house of dosas

i think this is a great place for indian food and it has become a spot for indians to hangout .. and most importantly it is open till 3 in the morning.

i got the special on tuesday which was any koutho roti for $9.99. i got the lamb. i never are this dish before. texture was ok. flavour was ok. portion was good. nothing too special.

i disagree with the 4+ rating.

great dosas with many varieties for both vegetarian & non-vegetarian. they have a special on monday night . all dosas is $5.99! your opportunity to try other dosas that you want. they have variations of spicy that you can choose from. service is good & staff is friendly & helpful. the dosas are nice, hot & crispy when they come out.

2.7. the quality of food has slipped over the last couple of years. when we went they seemed to be understaffed as there were only two servers for the entire restaurant. they were very friendly, but it took awhile to get to us which was expected. we had gone back a couple of times, but unless things start to change we will not be returning.

what a fantastic place for dosas, they’re also open later than most restaurants and they have the most yummiest south indian food i have tried! so much to choose from and each dish, each preparation tastier than the last. love it, can’t wait to go back!

a couple of years ago, the fiance and i tried house of dosas a few times. the first time was delicious, and was how i was introduced to chicken biryani. the second and third times weren’t as good though, so we stopped ordering from them. since it’s been awhile, we decided to order from here again and see if it was any good two years later.

it's seems like a small family run place. we ordered chicken 65, a lamb dosa and a fish vindaloo dosa. they asked us how spicy we wanted and we told them very spicy. the chicken 65 was well fried and the chicken was tender but it was not really chicken 65, the chicken 65 is always tossed in ginger garlic- curry leaf based- masala which this one was not. 
anyways the biggest disappointment turned out to be the dosas. the dosas were really below average. we used to get better dosa at our college mess compared to this. first everything was missing salt, two other people asked for salt so it was not just us. the sambar, if you could call it that, was just flavored water. the chutneys were just meh. the lamb dosa had tons and tons of potatoes with few small bits of tough lamb mixed in. you could feed that seafood dosa to a vegetarian and he would never guess that they had fish cuz the fish was blended in with the potatoes if we didn't know that we ordered seafood vindaloo dosa we would have never guessed cuz you couldn't tell fish apart from all the potatoes. also vindaloo is a very spicy vinegar based curry which this was not. the potatoes mix for both the dosas tasted same (just like mashed potatoes) . we asked for spicy but everything was just plain bland.

i guess this place is more for non indian people who have never had a good dosa before, but as an indian this is a average dosa at best. having said that it is cheap and affordable and tastes ok so if you like cheap filling food then you can try this.

i’ve only had dosas twice before, so i am not a dosa expert, but i do know tasty. the dosa was crisp and light. the fillings savoury, flavourful and fresh. the coconut based condiments refreshing. the staff was efficient and friendly. our food came quickly, but we did not feel rushed. we has the eggplant and cauliflower/potato; both delish. i would go back again and again and again. hope you like it too.

great food. i got the experience of having my food, straight from my grandmother’s kitchen. the pure authentic south indian food in the city of vancouver. the kind of service here is really very good. the restaurant staffs over here, keep their customers happy and satisfied. special thanks to wasam and shilpa, they are one of the staffs in this restaurant. their service and approach are par excellence, no more words to say about them. house of dosas is totally meant for its food and hospitality.

i've been to this restaurant many times over the last few years and i've only had great experiences. everything i've ordered has been hot, fresh tasting, and well seasoned, both when dining in, and when taking out. a must-order dish is the fish pakora; lightly coated white fish accompanied with the most delicious spicy, slightly vinegary sauce to dip. the staff are always very friendly, courteous, and you can really tell that they're trying to make your meal as enjoyable as possible. the dining space itself is very clean and feels warm and homey. i can't say enough good things about house of dosas. it's the perfect place to enjoy an affordable (but awesome) meal!

we ordered chicken dosa, medu vadai and chicken biryani here on our visit today. it was very crowded, and there was a long queue of people waiting. luckily a table for two was there and we got it. the food was served pretty quickly despite being so crowded.

the food was decent, the chicken dosa could have been crisper on the outside, and the chicken masala inside wasn't up to the mark. it had a bland taste, no salt or no spice. medu vadai was decent, it was not at all crispy on the outside as it should be. the sambar and the chutney was okayish too, can be improved a lot i felt.

only saving grace was the spicy chicken biryani, which was yummy, the chicken pieces were succulent, tender and moist. the rice was beautifully mixed with the spices, and the chicken. the additional curry and the raita that was served with biryani age adds flavor to the dish.

overall 2 for the efforts / service and the ambience + 0.5 for the chicken biryani


edit: i found it’s good to visit these place when it’s less crowded.i ordered rava dosa and veg pakora this time which was quite good to what i ate last time. so i am changing the rating to 4.

