WOODLANDS DRIVE-IN — Restaurant in Zone 8 Anna Nagar

Woodlands drive in!!! My wife has been telling me about "Woodlands" since eternity. Well I am a north indian but spent close to 15years in the south for education and then got married to a lovely south indian. I am telling this so people know that I know what I am talking about. Well we went today to this shitty restaurant.. the ambience was good. Weather warm... Not much crowd.. I immediately knew I have to have Meals.. nothing fancy. I ordered regular meals.. after a while arrived the thali.. with a sole lonely chappati in it.. no worries.. let's eat the chappati.. because after that is the rice. But I couldnnot understand with what to eat the chappati?? There was no vegetable.. by search lead me to a small little bowl of poriyal.. with insignificant amount of veggies.. only parpu and coconut.. nevertheless using my innovative skills, I managed to bring together horrid dal and some other stuff together to dip in the leaf like chappati.. Then came the rice with podi and Nai(ghee). this brought back so much nostalgia because I used to eat this frequently in Andhra messes. It's my favourite.. the spicy podi covering the grains of soft rice and the ghee binding it all together.. well I needed everything up and thought to myself... That's it.. that's divinity.. that's going to blast away my satiety center for ever.. And I took my first morsel in my hands making a spoon and carrying it into my mouth which was already salivating. Alas!!! What happened?? A shockwave suddenly went down my spine.. a tsunami of bland Food filled my mouth.. there was only one thing missing.. flavour.. the was no salt, no spiciness... There was no FLAVOUR.... MY HEART CRIED.... MY TONGUE argued with me for a second before I mumbled choicest expletives( in Punjabi of course).. I was shivering with anger so much that shiv tandav started playing in my mind.... I frantically started searching for something else in my plate.. that little bowl of sambhar.. but OMG!! That didn't have any salt.. no other thing in my plate made up.. my south indian family saw me... They sensed something was wrong.. utterly wrong.. my daughter was watching me with her eyes wide open... For the first time, literally for the first time.. I had to say that the food was no good.. no taste.. No FLAVOUR.. my lacrimal glands were in the edge trying hard not to burst the dam holding my tears.. they called the manager.. you know what he said.. we make it this way so everyone can eat... I never felt like bitchslapping anyone other that random porkistanis.. they ruined my only meal.. never going there again .. but my hopes are still strong.. looking for that little shack near thiruverkadu...

Noooooooo! If you thought this would bring back memories of the old Cathedral road drive in….you are in for a major disappointment.

First they can’t continue to call it a “drive in”without making an attempt to give in car service so many months after their inauguration!!

The restaurant itself is clean and comfortable but the service is way way below average. They might as well preface each item with the title medu ( medu dosai, medu poori etc) because that is a good definition of the speed of their service.

The dosai itself was a limp piece of dough that made you yearn for the crispy butter soaked (and who cares if it was unhealthy) ones we got at the old drive in!

If the waiters at the old drive in were a bit arrogant, it was part of the charm. They could recite the entire menu on demand and would remember every item from four or more cars and make the delivery error free and spot on!

And then Mani, who put the tray on the car after being commanded “Mani, tray Podu” would cheerfully remove it after you’re finished !!“ Though we weren’t very liberal with our budgeted tips, they took it cheerfully and gave you better service on your next visit!

None of that happens here!!! It is the first restaurant in the last year where I debated if I should leave a tip! I know the waiters can’t compensate for the poor management, but they could have helped by being a bit more cheerful! I don’t plan to go...

Hands down one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. The service was absolutely atrocious — slow, clueless, and clearly overwhelmed. It felt like nobody was in charge, and no one cared. The food? A complete letdown. Nothing was served hot, and most of it lacked any real flavor or freshness. It's painfully obvious that the quality has been on a steady decline.

And sure, maybe — maybe — a couple of items had some potential, but I refuse to even mention them here. Why? Because your unbelievably poor service dragged the entire experience down so badly that nothing deserves praise. A few decent bites can’t make up for an overall disaster.

What really gets me is how poorly the situation was handled. If you were so understaffed, you had plenty of options: offer a limited menu, reduce seating, or better yet — just close the restaurant for the day. Instead, you chose to go on like everything was fine, serving cold food with barely-there service, and expecting customers to just accept it. Unacceptable.

It was a waste of time, money, and energy. This used to be a decent place. Now? It’s a frustrating mess I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I’m done...