Madurai Mes - Authentic Indian cuisine — Restaurant in San Antonio

I thought of trying this restaurant in the desire of tasting home land food ignoring the feedback about this restaurant, but had a poor experience and would refrain referring this place to anyone. I'm writing in detail for the new customers to be aware of this restaurant and if the restaurant cares to improve the customer experience Poor customer service - When I entered the restaurant found no one at the front desk to welcome customers, and asked two people who looked like working for the restaurant, enquired them and they cited me to go inside. Then I found two more staff who put me in a table, however I found none of the staff cared to smile and were unfriendly throughout my dining experience They only serve bottled water for which they charge, and when I said tap water is fine it was served in an unfriendly manner without a straw It was quite embarrassing that Thali was served in an unclean, broken banana leaf and halfway during my meals, I found plates were served in few tables. I found it totally unfriendly again that they do not care to be prepared for the need of a first time customer Food quality is less than average but expensive - For Veg Thali, the menu card said 3 vegetable poriyal, whereas there were only two cups. Actually it was a cheat by adding two veggies into one poriyal but marketed as 3 veg poriyal as the customer would think it comes with 3 different varieties of poriyal on the plate. Rice was very dry, made me feel like inferior quality and other dishes too did not even taste better. It was odd, they did not even serve chutney or sambar for the tiny vadas that comes with Thali. Ambur chicken biryani ordered for togo was also average compared with other Indian restaurants in the same area. Also the staff did not turn up to refill water or for any other services, only when I was about to finish, one of the staff turned up and just for the sake of it asked if I need any refill No bill for cash payment - Finally when the payment came, I was asked to pay at the counter and just then I noticed 10% discount on cash pay. I opted for cash pay, but to my surprise they did not print the bill. This is a new experience for me to pay without a bill, which is not the usual case in other Indian restaurants or Indian groceries where I'm supplied with the bill though I had paid cash Overall experience - I felt this restaurant is damaging the image of Tamilnadu's culture in terms of greeting and treating customers, cleanliness, food quality and taste. Never again to this restaurant for...

Review is for San Antonio TX-5152 Fredericksburg Rd, San Antonio, TX 78229 This is only for folks who are interested in South Indian food-definitely NOT for north Indian food. I cannot believe that it is having almost 2K reviews and around at an average 4 rating-may be something wrong. Visited 3rd Aug 2025 with family. Ambience is not good - it look like college mess only and nothing more than that. Take quite some time for the order. Strictly closes at 10:00 pm and they don't take any new orders at around 9:45 pm. Place is run on pure greed with the only reason - to make as much money as possible. Gobi Manchurian was not good - even the dry one. Dosa are almost $12 which makes them expensive but not deserving that price. You need to be careful and order masala by paying extra money. Vegetable biryani was also blend and just served with sambhar type vegetable korma(means sambhar and this curry had the same gravy). Chutneys are not good - except salt - don't expect any other taste Worst thing - they don't offer any water - not even plan water and just offer water bottle which customer should pay for(yes very much like Indian restaurant in India where water is not pure and customers have to foot the bill for that bottled water but they just borrowed that from India NOT quality food from India). For each water bottle they charge you half a dollar. On top of that, they charge you a surprise 18% gratuity which was not mentioned at all. Despite this, bill doesn't come to your table and one has to go there and pay for it. Even on top of that gratuity and this kind of service, they expect tip on top of that. We didn't even use their water bottles as we had our own water bottles with us(long wait to get food - so at least we got our own water bottles from the car as none of the servers even came to us and bothered to even ask for water-quite unusual)-but they were still trying to charge us for water bottles. They offer 5% discount for cash payers - this also indicates that they are doing something wrong by not disclosing their actual revenue to avoid paying taxes. Avoid this place - it's overhyped. Google reviews are either paid or may be at the time when it might be good. It's better to go to this place(we visited next day)-Tandoor Palace Indian Restaurant 9002 Wurzbach Rd #101, San Antonio, TX 78240-almost same price - much better food with far better ambience...

This is a solid southern Indian style restaurant here folks. The style is different than some of the Indian food you'll find in SA. The servers here are very friendly, and the service is great. All of the food came out in an expedient manner, and it was all fresh and hot. I really had zero complaints.

It's served family style, so it's great for sharing and trying a little bit of everything if you're new to this scene.

Not only do they have Indian food, but they also have Indochina options. We ordered the Chicken 65 from that side of the menu. It had a decent spicy heat to it, but not over the top with the heat. Chicken was moist and perfectly cooked.

Ambur Biryani Chicken - it was good, but it's mostly a rice based dish. The chicken pieces had small pieces of bone in it, so it was difficult to eat, but it did have good flavor. I was also warned about the bones in it, so it's not that big of a deal - just wanted to make sure you knew that ahead of time.

Pallipalayam Chicken - this item packed the most flavor. It had an interesting texture and a unique flavor. My taste buds had a party with this one (this one also had small pieces of bone in the chicken but I knew ahead of time).

The Mysore Dosa was great. It's a HUGE piece of some sort of light, crispy bread, stuffed with a mixture of potatoes and spices. It includes three different types of chutney on the side. A coconut chutney, a tomato based chutney, and a third one that packed a little bit of heat to it.

Idli Vada Combo - includes one fried donut and and two rice cakes (but NOTHING like the rice cakes you think of in the U.S. - these are totally different concept, and actually very good) and includes the same chutney flavors that the Mysore Dosa comes with.

The ONLY reason they didn't get the full five stars from me is because they offer a 10% "discount" for cash transactions. As I've mentioned before, when I see this at businesses, I don't view it as a "discount," I see it as a 10% "penalty" for paying with a credit card. ...