Amma's South Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Disappointing Experience – Misleading and Dishonest Policies

Our visit to Amma’s Kitchen was incredibly disappointing due to misleading information and poor service. When we were seated, the waiter introduced us to their "Today’s Special" platters – one veggie and one meat option. A few moments later, our waitress took our order and explicitly told us that each special platter came with a free refill. Excited to try the food, especially since we were celebrating a birthday, we placed our order under the assumption that we could enjoy the refills as a group.

The meal itself was delicious, but the experience took a sharp turn when we requested the refills. We were denied and informed that the refills were for only one person and could not be shared. This information was never mentioned upfront, and there was no fine print or clarification on the menu stating such a restriction. When we brought this up, the waitress did not apologize for the misinformation and showed no concern for the misleading policy. Additionally, the waitress never returned to our table for the new orders we wanted to place.

This left our entire party feeling misled, disappointed, and frustrated. We ordered the platters solely based on the information given, and had we known the truth, we would have never ordered them. This kind of dishonest and greedy practice is unacceptable for any restaurant. Customer service is just as important as food quality, and unfortunately, Amma’s Kitchen failed terribly in that regard. We won’t be returning, and I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone looking for honest service and fair treatment.

*Update: My software detected AI generated response from the "Restaurant Manager". I called in directly with my concerns, and they did nothing. My review...

Arrived around 4:30!pm on a weekday finding only one waiter and two occupied tables. We still had to wait for a recently occupied table to be picked up and cleaned before being seated, even though there were plenty of other tables available. Menu does not offer full descriptions of listed items named in Hindu, so unless one is familiar with South Indian cuisine one feels at a loss as to what to order. Our waiter tried to help but we were unable to understand his English and embarrassed to have him repeat what he had just said. Even though we were the only diners waiting to be served the dishes took a LONG time to arrive. The samosas did not come with the dosa as we had requested, but in separate courses with at least 10’ in between. The samosas were lukewarm and the two dipping sauces scant in quantity. The dosa was good but the meager potato filling should have been spread out inside instead of being just lumped in the middle. A knife was needed so we could cut it in half and share it. The bone in chicken biryani took a long time to arrive, with chicken bone and skin but with hardly any meat. The rice was served cold so we asked for it to be warmed up and that took another 15’ 😠 The papadom was greasy and it did not have any cumin seeds which is what makes them so tasty. Our waiter disappeared mid service and a new young girl replaced him but she had to be summoned each time we needed something. Same speech difficulties as her previous coworker. That is why I suggest add a good description in writing to compensate for unintelligible spoken English. The warm rice dessert with cooked cashews and some kind of fruit, was just too sweet. Overall a...

probably one of the worst dining experiences i’ve had in a long time. my girlfriend and I came on a friday night for a late dinner. i’ve enjoyed takeout from ammas before but my in-person dining experience was incredibly disappointing

tldr: the food was okay. the dosa is v solid and it’s worth trying here. but the service was absolutely terrible.

my tolerance for bad service is pretty good because I’m used to dining at traditional Korean and Chinese restaurants where service is often overlooked. but ... we received the wrong order with no apology or acknowledgement of a mistake. the parotta (layered bread) came 40min after we ordered when we were already done eating. and so we left incredibly frustrated and disappointed by our experience here

a simple apology of acknowledgment of a mistake goes a long way and we would have been more understanding. but unfortunately, our server responded with “i was told you got the wrong order. what is that?” and I responded with 1) how would I know? and 2) but what I do know is that this is chicken and we ordered fish. a simple “i’m sorry. that’s our mistake. Is there anything we can do to correct this?” would have changed the tone of our dinner. but it doesn't end here. we were wondering what happened to the parotta since it never came. After 40min passed since we ordered AND after all our food comes out AND after we're basically done eating, our server comes with the parotta and then walks away. I couldn't help but laugh...