Dosa Factory

Sambar was extremely watered down, the green coconut chutney was bland, the tomato chutney was quite literally just tomato purée. I wanted to take my friend out to eat South Indian dosa for the first time and I was extremely disappointed with this place. The dosa and potatoes were decent, but could be way way better.

Went for a late night stroll around Newbury and thought it would be a good, easy way to get some good Indian food and wait out the snow. We decided to go for the entrees since my boyfriend can’t have gluten but rice and curry are great! I got the lamb korma while he got a vegetarian thali combo of aloo gobhi and saag paneer. They were really good and nothing beats warm naan!
Overall, it’s a bit pricey for Indian street food, but we still had enough for leftovers for later. The service was alright and they had a portable card swiper for those paying with credit card.
Not a bad stop to get your Indian food fix!

Don’t understand the bad reviews, my experience was the complete opposite. My wife and I had lunch and were very pleased. Both dishes were delicious and perfectly cooked. Food came out quickly and was hot and delicately spiced. I usually order dishes extra spicy but forgot this time. While mild, the flavors were subtle and very enjoyable. We both had vegetable dishes and a plain naan on the side. I usually find plain naan to be heavy and boring but this was light and crispy on the edges, a perfect side with the dishes we ordered. I plan to go again next time I am on Newbury street.

First off let me say that I’m not generally a critical person if the food is good I’ll be more then satisfied. Dosa Factory has mediocre ambiance and the food was just okay, I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here. And that will be the end of all the compliments. First off, the service is completely lacking I only saw my server once to refill my water as my meal was getting dropped off and I never saw her again. Not only that but there was a mosquito in my water gross much? I couldn’t even ask for a new water since she was never seen again. Especially since the food we ordered was spicy, water would have been nice luckily I have a Sapporo to drown out the spiciness. And granted there was only 2 other tables she couldn’t have been that busy. Not only that but this place is shady. It is to my understanding auto gratuity is sometimes placed on larger parties of 5+ not on a a party of 2. It would have been a bit more acceptable if our server notified us of that ahead of time. Dosa factory also uses tablets to check out customers at their table so when our server swiped my card she handed me the tablet to add additional tip on top of the 18% tip already applied. And lastly our server at the time we placed our order asked us if we wanted bread, some places give you complimentary bread so I just assumed it was complimentary, when I got the bill I noticed a $ 5 charge for the bread which isn’t that much of a big deal it would’ve been nice to know ahead of time again. It’s safe to assume this was my worst restaurant experience ever and that I will never be back.

This is probably one of the worst places I have ever been to. I picked up a friend at the Hynes convention center and we walked over at 11:30. We ordered 2 regular common items — a dosa and uttapam– within 10 mins. Our lunch was given to us at 12:35. Really? After the water whetted our appetite enough, I taste the uncooked store bought mixed vegetables in the uttapam. For a $ 25+ lunch, the quality, service and experience was horrible. Never going back.

Nice food. I had the lamb vindaloo dosa it was cooked well.
I wish the sambhar had more spice in it.
It gets jam packed around 12.30 if you want to get a place with no hassle come little early

Just as the 2 star states… Needs work!
When you enter the dosa factory seems like a nice little cozy place. Overall I thought the service was great they were attentive refilling drinks and always asked if we needed anything else. The downfall was in the food. We ordered several apps and meals to trip get a sampling of their menu. The Samoas chaat was great and after eating this we thought we would be in for a culinary ride. Unfortunately the rest of the food that we ordered did not hit the mark. The food was semi-​bland and required more spice and even the Dosa which is their specialty was soft and not crispy and the potato filling was not very flavorful.
So overall I would not go back to Dosa factory. I would go down the street and try the many different places around the corner.

I was a little skeptical eating here, after looking at some reviews it seemed like the food wasn’t very traditional. I took a chance on a cold day and a LARGE mysoor masala dosa definitely did the trick. The portions are hearty, in fact it hangs off of your plate (like it would in India), comes with sambhar (lentil soup), cilantro chutney, and… salsa? I don’t know why salsa was served, but just ignore it, no need for it in the dish. Good drink selection, and have a good variety of Indian food. Good atmosphere on Newbury street, will visit again.
Of note*, there is another Dosa Factory in Cambridge, which is oddly placed in the back of an Indian grocery store. The food was alright, but I didn’t really enjoy eating there.

My first introduction to dosas — indian street food with a light crêpe and chutney dipping sauces. Casual place with a long and varied menu, friendly service and good music. Very reasonably priced with generous portions, I can think of lots of reasons to come back, and none to stay away. I tried the chicken tikka dosa which was a big crêpe stuffed with lots of chunks of chicken, potatoes and onions. It was served with the helpful suggestion to cut down the middle where most of the stuffing is.

