chennai cafe

let's just make this clear - i hate having indianfood- any part of it when abroad (barring the occasional bengalifoodcooked at home!) ... but this was an undeniably sweet or rather 'spicy' intervention to that! a quite spacious place with golden lights and culture oriented stuff - but basic.the interesting about the place - run by this simple south indian- whose a comp. sc professor in the state university by the day and manages this successful space at night,all along with his wife and a handful of his own students reaping employment benefits for them too!over all that - all the dishes - equally tangy, spicy and tasty! won't be good with the names - except the chettinaad curry, and all the other spicy marked chicken gravy's , and of course the shrimp vindaloo - goa relived here! the appetiser chicken madurai - a version of darker and spicier chicken 65 maybe but did overdose on that! and yes someone did also order an onion cheese uthappa - turned out to be so tasty - that finalised the whole along the tasting of others too!
just my suggestion here - do top up every curry with lemon juice on top, and the green chilly bites elevate the taste even more!
ps- the music - all native but such amazing beats and a roll to it! :d

authentic in taste and the wait time. i've read the reviews where others hadfoodthat wasn't good. the time i went, thefoodwas excellent. having lived in a couple of cities in india, thefoodat this place is the closest i've come in the usa to what you'd find dining in someone's home in india. i enjoyed the thali meal, of which there are both veg and non-veg versions. it's fairly close to what i had in bangalore. the sambar could use a bit of improvement but still was pretty good. it's sort-of an unwritten assumption that you can't find authentic indianfoodoutside of the home, but this restaurant comes pretty close.
that said, just as in india, service takes a long time. they recently expanded their dining space, but don't seem well organized yet to run a larger operation. i hope things settle in. lunch takes far too long, and that means it's not feasible to go during work hours. unfortunate. perhaps they should consider offering a lunch buffet so people can get in and out quickly.
in summary, people accustomed to dining in america will want more consistency with the service. but for someone seeking the closest to authenticfoodoutside of a private home, this place should be on your list.

i did not like at all it was below ok. the prices are not worth thefoodit's overrated by 1 million. don't go!!!!!!! if i were you i liked coconut express way better.

they have the best indian cuisine in the dfw area for sure as i have visited practically all indian restaurants in the dfw circle. nothing beats chennai cafe in taste offoodand the ambience inside the restaurant is superb. their lunch buffet is extraordinary per se everyday and luckily they have a dinner buffet too on wednesday’s. i love visiting this restaurant every month as it’s close to my home in frisco. i hope they continue to remain this great in the future. i visited last week for dinner and found out that they have a dinner buffet too every day of the week. just keeps improving their quality. i believe 5 star is not enough a rating. another impressive improvement is that now they have a buffet for dinner everyday and something special for sunday too. keep going chennai cafe😊 last sunday, i had visited for dinner buffet but i didn’t find it as impressive as the other days. so, something to work on for the chennai cafe management.

chennai cafe is a buffet restaurant with a wide variety of indian cuisines served as buffet. there is ample variety offoodavailable but i felt most of it tasted different from what it was supposed to be. mutton biriyani and some other non vegfoodwere good. veg options did not taste like it should be. need to improve on the dessert section as well. the ambience is good and the staff is friendly. altogether a decent buffet restaurant to try different indian cuisines.🙂🙂

i lived in dallas for 18+ years and been to all the indian restaurants. i did go to this place before and it was not bad. recently (july 03, 2017) i went to this restaurant with my family and few guests came from california and this was my worst experience. really really bad service and worst indianfoodi ever had in usa. it was really as embarrassment and i repent for taking my guest to this place. i will never ever go to this place again or suggest any of my friends.

been meaning to visit 'chennai cafe', ever since i landed here. my friends promised me that this is the ultimate destination for anyone who is looking for some delicious south indian fare in and around dallas.

