Idli Dosa wasn't Hot Enough!!

Outlet: Royapettah

Address: Satyam Cine Complex, 1^st Floor, Royapettah, Chennai.

Cuisine: South Indian

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

I am a frequent visitor to Satyam’s food venture until recent past. After almost a year gap, I decided to grab my brunch at ID after an entertaining movie. It is one of the hot location for any of the Chennaitians and movie lovers; most of my night-shows have been preceded by ID’s dishes. It is quite easy to locate the place and the restaurant is located at the first floor; parking shouldn’t be a query to be raised. With my past experiences, ID has been a favourite place for me to have breakfast. The decor was the noticeable ones when they launched years back and the way they serve the food makes them impressive enough for frequent visits. The centre table near the hot kitchen arena is my most loved place to dine and enjoy the art of seeing food-making. Obviously, I have my favourite dishes too and it includes Pesarattu, Sweet Pongal, Dosa and Filter Coffee.

And coming to my recent visit and the review. The decor definitely seemed just ‘Okay’. With competitors growing in the food industry, restaurants need to buckle up their ‘A’ game. If not, then the food should hit you hard that you keep paying your visits beyond anything else. The menu was altered with more focus to different Dosa varieties (like Paneer Dosa, Garlic Dosa and Uttapam). ID used a customized menu card for each customer or for a table, so the customer can select the dishes and give the card to the staff instead of shouting out the dishes while ordering. But that whole idea was dropped, but I used to enjoy ordering that way. Coming back to the food, I seriously missed my Pesarattu but here’s my take on what I had at ID.

Garlic Dosa

Garlic Dosa: It was a plain dosa filled with finely chopped garlic all over the dosa. The flavor was well-balanced, the garlic flavor didn’t overpower the dosa. With their chutney and sambar, the crispy garlic dosa is a good choice for a garlic lover.

Sambar & Chutneys

Nellore Kara Dosa

Nellore Kara Dosa: Where there is something hot & spicy, you could find my husband. And that’s the case here too. The Nellore Kara dosa is a spread with spicy tomato-chilli chutney all over the dosa. The spice level as well was subtle that made the dosa an enjoyable experience.

The taste of the sambar and chutney was good. Definitely, the chutneys could have been better. It doesn’t seem to have been made fresh, all the three varieties of chutneys could have tasted better if they have been made fresh.

Filter Coffee & Tea: I love filter coffee, in a place like Chennai it never should go wrong. The coffee and the quantity was good. The strong flavor of the coffee powder was missing. I love Tea when it is made well. The balance of the tea decoction and milk is important, the tea was OK, could have been better.

Tea

Filter Coffee

The price of the food seemed to have increased in comparison to the taste or quality. We were billed Rs. 430 INR inclusive of all the taxes.

Service was one thing I used to appreciate at ID but the standard of the service felt to be a let-down. It wasn’t a bad service but was a slow one. The staffs used to be enthusiastic but I sensed lethargy, when we needed something it took series of shout-outs so the staff addresses the query.

Breaking Down Points

Location & Parking (5/5): Biggest Positive. Easy to locate and parking space is more than enough.

Ambience (3.5/5): Good. The interiors or lightings isn’t unique but definitely different and goes well for the restaurant food theme.

Food Variety (3.5/5): Good. Simple but a straight-forward menu that covers the most-loved breakfast menu of South India.

Taste (3.5/5): Good. It tastes good if you don’t eat these items as breakfast often. And dosas aren’t the only breakfast item. The sides of the breakfast dishes should be made with more care.

Quantity (3.5/5): Good. The portion size is good but wouldn’t be a filler until you are on diet.

Quality (3/5): Average. The quality of the food was neither bad nor good. Hope they start to climb up the hill.

Pricing (3/5): Average. The price is acceptable considering the standards they follow at the fine-dining restaurants. But they aren’t appealing considering the let-down in the quality, taste and service.

Service (2.5/5): Let-down. They were better at what they do but now they need to get better.

Idli Dosa, the heart-throb breakfast dish of Chennai. It could and should not go wrong. They created beautiful restaurant theme hope they continue to live up to the food competition. Else it is difficult to survive among the sharks. A food experience that’s Value for Money if they could work on the service and quality.

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