed, we checked with our wait staff. She comes back and tells us that they FORGOT about his meal. How can you forget a TYPED order? She then says it will take another 10 minutes to prepare his meal. In reality, it took ANOTHER 20 minutes

By this time 3 of us had finished our meals. I told her to go ahead and make my son's meals and asked the 2 friends to pick out desserts. By the time we finished and were ready to leave - came my son's meal - 1 hour, 20 minutes after order was placed. So we asked them to pack it which they did.

So my son ate his meal AT HOME. I ate COLD soup and my son's friends ate after 40 minutes. The bill for this wonderful experience - Rs. 3500. No apology, no discount, no complimentary anything. To be fair, I did not ask as it was not my wish to make a scene. The way I see it - mistakes happen. I get that. Part of any business. Especially a new one. But when you have goofed up - you do your best to sort things out. Not pretend like nothing happened

I really hate to leave a negative review because I think the service staff was smiling and nice. They just are not versed in table etiquette and fixing things

My suggestions going forward Please serve all meals together. If not possible, inform customers about that. People generally do not go out to eat in social groups to have some people eating while the rest watch. Please double check typed orders to make sure meals are not missed Please cut the preparation time. The grilled chicken took 40 minutes. If you make a mistake and you cannot throw in something complimentary or offer a discount, at the very least make an apology. Some customers do not like to complain or ask for these things. But they...

I had given a 5 star rating earlier, but my recent visit to cafe manana made me change my mind. Firstly i looked at the menu and searched for Milkshakes, they had 3 Milkshakes available, but they had too many ingredients in them which i personally didn't want, so I requested them to make me a vanilla milkshake, they refused saying they dont have it on the menu and they don't know-how to price it. So i suggested pricing it the same as the other 3 Milkshakes which had more ingredients and they were all priced at Rs.295/-, i figured to make a simple vanilla Milkshake would he a reasonable request considering they served vanilla ice cream. But they said no, not possible and looked very confused and upset about my request. After which i said nevermind and ordered something else instead. The second thing which irked me was, they had closed off the upstairs area for some reason, so we had to sit downstairs, we chose to sit outdoors, but they had only 2 fans and they were being used by the other 2 occupied tables. After we ordered, we were still eating when the waiter asked us if he can bring the bill and he pretty much rushed us to get out of there saying they close by 11pm, they used to be open until 2am earlier and they have now changed the late timings to fri, sat and sun. We wanted to sit for a a bit more time and when we asked them to clear the table where we usually sit, they refused saying we had to leave. They then proceeded to switch the lights on and off until we left. The sad thing is we go to cafe manana very often just to sit and relax and eat the good food and the service was always decent and the waiters never rushed us out, this time the vibe wasnt good and we felt that they just refused everything we asked for. Never going back there again. So very...

Recently, I had the chance to visit CAFE MANANA in Chennai, and it turned out to be an absolutely wonderful dining experience. From the cozy ambience to the carefully curated menu, everything about this café feels refreshing and unique.

Here’s what I tried 🥰 • French Fries with Dips 🍟 Golden, crispy, and served with creamy dips. A classic starter that never disappoints. • Crispy Chicken with Spiced Crumbs 🍗 This was one of my favorites perfectly fried chicken coated with a flavorful, crunchy mix of crumbs, curry leaves, and spices. • Cheese Garlic Bread 🧄🧀 Soft bread topped with melted cheese and herbs rich and delicious. • Cauliflower Croquet 🍘 Golden fried balls served on a tangy tomato base crispy outside, cheesy and soft inside. • Pizza 🍕 Thin crust, loaded with toppings, and full of flavors. The mix of cheese and spices made it really stand out. • Rice with Curry 🍛 Served beautifully with creamy prawn curry comforting and wholesome. • Milo Gelato Ice Cream 🍨 To end the meal on a sweet note simple, smooth, and delightful.

CAFE MANANA is more than just a cafe. This place is definitely worth visiting if you’re in Chennai.

CAFE MANANA was a wonderful experience for me. I genuinely enjoyed the food and the ambience. But remember, taste is always subjective. What I love, you might not and what you love, I might not. That’s the beauty of food. it’s personal.

So instead of saying “you must try it,” I’ll simply say, if you’re curious, give it a shot and experience it yourself. One thing I can promise is that this café has a really cool vibe that’s worth checking out.

Thank you all for reading 🫂 Until we meet again in the next blog with more stories, flavors, and vibes. With love, DJ C10...