Udipi Café

With my previous experiences in Asia, including India, during my time as a government employee, I had the opportunity to sample the diverse flavors of this richly cultured country. This ex-​CIA agent can validate that the food here is legitimately good. In particular, the Dosas and Idli with Sambar are delightful. It’s all vegetarian so even better.

Found this place on Unilocal and was very happy that we tried.
Boyfriend and I got the southern Indian thali and masala dosa. The serving size was quite big and we were stuffed afterwards. The free soup was spicy and tasty. The mango lassi is a little bit too sweet but overall very well done. And after all these food it was only 27 dollars after tax. Dig great value.
The environment is not the most fancy so don’t bring any one here if you are trying to impress them, but definitely a good casual dinner spot.

Extremely poor hygiene. .plates and cups are never washed right, you can see the remains on all cutlery and plates. wonder how is their kitchen inside. Taste is not great either…

I went there with my parents who eat pure jain food. For jain Punjabi food with purely vegetarian restaurant this is one of best. Food was fresh and tasted really good. They have good options for jain food. Service and ambience is average. Rasam-​vada, lassi, paneer masala, makhanvala, chapati all tasted good. i will give it 4 star for food and 3 star for ambience/​service.

Lovely delicious appetizing lunch buffet. Loved it. For a cost of 8.99 $ simply worth it. Starting from appetizer till desert and a drink… OMG they make your tummy full. You also have a complement dosa and Dosa of your choice. Be prepared to go with a starving stomach. Not too many varieties but each one tasted good. «Food is Good».

Excellent, especially the Gobi Manchurian. Only thing is they do not always make it spicy when I ask.

Basic vegetarian indian buffet. Nothing much to write home about. Just a little too spicy for my taste but then again I have a palette sensitive to hot spice.

I went to this place for the lunch buffet, I can never tell the differences between all these liquid curries but they all taste good.
My favorite part is they give complimentary dosa within the buffet.

I love this place.
As I was trying each dish (which are continually varied) I was trying to figure out which I liked best. Each time I tried one, it was my new favorite. And… the mint chutney was great.
White linen table service for $ 8.99 including a Mysore Masala Dosa? You cannot beat it.

The idlis were super soft. The chutney tasted really good. Their uttappam was a ⁸⁄₁₀ (which is quite good). Their tea was great.

Yes the price seems like a good deal, but there are COCKROACHES at this restaurant. And I don’t mean like one, I mean like many.
I went for the lunch buffet (my mom and I were the only people there), and I went to get the Rasam. That’s where I saw the first cockroach, roaming by the Rasam. Then I went to go get the thali and the small bowls. Saw more cockroaches there. Safe to say, by this time, i had lost my appetite. However, I did manage to get food but only ate a little bit of the free dosa they gave me.
There were at least 4 cockroaches on the wall/​floor by where we were sitting. If they’re openly roaming around the dining area, can you imagine what the kitchen is like? THIS IS A HEALTH & SAFETY HAZARD, UDIPI CAFE! So, so disappointed. In hindsight, I should’ve said something to the waiters/​taken a picture, but I really wanted to be out of there.
So my friends, I would recommend that you go to any other south indian buffet that doesn’t host cockroaches. Avoid this place, seriously.

