Madras Chopsticks

Delicious food i have ever had after coming to Herndon.
We tried rava onion masala dosa. Awesome taste.
second review in Unilocal.

I agree that the service isn’t the greatest but this is my go-​to place for doas and idlis. Love the savory sambar and their chutneys.

I was a regular customer of Madras Chopsticks since last 7 months. Before, I liked their food specially Chicken Biryani which was tasteful. It had boneless chicken that was tender, beautifully cooked and plenty.
I went to Madras Chopsticks last month to order Chicken & Mutton (Goat) Biryani, and they have really cut corners to jack up their profits.
Their chicken biryani now is bone-​in. The chicken is tasteless, and there is no transition from rice to chicken. Usually to make a biryani, chicken and rice are cooked together so there is a transition of flavors between rice and protein.
Worse was their Mutton (goat) biryani. It had 5 small shreds they called mutton pieces in the whole meal. Yes five! I counted. I basically paid $ 11 or so just to have rice.
Madras Chopsticks you just went greedy to jack up your margins. You cut corners, reduced protein quantity and made your food stale. You lost a customer in me. Good luck!

Don’t eat here, better off at Minerva! Food and service very subpar. Ordered the triple delight (chicken, shrimp, lamb) but only got two meats, no lamb. Supposedly they forgot, when I had to ask to fix one of their main ingredient I noticed was missing. If that’s true what else is missing? More likely they try to rip u off!

The resuarant is decent, for what it is. The only reason I’m giving it a 3 star is because I love the Chicken Thai Fried Rice and Manchurian. It really reminds me of the Chinese food I used to have back home, in Mumbai. I dont really like anything any other than that.

I had some work in Herndon area and thought of trying this place for lunch to-​go. My experience is no worse than many reflected here, a REAL BAD SERVICE.
My food arrived 15 minutes later than what was promised. While I was waiting, nobody cared to let me know that it was getting delayed. The team is very inexperienced and is a circus.
On the food side, it was mediocre, compared to that of Asian Fusion, another Indo-​Chinese joint.
For now, its not a place to venture into until they improve their service and food.

Good food but PATHETIC service.
The waitresses gives u an obliging looks as if U have asked them for free food or they are just incapable of handling the pressure in an appropriate way.
Take a to-​go that’s a better option. You might not be able to enjoy your food otherwise;)

Really good and authentic South Indian food! Loved the Kothu paratha and veg biryanis… Good service! Nice options for South Indian veg combo.

Where do I start with. my friend took me hear saying to eat dosa and Chicken Manchurian. Pathetic Service very loud shouting’s from kitchen after all that server looks very tired and dull.
all of a sudden we got red color fried rice saying it is chili garlic fried rice Manchurian and dosa.
no garlic in rice just red chili and salt added no flavor. Very disappointed cannot say any thing just left the food and eat dosa.

Horrible service. Waitresses looked tired and uninterested, not very welcoming. I ordered the chicken biryani and was not told that it would be served SUPER spicy. I couldn’t eat more than 2 bites. We asked the waitress if they could make it less spicy, and she responded with no, that’s how it’s served without apologizing or asking if I wanted something else. Indian coworkers tasted it and agreed it was way too spicy. They had a note on their menu which said they charge extra for to go boxes. Interesting? We joked we’d bring our own to go boxes next time. But, after the food/​service, we agreed we actually wouldn’t return. Should have read the reviews first. Someone mentioned he wouldn’t even eat the biryani if someone gave him $ 500 :)

Really good place to eat Dosas and Idli. I like their Mutton Biriyani also.
Their Lunch Combo is pretty good too. I have eaten here numerous times and the food has been consistently good. I am a regular customer :-)

Taste of breakfast food like dosas, idly, puri was nice. Biryani is kind of okay. After lunch for 8 people, they said they will charge 15% extra if they split the bill (how dumb).

It’s good place to go, I like the dish that chili garlic rice! I enjoyed and I remember the Hyderabad chopsticks which is very famous in madhuranagar! I’m satisfied with food that I had today.
I will give rate 4.

Pathetic service. Ordered soda, and they brought water without ice. Asked for the soda twice, but still didn’t bring the soda. The water cups weren’t filled throughout my stay there. And in the end charged me for the soda even though they never served it.
Then when our group tried to split the bill, they said they only take one credit card per table. Ok… Then no American Express or Discover… Ok… Asked for a to-​go box, charged $ 2 for that… nice.
Food wise, I ordered the chicken biryani and let me tell you, if someone would have paid me $ 500 to eat that again, I would pay the $ 500 to that person and say no thank you. It was high on the flavors to the point that’s all I could taste. The chicken was overdone and looked like had been reheated in a microwave.
One of my mate requested to have potatoes inside their dosa, and the waiter understood but all the three dosas came out without the potatoes. They served the potatoes when they were done eating and charged $ 3 each for a tiny bowl of potatoes.
In a group of 4, all of us received our food at various times to the point that two of my colleagues were done eating and then I received my entrée. Pathetic.
Some of the food maybe good, but there are millions better options for Indian food in the DMV area. Save yourselves the hassle.

A big fan of their hakka noodles. Tastes like what we get in road-​side stalls in Mumbai (n every Mumbaikar knows that tastes the best). The veg fried rice is great too.
Can’t say much about the rest of their dishes. Haven’t tried them, cause never felt the urge to veer away from the tried, tasted & loved.
4 stars just for their hakka noodles.

