Ordered through DoorDash because they had a BOGO dosa deal, and I'm glad I gave this place a try! The dosas came with a generous amount of sambar and several different chutneys, all of which were very flavorful and complemented the meal well. I also ordered the samosas and biryani, and both were delicious. The portions were generous, and everything tasted fresh and satisfying. Overall, it was a great value for the money, and I'll definitely be ordering from here again. read more

Chennai Tiffins - Plain Dosa - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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First of all, I want to say that I was very compelled to leave a review right away. As someone who has spent a lot of time in South India, sometimes I really crave really good dosa, parotha, and other types of South Indian cuisine. I've been to this restaurant before, and they have always delivered with so much kindness. And I wanted to make sure that when I placed my order earlier today, I let the staff know how much I appreciate them. Because I really do appreciate this restaurant. What I didn't expect, was that they responded with a handwritten note. Aside from the amazing handwriting from this person, the amount of care and Love that went into making this experience great was amazing. I hope the entire staff knows how happy I was to enjoy their food that was made. And I hope that they do a good business always. I attached a portion of the note so that people can see that this place really cares about delivering the best quality. Onto the food. Absolutely fantastic meal! I ordered many parottas along with the malai kofta, and everything exceeded expectations. I also ordered the veggie patties. The parottas were perfectly flaky, buttery, and layered just the way they should be. The texture was outstanding and each one was fresh and satisfying. The real star was the malai kofta. The kofta was soft and flavorful, and the sauce was rich, creamy, and packed with flavor without feeling too heavy. It paired perfectly with the parottas, and I found myself using every last piece to soak up the sauce. I picked up my order, and everything was hot, fresh, and ready when promised. The portions were generous, and every bite tasted like it was made with care. This is the kind of place that immediately goes on my list of favorites. Highly recommend for anyone craving delicious Indian food. I will definitely be back! And to the person who wrote the note, your handwriting is so beautiful and it just reflects how beautiful your heart is. I really appreciate this act of kindness as I haven't been going through a good time recently. Sending lots of love to your restaurant too! read more

Chennai Tiffins - Kind Note - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

The decline of Chennai Tiffins has begun. Annachikadai owners pulled out, and the new owners unwisely got rid of steel plates and utensils - it's not the same with disposable plates. Major downgrade. Also, the idlis were crusty and overcooked today. Leaving up my old pics from the first review, but it's not the same with the new ownership letting quality and experience slip. read more

Chennai Tiffins - Masala Dosa and Ghee Podi Dosa - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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I'm on a dosa case. Found this place on yelp and went to have breakfast here. They serve breakfast buffet on weekends and you can also order off menu. He had me at all you can eat dosa. I love it. I got to try different dosa. There were other items available I just didn't know what they are. All dosa made to order you can also get fresh puri as part of the buffet. Service was fast getting the made to order dosa. I shall be back for sure I really enjoyed it. read more

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I ordered karaikudi chicken curry , parota and Rumali roti. The curry also came with a side of rice. Everything tasted well! Will be ordering it again. read more

We went for the South Indian buffet at Chennai Tiffins. We were 5 of us and had booked a table ahead of reaching. The place was not so busy when we reached at 1.00 pm (Buffet timings are 8.30am- 2.00 pm). The buffet layout was as expected in terms of number of items, but unfortunately, most of the items were either almost running out or had turned cold by 1.00 pm. Coffee and papad were nearing over, idlis were cold, only 3 pieces left (also, the replenished Idlis were chewy and flat), upma was very greasy. Sambhar, vada, pongal, kesari, dosas from the menu (pic of which I have added) were well tasting! Coffee, papad, upma, curd rice and chutneys lacked flavour, texture and appearance. The male servers (Vijay especially), were courteous and helpful, but they were not around for very long, perhaps the shift had changed and replaced by someone who was more interested in insisting for 'GREAT' reviews being posted before leaving the restaurant. Having driven from Santa Rosa ( one hour 45 minutes) with the idea of having authentic South Indian tiffin on a holiday, was not really worth, food being cold and lacking appeal. The restaurant ambience and buffet presentation is below average. Will not be able to recommend the place :( read more