I need to quit smoking, doctor’s orders. I need to quit drinking, court orders. This is a strict veg only resto so I had to quit meating for the afternoon as well, Udipi orders.
I had to schlep all across town to get here, so my expectations were a bit high considering the start-​up «expenses» of time and the frustration of sitting in gas-​brake-​honk Houston traffic for over an hour to get to and through one of the busiest intersections in the city of 59 @ Hillcroft. Notwithstanding that the end of the year is quickly approaching and I am dangerously short of my 100 Unilocal reviews for the calendar year. So I needed to pick up a fork and put some work in.
The weekday buffet is priced to move at $ 8.99 which explains why this is a pretty popular joint for people that have time in their weekday lunch schedule to come down here. I don’t live or work near here. The weekend buffet comes with a penalty tax of «you don’t live or work in this neighborhood» bringing it up to $ 10.99. There was a table with a really cute teen/​young adult with a UH-​Downtown t-​shirt on, so at least someone in the resto drove further than I did today just for lunch.
If you didn’t know, a buffet under $ 10 basically means that if you eat anything you got your money’s worth because fair is fair. A buffet that nips past $ 10 in the wallet issues a challenge that you now not only need to get your money’s worth but you will be tracking it closely with the ol’ stomach ledger. So now you know why it is on like Donkey Kong.
The lunch buffet begins at 11am and extends to 3pm. When we walked in at 1pm there were no available tables and thus a wait for a table. We nearly left for one of the other restos on the Hillcroft Strip. But I had already been propositioned by a prostitute out in the parking lot, so I mostly just didn’t want to experience that again so soon from a ho that ain’t ever heard ‘no’ before. I don’t need to pay for it, hon, until I lose slightly less than half of all my stuff in a divorce then I paid for it just then I suppose.
There are booth-​ish seating areas flanking the east and west walls and the main dining area is composed of long tables, even though they are pushed together, you still get people at «other tables» smushed in so close they kind of get all up in your business (jalapeño business) which one lady on our row from an unaffiliated table was staring a hole in me as I was telling a hilarious story and otherwise just being beautiful.
The buffet station flanks the south wall. You can pick a flat ceramic plate (don’t!) or get one of the tin metal partitioned plates (yes). Edgar V.‘s review was most helpful in this respect. I am glad I invested the time to read through all of the reviews otherwise I would have not seen his and would have made the ceramic plate mistake. Crisis averted.
The server guy takes care of refilling water pretty regularly. So I have to say that this is pretty good service for a casual «buffet» sort of place.
The only real strike against Udipi is that the «spicy» dosa I requested was not spicy at all. Not even that white lady that thinks toothpaste is spicy would think this dosa was spicy. Bring muh heat, or go home.
To that end, the spicy onions were my favorite aspect of the actual buffet line. They weren’t hot at all — and they were less hot than how Cuisine India down by JSC does it — but they still were the single source of any amount of heat in my mouth, so it paired with everything to give me what I want as a nice profile finishing on all of the other veg items.
The buffet options are relatively numerous considering it is veg only. Every item available was fully stocked and the guy kept refilling stuff so nothing was ever «out» which is the bane of my existence down at the buffet lines.
I can’t ding Udipi too badly on the ho out in the parking lot. She was hurtin’ for a squirtin’ because of numerous socioeconomic factors and lack of access to education, infrastructure, and real opportunity where she probably grew up. I don’t think Udipi contributed to that at all. But still, my mother would not have felt very safe or secure coming to this business with that kind of thing happening in the parking lot right in front of this biz.
The lack of spiciness in the dosa and the ho out front obviate a fifth star but other than that: wear sweatpants, bring an appetite, don’t expect much heat, and you are in business with a pleasant veg only lunch, baby.

Not the fan of their buffet I usually come here for sambhar wada and idli best in Houston can beat them their idli fry also is something unique and good

Food is good. authentic south indian food! Dosas are great!
Even their malai kofta are pretty good! Paneer dishes are never that good! Their spring dosa I can’t trust the stuffing for how old it might be!
Looking at the condition of their bathroom. I am sure their kitchen is horrible and never cleaned! So I can’t trust in what condition my food is being prepared!

