BARR - Madras Cafe

After a long gap, we made it to a restaurant for a little family dinner. We have been meaning to go to Madras Cafe at the corner of Bernardo and El Camino for the last three months. The place was being renovated and expanded and they were closed longer than originally anticipated. The new Madras Cafe, is much more spacious. We can actually get the baby stroller inside the place. The place hasnt been decorated yet and shows bare white walls but the new addition of a restroom makes Madras Cafe a much better place. I am not saying this as a joke. If you have a toddler who says "I wanna go pee pee" the minute you start your first bite of rava dosa, no matter which restaurant you go to, and insists that Daddy take her pee pee, you will realize the importance of having a restroom in the restaurant that is accessible to customers. Enough Said about the new decor, space and restroom.. lets get to the food.





The cook has still not lost his magic touch. The dinner items were out of the world !! We have so many good memories of eating at this place when it was just started. The food and the coffee/tea are still the same.



Wait time : 10 minutes (seat yourself)
Food wait time from order : 5 minutes for all items except Dosa (15 for Dosas)
Check time : 3 minutes (Visa Mastercard , pay first then eat !)
Average price per person : $11
Rating "Grandma, where are you ?".
Service : Above average


Items sampled : Rava Dosa, Dosa, Poori Masala, Vegetable paratha, pongal, coffee, tea

I have the title of Mr. Rava Dosa that has been given to me by many of the local restaurant managers.. But the poori masala at Madras Cafe is one of my favorites. Especially the masala. No one comes close to making this masala just right. The rava dosa is of course excellent. My wife ordered the vegetable parota thinking it was what the people at the next table were having (it was not).. so I ended up eating what was almost a aloo pizza !! I cut it into pieces like pizza so my daughter could have a piece. She didnt like it as much as she liked the dosa.

The pongal was very dry. But then again, pongal is not their best item. Madras Cafe is very good for all Dosai items, rice items (lemon rice especially), vadais and Pooris. If you restrict yourself to these items, they are much better and more affordable. But like swati tiffins, they have to get all their items right over time. Next to Mr. Dharmaraj's coffee, they have the second best coffee and a great Tea !

Recommendation : Definitely worth it !