Chennai Tiffins - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

Tue 5/21 happy hour masala dosa + 2 idly + filter coffee. 18.6x. Gave him a 20$ + couple dollars for tip. Realize now I was charged 5$/idly. 2 idly plate was supposed to be 5$. Was charged 2x the HH price. Is ok. They win that one. Should have known. Low prices = low ethics. Idly served steaming hot. Seemed dense in the middle and missing the slightly sour fermented taste. Maybe old batter. Low prices mean cut corners where possible to minimize loss. Don't have enough experience with fermented dosa and idly batter to know for sure. Chutneys are cost reduced versions of what you see compared to other better dosa places to minimize loss at 5$ happy hour. When the prices increase they use the same cost reduced product. They don't create a better quality tomato and coconut chutney when the prices go up. 5$ special dosa bit smaller than Ulavacharu to minimize loss. Make sure you get a receipt. He knew I was paying in cash. Filter coffee 3.99. HH Dosa: 5 2 Idly: 5$ 14$ total, gave $23 cash. read more

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The food is really good for the price it is! Insane how cheap it is in comparison to the area it is at. The sambar tasted so so good. The service and staff were very sweet and kind. The place was very clean as well. A great hole in the wall place! read more

This place needs work but the heart is in the right place. I am giving 3 stars instead of 5 for the following reasons: 1. I ordered just one Medu Vada in a happy hour and place was relatively empty. 2. The owner really and I mean REALLY has to add staff both in Kitchen and Front Desk and Servers. 3. There was one guy on front desk handing everything including serving, taking dishes and taking orders. Humble looking teenager who was handling everything with an innocent face and a hidden smile. His heart was in right place I could see but simply he did not have enough help to do his best. 3. There were 2-3 people waiting for their orders and he was trying his best to get it from Kitchen. I could sense Kitchen was poorly staffed too. 4. When I went I was served Medu Vada which was absolutely fresh and tasty for $5 plus tax in happy hour. Chutney was good too. Sambhar needs a lot of work. 5. Then he let me know their blender broke so cant give any more chutney so I did not order Idli since there was no chutney. 6. He was also kind to give me complimentary coffee. 7. If the owner is reading, please add staff and fix ur sambhar taste. Sambhar needs a lot of work. 8. You the owner is blessed with such great front desk person and please treat him well. He is a great guy. read more

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The quality of the dosa was very good! The crunch and taste reminded me of home. The coconut chutney could have been better. Sambar had bold flavors and right amount of spice . Pros: dosa crispness, sambar, podi Cons: some of the varieties could have been better Value: 4/5 Service: 4.5/5 Taste: 4.5/5 Ambiance: 3.5/5 read more

Check your food before you eat, masala dosa potato was going bad after one hour of taking it home. Dosa and Medu wada was small for the price. So I guess this is the one and only time we be eating at this place. Again, please check your food before you consume. read more

Chennai tiffins is our family's favorite restaurant. Comfort food at its best! My 4 year old daughter even knows the server's name - Vijay. Everyone is very friendly and caring. Food is quick, very delicious and easy on the tummy. We've gone to several all you can eat dosa buffets and breakfast buffets. We have also gone on regular days. The food has never disappointed us! Highly recommend and we will keep coming here! read more

Chennai Tiffins - Filter coffee - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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There are a LOT of South Indian restaurants in the Bay Area and this one is my favorite. The food is excellent. The staff here are great. Note that the decor is low key, you go here for the food not the decor. I am a huge fan and go here every week. read more

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This location originally used to be the Star Udipi Cafe and it got rebranded to Chennai Tiffins. The interior is all same, menu has changed a little bit but still all 100% vegetarian which is what I prefer! :) They have breakfast brunch on the weekends. Food quality is pretty good for the price. Definitely a must try if you're looking for budget meals and wanting to try south indian cuisine! read more

This review is for their wednesday or Friday evening dosa buffet. Totally worth it! We have been here thrice now just for this buffet. Dosas are made fresh right in front of you on blackstone griddles. Good thing is that individual dosas are small so one gets to try different varieties. They provide 15-16 options for you to order. Sambar and chutney is kept for self service. Just be patient as the dosas have to be made for each party. Tip- Order at once for your entire party, as you nearing finishing that order, go and order more. Last time we visited there were some impatient customers not realising that they are making orders in order they are received by the person making dosas and wanted to jump lines. Remember cooking on a grill and making several dosas at once is a difficult task. Coffee was strong and was served in brass traditional cups. read more

