Udipi Cafe

I’ve been to Udipi Café twice, and the food was delicious and extremely filling both times. Everything from the filter coffee to the thali tastes really good. Authentic Udipi cuisine, I’ll say. They’re also very good at improvisations — give their paneer masala dosa a try.

While waiting for your dinner please look up. The lighting fixtures are filled with dead cockroaches. I want to barf thinking about it. The food is authentic as all get out but how can you eat after you see that?

I had the best cut mirchi bhaji so far. Really delicious. Tried pav bhaji, onion Rava masala, Mysore masala dosas. All were amazing and filling. And if you fond of all wada’s and samosas, try the udipi assorted special. It comes with a the variety of chutneys. A good place for South Indian brunch.

Food is ok (probably 3 stars). Service is consistently underwhelming. Stopped going there.

I love this place. Ok so the service can be a bit weird. But they are quick and no bs kinda folks. And oh god the Rasam is to die for. I make it a point to try a different dish each time. But get the Rasam!!!

ugh-​ok for a desperate fix.

Veteran Dosa-​Vada Lovers will remember a chain by name «Udipi Woodlands»
Although the chain is no longer in existence the owners are the same.
This place servers some authentic flavors of Udipi be it Masala Dosa or Crispy Rava Dosa ya Idily-​Vada.
We generally go for the Appetizer Sampler and the Dosa Sampler, these 2 pretty much cover the whole menu (at least the ones you should try)
The rassam is really good so is the Chaas (OK I know Chaas is no udipi thing but they do a really good job at it)

Good authentic dosa
The best that we have eaten in NJ
Can compete with restaurants back home in India which is saying a lot

Food is inconsistent and okish only. I like the location and service but not food.

The best and favorite place for to go food. Their Chola Bhatura’s are the best I’ve ever had in the US. And they are consistent with the South Indian dishes.

Easily the place for the best dosa’s (rice crepes) in central NJ.
Took some time to figure out this place since most folks recommend Dosa Grill down the road, but in my opinion, the dosa’s@Udupi are much better (the coconut gravy can definitely be better).
One of their best hidden secrets is that they also sell their Dosa batter which is definitely better than the frozen batter that once can buy from the Grocery stores.
Don’t go in expecting great service on par with the big name restaurants, but if good South Indian Veg food is what you want, this is the right place

Okay food… BUT HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! They are not welcoming and act like its a burden to serve. I understand its a small restaurant so i shouldn’t expect great service but its low by small restaurant standards!!! Try: paper masala dosa if ur really hungry.
As always, live deliciously!

Trip #2 in two days… I changed it up a bit tonight. The place was packed tonight which was nice to see.
I decided on the Palak Paneer, delicious! This is a blend of spinach and a homemade cottage cheese mixed into a wonderful curry sauce. It was served with rice, raitha (cucumber and yogurt sauce) and these great little spicy pickles.
For dessert I had gulab jamoon. These were the dough like little balls made from curdled milk. They were really soft and were easy to cut into. There was a deliciously sweet sauce that they were sitting in that tasted like honey, sugar, rosewater, and maybe even saffron. These things were sweet and great! When I say sweet I mean sweet. I had some coffee to cut it with which was very tasty. I think they brewed coffee and added just milk to it, kind of like a latte but not sweetened. With all the sweet from the dessert there was no reason to put any sugar in it.
Great experience the last couple of days… I would recommend the restaurant to anyone seeking good quality vegetarian Indian food for a very reasonable price.

Udupi café is a quaint little place, simple in its layout and very ordinary seats & ambiance. However the food is wonderful and what one may call comfort food. The set dosa and potato sagu is my favorite and we would do the 30 min drive to have a meal there without a second thought.

The sambar just brought in all the Bangalore memories. Sweet and Spicy! The dosa’s — plain and rava were the perfect accompaniment to the Sambar. And the coffee in the traditional tumbler made the ambience so much more homely. The badam halwa helped us wrap the evening on a sweet note. If you are anywhere in a 20 mile radius, this place is definitely worth dropping by.

