Udupi Indian Vegetarian & Vegan Cuisine — Restaurant in Tempe

Edit after the owner’s response: This restaurant owner has some serious issues and clearly doesn’t know how to receive feedback. Trying to defend their scam with half baked cooking knowledge shows why their service is of such downgraded quality. I gave a very sincere review and they publicly mock me for doing so? Wow! That’s some great professionalism right there! I’ve had biryanis from different cuisines and i am very much aware of different cooking styles myself. Please don’t try to comeup with your own definition of biryani and hide it behind Udupi cuisine. Its a shame to the cuisine itself! You literally used the deep fried paneer which was prepared for your appetizers as a topping on a pre cooked pulav. If you still try to defend this as a biryani which was made in a dum style, its an utter shame. FYI, i payed $45 for my order and it would’ve costed me the same if i dine in for the same order. So more than the price, its the quality here which is a big concern. Instead of calling it a “cheap trick”, try to understand how frustrated the customer might be when they take the time to write such a detailed review. What do you think am i going to benefit from writing this review here? Please learn some professionalism and also better business skills instead of scamming & mocking customers. I’m reporting this to Uber right away along with your response!

Original review: Ordered from this restaurant via Uber Eats and was extremely disappointed. I got the Paneer Biryani and Mushroom Chettinad, both part of a 1+1 offer.

The so called Paneer Biryani is not biryani at all. It was a handful of deep-fried paneer chunks, coated in an overly colored, bland maida batter (despite selecting the highest spice level), topped on a basic mixed veg pulao. If this had been marketed as Veg Pulao with Fried Paneer, I could’ve adjusted my expectations. But to call this “biryani” is misleading at best and insulting at worst!! Not to forget about the portion size which was laughable & barely enough for one person. Slashing portions to kids meal sizes on the name of a 1+1 offer is not a deal, it’s deception. I’ve used this offer at multiple restaurants, and none have pulled this trick. There’s a line between smart pricing and outright scamming, and this place has crossed it!!

As for the Mushroom Chettinad, the gravy was decent, but the mushrooms looked very stale. Also, only one tiny portion of rice was included for two gravies. Just a few spoonfuls which was nowhere near enough. Again, this defeats the purpose of the 1+1 offer.

I saw another person post a similar experience in his review and the owner responded saying the customers shouldn’t be expecting more in a buy1get1 offer. Like seriously? I genuinely request the restaurant owners to please stop scamming customers under the guise of promotions. I did read other negative reviews online before ordering but i chose to ignore them because I trusted the name “Udupi” to uphold a certain standard. Clearly, I was wrong. There’s a first for everything and this was my first ever WORST Udupi experience (& hopefully the last)!! Never order food from here, online. I hope their dine in experience is much better and nowhere closer to this flop show that i...

Review: Overpriced, Underwhelming, and Ruled by Ego

This place is a hard pass. The food is some of the worst I’ve had, especially considering the price. They serve mediocre, flavorless dishes under the banner of “traditional varieties,” expecting customers to blindly accept it. Absolutely not worth your time or money.

Service? Just as disappointing. And to make it worse, they automatically add a tip at checkout without informing you—a shady move, especially when the service is inattentive at best.

But the real problem? The owner’s attitude. I read how he responded to another reviewer’s honest feedback, and it was shocking. Instead of showing concern or openness to improve, he replied with a long-winded, defensive rant—lecturing the customer about Indian food, blaming their stomach for reacting to it, and making excuses instead of taking any responsibility. He even shamed them for leaving a public review instead of complaining in person, as if that makes their experience any less valid.

Worse, he tries to wrap all of this in the “support local business” argument—like we owe him a pass for serving bad food and being dismissive just because he’s been around a while. I support local businesses that care about people. Not ones that belittle their customers and deflect all feedback. Respect is a two-way street.

This isn’t just bad food. It’s bad food served with arrogance. If this place won’t improve, then honestly, it would be better for the community if it shut down. We deserve better food—and better...

As of May 13,2019 We had a lunch buffet today and I am not really satisfied with it. Quality of food still remains ok like last time. But, I am disappointed with the items available. Although a vegetarian buffet, it could be restricted with the available dishes, yet could have had order-based ones like Chana-batura or Poori masala or similar house specials. But this could be a personal interest. For today, I did like the Roti and paneer butter masala, and the vegetable biriyani! Tasty :) Over that, i just noticed that the final receipt has a stunning "18%" service charge over the base rate. So the advertised 9$ special is equivalent to a 11$regular buffet (excluding regular tax). I don't if this is a mandatory rule or something added by the restaurant. But, I haven't noticed it in other restaurants and so, no comments. Just a heads up.

As of April 23,2019 The food experience was good. We had chana batura and special rava dosai. I liked the dosai with one of the best sambars that I have tried out here in Tempe :D Chana masala had a different flavour and is appreciable. I have put a photo of the dosai... It's huge !!! So you may find it share-worthy with one of your friends unless you are thinking of the take-home box :) I was not completely satisfied with the service due to the missing glass of water which was not offered. Otherwise, the staff were cheerful. The ambience was ok and the indoors was clean. The cost is on the average end of the general restaurant rates, .Mostly in...