Kumar's Apple Valley — Restaurant in Apple Valley

Cousin & I visited Kumar's for the 1st time on Friday during lunch and ordered the Thali. Not the best representation of South Indian food or service. Curries lacked South Indian flavor and appeared watered down. The rice dishes were extremely spicy. The quality/taste seemed like store bought pre-made curry powder mixed with water. Also, we know they don't make their own yogurt. One of the staff picked up tubs of yogurt from the Indian grocery located in the same strip mall (I believe same owner?) and brought it back to the restaurant . Overall lacked quality for an $18 lunch. Service was not ideal either. There was one person running around trying to attend to customers and keeping up with everything that was going on. He was literally running from table to table, OR missing for long periods of time; probably attending to kitchen duties. There was another customer waiting for a pick service. Due to lack of service and no wait staff on the floor, customer had to walk into the kitchen trying to find someone to help her with her pick up order. Sadly to say, after about three minuscule bites we paid for the food, tipped the guy & left. My cousin & I both agreed that we could make much better South Indian food at home for a fraction of the price. At least we know we buy the tub of yogurt from the same grocery store. Restaurant appeared to be clean, however there were half opened delivery items left on the floor. Soda cans in front of the fridge that needed to be placed in the empty fridge. All sorts of stuff lying around and disorganized. Reading other reviews I see that the owner goes off on a rant with responses. Please know that when you are running a business, especially the service industry, the customer is always right. Feedback is provided for you to listen and improve, especially when you see there is a repetition in the feedback. Also, there needs to be respect/value given to customers that pay $18 to $20 (we also work hard for our paycheck) along with tips in your establishment. Let's face it, everything is over priced and fees added due to what is happening in the world. Customers choose to support your local business. At the end of the day, no customers...

I would've given 5 stars but only 4 for now( will mention in the last on why?)

Honestly I felt it best in town so far. Strongly recommend to make reservations in prior.

I was really exciting after hearing lot of positive reviews from few of my friends, finally I had been there for banana leaf non- veg meals.

WaitStaff: Waiters were courteous all the time though we call them multiple times(we should justify the unlimited Menu, right ?when the food is yummy 😉) except that it was hard for us wave them while sitting near the entrance to bring their attention.

Banana leaf: I liked the banana leaf put on a steel plate , handy at times to lift the plate(people sit near window) as it is hard for waitstaff to reach the plate far from the aisle seat.

Water: they are serving bottled water.

Food: It all started with pickle and salt( authentic South Indian style), after that they started serving veg curries - potato on side and pappu/paruppu(thick lentils soup) with hot stearmed rice(never felt hard though you eat tummy full). It started with Sambar folllowed by Karakolambu, Paruppu kootu. Now comes the main menu - non veg curry - Mutton/CHicken/Fish(repeated mode on). of all mutton(goat) curry was finger licking good except that it was not too spicy hot. Mutton pieces were tender and fresh. FIsh(tilapia I guesss) curry was average. Chicked curry was good. Also, served fryums and papad in the plate

SIdes: We have order most of the side dishes in the menu. Mutton Varuval - Nicely kadai fried with bleneded masala. Naatukoli varuval - Doesn't taste like country chicken but it was good. Chennai Chilli Chicken - Deep Fried red colored like chicken 65. Omlete

Desert/Sweet: We were served with hot steaming Ghee Vellam/Chakkara pongal with Cashews. Loved it.

Lil Disappointment: All the sides were serverd cold, it would've been tastier if it was served hot for people like us staying up north in Minnesota.

Recommendations: It would be nice if you add vada to the menu. Also few more choices to veg meals.

The food was overall yummy and never felt hard though...

TL/DR: There’s a lot of potential but the place really needs to fix its issues around food and service.

The review is from the PoV of a South Indian who grew up in TamilNadu, and needless to say the judgement comes from a very high level of standard, as compared to a review of any other cuisine such as Mexican, Italian etc. That being said, I really wanted, with all my heart, for it to a good experience and was really looking forward to it. About an year back, lunch time conversation among non-Indians at work was that the place had some good food.

But honestly, we had a disappointing experience. We were a group of 4 people, ordered 2 vegetarian thali, two dosas, a vada and milagu rasam. The rasam never came. The thalis were ok at best, decent value for the price but very average taste. At least they came out quickly. But I don’t think we’d come back specifically to eat the thali. Two dosas took more than 40 mins to come, by which time the two people who had thali finished their meal. And the chutney was straight out of the fridge and cold and the dosas had gone pretty cold too by the time we got it. The very least that needs to be good at a South Indian restaurant is the dosa and that ended up being not great too. Looked like there was only one person at the front desk who was also handling the orders at the table, cleaning tables, bringing food etc. Three cheers to that person who despite doing all this still had a smile on his face.

The restaurant concept is great and South Indian food is unique to the twin cities and there is quite a bit of demand but I feel like it’s all just not coming together at this restaurant. With food not living up to the mark and service very slow, I’d rather eat South Indian food that I can cook for myself at home than go here. It’s probably worth a visit for many ( especially non-Indians if you haven’t had South indian food) and maybe you’ll have a better experience but I don’t think we are...