Is the food mild because Aimee is eating at our house this evening? This is what my friend’s five year old child wailed when the family had me over for homemade dosas.
I have no upwards spice limits in Korean or Sichuan cuisine. This made me arrogant. My request was that she not Americanize the dish. Let’s just say my friend’s «mild» version floored me.
This traumatic dining experience — which is literally seared into my memory– caused me to order medium at the Dosa Factory. You should not be cautious about the spice scales here. Be bold and go for extra spicy!
The quality of the vindaloo lamb dosa troubled me. The meat part was not high quality. I liked the crêpe portion but found it a bit oily. Although the kitchen was in close proximity to our table, the entrée arrived cold.
Here’s a qualification for this review/​rating. My dining companion’s research initiatives are actually focused on India. This has resulted in him visiting and living in the country for extended periods of time. He continues to rave about our dining experience (way beyond the standard 24 hour period).
You may want to disregard my review in light of this evidence. I could just have an Americanized palette when it comes to Indian fare.

This is actually my first review ever ! I have never eaten such bad Indian food in Boston. I had ordered from Dosa Factory two times– once I was craving paneer tikka and the other time pav bhaji and pani puri. The paneer tikka was SO DRY. Worst choice ever. And the pav bhaji had such a weird taste that I just took one, and decided to throw it.
I was walking on Newbury Street one day, and I thought of giving them one more chance (that maybe, just maybe their south Indian food will be good). But, No.
I could see the person working in the kitchen, without any gloves. The dosa was dry, the coconut chutney tasted like it was some kind of chemical and the sambhar was watery. The lemonade was just sugar and water.
Mind you, this was the Dosa Factory on Newbury Street. I have been to the one on Mass Ave just once, and the food was moderately good. But AVOID the one on Newbury Street.

Food yes, service yes, mixed drinks? Ah HELL NO!
Looks, y’all know that I’m down to eat and drink most things. I love Dosas and these were pretty good. Not super special, but cheap enough and largely stuffed!
But the drink OMG. It was supposed to be this Ginger, Whisky, Honey bevvie. Sounds good, right up our alley. BUT THEN, easily 15 minutes later we get this pink/​red drink… so, maybe we’re thinking we just got the wrong drink. But, Eric’s game, so he tries it. Makes a face and hands it to me… and I start to laugh my ass off. There’s no way that this is the right drink! Picture a watered down, fruity Bloody Mary. There’s no other way to really describe the randomness that was going on that glass… not only did it take forever to make, but it was just insanity. APPARENTLY, it has tomato juice in it… who knew whiskey drinks were supposed to have tomato juice?
NOT GOOD. Just stick to a beer and have the food. It’s good.

I love southern Indian food! The food here is good and reasonably priced, and we’re talking Newbury Street. I had a vegetarian dosa, and a side salad that was big enough to feed a family. It was $ 15 for both, I was full and happy at the end of the meal. I love me some dosa!
They had a creative menu. They had traditional curries and Indian food and the dosas. They had an American and Mexican fusion on some of the dishes. They get an A for creativity.
The staff was very friendly. The décor was creative. Casual atmosphere.

I have mix feelings about this restaurant. I would say that the central square location is a bit better than the Newbury one. A bit better because with that location I do not need to find fault with the servers.
The food is similar to the one in central square. I wanted a meat and vegetable combination which they did not have but they were happy to make it as an open order for a dollar extra. A dollar extra is pretty good. So it was a lamb curry and baingana bartha combination. It came with salad, yogurt and tandoori bread. I’m from Fiji and majority of the population there are Indians and Indo-​Fijians, so I grew up around that culture. Their Indian food I believe is from the South, and it is spicy. So I was disappointed that the lamb curry was not spicy at all. The baingana bartha, had a funny taste towards it, I can’t place my finger on it. The best of my meal would probably be the tandoori bread because it was just cooked right with butter. Mmmm hmmm
I ordered masala tea to go with my meal. And my tea was weak! I couldn’t taste much of the masala and the tea. I’ve had better.
As for the servers, they need to learn how to be more confident. I can easily see that they were unsure of themselves. They lack team work and communication. And one of their waitresses clearly looked bored (which I don’t mind too much, because as a server I’ve been told I look like that too sometimes).

