The best place ever. Very Authentic South Indian place everrr!! Karuna and all the other servers make sure you enjoy every bite of your food! read more

The food here is really good. It is authentic Indian food that reminds me of home! The reason the it's only a 3 star id because there was only one person in the front of the restaurant which made everything take really long to do. The kitchen makes all the food fresh so it took over 30 minutes to get my main course!! Every one was leaving the restaurant because of the wait they only have 6 tables but 24 people came and left!! The only way to keep this restaurant is for them to hire more people and get more tables. With out that this place will close down! read more

Been there in middle of week for dinner... Half of the menu items are not available Food taste is ok... wait for few weeks to see they keep this or now read more

This review is for a carry out order. I ordered 2 apps and 2 entrees and was given a timeline of 1 hour. I show up after an hour and was asked to wait for 15 minutes...it has been an additional 20 minutes and my order it's still not ready. Quiet frustrating to wait while hungry...:( read more

Food was absolutely greasy and oily. The curry had only leg pieces. I would never go back. very disappointed.

Food is great, but service SUCKS!!! It sucks so much, that even the good food starts tasting bad...

Best food ever. Takes long time to get food ready and prepared , but it is finger licking good.

I have heard good things about their food - but I never got to try it and not for lack of effort. There isn't enough seating in the restaurant and one has to resort to take-out. No matter when I call, there is always an hour and half's wait to pick up the order. They don't have an online ordering system and it is a long wait before some one picks up the phone. A great restaurant staffs up to meet customer demand - but not this one. So, great food (hearsay) but terrible customer experience. read more

The food is average, definitely not bad at all but not great either. The place is a hole in the wall kind of style that charges restaurant level pricing. The dosa size was smaller than what restaurants give you at the same price. It was packed when we went so I'm sure it is very popular, but I do not think we will be going back for what it offers. read more

Looks the restaurant staff is new to the business, they can't prioritize tasks we ordered 45 mins and some people around who came in after us were served first and some who were before us still waiting on food, more people were waiting in line to order food...for small place of this size...they definitely have issues...not good service. read more

Ate Dosa there but got charged $2 for extra sambhar! In this neighborhood, other restaurants don't or rarely charge for extra sambhar. Instead of paying $2 extra, I may rather go to another restaurant with better ambience and pay higher price with extra sambhar, chutney included. read more

Good place for quality south Indian food... Love Karaikudi fish curry here and they haven't disappointed me so far. Would have given 5 star if they have better dining area..they definitely need to expand.. read more

If you want to eat authentic South Indian food like back home this is the place. Had buriyani, Lolly chicken, kothu parata all we're super good. read more

One of the best indian foods in VA. Atleast from what i have had. Very consistent. Not enough place to sit and eat but take out is always good. Food is very tasty. True chettinad food. Only problem is the chettinad biriyani runs out on most days. read more

Excellent food, found it be very close to authentic tasting food ! I am sure the kitchen is equipped with a good group of chef !! However, the tiny place and limited seating availability along with a sloppy service nearly took away the experience of eating good tasting food. read more

Food is fresh & really good, wish they can go easy on oil. Service is a bit & a miss. Delicious food, not a fancy restaurant but a small sit down place in a nook but food is good & that is what brings us back mostly read more

This place offers authentic food and nothing else. The waiter was nice to us but some typical lady was after him.. we witnessed a show that does not happen in this country too often. Food is way spicier than what average Indian restaurant offers. That also makes it more authentic to Tamil cuisine. I would go there for food and not for ambience or great atmosphere. This makes it a reasonably priced desi restaurant that Indian only like to go the taste and nothing else. I am giving them a 5 star for catering the service/food exactly what we paid for. read more

Great South Indian restaurant in area. We had really great experiences with food and service. Their service was 5 star. We will come back to this place. read more

My first time @Chennai Express. I ordered Chennai Thalapakatti Mutton Biryani and Kozhi Vepudu, both were really good. The rice in biryani was different, but dont go by the looks, try it, lots of flavor in it. Kozhi Vepudu was good too. Will definitely try more dishes here. read more

Great food. Simple decor but authentic curries biryanis. Little crowded but worth the wait

I had the Dosa with fresh onions and green chilies. It was delicious and done to perfection. I will warn of a rush of people during lunch time on workweeks. read more

Very bad customer service.No one ever picks up phone ever ...always busy tone....this is very frustating....i think they haven't have a call waiting feature also. read more

We had lunch here ordered veg thali, food was good but price is high. Not worth for limited food.

The place was welcoming and it reminded me of India. I ordered the Chicken Chettinadu and it was very outstanding and I could not stop eating even when I was full. All the food comes out warm and that is how they emphasized the freshness of the food itself. I will definitely come here again and in my opinion should be given 10 stars instead of 5. read more

Amazing!!! Authentic Chennai food and street styled chicken fried rice, paruppu urundai kozhambu, avial are their bests!

Try the fresh Parotta & Salna flaky bread made with flour and seasoning.

The most authentic south indian dining in North VA. No wonder why this place is so crowded. Hope they take some measure to add additional space. Wish they maintain the same quality and taste in the future too. read more

An update to my visit before 15 days. They have improved their service time and seem to be quicker. It's so nice that they are progressing to be the best in everything. read more

Waste service ever....No Matter of taste of food in this restaurant .we had to wait 30 minutes along with kids and had to stand as they don't have any facility to sit.Very tiny place.they should have mention this at least in their website.Very disappointed with my visit. read more

Food is really Good.... Hope they maintain the quality

Flavorful Indian food, when they get it right. The owner seems nice, but the service is painfully slow. Mango lasso was delicious the first couple of times, but had an aftertaste the last time. Samosa took 25-30 mins and was cold in the middle when I received it. I will go back, eventually. I am hopefull that the consistency will come in time. read more

Horrible service, I know many Indian restaurants don't have the best service but this one tops it all. The dosa was just ok, the Gravy chicken was good but I'm not sure I'll ever dine here again due to the service. read more

Poor service. Food was probably good. But we never got to eat it because we waited for over 40 minutes but still did not get our order. We finally lost patience and walked out. read more

Fantastic South Indian (Tamil) comfort food. We got the vegetarian thali and masala dosa and both were very good! The chutneys served with the dosa were good as well. It's a tiny place with less than 30 places to sit , so you might want to call ahead or come a little early . We were here a few minutes before 12 on Friday for lunch so we got a table but within 10 minutes the entire place was crammed. read more

Let me first start with a positive note. The food tastes amazing. I personally love some of the South Indian varieties they offer. Jumping on to cons...you will be few of the luckiest if you hear the phone ringing while you try to place a carry out order. On the other side, a voice says, "can I put you on a 'quick' hold?" I should have known better...'Quick' is a relative term. In my case, the word quick calibrated to 23 minutes. You might wonder why on earth I waited that long! Just to learn how long it took for them to actually take my order. Secondly, I ordered a vegetarian dish. I was vegetarian on that specific day for a religious reason. I got home, opened the carry out box, all too excited and started eating my favorite, paruppu urandai kulambu. To my horror it had goat/lamb piece in it. I ate a good amount of it (without knowing). I felt deeply offended by this. So, I would like to caution all vegetarians, if you can't stand accidental meat in your vegetarian dish from Chennai Express, please lookout for meat pieces. I am giving 3 stars because I still do like their food. Hope this will make them change their business practices. read more