AappaKadai — Restaurant in Sunnyvale

Update: the chicken kheema was watery. The chettinad chicken was spicy and delicious. Prices have gone up a lot.

Updating my review : I got the famous mutton fry and appams along with the meen (catfish) fry. While the taste was good, I found the following practices misleading:

The quantity of the food - especially the mutton was scarce - half of what was shown in the photo on the menu. They shouldn’t charge full price for half a plate.

Some items on their menu were unavailable. I would advise they remove items which they don’t plan to prepare or sell.

Older version:

Overall great place for chettinad food in the Bay Area. Chettinad cuisine comes from Tamil Nadu’s mercantile Chettiar community who unlike the Brahmins are meat eaters. It’s a pretty rare cuisine to find in the US so I was pretty surprised. Had read good reviews about this place so really wanted to try. Got take out.

Got and recommend the following items:

Chicken kheema dosa: unlike the traditional dosa, this is stuffed with spicy chicken mince.

Mutton kheema dosa: same as above except the mince is mutton.

Both the above dosas were served with mint, coconut and tomato chutney and sambhar.

I wish the dosa was crispier and the sambhar was more tangy, but I think the take out factor may have played a role in reducing the dosa crispiness.

Also got a chicken fry in spices and ghee served with onions and one lemon. It was really delicious. The chicken was nicely roasted and spiced. Really recommend. Wish they had given more lemon with it.

Curious to try the other items on their menu. Best part is it’s a...

I always try to be honest and empathetic to a small business when reviewing. We met friends for dinner here last night. We were looking for a nicer sit down environment than several of the other Indian restaurants in the area. In this regard, this is an excellent place to have a conversation and family friendly enough to accommodate children. Nice booths and tables and good lighting. As far as service, our waiter was very attentive to drink refills, quick order experience and overall incredibly kind with us. Now the part we were saddened by was the value for what was ordered vs what we received. I ordered a mutton biryani and my wife had a chicken dish. Mine came with three of the smallest pieces of meat I've seen in a dish like this and even more so they were bone-in as well. This means I literally paid to have a rice dish. This is inappropriate for a biryani where a healthy portion of meat with the rice is part of the experience. My wife shared the same sentiment, only receiving 3-4 small bone-in pieces of chicken in her dish which all of the other local restaurants are far more generous with. The price didn't match the composition of the dishes and therefore the low rating. As much as we enjoyed the ambiance and service, it's sad that the meal was so lackluster. I hope this is resolved in the future as we'd love to revisit for a better...

I’ve always loved South Indian cuisine and to find an authentic Chettinad restaurant is discovering gold. The spice blend in the stew were perfect and just the right amount. The Appams were soft fluffy and melt in the mouth bites. The Masala Chas was Fantastic, loved the use of coriander and spices, a perfect digestive drink to accompany the spices stews. The Ghee Roast Dosa was crisp and yet the batter was well fermented so it had the air bubbles. Very well made Dosa. The mint chutney was the highlight of the night. Refreshing and delicious. The tomato chutney was also very fresh and tasty. However I didn’t much like the coconut chutney, somehow it was lacking flavour and taste. The potato masala filling was also bland and okay. The dosa was so good that next time I would only order it plain. Couldn’t stop munching on the dosa without the need of any accompaniments( was sooo good) Having a small appetite I left determined to come back again so I can try out other dishes. Awesome food and good service. Service was prompt ( we had reached on a Monday evening at 9 pm) we got served within 5 minutes the Chas and the Appam in 10 minutes and Dosa in 15 minutes. Took 10 minutes max to finish it all😍 Sublime food ! They are open till 10 pm. Which is also a plus point as many restaurants in the Bay Area close by 8...