update:
after a pretty rough experience at the restaurant earlier this week, where issues in the kitchen resulted in some extreme delays (scroll below to my original review for details), i received a message from the owner apologizing for the bad experience and inviting me back to the restaurant for a complimentary meal. i took him up on that offer, and returned to the restaurant for lunch on wednesday. since i've already had their famous dosas during my previous visit, i wanted to try something else off of their menu, and ordered the chicken biryani (details on the dish below). the dish was delicious (and they are serious when it comes to heat), as was the dosa that i had tried earlier in the week. the staff was incredibly friendly and attentive. what really got me though was the owner's graciousness and dedication to his customers. following this visit, my perception of this restaurant has completely done a 180. i would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for good indian food, especially if you enjoy heat.

chicken biryani ($13.99):
4.5/5
this is the first time that i've actually had biryani before, and i've got to say, if all restaurants had biryani like this, then i really should order this dish more often. i really liked the basmati rice, which was a bit firmer and had more texture than the type of rice that i'm accustomed to. it was filled with various herbs and spices, and was very flavourful and fragrant. there was a generous amount of juicy, boneless chicken (i'm delighted by the fact that they use dark meat) that was well-seasoned and very flavourful, and also a small whole egg. now, you get to choose the spice level for your dish. i initially requested the dish to be as spicy as possible, but chickened out (no pun intended) and asked for the 2nd highest level of spice instead. i had seriously dodged a bullet: the dish at the 2nd highest level of spice was already seriously hot. in most restaurants when i ask for my food to be spicy, i usually get something that's just mildly tingly; here, i was actually tearing up and had to drink a lot of water and also use the raitha that they served the dish with to numb the pain (i wouldn't have been able to handle the highest level). they seriously don't pull any punches here, and i'm impressed.

original review:
i really don't like writing negative reviews, but i've honestly had the worst dining experience in recent memory at this restaurant. i visited the place on a monday, which is when they have a special where all of their dosas and uthappams were priced at only $5.99. unable to resist such a great deal, i decided to order two dosas: their meat & mixed vegetable dosa (with chicken) and their cheese garlic uthappam. the food took over one hour to arrive. i'm not exaggerating: i ordered before 1:30 pm, and it was well past 2:30 by the time my dosas arrived. i've never walked out of a restaurant before, but i seriously came close. i have no idea what happened, whether this was just a rare, unfortunate misshap or something common to this restaurant, but i was seriously ticked off.

the food, when it did finally arrive, did taste pretty good (details below), but honestly at that point anything probably would taste good to me. although the staff members at the front of the house were relatively friendly and kept my water glass filled, and the prices are an absolute steal on mondays, i'm seriously quite put off by my experience and will not be returning any time soon.

meat & mixed vegetables dosa (chicken, $5.99 on mondays):
4/5
this consisted of a long, thin crepe enclosing a filling of potatoes, peas, carrots (and some other vegetables) and chicken, and was served with three separate chutneys. the crepe was soft, slightly chewy, and quite tasty on its own when dipped into chutney (my favourite is the red one). there was a generous amount of filling, which was also very tasty: the food was well seasoned, with a slight bit of heat, and the pieces of chicken were very tender and moist.

cheese garlic uthappam ($5.99 on mondays):
3/5
this is an indian-style pizza that's topped with garlic and cheese. unlike western pizzas, the crust was more fluffy and tender than doughy. i was quite surprised by the amount of garlic that was present; there were large pieces covering the entire top of the pizza, and the flavour did become a bit overpowering. i would have preferred more cheese (you can never have enough cheese) and a bit less garlic.

service time: 40 minutes for just plain dosa & 50 minutes for other dosas

taste: tasteless - no salt or spice.
i had the paneer masala dosa. it was literally the potato filling with pieces of paneer and raw onions. the raw onions might actually have been the better part.

the paneer 65 was also bland and red - i am saying fluorescent. (see picture)

ps. this was during a rather busy day.

rather save yourself some time and walk a little further to some place else.

open till late so that's a good advantage..their curry and rice combo is a good deal..found the the stuffing in the lamb vindaloo dosa really salty...

we are never afraid to try something new, and at the excited recommendation of friends we followed eagerly. described as "curries folded into crepes" is an understatement, but without a better choice of words to describe what a dosa is, this savoury experience should be done in person, not decided on a lack of a choice of better words.
i ordered the fish vindaloo, and my wife ordered lamb vindaloo. our friends ordered spinach and cheese dosa and the other was beef curry with onion dosa. although all were excellent, the onion dosa pushed it beyond good into the realms of excellent.
the dosa (crepes) are impressive and are beautiful as much as they are delicious. i enjoy quality more than quantity as long as the price stays within a reasonable budget. when we finished, we all had our fill and were impressed with the service; which was happy and prompt throughout, thus worth every dollar.
if i had any complaints, it was with the lack of bigger pieces of fish in my vindaloo although i still found it to be tasty. the other issue was with the spinach and cheese dosa. again it was tasty, the cheese used didn't seem to be very authentic. paneer (or something similar) was expected, but it appeared to be cheddar (or something similar). however because this was my first time eating dosa, i could be wrong in the assumption that our expectations were correct.
will we return, yes. our experience will be remembered and we want to build on those memories.