Chennai Dosa — Restaurant in Manchester

Let me start with saying that we had a very good experience last Sunday in this place. I am a person from S. India and i know the flavor profile of South indian food especially. Lets talk about what was good here. The very best part of this restaurant which i thoroughly enjoyed was the food was served piping hot. This was amazing. Made the food even more tastier. Our fav food here was Sambar vada and Masala dosa. Simple dishes yet cooked very tastefully. Service by the ladies were very good. Thank you for that. If I would want to point one area of improvement was the food initial order took a little bit more time and we waited for a good 20 mins before the appetiser was served. But when it came, both the appetizer and the entree came together which may not be very ideal for everyone. however, it was worth the wait as the food was served hot and delicious. Kudos to the kitchen staff, serving staff. All well done. Please keep the flavor profile close to authentic Indian food and not changing it to local pallette. This is what keeps you unique about you compared to other restaurants. I promise i will come back, if you maintain these 3 things, a) serving hot food, b) keeping the flavour profile not changed to local pallette and c ) great staff serving food. I am a tough reviewer and I have given 4 stars which is very rare. But...

The decor and looks of the interior combined with the rush and inadequacy of the waiters really ruins the mood and vibe of the place. The quality of food was ruined by how hectic it is.It was understandable quite busy but clear the waiters have no idea how to do their jobs what so ever. Seating 1 person at a table for 4 and then seating 3 people at a table of 2. This could be seen the throughout. Moving on to the food. Can only be described at subpar at best. We initially had chilli chicken starters which were quite good. But then had to wait another 10 minutes for the other starters so half the table stayed hungry. The dosas were adequate but for the size of the dosa very minimal filling was provided, which can be seen below. My brother ordered the mutton kotthu parrota which did not arrive until the rest of the table were nearly done with their food. The kotthu parrota was inedible. There were multiple egg shells and the parrota was so thin and soggy. More than 70% was left in the pot when we left. I would also like to state we had ask for water 3-4 times before ever getting it.The only plus was the tea...

The standards have noticeably declined. The lamb biryani was more like pilau rice rather than an authentic biryani. The kothu parotta was decent, and the paper roast was good. However, the channa bhatura was disappointing—the channa was poorly prepared. All the chutneys were average at best, though the podi idly was a highlight. Chicken lollipop was also disappointing.

We also ordered masala tea, which was a complete waste of money—it was served cold. The salt lassi unexpectedly contained jeera, which was surprising considering how simple it is to make a basic lassi.

Service was equally disappointing. The waitress was uninterested and never checked on us after serving the food. Once our dishes arrived, she disappeared into the kitchen and was absent for a long time. This was on a Saturday, yet the restaurant wasn’t even busy, making the lack of service even more frustrating.

Out of all the Chennai Dosa branches, the Manchester location has been the worst. We regularly visit the London and Birmingham branches, which consistently deliver in both quality and value. Unfortunately, this one fell far below...