Chennai Dosa

Sad. Sad. Sad… was highly disappointed when i went there with a bunch of people after i heard that they have the best Dosas to offer !!
Sambar — a big muddle. Dosas didn’t real taste good. Idlis they weren’t made fresh ., you can so tell it was straight out of the microwave. Cleanliness — holy moly !
Cheap Yes Absolutely delicious NO.

Rumpelstiltskin must work in their kitchen spinning gold into dosa. The extremely thin and light dosa bread seems woven by threads of bread into crêpe/​roti. It was unlike anything I’ve ever had and it was delicious! This was my first time having dosa and it was a revelation.
Dosa seems large at first but goes down quickly, you could probably go for more if you’re hungry. It came with coconut chutney, vegetable curry and another two chutneys together which were both delicious but I’m not sure what they are, perhaps sambar? I’m not really a fan of Indian vegetarian food usually but this I would go back for many times.
The 5 stars in this review is for the dosa only. I tried the paratha as well but it came out still raw and the mango lassi wasn’t great either. The masala chai was decent though and nice on a rainy day. There was a family size 5 foot dosa on the menu that I hope somebody tries, it looks like an epic lunch:)

I live quite close to Wembley but had never been to Chennai Dosa before. My first visit was very enjoyable. The food was tasty and the customer service was great. I would defo recommend this place!

Great Service. Very Affordable! Great for people who want to try new dishes! Quality is great, although expect the food to be on the oily side.
[No service charge :) ]

Awesome Value. Amazing Food. Service can improve a lot. Our family’s favourite restaurant in West London! This place genuinely has the best Dosa’s in London and the sambar is always amazing. The fact that everything is vegetarian is also a massive bonus and its super good value… maybe £5 a head tops for a feast. The mango lassi also gets my thumbs up!

The food is very cheap indeed, and tastes ok, but nothing special. I got the impression it was a vegetarian restaurant from outside, on entering I found out they serve meat which was a bit dissapointing. I think it would be ok for students on a budget, definetely not somewhere to impress someone with a romantic meal.

Me and my flatmates always go here great place great food!

We went there after a disappointing experience at a neighbouring café we’ve been there before and you know what they were great
good tasty consistent food. Nopush to but overpriced drinks etc.
recommended

Went after having read reviews here. We love dosa and wanted paper dosa. Our experience was terrible on all fronts. First of all daughter wanted to use the toilet, but the ceiling had collapsed, the tiles were mouldy, floors wet and seriously unhygienic. The food which arrived 30 minutes later was pathetic with chutney, s looking and served like sick. They tasted vile too. We ordered onion dosa and was served plain dosa with raw onions sprinkled inside. That is it. No sign of coriander or karve pathe anywhere. It was disgraceful.

Great restaurant to eat at, the décor is not fancy but is clean and well laid out food is great, the dosa’s are really good and lassi (drink) quite tasty. It’s not expensive and will fill you up. The buffet is good value for money also. Just remember they don’t accept cards so have some cash ready to pay.

Cheap and absolutely delicious. This is my place for comfort food. LOVE IT.
It is a bit of a dump and loud but who cares. As long as the food continues to be delicious and so bloody cheap!

The BEST and the most authentic South Indian food in London. Only Saravana Bhawan in NYC comes close.
The staff is extremely friendly, the food is brought out very quickly, the prices are dirt cheap and most importantly, the taste is mindblowing.
If you can overlook the ambience (there isnt much of it), if you live around Wembley and if you like S Indian food, it is a place you wouldnt mind eating at almost every night

This is the first restaurant (in the UK or US) where I’ve eaten Rasam that tastes like it was made at home! Spicy & delicious. Between my husband & I we had the ‘Rasam vdai’, the ‘Rava onion dosa’, the Pav bhaji & the ‘Malai Kulfi’. I would leave the Pav bhaji for a chaat restaurant but the rest were fabulous.
The pricing is great. I might be eating here almost every week :)
It would have been 5 stars if not for the slightly chaotic service. However, the waiters were pleasant & courteous.
Unfortunately you can see the toilet from the dining area as it doesn’t have a self closing door.
The restaurant is handicap accessible. Call in advance for assistance if you’re unable to take the ramp.

The Chennai Dosa restaurants come in two versions: a strictly vegetarian one and a mixed one offering both meat and vegetarian dishes. In Wembley they are directly door to door. Be prepared to find queues for both of them on popular days (writing this makes me remember how we had to queue once on a Saturday afternoon at 4pmand I thought this wasn’t a popular time!).
Both restaurants are very popular. But staff is efficient and turnover of guests usually quite quick.
There is only one word for the food: heavenly!
I come here a lot and everything I’ve tried so far was absolutely delicious.
Anybody thinking that vegetarian food is bland should be taken here ;-) All dishes are well-​seasoned and mostly quite spicy. Especially the rasam soup one of my favorites.
Dishes are served when they are ready, so mains may come out before starters. In my experience it’s best to order as many things as possible at the start. This also allows you to sit back and enjoy without having to try to catch the busy staff’s attention half way through your visit. Or you go for the buffet (haven’t tried it though, prefer my dishes to be prepared freshly).
All dishes are extremely well-​prized. The most expensive main dish on the menu is 5 pounds. But average prices are around 2.50 to 3.50. You can easily treat yourself to an Indian feast for less than 10 pounds per person!
Many of the guests are Indian families and it can be quite noisy (it was particularly bad when the restaurant decided to give away noisemakers to the kids; but I haven’t come across this for a whilefortunately!). So this might not be the best spot to go to on a romantic date or if are up for an elegant dining out experience (the interior is not what I’d call elegant or charming).
But if you’re up for really good Indian cuisine, this is for you!

OK. Panic over, the discomfort was transient, and worth it. 4 stars to Chennai!