Ordered Lunch thali via doordash. - Fewer curries - No papad Inconsistent quality. Not sure if the guy packing missed or these guys are just unprofessional. read more

Best tea and vada pav here, must try . 5 star as always. Dosa and uttapam is great as always. read more

I'm definitely not the target demographic for this restaurant, but I like trying new things so I ordered a thali for pickup. The food was prepared quickly and the taste was alright. Most of it was watery and not that filling, but I'm an outsider and I assume that this is typical for the region of India that this restaurant represents. I don't want to give less than 4 stars because their food was fine and I ate it. But wow, I've been to a ton of Indian restaurants in the Bay Area and I've never experienced anything like the crazy strong incense smell at Chennai Tiffins. It smelled more like a Hindu temple than a restaurant with the typical delicious Indian cooking smells. I may be sensitive but the incense smell made me nauseous, I lost my appetite on the drive home. The plastic takeout bag smelled like Indian incense in my car and I had to keep on venting the windows to breathe. It was all fine once I threw out the plastic bag and unpacked the food, but wow. I've never had my appetite disappear so quickly at an Indian restaurant, usually the smells are wonderful and make you super hungry. I didn't see any other reviewers mention this, so maybe it's fine for Indians from India who are used to it but anyone who's an outsider would likely have a similar reaction. read more

One of the best catering services in the south bay. We catered in for a south indian sadhya: Avial, Sambar, Pineapple pacchadi, pineapple kesari, kalan, beans poriyal, payasam, kara kozhumbu, lemon rice, tamarind rice, dahi vada, freshly made laddoos, jalebi and uniappams. Each item was a delicacy treat and top-notch in terms of quality and taste. Delivery service was an added bonus, and they offer customization of ingredients to accommodate special requirements in case of food allergy. Also, highly recommend to try out their Thursday Steam Night from 6 - 9 pm. Variety of options with 7 varieties of Appam alone. Totally worth it. Staff and owner are humble and courteous. Certainly our go-to place for catering orders in the future. read more

Ambiance very good Not much variety Good proportions Courteous staff Hype does not match delivery Have good opportunity to improve variety read more

Its really good the sambar is delicious the vadas are crispy the idlis aren't great but idlis don't sit well in a buffet so it's not their fault. The best item there though is the dosas I HATE dosas usually because it's always too fermented and sour but the batter here was extremely fresh. The dosa was perfectly crisp too and it was the perfect size it wasn't like most other Indian restaurants in the US where the dosa is really intimidating because it's like 3 feet long. read more

Very good food and service. Breakfast buffet had a lot of variety and was tasty. Good option for all read more

The food was great especially the sambar felt like I was in my hometown India. The food was so fresh and good! The service was good but not the greatest I wish they could check in more with you. Other than that the service was top notch! Ambiance is what any good Indian restaurant would have but very happy with the cleanliness because I am clean freak I always bring my own bottle but this is place was crazy clean and nice. All in all this restaurant is a must eat. read more

Chennai Tiffins - Coffe - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

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Wow everything about this place is awful!! The service, ambience and the FOOD especially! I am not one to care about ambience if the food is worthy but it is the worst! I saw an email that is run by the same management as annachikadai and was excited for the food . About the food, Mini tiffin - dosa was a sour not at all crispy sad affair Vada smelt of stale oil Pongal was cold and probably old Chutneys and sambar was cold, nothing to write about Idli was cold, probably made and stored The parotta was the saving grace, please avoid this place. Not worth your money read more

This review is for their dosa buffet on Friday nights. The place has ample seating and around 4-5 tables were already full when we went in. Lots of parking in front of the restaurant. The buffet is only for dosa and has around 10-15 types that come with sambar and 2 types of chutneys. The chef makes dosa right in front of us and he was very friendly and let us make improvising our dosa. I ordered Mysore masala dosa, podi dosa, veggie dosa with cheese, ghee dosa and chocolate dosa. We can easily eat around 6 dosa minimum. The dosas were thin and crispy and I loved the masala they offered. We can also order al a carte and we got rasam vada, two pieces of medhu vada in rasam. I loved the rasam and its flavor. Overall loved the ambience, excellent parking, friendly staff, good food. Would definitely want to try their steam night buffet on Thursday. One negative is the restroom! read more

