Kovai Cafe

TLDR : Small but good South Indian food joint in the bay area offers good food but long wait times especially on weekends.They offer a nice variety of food options including Thali. The dosas are flavorful and crisp. Loved the Guntur Chilly dosa with its spicy and powerful flavors.Overall a good experience

Filter coffee- decent, nothing exceptional (3/5)Butter masala Dosa - delicious (5/5)Mysore kara masala Dosa - so good, not very spicy (5/5)Kesari - on the sweeter side, but delicious (4/5)The chutneys are out of this world, Sambar is delicious ! There is a long waiting to get inside, but the service is quick, so the turnaround is faster .

We have been here twice and the food has been great both times! The wait time can be long on a weekend but they try their best to move tables along quickly.I was surprised to get 3 pieces of puri which were very tasty, The medu vada was the most crispy I have had in the bay area.My husband loved the thali and we also tried the mushroom spicy appetizer which was spicy and delicious.We were disappointed in the coffee as it was neither hot nor strong, so def ask for it. I also thought that even though the sambhar was delicious, some of the chutneys were average.

Overall Food - 4/5We tried Idli - softMedu Vada - good and never oily Rasa vada Ghee dosaMysore masala dosaFilter coffee - too bitter for my taste Sulemani chai - really good Service - 5/5 very prompt and professional service in terms of taking the order and serving the dishes. Ambiance 4/5 pretty decent, although the space is on the small side it is used really well Great new addition to South Indian restaurants in Bay Area.

Love the filter coffees in the gold cups.. service is prompt ..ambiance is loud Indian canteen. . No strollers allowed inside due to space constraints I guess. Needed 3 sachets of sugar to sweeten my coffee. Must be the elaneer payasam, which was delightful!

I have been doing to go from here on a regular basis we all love their curd vada, one of the best here, I know of.Today I stopped for a quick bite , I ordered kal dosa, which is bascally dosa just we make at our home. I ordered this becauce, I can taste all the chutneys.They literally forgot to bring it to to me for long time and it was cold. So service is not good.Chutneys were good though and so was the cofee. But did not make me jump.Ambiance , just normal cafe style nothing to describe here.

I saw this restaurant first on an IG Reel and later a friend of mine recommended this place. We went on Friday evening and it was pretty crowded. We got on the waitlist and there was around 20 mins wait time, which was not bad.Coming to the food, we tried a variety of food - mini podi idly, Thovayal dosa, rava masala dosa, ghee podi dosa, Poori idli, pongal, vada and filter coffee. I liked the podi idly, pongal and thovayal dosa.Coming to the dosa texture, I found the other dosas to be too crispy which I did not like. The filter coffee tasted bitter. Vada was not cooked through and I had to send it back because there was uncooked dough inside. The Poori was nice though. The overall service was a bit slow and could be speeded up.

Kovai is our absolute favourite place to go for veg meals in the bay! We've been here sooo many times and their special menu for festivals always hits. Their filter coffee and masala chai also deserves a special mention, perfectly made to individual preference. They are usually crowded on weekends which is completely justified given their quality, taste and customer service, so be sure to add yourself to the Google waitlist. A special mention to Mr. Sabarish who takes care of us everytime we are there. Knowing our sweet tooth, he sometimes generously gives us second servings on the day's dessert. Love sweet gestures like this that instantly takes our experience to the next level :)

Authentic south Indian Food. Must try Podi Idli. Ask for spicy chilli uttapam. I find sambhar is too little and thick. Overall good place to grab a bite. Busy days must signin with waitlist.

Loved it. As soon as we walked in it felt like we walked into a cafe in Mumbai. The service was quick and helpful. Just loved the food, it was bright, flavourful, and so delicious. We had shared the Medhu Vada and the Mysore Kara Masala Dosa. A really nice change. We will definitely be back.