Ganesh Bhavan

Very freshly cooked food. Different veg dishes everyday. Nice info Chinese dishes too. All veggies lover u will luv this place

Ganesh Bhavan is a very mediocre restaurant. Customer service was very bad and food was average.

I had just been once to this place. Menu is limited. I had ordered for spring roll dosa and was very disappointed cause it was stuffed majorly with undercooked beans. Chutney and sambar were okay. I would not go back again to this place.

Serves really good food. Mysore masala dosa is must try and masala tea. Serving size is quite big.

I was here 8.30 pm on 11/​04/​2015 because it was near to my hotel. I really don’t want to write this review, but considering the injustice on the food. I am Tamilian.
I ordered sambar vada, mix vehicle uthappam and a kouthu porrata.
First of all the sambar vada was over heated and served.
Second comes uthappam the chutney was spoiled,
Last came kotthu porrata damn the karma was spoiled, so i told the server he replaced with another fresh kurma which had very raw smell.
So bottom line I did not have any good food.
It was so horrible. Please don’t go here for dinner unless if you starve for death .
I hope you change your method of cooking and serving fresh food!

Where’s the zero stars?
Ganesh Bhavan is synonymous for bad food, shabby and dirty place.
There was food crumbs all over the place, the waiter, while cleaning a table next to us, pushed the leftovers from the table on the floor instead of scooping it up. Floors were smudged and grey all over the place.
Food was horrendous. Have an upset stomach after eating there. And, all of this on a weekend night. God knows how things will be on a weeknight.
I’m very tempted to report these guys to California Public Health Safety board and am pretty sure they will shut this place down as its so unhygienic.

This place reminded me of Indian darshini style food. The dosa tasted really good. Vada n idly were freshly prepared even it was at 8 in night. I totally enjoyed the food. They give an enormous quantity for a cheap price. Quality and quantity place. Must go. The only thing I didn’t like was the sambar. It just wasn’t interesting. But this can b ignored. Chutney was good. Overall must go place for Indian breakfast

The food is mediocre in this place. We ordered mini idlies, rawa dosa and spring dosa and all of them came up short.
The coconut chutney looks like was made from dry coconut and there is some other additive to make it thick– cannot put my finger on it. Did not taste good.
The rawa dosa felt like it was not cooked well and the masala in the rawa dosa was cold and slapped to one side.
The spring dosa did not have much taste to it. It felt like the dosa batter did not ferment well.
Considering the menu has Tamil letters and this restaurant is billed as a South Indian restaurant, it does not live up to it.

Pretty slow service and there are much much better options for South Indian food pretty close by. We had upma and idli. The upma was full of onion and the idli were a bit hard.

Of all places I’ve visited in the Bay Area for south Indian food, this is the best. Pleasant ambiance, soft spoken servers, and yummy food. Tried their mixed vegetables uttapam, mini idlis and sambar vada — very tasty and wholesome. The sambar had thick consistency and not watered down at all. The server was smart and split our sambar vada into two bowls, seeing two adults. Awesome experience!
[UPDATE Nov-​2015] This location is changing over to an Indo-​Chinese restaurant.

Really really good dosa. I know people recommend getting the Masala Dosa but I would even suggest the plain dosa. Reason being that once you taste the crisp, flat parts of the masala dosa, you’ll realize how good just that part is and you’ll end up wanting more. The filing is nice if you’re feeling hungry but it’s really not necessary.
Now if you want something with filling, get the Vada Curry Dosa. The crêpe part is a bit thicker but the filing is what makes this stand out. The curry inside is spicy and so delicious. It has a darker, heavier and smokier flavor. Both dosas come with sambar, mint chutney and a tomato chutney. The chutneys work well to cool down both the temperature and spice of the dosa.
One dosa per person is really more than enough food. My husband and I went over the top and also got the Sambar Vada which is that Indian «donut» sitting in a bowl of hot sambar (lentil soup). The sambar is seriously one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s thick, flavorful and hearty. All the other ones will taste watery and bland after this one. I saw another Unilocalers’ picture with two vadas in one dish with the sambar but ours came separately so we each had quite a bit of sambar to ourselves.
It’s really too bad Ganesh Bhavan is located in this plaza. It’s a bit quiet (at least until Bön Chon opens) but it’s worth coming here if you’re wanting South Indian food.

Went today to place an order for a party! The service and attention to detail in the tasting menu was superb, the food was authentic and customer service was amazing!
A new fav for the whole family and a must for recommending to friends!!!

