Dosa Studio Vegetarian Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in San Diego

I came here for brunch today and was not disappointed. The place was packed around 11:00 AM and stayed that way the entire time I was there. You pay for your food before they seat you, and then you can help yourself to the buffet. They seem to rotate what they offer, and today they had several chutneys, sambar, dahi dosa, uppam, pulao, palak pakora, and a couple of rice dishes. I was familiar with a lot of South Indian dishes but I loved that this gave me the opportunity to try ones I haven't heard of before. They had mysore pak and rava kesari as the dessert options and I'm telling you I could have drowned myself in the kesari. The chai was piping hot and fresh, not too spicy but I definitely took a cup to go. The waiters are attentive and bring around fresh dosas often. They turn over the tables quickly as there is always a party waiting. Everything is vegetarian and I didn't miss the meat at all, all the seasoning and spice level was perfect. The puri was amazing and fresh also. Nothing at the buffet sits out or even lasts longer than five to 10 minutes. There is tons of seating inside but they also offer seating on the patio outside. Outside was quite nice and you could share tables with others if needed. They also now offer a chaat table inside which has offered pani puri and...

Mixed Experiences at Dosa Studio

My family and I recently tried out Dosa Studio, and we've had two very different experiences there. Our first visit was for an ala carte dinner a few weeks back. The service was excellent, and the food - Dosas, Uttapam, Idli, Tamarind rice, and Indian tea - was tasty. We were genuinely impressed, and it felt like a place working hard to attract and keep customers. It was a solid 5-star experience for us.

However, our second visit to their brunch buffet didn't live up to the high bar they had set. The atmosphere was still good, and a 15-minute wait wasn't too bad, but the buffet experience wasn't on par. They ran out of popular items (i.e., Poori, Idli, Dahi-Vada's, etc.), and refills were slow to come. The food we managed to get after a few attempts could have been better, which was disappointing, especially considering the quality we experienced on our first visit.

Dosa Studio is a new restaurant; understandably, they may have some growing pains. But to keep customers returning, they must keep their service and quality consistent. I hope they can learn from our feedback and make the necessary improvements.

So, the ala carte dinner was a clear 5/5, but the weekend brunch buffet gets a 2/5 from us. So, overall, that makes our...

I went here last week, a few days after it opened and ended up wasting $10 on the worst dosa I've had in my life.

Despite being owned by the same owners as Charminar next door, Dosa Studio doesn't sell any starters like samosas. So while my (takeout) dosa was being made, I went for a few minutes to their competitor next door, Indian Tandoor (which used to be the only Indian resto in this mall).

When I returned to Dosa Studio about 10-15 minutes later, my dosa was ready, soggy, and cut into pieces. Already a red flag. Any other decent dosa place would have wrapped the crepe separately so it'd stay crispy.

Worse, I had to finish shopping and didn't get a chance to eat until about 30 minutes later. What a disappointment. While the potato filling was passable, it was mildly flavored and about half as much as I'd expect for a $10 dosa. But the crepe was horrible, soggy, and the chewiness of shoe leather. I was barely able to chew through the dosa.

I've taken dosa home from other restos in the past and the dosa was delicious. Not at Dosa Studio. I won't be returning. And I never eat at Charminar because they're overpriced. I'll stick to Indian Tandoor -- even with their rising prices during the past three calendar years, they're still better tasting and...