Dosa Darlings — Restaurant in Oxford

​I am writing this review to warn all customers, especially those with strict dietary requirements, about a critical failure at Dosa Darlings.

​THE CORE ISSUE: Severe Order and Safety Error ​I ordered Paneer Kadai, a dish that is strictly vegetarian, via Deliveroo. The order arrived securely packed. After opening the packaging and serving the food, I observed something weird. At first I thought it was a big piece of vegetable like onion/cauliflower/pepper covered in gravy but there was a piece of CHICKEN mixed into the Paneer Kadai. As a vegetarian, this was a severe and profoundly distressing violation of my diet, demonstrating a critical failure in the restaurant's food preparation and segregation processes.

​RESTAURANT RESPONSE and MANAGEMENT FAILURE ​I contacted Deliveroo, who only refunded the cost of the single incorrect dish. This minimal compensation did not acknowledge the severity of receiving meat in a vegetarian dish as a vegetarian or the distress caused. I then contacted the restaurant by phone.

​When I spoke to the manager, "Lloyd," they refused to take any responsibility for this dangerous food error. Constantly denied the fact there was chicken in the veg dish. Then, the manager shockingly suggested I can "visit the restaurant and see the kitchen by myself."

​CRITICAL HYGIENE CONCERN ​I visited the restaurant as requested, bringing all food (Rice, Samosa, Paneer Kadai) to show the manager contaminated Paneer Kadai. Inside the kitchen, I observed a chef with a long beard and mustache working without a beard net or any hair restraint. When I raised this serious hygiene concern, another manager became confrontational, stating that this practice is "all allowed in the UK" and I "can't ask these kind of questions to a chef." This overt disregard for basic food hygiene standards is alarming. Furthermore, despite returning all the food to them, I still have not received a full refund from the restaurant.

​UNSATISFACTORY RESOLUTION ​The manager eventually offered "free food and free dining" for a future visit, which I immediately denied. Given the severe lack of quality control, the complete failure of food segregation (veg vs. non-veg), and the appalling hygiene practices I personally witnessed, I have zero trust in eating any food from DOSA DARLINGS again.

​This restaurant demonstrated gross negligence regarding order accuracy and basic food hygiene. A monetary refund for only one dish is insufficient to cover this total failure, negligence, and the distress caused. I would strongly advise anyone with strict vegetarian, vegan, or allergy requirements to avoid this...

Stopped here for lunch as I was in the area. Whilst i can appreciate old charm, this place is quite dark and dismal. The order was taken quite promptly, however, it took nearly half an hour for the food to arrive. Bearing in mind that this was a lunch time visit and there was only one other person in the restaurant, I found this annoying. The Uttapam was small in size compared to proper South Indian restaurant - you can probably gauge the size as was served in a side plate. Also, the only accompaniment it came with was coconut chutney and no sambar. This had to be ordered separately which I did. It was £5.50. When asked why it was so expensive, I was told it comes in a bowl, to be shared! A bowl full of sambar for a small Uttapam was absurd. The proportion sizes were totally wrong. I strongly suggest that the owner or the Manager go to a South Indian restaurant which specialises in serving Idlis, Dosas, Uttapams and other typical regional dishes to find out which accompaniments to serve and in what ratios. I don't expect to visit this...

To say anything good about this place would be a lie. Service.. abysmal. First no one would take notice then the ordered food took a good half an hour to actually come to the table. Food.. taste was ok and then next day… food poisoning. Since that was the only thing my partner and I ate where I ate small portion to him and he fell way more ill than me. In response to my email they cooked up a story stating “From what you have told us and having carried out our checks our conclusion is that it is highly unlikely that the results of your sickness was caused by what you and your partner ate in our restaurant. The reason we can be fairly confident is that food poisoning & incubation period takes up to 24hours to have symptoms. Please free to visit the government food standards agency website for advice on this.” when I know for a fact that food poisoning kicks in much early on, even as early as 3 hrs. Never again. A...