Madras Cafe

This was one of the better South Indian culinary experiences that I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying!The Paneer Butter Masala is superb, and it is even better than the Chicken Tikka Masala, if that is even possible... These two dishes were the highlight of the evening with their fullness and rich taste.The Lamb Rogan Josh was very spicy, despite the fact that I requested mild spice, but it was savory and full of flavor. This dish was prepared in a homemade and authentic Southern Indian fashion. If you like spice, then this is your dish...The Cocktail Naan is a spicy version of the Garlic Naan. It had green chili peppers as a topping, and it would be perfect as an appetizer to accompany a glass of wine. The regular Garlic Naan was also good, but it was substantially burned on the bottom and edges.The Raita was an interesting take on this side dish, because it contained chopped onions. Although the yoghurt was at an acceptable consistency, the lack of herbs and abundance of onions in this version of Raita left it a bit bland and dry.The Customer Service here was great! Akni was very helpful... I would have given them 4.5 stars if I could, as they are definitely an up and coming restaurant.

Terrible food. Extreme price gouging. Arrogant and defensive management team who never acknowledge service and quality issues reported by multiple customers.Don't waste or money your time here. Just go to Dosa Studio in Mira mesa for a delightful South Indian gastronomic experience.

I came into town on a Sunday. I was craving Indian food. I noticed this was right across the street from my hotel and open on a Sunday, which is rare for the area of San Diego that I stay in. I placed an order online for the paneer butter masala, samosas and naan. The paneer came with rice. No need to order separately. I appreciated this. I took it back to my suite and served myself a plate. It was pretty good. I ordered it mild and it was definitely mild almost even no spice. The butter tikka sauce was a tad salty but still delicious. I will be trying more dishes when I'm in town. I love the convenient location.

Water was not served. When we asked for a cup, the cup was dirty and had crap inside. Ordered their lunch special and the chicken protein portion was a joke. It was literally two tiny pieces of chicken. Other chicken item was one piece and another piece that was predominantly bone. Not coming back. I was left hungry after lunch and I just paid $18. Was not cheap and portions are awful. No idea why I request to tip in advance before getting any service or the food. I basically tipped (nicely) for bad food and bad service.

A friend and I drove 10 miles to try their thali lunch special. I'd been wanting to try a thali plate ever since seeing it featured on a Top Chef episode last year. I was not disappointed. Everything on the plate was so flavorful and delicious. I could eat this every day. The staff was so sweet to us, explaining what each item was and answering our questions. Madras Cafe is my new favorite restaurant for Indian food. Bravo!

3.5 stars overall. We came here on a Sat afternoon and there was only one other occupied table. I assume it gets busy during the week with the work crowd in the area. We got the samosa Chaat, the bezwada biryani and the paneer biryani. We also got a filter coffee. The samosa Chaat was good but it was more Chaat than samosa. The filter coffee was pretty good too. The biryanis were good but could've been much more spicy (especially since we asked for spicy). The bezwada biryani would probably rank at 4 on my biryani list for San Diego (I have about 6 places in my list). It was miles away from the top 2 biryani options. My friend said their paneer biryani was pretty good. I'm glad there is an Indian restaurant in this region and I'll be back to taste their south Indian food next time.

I have dined at Madras Cafe a few times this year. Most recently we had a late lunch over Thanksgiving break. Everything we have ordered from Madras Cafe's menu has been consistently good. We usually order the Appetizers and Dosa. We have had Samosa, Idly, Vada, Masala Dosa, Rava Dosa and Uttappam multiple time and haven't been disappointed.Definitely one of the better Indian restaurants in San Diego!

Always a great experience with excellent service and meals. I love the goat biryani. I highly recommend this place.

I love coming here during the week for their lunch specials especially with it being so close to work for me. I normally get the biryani and even if you get the special it comes with a lot of food. The dosas here are also good and so is the mango lassi. With that said, the food is good but nothing amazing. It's a great place to grab lunch if you're in the area but it's not a place I'd go out of my way for. The service is also extremely slow. Even if I'm the only person there I've received super slow service.

We came here for dinner on Saturday evening. They were not very busy and there was plenty of parking. This place is a casual sit down restaurant with a comfortable atmosphere. We ordered the Chettinadu Chicken and Paneer Butter Masala which both came with rice. The chicken was a bit spicy for me but the paneer dish was delicious. My husband who doesn't mind spicy enjoyed the chicken. I wish they asked about what spicy level we wanted. The menu had very interesting options. We love Indian food but I guess we haven't had south Indian food because there were a few items we had never heard of. But the waiter was very patient with us and explained the menu items we were unfamiliar with. I liked that they had a pitcher of water at each table but our bottle was a bit warm as it had been sitting on the table with the sun shining on it. Overall we were satisfied with our meal.