Really bad stale food. Disappointing! Chutneys were not good. Medhu wada was extremely oily read more

The sambar was a bit sweet for me, but that could be just me coming from a Tamil spicy sambar background lol.. but other than that, the food was really good and the service was decent.. was relatively much cheaper than the other places we've been to.. read more

Have been visiting this place regularly for a couple of months. Good authentic South Indian food, reasonable prices, good ambience. Food is brought on time, so no complaints read more

The food quality was average. For the quantity and the quality of food, it over priced. I will not recommend this restaurant to anyone and would not go back there. read more

So I come here almost every week for breakfast and it's always Hindi music to listen to in the morning it was so nice and pleasant and look what they are showing now .... It was so loud in your face ... we asked them to turn the volume down he couldn't work the remote lol .. finally about 25 in one of the customers turned it off.. this is ridiculous we are customers don't need to be such loud propaganda in our face. read more

Chennai Tiffins - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

We had South Indian Thali lunch at Chennai Tiffins (EL Camino) on 12/9/24. It is clearly the worst food I have eaten in US. the dry vegetable curry was very oily, the small quantity (tiny cup) of sambhar had no vegetable in it. Rasam and everything in the thali was cold. Rice was sticky. To make matter worse, the restaurant was very dirty. The floor, toilets and the path leading to the toilet. I lost my appetite already in the beginning when I went to the toilet to wash my hands. I gave this feedback to the staff. If the business owner is interested I am open to giving further details. Arun S read more

This place badly needs a new chef/cook. Food is bad, no salt, Pongal looks and tastes like upma and upma looks like sand and so I didn't bother trying it. Kesari felt like it was made last week, super dry. Finally, the dosa was like a meter of cloth, the tomato chutney was sour and the coconut chutney was definitely old. The place is cold, not sure why. They have bunch of standalone space heaters that was no match for how cold this place was. Don't fall for the unlimited buffet.. just go down the street to a different place. You get what you pay for. read more

Very good, fast and affordable. Highly recommended! (Easy parking too, if you guess what I'm alluding to:-) read more

Chennai Tiffins - Onion dosa - Indian Near Me - Santa Clara, California

I stopped by this place with a few friends on a Saturday morning. They have breakfast buffet on Saturday and we opted for that. The Buffet includes dosa, idli, vada, pongal, sambar, chutney, Upma, kesari. The food was below average. While the vadas were freshly fried and crispy, they were oozing out oil, Idlis seemed bit dense and dry. We got dosas but they lacked flavor so we tried again with another dosa but were consistently unhappy about the taste. The buffet also comes with chai and coffee. In my opinion, both the beverages were really bad. They were highly watered down preparations made from premix sachets. I had heard about this place from a friend and was excited to check it out but with my first experience I'm unsure if I'd want to return. Maybe I'll try their ala carte menu once but currently I'm not very keen on that. While the buffet is very affordable, I still didn't feel it to be worth it. read more

We were excited to try this place out for the Onam special on banana leaf. However, the service was very bad. No body to manage guests waiting despite reservations, people had no option but to occupy dirty tables on their own and the food was served in an adhoc manner. The owner/manager was not open to feedback either saying they had more than enough people. The only savior was the food. It was good and yet the entire experience was so chaotic that it got lost. I wouldn't recommend this place on a busy day because they don't have the basics figured out yet. read more

Food wS wholesome! Yummy and teal taste of south India! Very pleasant host and people working in the restaurant

The food is very nice and delicious, with very good service time. The service is very friendly and accommodating! We also loved how family-friendly the environment is, with great music. read more

Visited on a Saturday morning. I ordered off the menu, as the buffet didn't look appealing. My uttapam was good...however, I will not be back. My chai tea was served lukewarm and tasted like bleach and I saw them use buffet food to plate a la carte orders. read more

Now this is awesome! One of the best buffets I've been to for dosa. When we walked in with a group, they immediately knew what we were looking for so I have to give major prof to the service. The ambience is basic, but that's OK because that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to go all out on the dosas! Not only do they have a live station, but they also take orders for additional items. Wow, you are at the table. So it became incredibly convenient for us to get our fill! read more

Great inexpensive place for South Indian food, idlis, dosa, pongal ... We go there at least once a month.