I am writing this review specifically for the Indonesian-​Chinese food that I ordered for delivery. I don’t know how their dine-​in service is or how the south Indian food is. I did get a call within 10 mins of having placed the order that they were backed up, and that it’d take 60 to 90 mins for my food to arrive. They get the one star for that.
Now, onwards to the food itself:
I ordered mushroom Manchurian, veg schemes fusion, and Chinese chat. Now, Mushroom Manchurian is typically mushroom halves rolled in cornflour, deep fried and then tossed in manchurian sauce. What I got were very crispy small sized fritters with no sign of mushroom anywhere. They basically just very thinly sliced and diced the mushrooms so as to hide all of it’s taste and then smothered it in cornflour and some generic sweet/​sour sauce. I have never ever tasted mushroom manchurian this bad. Never. Ever.
Next, Chinese Chat: These were crispy chinese noodles — the same ones you eat by dipping in duck sauce. The noodles were tossed in a generic sweet/​sour sauce along with red onion and couple other veggies. Definitely not what I had I mind. Chinese Bhel/​Chat is a fairly popular Indo-​Chinese dish served as appetizer. This killed mine fairly rapidly.
Finally, Veggie Szechuan Fusion and Fried Rice: Oh well, they didn’t send the fried rice that I requested but rather the steamed rice that I did not want. I know my szechuan. I know what it is and isn’t. The sauce in this dish was no szechuan (or schezwan as it is known in India). It was an extremely sour and sweet nightmare. I was not able to eat more than four spoonfuls, and that too because in love veggies in general. Again, I have Never EVER eaten such bad indian style schezwan food.
I am well aware of the difference between the typical american chinese szechuan style, and it’s indo-​chinese variant the schezwan style that is one of the most popular street foods in India. What they served me here was neither one. Stay away! If you’re looking for good Indo-​chinese in Herndon, try the Bamboo Inchin on Worldgate Drive.

One star because you can not continue without.
I sat down, the waitress was very nice and greeted me promptly. She brought me a glass of water with no ice. Ok not a prob.
Now comes time to order. So I asked for the hot sour soup and chick pea salad as an appetizer. For my lunch entrée, I ordered the palak.
They don’t offer bread or crackers, etc. Nothing!
All these employees are running around, yet looks like nothing is getting done, very chaotic, but no customers in the restaurant.
Then, I hear some buzzing noise in the back, some guy is in the back zapping flies with what seems to be some high tech fly swatting mini tennis racquet type looking gadget. Everytime it killed a victim, it made this disturbing buzz noise.
The soup arrives. I’m really focusing on this guy and the tennis racket, fly swatting zapper apparatus. I stir the soup around and around hoping not to find any of those zapped flies.
The ingredients were old, the mushrooms melted before I could even bite down on them, nothing sustained itself in that soup! I didn’t eat it.
So…where’s my chick pea salad? Waitress says, they are making it now. NOW? I said?, I wanted it with my soup? she said, well «you will get it with your entrée» I’m starting to get irritated.
I heard a DING! what’s that??? Before I turn around to look at this microwave that’s by the kitchen door, HOLY HELL, some guy comes walking from out of the back area, clothed but SOAKING WET from head to toe! WHAT THE HELL? Did he just take a bath in the sink, or did he just hose himself down out back?!
Still no chick pea salad.
Guy still zapping flies, I think he’s the owner, doesn’t give a shit. I’m losing confidence about my lunch.
Oh here comes the chick pea salad AND the fucking entrée.
I’m pissed, but hungry.
Might I tell you, I drank most of the water, with no ice. I waited, just to see if there would be a miracle and the waitress would come around and offer some ice water. You’d have a better chance of getting picked up in the Mojave desert by someone who’d just happen to have a bottle of water. So yeah, no dice!
I get up and go to the ice machine, guess what, no ice! So I sat back down, like a bad customer, and asked for ice water.
Guess what? It I was in some secret storage place on the side bar. Had I known that, or if ALL these busy looking employees that walked past me while I’m trying to milk the ice machine for ice, would just offer up the secret hiding place of the ice, they may have just earned one more star! NOT!
More water please, and get the fly swatter over here, FUCK IT!, just give me the check! Oh… no worries, she is bringing it now, I didn’t even have to ask for it!

The food served here is mediocre in taste. Most of the foods are very high in oil. I think they need to reduce the oil content.
Though the ambiance and the taste of food in this restaurant is just mediocre, the service is always late. The dine area directly over looks the kitchen entrance behind the money counter. And, most of the times, I was constantly disturbed by the petty squabbles & Unilocal from the kitchen.

Perfect South Indian food ! Not too crazy — simple and tasty.

Sure NOOOOO!!! for Non-​veg.
I recently went to this restaurant and ordered for Chicken Biryani ($ 9.99+tax). They brought it in about 10 min. Asked for gravy. Sorry no gravy. only salad. Biryani came hot, felt like going to have a good dinner. when started eating, i didn’t feel any smell, as colored biryani rice (north indian style), then felt old chicken smell from it, when having next serve from bowl. Even the chicken pieces looked brown with several times of reheating and when chewing it was like hardened chewing gum. When checked with server, she took the bowl which has almost 75% of biryani, she came back and said. cook says he can make a new one. and also says this is good only. i said NO. then she brought the bill too for $ 10.49 for eating 5 spoons of biryani.
I had tiffins there. Dosas were good. But i would not recommend this restaurant for non-​veg as it may bring food poisoning.