so i went along to see if the place actually deserved the positive word of mouth reviews that it had been receiving. it was the last day of spring break and i saw a signage at the reception, buffet lunch for 15.99 usd. free for kids. there was a big crowd at reception consisting of people who were waiting for a table. just when i was on the verge of giving a minus 2 for chaos, a lady in host uniform guided me to a nearby sofa and asked me to register my name on the waiting list and informed me that it might take atleast 20 minutes to get a table. being the brave soul that i was, i decided to relax and wait, how could i return empty stomach from the supposed mecca of south indian good!? in about 15 minutes, an elderly bearded gentleman took me to my table in a very gracious manner. must have been the owner of the place, not sure though.

i decided to take a tour of the mindboggling array of dishes first. saw a live dosa counter, samosa chaat counter, fish, chicken curry, chicken tandoori, mutton, paneer makhni, bhajjis, curd rice, rasam and what not. the desert spread was also good. gulab jamun, rasmalai, and dry sweets. couldn't taste everything obviously. fish was delectable and also the dosa. quality offoodwas definitely a 9 on 10. but the best part of the restaurant is the superb personalized service, the host coming upto our table multiple times to check if we needed anything else and the waiters filling up our glasses even before it was halfway down. i was pleasantly surprised and mentioned the same to the hostess. real time compliments are the best and i felt the restaurant deserved it. had fresh orange after the meal, paid extra for that as it was not part of the buffet menu. the juice was actually freshly squeezed as i could feel the pulpy strands in my mouth. overall, a great experience at chennai restaurant. bit pricey, but worth it.

best place for tamilfood,

was here for buffet , they did serve it on a bannana leaf which was really exciting.

the flavours were authentic must visit place

best place to have south indianfoodin dallas. period.

the ambiance is quite south indian with melodious south indian songs playing on the speaker. the place is huge and you don't feel overcrowded even with each table occupied. order anything or everything here, and it will be served authentic indian style and will tastes equally delicious. service is quick and awesome. 

do try:
*fresh fruit juices at the juice bar
*filter coffee
*chettinad chicken entrees
*chettinad fish curry
*dosa/wada/idli

place looks nice. all south indians from nearby areas flock there for homely food. but the waiters are not so smart. served water in visibly broken n unclean glasses.foodwas alright but per indian standards, i found it average. on the upside they do give local kids bands a go for playing their music for charity.

this is the best place to have south indianfoodin frisco. 

the dosas come nice crisp and brown and the idlis are steaming hot and soft.
i love their besibella bath and coffee too. 

we also tried the thali which was pretty good.
portions are quite generous. 

the service is a tad bit slow, especially on weekends... 

a meal for 2 costs around $30

chennai cafe .... one of the finest south indian restaurant. this place is just awesome....foodis good.... service is good....foodrunners are providing great service.... and the ambience is clean and good.... great place to hangout with friends and family :)

was recommended highly but turned out to be a disappointment. service could improve a lot.foodwas cold. needed to ask for warming it up, which was done more as a favor than obvious service. other dishes ordered were cold. dosha had raw uncooked potatoes in vegetable mix. i guess the restaurant was very crowded, they have catering services and may not have had the capacity to focus on in house guests

no no a big no stay away. today we went here for lunch, we ordered non veg thali and chicken biryani and chicken 65.
even though we were hungry like anything it was worstfoodwe ever ate. i can maximum give them may be 2 out of 10. chicken biryani was like chcken pongal. stay away, waste of money even a simple restaurant like bawarchi is better than this one. only good thing is hospitality 6 out of 10 in indian style:)

chennai cafe is not know how to cook briyani. "i mean it" arcot briyani rice is two big and hard to chew, very dry. next thalapakattu briyani two much oil. spices are well grindered ( you can not see single piece of spices) and mixed with over cooked rich with the help of mutton(goat). it will not digest if you have it in the night.foodwill stay in the chest. the last one is amboor briyani that's just more spice and more red chilly powder that's all... no difference in the taste it's another version of arcot briyani and dry big size rice. this shop is not for briyani lovers but you can have other items, those are all good taste. your cooker made briyani is better than these briyanis.