ratna cafe

masaldosacontains only less nasal waste of buying masaldosaanddosais too small not worth for buying 200 rs and sambar and chutney is only 1 box for 2 person

tifin sambar not there.
masaladosano masala.
sambar just coloured warm water
great ratna cafe.
keep it up👊

great place when tastebuds are seeking south indian delights. their ghee roast podi idly is amazingly crispy on outside and soft on inside. masaladosa, ghee roast dosa, filter coffee.. awesome.

cheap packing with foil paper,dosaidlies taste an quantity is below par, worst experience overall. ratna cafe's legacy is mystery now

the whole plan of going to parthasarathy temple was just to visit the original ratna café because we had a horrible experience in the adyar branch. the first big mistake i did was to take car to the restaurant. best thing would have been to park the car in temple premises and walk but as the closing time was nearing, we were not sure whether it’d be safe to keep the car there so took it out to see if there was any parking space nearby. there was absolutely none. so, we had to return all the way back to the temple premises to park the car. so, take the bro tip, never take car to ratna café or park it in the temple lane.

we were so tired after all the drama and was worried whether place would be crowded but thankfully it was not. piping hot sambar being poured over in all the plates across the tables was a sight to behold. so naturally we bought sambar idly for everyone and continued with paneer masala dosa, plaindosaand vada. dripped everything and had a blast. icing on the cake was coffee which was excellent.

more than the food the place appealed for the nostalgia. we haven’t been there before but middle-class families with two kids reminded of our past when we were staying in a similar area. and that worked like a charm.

one item specialdosamissing very much upset kids are tensioned

side dish taste was very bad anddosasize is not worth for the money i paid

thedosawas worst. it was sour taste. they gave a very very small cup of sambar for the dosa.

just one sambar with twodosavery less..not worth money ..

i'd rather begin my review with a word of caution:-) or disclosure of sorts - i'm a kannadiga , new to the city and critical about most things in general. a casual search for legendary eateries of chennai is how i found this place. quite iconic, 'since 1948'! the place was teeming up with people during covid times and at 8.30 am, this alone should give anyone a hint of its popularity. we zeroed in on sambar idly, rava dosa, masaladosaand kaapi. sambar was darker than what we get in karnataka and more like a gravy. idlies, must say, were disappointing. nothing much to add about dosas either. masaladosawas in fact undercooked. the only saving grace was the coffee. the three stars are for the coffee. on the brighter side, the service was super fast. i definitely have had far better food at far less price. i ended up paying 360 rupees, which many would agree is tad too expensive.

the idli wasnt soft as rayar cafe but decent.
the sambhar is coconut grated and also small onions added. the coffee is amazing as well the milk is thick and decoction is of good quality. the sambhar goes to all other locations from here. its very close to parthasarathi temple hardly a km. i havent tried other dishes likedosaetc.

triplicane ratna café is widely known for its idly-sambhar. to enjoy the authenticity of ratna café's idly-sambhar and to tick one off from my bucket list, i visited the ever crowded outlet in triplicane for breakfast on a hot sunday. luckily we had a table available in the ac hall and we got our selves seated. my friends and i ordered 2 idly-sambhars with medhu vada and one plaindosaalong with 3 strong coffees(because breakfast is not complete without ending it with a strong filter coffee).

the idlies was served within minutes anddosawithin 5 mins. idlys were brought in with coconut chutney and a pan full of sambhar. the sambhar was served over the idlys until the idlys were submerged in it. i was excited because i had been waiting to savour the ever famous ratna café's sambhar the first time.

the sambhar was truly authentic. i could literally drink the entire sambhar if served seperately. it was that good. idlies were good. they were quite larger than the usual idlies that you get in other veg restaurant giants in chennai. the plaindosawas good too. it was half roasted not completely white just as i would like. medhu vada was the only one that was not upto the standards of the highly reputed restaurant. it was not hot, was not soft enough. it was difficult to cut it to small pieces with the spoon since it was hard on the outside. it was probably because the vadas was made earlier on the day and it was served later to us. by the time i finished my first idly and completed half of second idly the server served us with onion chutney a.k.a kaara chutney. we weren't sure why it was served for idly-sambhar as well but it tasted good. it would have been better if they served it earlier along with the idly and dosa. we were done with the food and coffee was served to us.

i always prefer a strong filter coffee so i made sure the waiter knows i want my coffee strong. when it arrived it didn't look as good as the hot chips filter coffee but when i tasted it, it surely didn't disappoint. the coffee was good and strong, sugar perfect. i was completely satisfied with the filter coffee.

i'd rate the breakfast as below:
idly-sambhar: 5/5
medhu vada: 3/5
dosa: 4/5
filter coffee: 4/5
ambience: 3/5