Chennai Dosa is split in to two distinct restaurants that live side by side and are merely divided by a wall and two separate entrances. The reason? One side is pure vegetarian and the other side is veg and non-​veg. The kitchens are separate so pure vegetarians can rest assure that their food will not be contaminated with animal products.
In this review I will primarily concentrate on the vegetarian wing of the restaurant.
Situated on the corner of Wembley High Road and the Indian dominated Ealing Road in Wembley Central, Chennai Dosa is a bargain restaurant producing exquisitely authentic South Indian food. Do note that this is a true South Indian restaurant and not a Sri Lankan/​South Indian hybrid which is a often the case these days. This is apparent from the taste and look of the food served as well as the spelling used for common dishes in their menu which has a distinct South Indian tone.
Chennai Dosa isn’t immediately a pleasing restaurant when you enter through their door. A great deal of oil haze and stream rises up from their downstairs kitchen and their air conditioning never seems to extract any of it properly. This leads to rather slippery and sticky floors and equally sticky menus. This would normally be enough to put anyone off going to this restaurant but please bare with me as it gets better from here on.
Chennai Dosa make a wide selection of typically South Indian food such as Idli, Sambar, Oothapam, Dosa, curd rice, vada and many other dishes associated with the South of India. The dishes all seem to have a some-​what homely taste to them. They make no pretense about this and as such their menu is dominated by the food from this region and offers little else. That is not a bad thing, however, as the quality and authenticity of the food made in Chennai Dosa is true to the region of South India. The idli’s are incredibly fresh with just the right balance in flavour and fluffiness and their sambar has that lovely lemon tang to it that I so love. The highlight of this restaurant has to be their extensive selection of Dosa, ranging from the plain dosa all the way up to special spicy dosa’s with some-​what off-​beat fillings as well as all the typical fillings one would expect. The size of the Dosa’s are large, more so than many other South Indian or Sri Lankan restaurants I’ve been to in this part of North West London.
Chennai Dosa also serve lunch time and dinner buffets, which look tempting, although I must admit I’ve never tried it before so cannot comment.
What stands out about Chennai Dosa is that it’s jam packed, always. I’d say 95% of people who go there are Indian which augers well for this establishment as it proves that their food appeals to the discerning Indian palate that’s after something authentic. Above all, Chennai Dosa is a value for money restaurant. I kid you not when I say that two adults can EASILY eat a full dinner that comprised of one shared starter (they’re usually big enough to be shared), two mains and tap water as a drink for under £5. That’s quality food for a quality price. Cheap does not mean cheerful at Chennai Dosa and somehow they’ve managed to maintain their low prices whilst all other restaurants have put their prices up. As an example, pretty much 90% of their Dosa’s are under £2 where as most other establishments now charge around £2.50 to £4 for a Dosa (in the suburbs of London).
Service can be a little erratic at times and one can be waiting a fair amount of time before you’re even greeted by someone at the door to be seated (ten minutes last time I went there) but at the end of the day, this is an Indian restaurant where western protocol is not the norm and so it’s perfectly polite and appropriate to venture deep in to the restaurant, seek out a waiter or manager and robustly yet politely ask for a table to be hurriedly assigned to you :-) This usually works for me and I’ve never managed to irk the staff by doing so.
Chennai Dosa is not going to appeal to your typical westernised Indian restaurant goer. The dishes on the menu would not be very familiar to those who frequent typical high street Indian curry houses. Yet if you’re looking for something that’s different (by North Indian standards), and lest we forget that most «Indian» curry houses in London are in-​fact Bangaldeshi (another country altogether!) and you’re look for a bargain price then Chennai Dosa is the ticket. Above all, the food just hits the spot. You’ll just have to put up with the afore mentioned issues and you’ll be fine here. When you’ve been here once you’ll want to come back again and again and the minor issues will soon become innately manageable and mostly ignored.
Note that they do not accept credit cards, cash only and they enthusiastically encourage the use of hands to eat your food — though they do give you utensils as a matter of course so you have the option to fumble about with your utensil-​unfriendly Dosa if you so wish!

I travel from oxford 128 miles round trip regularly to eat at Chennai Dosa. Great selection, and simple good quality tasty food. They are not known for their ambience or environment, but its the good food that keeps this place packed out. Highly reccommend and their sambar is the best ive tasted.

If you really fancy good quality and authentic India food, Chennai Dosa is the place. Things are very cheap, but they ahve a big queue. You can get veg buffet for less than £5 and non veg buffet for £6 .
I have been there 7 times now (2 times in Croydon were NOT as bad and the rest in Wembley Central),
Cheers

Brilliant, cheap and cheerful and the food is great also. Dosa’s are Indian rice and lentil pancakes a bit like crepes with an Indian filling usually of spicy potato and onion, but this place offers more than just the potato and onions, you get vegetable, and other versions also.
The Paper Dosa, is a massive massive sized crêpe served with 5 different types of dippings and if your hungry this is the way to go. Other food types are brill to nice range of Southern Indian food as well as Chinese varieties.
This place is extremely useful in this credit crunch for a well filling vegetarian meal this is the place to go.

This buzzy Indian café will leave you with a happy full belly and change in your pocket. Chennai Dosa specialises in delicious South Indian Vegetarian food and boasts a huge variety of Idli’s and of course Dosa’s. These large Indian crepes are filled with a variety of yummy fillings and come with a selection of accompanying sambars (chutney’s).
I popped in there with my boyfriend for lunch on a hectic day for something quick and tasty and that’s exactly what I got. We tucked into a Mysore Dosa and Paneer Dosa and didn’t pay more than £6 pounds for our great meal. Although there are many other cafes like this in the area this is definitely one of the best and a must for the hungry vegetarian.