Many years ago I was introduced to South Indian cuisine, and I loved it! I had a regular hot spot my friends and I would hit up, and I frequented often. Then one day I show up, and it’s closed! Forever. Come to find out the place I completely got hooked on was closed down due to tax fraud and human trafficking! What the??? I was supporting some guy that had underage girls as sex slaves? That’s horrible!!! In my defense, I had NO idea of the evil that went on behind that restaurant of my distant past, but I never came across South Indian cuisine again … until now.
Ganesh Bhavan is awesome! I ordered the masala dosa, and my husband got the Ravi masala — and for both of us, a tasty mango lassi beverage! It brought me back to my past, and now I am guilt free knowing this place has good food without the criminal background! Great food, wonderful customer service, & fantastic Bollywood TV with English subtitles to boot!
If you’re sickly curious about the place I used to go, check out Women Against Sexual Slavery at

It’s a shame, and completely horrifying that something as atrocious as this STILL exists in our world today. Even worse, that man still has a ton of properties owned in Berkeley to this day.

This has become my new go to place for when I get dosa cravings. We came here for the first time around 7:30 and the place was empty. We ordered onion pakoda, masala dosa and kothu parota. It took about ten minutes for the pakodas to be ready and we spent time watching a Telugu movie on the tv. The pakodas came and tasted really good, the portion size was HUGE though. Also really liked the tomato chutney that came with it. The masala dosa was huge as well and much cheaper than the other dosa places around. The masala was more spicy and had vegetables, different from what you usually get at the other ‘bhavans’. The kothu parota looked really good but we were super full already and just took it to go instead. Had a small sample and it was yummy. The server was very nice but he was the only guy around. It looks like the place gets more to-​go orders than dine in. I would order from here again.

I’m going to give this place five stars for excellent food and customer service. I’d heard about their dosas and wanted to try one during my late lunch run. When I pulled into the parking lot and started for the front door, I noticed the ‘Open sign’ wasn’t on. I double checked hoping for the best but nope. As I turned away one of the men standing out front waved me in. So naturally whenever strangers beckon me to follow them I do. It was a good thing I did because it was the owner and he prepared me one of the best dosas I’d ever had. It was the spring dosa with potatoes. He also gave me a free order of samba w/​a lentil cake, too. He had me at the after hours dosa but I’ll definitely be back again.

First time visit today and absolutely loved the food here! This is possibly one of the two or three most authentic south Indian restaurants I have eaten at in the Bay Area.
The review is for the food. My measure of the authenticity of any south Indian restaurant is their sambar and I usually get the sambar vada (deep friend lentil doughnuts dipped in a lentil based soup with vegetables). It arrived piping hot, as requested, with a couple of nice chutneys on the side. The vadas were delicious, well soaked and falling apart under your spoon. Extra sambar, when requested, arrived in huge servings and with a smile. Right there, I decided the food was 5 stars. My mom, who was with me, also agrees.
I also tried the vadacurry dosa, something I’ve never had before. It too, was fantastic and served real hot and steaming! You can tell that the food gets directly to your table when it’s done — no waiting under a heat lamp. For that reason, if you’re a group, you may not all get your food at the same time, if that’s important to you.
Don’t come here for ambiance or if you are in a hurry. They are short staffed and pretty much one person handles most of the «front-​of-​the-​house» tasks. I’ve read several bad reviews for the service. I can understand where they come from but it’s not «bad» service, just «slow» because they are understaffed. I will deduct a star for this but the food was just so incredibly good that I’ll still recommend this place.
This restaurant was originally in Milpitas and my mom had been there a few times with a friend several years ago. The owner saw her and recognized her and chatted with us for a bit — that’s pretty nice :)
~ 4 solids stars for the authentic food. Go when you’re not in a hurry. It’s worth the wait!
# 315

This review is only for the masala dosa. I love south Indian food. Went there on a Friday evening with my mom. Since she is a vegetarian, I decided to try the place after reading good Unilocal reviews. Both of us absolutely loved the dosa from the very first bite. Had to order extra sambhar! One dosa was enough for both of us. My love for south Indian food increased after trying this place. Also, they gave us free gajar ka halwa (carrot dessert). I would definitely be back!

Went here a month ago with family.
Great taste and variety of south-​Indian food at a very affordable price!
Highly recommended.

Average fare.
Sambar was good
Vada was below average
Idli was OK
Masala Dosa was average
Rava Dosa bad
Come on guys! You can do better. I hate leaving a review below 4 stars but I have to be true to myself and you and everyone else. It only helps.

Service wasn’t too bad as there were only a few people in the restaurant at the time. The curry vada dosa I ordered was awesome. It was packed with flavor and spice — pretty much what I hoped for and more.
And then everything changed when I discovered a long lash of hair that was folded between the dosa wrap. I called the waiter over and pointed this out to him. He was very apologetic and took it away immediately. Waiting ensued but it wasn’t long before he came back out with another freshly prepared dosa. I carefully prodded around the wraps, feeling unnecessarily weary about the quality and condition of the food that is being presented. Everything looked good so I bit into it. Wish that was how this story ends — but alas, I discovered another piece of hair, short and curly this time, embedded AND baked into the dosa wrap itself. Dreadful.
So yeah, I called the waiter over and pointed this out. Asked him to just take it away and give me the bill. This was definitely a first and last visit for me.