I come here every now and again for the lunch buffet. There are several choices at the buffet, I never get bored. There are a few options that are always available, but there’s always something new too. My favorites are the paneer masala and jack fruit curry.
Warning: some of the dishes are a bit spicy. I’m no spice-​whimp, but there have been a few times where I’ve requested an extra glass of water after finishing my meal.
The prices are fantastic. The lunch buffet runs around $ 9 per person.
I took off a star because parking is really hard to find and the buffet area is cramped and hard to navigate

Came here last minute notice on a Sunday night and was pleased to find they offered masala dosa at very reasonable prices ($ 6.99). The dosas here are huge and will fill you up. Not sure if they offer this throughout the day, but they provided a free cup of rasam soup as an appetizer. It was pretty spicy, but pleasant.
Pros:
–Price
Cons:
–Bathroom is disgusting

South Indian coffee– a little foam on top, filled with a warm blend of indian spices
Vegetable samosa-​from my initial bite i thought the shell was a little too thick, aside from that, the filling was awesome, the vegetables weren’t chunky and hard and it had a nice balance of flavor.
Masala dosa– came with 3 tins one had lentil soup, I forgot the green one, and the third one was a tomato onion spicy sauce. The dosa was made to perfection, nice and crisp. I didn’t notice the filling until I finished eating around the edges lol. I can’t get over how well seasoned the filling was, it was a combination of onion and potatoes
The server was very attentive and accommodating which was a plus
My only complaint, the little fruit flies that kept hovering over my meal.

Ive pretty much become an expert on dosas and by that I mean I’ve eaten quite my share of them. You are what you eat and I eat a lot of dosas. So far my favorite one seems to be the spicy Masala dosa. I’ve heard of Udipi before just somehow never made it until today. I walked in and the place was empty I was surprised as the employees were all hispanic and I was able to order a dosa in spanish. That was a first for me and only in Houston could you get away with that. The employees were all very nice and acommodating. The server brought me over a complimentary soup that was quite tasty! The dosas here are very huge, perhaps the biggest I’ve seen. The crêpe itself is just perfect texture and the filling was great but not as spicy as other places. The dips however were the best I have ever tasted. I’ve had a slightly better dosa at hyderabad house but their dipping sauces do not compare to Udipis! I really enjoyed the dosa and look forward to trying other vegeterian dishes!

Being a big fan of Indian food, I’ve heard a lot about Udipi, however, was hesitant to try it as I’m not a fan of vegetarian restaurants in general. That being said, Udipi proved me wrong.
Service begins with a gratis soup which was quite flavorful.
We had a dosa which was probably the largest dosa I’ve ever seen and was way too large for the plate it was served on.
I had the royal thali which was way larger than I expected. I have a very large appetite and was barely able to finish it (granted I split a dosa prior to the thali). I enjoyed most of the items, however, was not a fan of a few.
Service was prompt and the majority of the food was quite good.
If looking for a vegetarian Indian restaurant, this one is quite good and worth a try.

I have been meaning to come here for the longest. However, either I would be too early, traffic was unfriendly to me, or whatever. Glad I finally got here. Good service, for a to-​go order. Now, on to how the food is.
I made two orders of their Veggie Samosas and Kadai Bhindi Masala (Lightly spiced fresh okra sauteed with onions). The samosas were good. I was surprised at how good the Masala was when I had it with the onions. So good! There was a special lemon-​curry sauce, I believe, that I wasn’t too fond of. The green sauce (I should know what it’s called by now, but I don’t :-\) was not the best I have had, for it was quite too bitter to be eaten with my samosas by themselves without mixing it with the brown sauce (I should know this too). However, everything else tasted pretty good.
The service was good, and the gentleman who took my order was nice. His recommendations were well-​received by me. I will be back, and you should try them out.

I’ve only had the buffet here, but it’s a solid choice with ever a good variety of South Indian masala dishes, chutneys, paneer, dahl, sambar, idli, medhu vada, and sweets. Don’t miss out on the fresh masala dosa, brought to your table on request.
The food is well-​seasoned and on the milder side, though I have to say on my last visit some of the dishes were slightly less full-​flavored (hence, three instead of four stars). Hopefully, there hasn’t been a change for the worse on the kitchen team.
If you are new to Indian food, don’t be turned off by the vegetarian menu. This is where Indian cuisine shines, and will make you forget you’re a carnivore for the time being. Finally, as buffets go, the price is right on.