–Lunch time thaali is very good
–unlimited food in thaali including dessert
–very good service
–decent price

Food quality is very bad. It tasted stale as well.
Restrooms are not maintained well, they looked dirty.

I have been to Udipi Café at least 7 times in the last 6 months. I’d like to say that, as of today, there is no other place I can think of that would earn ⁵⁄₅ stars by me other than Udipi Café.
I wish I could remember everything from every experience and recount it all with perfect detail. But I’ll just touch on some of the highlights and then give an overall summary.
From the first time I came here, they were very accommodating with me being vegan and also not being able to tolerate really spicy food. They assured me nothing had dairy, butter, etc. and made nothing extremely spicy. I had the rava dosa with potatoes and onions etc. and ever since then I’ve gotten it almost every time. It’s one of my favorite dishes. We tried to order a bunch of things but they were randomly out of them, which wasn’t really a big deal. So we got an appetizer platter of whatever they had lying around the kitchen… and to this day I still really don’t know what each of them was!
They brought out a couple of random extra dishes without so much as a word and plunked them in front of us, quite clearly just because they had some extra sitting around in the kitchen. We weren’t complaining!
Our second time, I went with a group of 3 and the total bill was no more than $ 40 and we had nearly half to take home as leftovers. Got some tasty appetizers and great dosas! And a veggie/​curry-​style dish that was okay, but the flavor didn’t jump out to me too much.
One of the following times, I went with a group of 4 on a nice double date with my best friend. She’s vegetarian so she got some things with cheese in them that I can’t account for, but she seemed to love them. One cool thing about this time: the staff definitely recognized us because they just kept bringing out random extra things they had in the kitchen, which was really nice! Lots of tasty stuff.
One recent time right after I had gotten my wisdom teeth out and wanted a nice treat, we went here and got the dosa platter ($ 10.99) — I think this was definitely worth it. The portions could have been a little bigger but still for $ 11 it was at least two whole dosa’s worth on one big platter. I also got the yellow dal dish and it was sooooooo good. The flavor was just right and the thickness was great. My favorite experience at Udipi by far. Everything we ate in that meal was just wonderful.
Last time I went, I tried to get the yellow dal again and it was different… go figure! It was spicier and more watery, and the flavor wasn’t as sweet and savory. But I still enjoyed it. We got that big puffy bread thing with the chickpea dip, and it was too greasy. Our last experience was with a group of 5. Someone in the group got that unlimited appetizer deal and we all kind of took part in it. Also a pretty good deal. I guess the stuff on the front cover of their menu is definitely worth trying out.
The experiences here are different every time. I always love the food and am especially appreciative of the price. The food is worth the value. The staff are great, and I love their attitude. The focus isn’t on superficial small talk and pointless conventions, but just on running a restaurant. They have random extra food sitting around in the kitchen? Well, why not bring it out and give it to these customers, if it’s just going to go to the trash anyway? They don’t stop by every couple minutes to ask how we’re doing or to try to placate us with politeness, and I love how frank and straightforward it is. I like that it’s a little crowded and a little dirty and a little sketchy. It’s just perfect the way it is.
I’ll definitely be back here again for many times to come.

This was my first time eating at an vegetarian Indian restaurant and i have to say it was pretty good. I’m not a vegetarian and always have some kind of meat with my meal so i wasn’t really expecting to enjoy this meal as much as i did. We got a couple of different styles of dosas and a tomato based curry dish with cottage cheese. We also got this puffed bread dish with chickpea dip that was also very good. Service was very good and the people are really nice.
Not the cleanest place and the waiter coughed all over the menus while handing them to us.
4 stars for food
4 stars for wait service
2 stars for cleanliness

Still amazing! Come early as they tend to get busy around 7.30pm. If you BYOB, make sure you open your wine at home.
Their rava dosa is amazing!