Surya Veg N Dosa Company- Pure Vegetarian Eatery — Restaurant in Cambridge

I really wanted to like this place. It’s a cute little hole in the wall in the middle of a cozy Cambridge neighborhood. The menu is enormous and varied and the staff seemed very friendly and pleasant.

I ordered the karam podi masala dosa. It came with an unexpected side of soup and two… dipping sauces (sort of). I will say, the dosa itself was made perfectly. For a place that specializes in Dosa, they definitely know how to make very good ones.

But that’s akin to praising a sandwich for the bread alone. They asked if I wanted medium or spicy. I requested spicy. … I’m sad to report that the filling was essentially the most bland spiceless tasting potato mush I’ve ever had. Overloaded on salt and not much else as far as I could tell. It was so flavorless as you could feed to an infant.

I love Indian food. It is my favorite cuisine and the reason I love it is because while it may look like stewed mush, it’s always packed with flavor and warm delicious spices. I do not know if they dumbed down the spice or flavor level because I’m white. But they committed a cardinal sin in Indian cooking: bland bland food.

The dipping sauces consisted of what appeared to be and tasted very much like Heinz ketchup. I actually went up and asked because I sort of couldn’t believe they’d use ketchup at an Indian restaurant and she told me it was “spicy” ketchup… I don’t know what spices were put in it but it tasted more like corn syrup than anything else. The other was… maybe a yogurt spiced aoili, but the sauce was completely broken and essentially inedible.

Moreover the soup, while initially okay (at least there was some flavor there), was so over salted that even though it was a very small cup I could not finish it, and I love pretty much all soups. You really have to screw up to get me to kick a soup out of bed.

Again, I feel bad. The dosa itself was made perfectly. They clearly know what they’re doing on that front, but it doesn’t matter how good a tortilla is if the taco filling is...

There was not much around the hotel and the receptionist recommended it. Walking the dark, narrow alleys of Cambridge, flanked by quaint, little residential buildings I came across this establishment suddenly. The signage in the front reminded me of a neglected business, and I'd have paid heed to my inner voice, but I also knew there was not much around for options. When I looked through the glass panes into the restaurant, I found myself looking into an empty store with 4-5 cooks looking across at me. Well, now I'd no choice but to enter. You just cannot let that many people down.

I ordered chicken tikka, dreaming of a thigh and leg quarter or breast piece, hot, aromatic, and succulent. I got something alright. It was in a go-box, with side sauce and salad, in boxes too. It seemed that the restaurant mostly catered to take-out customers. The tikka was cut into pieces, really steaming hot on plain rice. I was already a little disappointed, but also happy to see a very generous portion. But then the first bite brought this aftertaste that I'd not put my finger on. I didn't want to eat it anymore, but I was hungry and not much was nearby. So, I decided to hide that with the sauce and it worked. I realized after a while what that taste was. The chicken was probably bbq'ed a while back and cut into pieces. I was probably one of the last customers of the day. So, they decided to microwave or steam-warm it for me. That described the peculiar aftertaste and the generou portion. Nevertheless, I'd not eat it all out of fear and then took an extra-mile walk to digest it as I'd an important meeting...

Right away, it needs to be understood that this is a very casual, cheap takeout/delivery spot and to their credit, they don't pretend to be upscale or fancy in any way. However, even with my low expectations, they sadly weren't met.

I ordered a big dinner/tomorrow's breakfast on a food delivery app, selecting a Grilled Chicken Tikki and a Chicken & Vegetable Combo Platter, choosing Chicken Tikka Masala and Vegetable Korma for the two entrees. I also ordered 3 bottles of water because there was a spend $40, get $11 off and I needed a few extra bucks to make the $40.

The vegetable korma was excellent, up to par with any I've eaten in restaurants around the city. Very flavorful and satisfying. The chicken tikka masala was very below average. It was extremely sweet for some reason. I've never had a chicken tikka masala that was that sweet, it tasted like a cup of sugar was dumped into it. The chicken tikki was unfortunately super dry, basically inedible. Luckily, the combo platter came with a extra container of chicken tikka masala sauce, just the sauce without the chicken. I dipped the chicken tikki into it so it wouldn't be as dry at least, but it did make it really sweet.

Lastly, the 3 bottles of water was said on the app to be 20 ounces, but I got 16 ounce bottles. Also, I didn't receive any utensils even though I checked the box to request them.

Overall, even with the cheap prices, this place wasn't worth it and I won't be ordering...