I had decided long ago not to ever go to their central square location. But I’d seen the new location on Newbury street and we decided to give it a shot because we were near Copley. I thought that because it’s fairly new, opened in January, and perhaps has a different chef and management than the central square location, the food might be better.
The ambience is excellent, as is the location. The gentleman in charge of our table was also very polite, and accommodating to us and the guests near us. The dishes were plastic or steel and way better than the awful styrofoam in central square.
I’m not sure what’s so desirable about their sambhar recipe that they’ve copied it ditto from their central square location — I just don’t get it. While the dosas are passable, the sambhar (lentil-​based dosa accompaniment) is a disaster.
That said, the food is a shade better than the central square location but overall I was greatly disappointed. Not sure I should mention this here but my friend had a bit of an emergency after eating here — that’s all I’m willing to write in a restaurant review.
So while it’s a bit better than the central square location, I’d refrain from all dosa factory locations going forward.

Dog food factory! Would be the appropriate name. Only good for unsuspecting Americans who don’t have any idea of what is considered acceptable Indian Food.
Indian American should avoid this place at all cost.
Couple just before us sent all their food back including their drinks, disgusted and horrified! Thought of leaving the place but decided to give it a shot since we were hungry and it was already 9:30 pm.
Big mistake! Should have listened to them. Our dosa batter was horrible. Sambhar was stale and had horrible taste. The filling in the dosa was burned.
Ask the chef to come out and taste. He refused to even come out. Even the staff didn’t want to taste the food.
Then to add insult to injury they try to over charge by billing the item we didn’t even order. When asked the staff gave lame explanation that since they don’t have item from the menu we ordered programmed in their fancy digital order pad, they charged us for similar item instead (higher priced!)
The owner didn’t pick up our phone. Half our later he returns our call and expected us to wait for him in our restaurant trill he decided to drive in from another location. But, before calling us he never had brain to taste his own food, we complained about and left without eating. On top of it he was rude and hung up when I told him that I would not feed this to my dog.
Advice to Americans: go to any Indian GROCESSORY Store and buy frozen Deep Foods packets. You will get your money’s worth instead of this lousy place.

A small, but well-​lit place on the corner of Newbury St. The location is awesome, and the service was exceptional. I came here for lunch and shared the Meat Samosas, Lamb Vindaloo Dosa and Dahi Bhalla Chaat with one other person.
The Meat Samosas came with a spicy chutney, which created a great flavour combination. On the other hand, I found the meat to be a bit dry.
The Dahi Bhalla Chaat is a deep fried black lentil dish in a spiced yoghurt sauce. It was served cold, in a thick sauce, which was not what I was expecting at all. It wasn’t bad, but it was my least favourite out of all our choices. But my boyfriend absolutely loved it, and dipped everything in the sauce. He probably would have taken a Tupperware of it home with him if he could.
My favourite was the Lamb Vindaloo Dosa, which was basically a massive Indian style crêpe. The crêpe itself was delicious, and had a hint of garlic and salt. The sauce in the lamb vindaloo was amazing, and the lamb was incredibly tender. The sauces that it came with were delicious toppings for the dosa and everything else we ordered! And best of all, the dosa was like 3 ft long!

Wow!
If Indian Street food is like this then I’m taking to the streets. or I’ll just eat at Dosa.
I had no idea what to do with that Dosa, so I just dug in. Everything was fresh and so good!
Make sure you get the stuffed bread plate but beware, you will be stuffed.
The aesthetics were Greek, I mean great (it was a Greek restaurant prior to Dosa)

Very excited to see a second location of Dosa Factory in Back Bay. The prices are slightly higher but understandable since it is located on Newbury Street (former Steve’s Greek cuisine spot). Friendly staff, clean restaurant, and tasty food, all I need for a great dine in or take out experience. I ordered the chicken biryani and asked for very spicy. No joke, it was super hot but not overpowering the herb and spices flavor of the entrée. Garlic naan had the right amount of garlic.

Stopped by here because I wanted to try a dosa… I’ve never had it so I can’t compare it to any other places. The decorations for the place are very nice and it seems to be more of a sit down place than a fast, take out place. There’s a bar area near the register and they have a pretty stocked bar! I was pretty surprised.
The workers were all very friendly and I like that this place is tech savvy and has a touch screen for your to enter tip and mail yourself the receipt. Makes things easy.
I got the Mexican dosa Bc I was craving something that reminded me of sunny LA in this dreary and snow filled winter… The food came out quickly and I brought it home to eat.
My order came with a lentil soup, a side of guacamole, and fried chips (?). The soup def had a kick to it and was spiced nicely. The dosa was good and filled with meat and some veggies. It was also a good amount of food for $ 12. Definitely happy I stopped by and tried this place!