Dosai

Good place. Very friendly staff .i came to that area for a month rotation as a resident. Whenever I told them that I am short On time, they would make an exception and get my food quicker .
Food is great — authentic Tamil Nadu style. Brought me closer to home
Totally recommend — for food and service

Loved this place! Visited on a whim after my visiting uncle and aunt from India craved something Indian after my touristy tour. The inside of the restaurant was super white and ikea-​esqe, but the restaurant remained empty the entire time we were there. The woman (assuming she’s the owner/​manager) stood around our table and was incredible attentive to the 3 times my straw popped out of my soda, or when a spoon was dropped. Between the many choices on the menu, coupled with the cleanliness of the space, this has to be a favorite spot in the area.

I come from a South Indian family with very picky paletes, and I have to say this is one of the best South Indian restaurants in Manhattan. The flavors are spot on (the sambar is the best!), and the wide array of chutneys served with the dosas speak to the authenticity of the food. The idlis are perfect, and the uthapam has the perfect touch of sourness. The thalis are authentic and delicious as well. The best part is none of the food is greasy or leaves you feeling heavy.
I knocked off one star because the dosa batter is not my favorite and comes out a bit dark and lacks a bit of salt. Otherwise, I have no complaints about this place.

Nice, fresh, and quiet restaurant. Excellent dosai. We tried the samosa chat, chilli paneer, baighan bhartha, and special rava onion dosa. All was excellent. The baighan bharta’s flavors and spices were fresh and discernible. One of the highlights are Moru, a savory spicy yoghurt drink. We will be back. It was a feast for vegetarians – the whole menu is for us!

Good experience at lunch today. I haven’t been since the location changed from Madras Mahal last year; the interior is certainly brighter and nicer in its new incarnation.
I had the buffet (not sure if a la carte is available during weekday lunch), which is set up in the back. Everything I had was good; as an omnivore, I didn’t miss having meat given Dosai’s vegetarian (kosher) spread at all.
Standouts were golden crispy onion bhaji; paneer tikka masala with firm cubed cheese and a lush, warmly-​spiced ruddy sauce; chaana saag with nutty chickpeas and a rich, mellow spinach sauce. Fluffy aloo masala was the ideal filling for the mini-​dosa the waiter brought to each table, along with a naan (which could have been a chapati — I wasn’t sure). The food tasted fresh and flavorful (though mildly-​spiced) and was prepared with skill and care.
The smiling owner was there, and stopped by to make sure everything satisfactory.
Tab was a highly-​reasonable $ 9.95; I’ll definitely be back.

Seems like a relatively new place. We went to Dhaba on a Saturday without a reservation and had a 1 hour wait. After a full day of sightseeing around NY we didn’t want to do that. So we walked in next door to Dosai. We were in for a treat.
We got the bhel puri– one of the best I have ever had. Being from the SF Bay Area, we have the best access to chaat but we were blown away by the bhel here. The mini idli was delicious– smothered in ghee. The Chana bhatture and uttapam were amazing too.
The last night in NY, we picked up a quick dinner here. The pongal was good. The idli wth vada was shale though. Looked like it had been sitting since morning.

Best pure vegetarian food on lexington! Nice owner and courteous staff is very welcoming. Highly recommended.

A vegetarian South Indian joint that serves pretty good food. We had the weekend buffet (about $ 12) and that worked well. They bring the dosa and chappati on the side and always hot. It was a treat to have chappati versus the usual naan at other joints. Don’t get me wrong, I love naan but appreciated the lighter fare. Sambar and very good and so was the dosa (masala potatoes on buffet). The highlight of the meal was the Madras coffee or filter coffee as its often know. Pricy for $ 3 but worth it. I wish the buffet had a couple more options and also wish the food was warmer. But a solid 4 stars.

Perfect. So quiet with just the two of us being served which is a shame for the restaurant but great for us.
The food was incredible, perfect in every way. I loved the silver plates but not as much as how I loved not having to worry as to whether my food was in fact vegetarian or not.
No alcohol, which wasn’t a problem, but my advice us to go, try something then keep going back until you’ve tried everything.

