We decided to try the Vegetarian Lunch Buffet at this popular place on Rt 27. When we pulled in found that the parking lot was full and it looked like most of them were for Dosa Grill. There was a small crowd milling around near the entrance. We decided to go in and toss our hat in the ring for a lunch buffet. We had a table in 5 minutes. No complaints there.
The place is spartan with basic furniture and not much else. All the tables were occupied and there were a few folks seated inside waiting their turn. There was line 12 souls deep to the buffet area. There did not seem to be enough plates or cups for liquids at the head of the buffet line. The 'idli' tray was empty. We loaded our plates with some 'medhu vadas', 'vegetarian noodles', spiced rice and some sambar. The sambar was good, vegetarian noodles could have done with less oil and the spiced rice had some chunks of caked up spice in it. The vadas were ok, not bad, not great either. The service guys seemed to be busy trying to keep pace with refilling food in the stations. I saw just three or four guys in the service area doing everything from taking orders to clearing plates, speak of multitasking ! It was clear that they did not have enough staff to service the crowds that were in.
They serve dosas as part of the Lunch Buffet menu, I asked for the Masala dosa which arrived after 10 mins. The dosa was nicely browned and crispy with an adequate amount of potato filling in it. It was a good dosa overall, not the best but it was served as part of a buffet meal I have no complaints.
We tried the other items on the menu - Beans poriyal, Paruppu Kootu, kozhambu, beetroot halwa, fruit custard, thayir saadam, Rasam and Aviyal. There were 3 items that stood out - the Rasam, beans poriyal, kootu and Aviyal were darn good, pretty comparable in taste and quality to any good restaurant in South India.
The naan - less said the better, beetroot halwa was extremely sweet, rich and heavy.The thayir saadam was ok.The fruit custard was canned fruit swimming in a viscous 'Brown and Polson' corn powder and milk solution.
Overall from the menu about half the items on the buffet stations were pretty good, the rest middling and a couple of bad ones. Service is almost non-existent. Crowded, busy and an average 10 minute wait time. The menu is primarily South Indian which is very different from the run-of-the-mill Indian restaurants (serving the customary red tandoor chicken, naan, cottage cheese in spinach).
I would visit again but will choose a day that is not very busy, maybe a weekday or a snow day !
If South Indian cuisine is not your thing then this is not the place for you.
-Couldeatahorse.
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