We went here for lunch — we got a little panicked because as we walked in, the place was completely empty. We were literally the only 2 people there (which is always freaky– what does everyone else know that we don’t know?!).
My question is — what is wrong with the rest of you?
Fantastic lunch. Wow! I got the chili pepper dosa (the waiter warned me it was spicy, which it kind of was, but I like spicer foods than most people of European descent). Great food and really attentive service (because we were mostly alone).
I would give this place 5 stars but for the lack of beverage options. I really wanted a hot tea, but they only had masala with milk in it (which I’m afraid is not my cup of tea).
Tea is super simple. It’s hot water. With a tea bag. It could not be easier. Even McDonalds serves tea, and I think it’s weird that I can’t order a regular tea at an Indian restaurant. Come on, of all the places in the whole wide world.
The water was quite lovely… So that is something.

Granted it was Christmas Day. this place has the worst service ever. I would definitely give them 5 stars for worst service. The food was mediocre… We ordered Dosa’s for dinner and it took them a good 60 minutes before we received our order.
They got busy towards the end… We wanted our check. Still took us multiple request for check for us to get it.
I wouldn’t go back again. There are better dosa places on Lexington.

This is a short review because it is based on only one visit and we did not try a lot of dishes. I LOVE the atmosphere and décor. Really minimalistic and lovely. We tried the onion pakora, which had fresh kari leaves in the batter; very good. Potato and cauliflower samosa was fine, nothing special. The dosai were a hit — our group shared ghee masala, paneer and a tomato/​potato masala mix. They were huge and the condiments plentiful. I would have liked a little more heat but the dosai themselves were really nice and crispy. I also tried and okra and chickpea stew in spicy tamarind sauce. Again, not as spicy as asked for but really tasty and the accompanying poori was fluffy and not at all greasy. I was not happy that I could not get masala coffee or tea without milk. I do not drink milk. Waitress said they only serve with milk because «that’s how we drink it in India» which I thought was rude and also I’ve had it without milk elsewhere. I would like to come back and try more of the vegan dishes — pumpkin cooked with kari leaves sounded very interesting.

I’m South Indian and I believe this to be the best South Indian food in NYC. Reminds me of my mother’s amazing cooking. Price and portion are a really good deal, at least for now.
Specifically, if you can get a Thali at lunchtime it’ll be the best $ 11.95 meal in the area by far (and more food than you can eat in one sitting). Rasam is great, dosai’s are huge and crispy.

I’m not really the person to evaluate southern Indian vegetarian cuisine, because in general it’s very spicy and I’m not a very spicy food kind of person. The food was excellent, though. I think the dosai, or crêpe, was magnificent. And I greatly enjoyed the cream rice dish. The service is extremely attentive and very kind and informative. The problem is that I and my dining companion are the type of diners who like to be left alone, so for our taste the service was too attentive.
Like I say, my credentials for evaluating this place are limited to nonexistent, but I recognize that they take pride in excellent preparation, excellent service, and a beautiful well maintained atmosphere. So probably, if you are someone better qualified than I to evaluate this cuisine, and are someone who really appreciates top flight service, you might well give it 5 stars.

Dosai is the latest line of Indian restaurants in NYC owned by a famous Michelin-​starred restaurateur Hemant Mathur (other eateries that he owns include Chola, Kokum, Chote Nawab, Dhaba, Malai Marke, and Haldi). I was impressed by the friendly service + generous portion of the food at Dosai when I visited here with my boyfriend.
We both got the South Indian Thali ($ 16.95), which was served on a traditional thali that included rasam, sambhar, kozhambhu, two vegetables, yogurt, appalam, rice, parotta, dosa, pickle, and rice pudding. I loved that the dish had samplings of all the key South Indian dishes. The vegetables we had that day were cabbage and green peas in yellow sauce and eggplants in red sauce. The two types of lentil/​veggie soups were hearty. One was slightly spicier than the other. I wasn’t a huge fan of the yellow yogurt-​based curry with fried piece of what seemed like bread. It tasted a bit odd. I loved the amount and the variety of dipping accoutrements, including the papadum, dosa (could have been thinner and crispier), fried dough, and rice. The yogurt tasted great, but the pickle was super oily.
The portion was so large that I barely made a dent in the thali before I got full. I also got a sweet lassi — you must get it! The lassi tasted very good.

The menu has many varieties of dosa and they are tasty. The thali is also good. The staff are okay and the ambience is not great.
The dosa is authentic south indian taste and the sweet varieties are excellent.

So. Delicious. My boyfriend and I weren’t sure what to order, so the waitress recommended two dishes for us to share and they were both amazing. So much flavor, and one had a little heat. My favorite was definitely the Saag Paneer, it was pretty much a spiritual experience for my palette. Everything was very well seasoned and spiced, and the portions were massive, but then again, it’s meant to be shared (we were just some hungry hungry hippos today). The ambiance was nice, and the food came within five minutes of ordering.
Dosai definitely became a new lunchtime staple today.

Authentic South Indian dosas. The dosas are very tasty and very large. Nice atmosphere but the food took a long time to come out, very slow kitchen. Be warned this is a very upscale Dosa Shack only, they do not know how make non-​dosa entrees properly. Not a true restaurant yet.
Warning: They cannot make entrees properly — only know how to make dosas. I have been to every other Indian Restaurant in Curry Hill, everyone of their competition makes better entrees.
We asked for poppadoms before the meal, we were served the tasteless bland kind, served with no condiments.
For starters we had the Chilli Paneer, which was very good, and I would recommend.
Unfortunately for my girlfriend she ordered the Cabbage Mutter, it was very very bland and certainly not hot at all, horrible tasteless crap.
She didn’t like it at all, nor did I. I have never been served anything that bland and that tasteless in any Indian Restaurant anywhere in North America, in England or in India. It was edible, as is cabbage made in any culture — but only worth the cost of the ingredients — a total ripoff! There is no excuse for an Indian restaurant serving tasteless bland food! We had told our waiter that we like our food very hot and spicy, but he seemed more interested in oddly placing his hand on the back of my girlfriend’s chair. This waiter said that South Indian Cabbage Mutter was already «very spicy» and he did not need to tell the kitchen to make it more so. It was not just «mild» — it was spice-​less and tasteless under-​cooked cabbage and peas.
It had no taste, not Indian certainly, not Swedish, not English, not even Irish. Cannot imagine who would ever pay for this cabbage. a second time. Unfortunately, this kind of ruined the meal for us — it was so tasteless — like baby food, but at $ 12.95 plus bread and rice, this baby-​food like entrée costs about $ 20.00. Easily the least flavored Indian food I have ever had. Someone who does not like food might like it.
I had the Mysore Dosa, it was correctly made.
Because my girlfriend had the pointless tasteless yuck cabbage, she needed to eat something with taste and spice, so she ordered the Onion Chilli Rava Dosa, which she thought was alright, but not fantastic, it was a bit soft and she wished it was crispy.
Much too expensive. Lunch for two with tip was $ 62.00, definitely NOT worth it. I don’t usually give a place that makes such a bad entrée as their Cabbage Mutter, a second chance, so I won’t bother coming back — and I look forward to the day when this place is replaced by an establishment that has a proper Indian chef.
Had we not been exposed to the Cabbage Muttar we might have a different view of Dosai.

Wonderful new restaurant with a modern, clean décor and layout. The wait staff was very friendly, courteous and efficient. They were happy to explain and recommend the signature southern Indian specialties to us and even discouraged us from ordering too much.
We shared a South Indian Thali plate which is almost like a sampler plate with eight different sauces/​condiments served with naan, a pancake and rice. The second dish was the paper Masala Dosai, which is a paper thin (crêpe like) pancake with a spiced potato filling and 4 different dipping sauces. The dishes were delicious, tasty and just the right amount. This delicious meal was just over $ 30!
Our table neighbors who were of Indian decent commented on the food as tasting so authentic «as if their grandmother cooked it herself».
It’s definitely a great addition to the neighborhood and worth a try.

Absolutely excellent food. Tried the Rasam and Onion Masala Dosa. Both absolutely spot on! And they are reasonably priced as compared to the rather over priced and now low on quality Sarvanah Bhavan. Am so sure these guys will give SB some good competition!