Extremely poor hygiene. Server was using the same gloves to bring my food that he was using to spray chemicals and clean trash! Of course, no concept of using deodorant either. He was smelly and had barely woken up! read more

Food: the fish curry is good at any level of spicy. Service: friendly and attentive Ambiance: nice read more

Had the Dosa and chicken Kadai Masala curry. Really liked the coconut chutney sauce for the dosa. The chicken was juicy and curry was flavorful. The rolled crepe was over a foot long. Plenty there. The mild spicy level was perfect for me. I once ordered the high spicey briyani. That was way to spicey for my buds and couldnt eat it because of the pain. This time it was a pleasant experience and I can actually savor all the wonderful flavors. read more

Southern Spice - Dosa and chicken kadai masala - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

Amazing! If you like spicy I it doesn't overwhelm the flavors. I ordered for take out but the inside was also very cute.

Super bad experience visitng southern spice tonight. Short staff and long wait. They charge you for your meal and tip on your phone first and then make.you wait and wait. And then they bring your order in sections with time intervals. The staff doesn't know what they are doing and no opologies given for the long wait. I like their food but wouldnt come back here and waste my time with the system they have established. Which is not working well.. read more

We have been to Southern Spice a few times. The food is always usually very good and has a strong kick of spice to it. However, I usually enjoy the food. The bread pudding dessert is also very good. I love the dosas and Andra Chicken Curry. It's always flavorful and very spicy ! I love the vibe of the restaurant and its setup. The anesthetic of it is really nice. I only knock it off by 1-star because at times I feel like I can only taste the spice and nothing else. An example would be the tandoori chicken dish I recently got (methi kabob). It was too spicy that I could not actually enjoy the dish. The chicken was fresh and it was good but I ended up not eating it. Overall - restaurant is a 4 1/2 stars ! Will always come back though for more ( : read more

Every time i go here and tell the server to please make my food the least spicy ( mild ) they make it sooo spicy without considering how frustrating it is for someone to eat a food out of their spice tolerance ! Yesterday i was very hungry and in a rush , my food was very spicy but i did not have the time to wait for another one so i ate just to not be starving and did not take the rest of my food to go ! read more

Southern Spice - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

Order in store for the experience; Order out for more food Check in on yelp for a special offer! What I learned was that when you order take out you are most likely going to get more food than if you are order in restaurant so if you want to just eat than order take out! The restaurant is decorated finely and isn't too loud nor busy! There are I believe 4 tables in which the seats are swings which was a lot of fun! The decor is authentic and does well for the scenery. The service is okay. You seat yourself wherever you find a spot and you have to order through a QR code that is at your table. Then your food is brought out to you but be warned that there may be issues with your order so let the waiter know as soon as you can so you aren't kept waiting for too long. The food is excellent! Tasty, savory and the Nan? the servers that helped me during my visit were Omar and Breyda. They speak Spanish in case you need translation and were very helpful when I had an issue with my order. I can't say the service is top of the line but the food is up there and the location something you'd like to check out! Other than that I think I'll just order in next time! read more

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Our favorites here are the lamb vindaloo, travancore goat roast, and eggplant curry. We love spicy, so the mango lassi are a must.

We were driving from LA to San Diego and one our friend recommended this place. We got here super hungry and as this place was located just a mile away from freeway and getting here was no problem with ample parking space. We ordered a lot of food. Ordering process was easy and quick via phone. Food was prepared super quick. Service good. Decor/ ambiance very pretty, they put so much effort into it. The door has some issues and didn't close automatically and everyone inside were freezing. Southern spice caters mostly South Indian food and the food menu did not disappoint. They had pretty good variety. Malabar paratha was our favorite. Puri masala was nice. Dhani korma was good, butter chicken tasted like usual. I will definitely stop by here the next time I drive south. Food: 3/5 Decor/Ambiance: 5/5 Service: 4/5 read more

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My review is based off of a Postmates order of a mango shake, pakoras, and dosa. The mango shake was the best part. 5/5. You could taste pulp, this shake was superior to one you would order from Nataraj. The pakoras were NOT pakoras. Literally burnt onion pieces with little to no batter. Certain pieces had burnt curry leaves. As the chef, I would have remade it prior to sending it off out of my kitchen. Such a waste of money. The dosa was 3.5/5. Pretty spicy, and the accompanying chutneys and daal were on the highly spicy side. Flavor was okay, nothing special. The order came on time, but the contents make me not want to order it again. According to reviews, their meat dishes are better. read more

Good food. We like the dosas and the tandoori chicken. Some of the best tandoori chicken we've ever had. The chai after a meal is also easily yummy. read more

You can smell the aroma from Southern Spice in the parking lot and when you step into the restaurant, it feels like you've been transported to a different country. The deco is unique, with swing seatings and antiques on the wall. It creates a whimsical ambience. I've been to Southern Spice several times, and I have to say food is consistently good here, so are the services. The garlic naans are fresh, Ahdhra chicken curry is slightly spicy but flavorful. My go to dishes are Chicken Tikka Masala and Saag. Both dishes are creamy and well seasoned. I also love their food presentation. There are so many dishes on the menu as they serve both South and North Indian cuisines, it can be a bit overwhelming. I want to be more adventurous and try different dishes this year. read more

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I am been a loyal customer of Southern Spices since they opened. I love the decor with swings. I love that its in the middle of Irvine and very convenient. The vegetarian food is great. I also order from there through doordash. Having said that there are two things that really bother me and these are fixable issues . First, I noticed that when I order through doordash in the evening, the chicken is stale. It looks like they have left the raw chicken outside in room temperature for too long and so the chicken tastes stale. Second, during lunch time or when it's busy in store, when patrons leave, the tables are not cleared immediately. This is not due to lack of staff. There are atleast 2 people just hanging around the counter. Sometimes there are over 5 tables that are not cleaned and once I timed how long it will take to clean it and it took over 20 minutes. When guests walk into the door, they don't want to see dirty tables. Patrons sitting at adjacent tables dont want to sit next to an unclean table. So, please hire someone whose only job is to clear the tables, and make sure any food fallen to the floor are swept. I want Southern Spice to be successful. Once I see improvements, I will increase rating. read more

Very authentic southern Indian cuisine. They have very tasty dosa that I have been going back few times for the dish. read more

Southern Spice - Masala dosa - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

You have to wait for a VERY long time. Really bad time management. I just don't understand how something that is orders an hour ago can take an hour and a half to prepare. Worst place!! read more

I was there with my wife and son for dinner. The dosa was cold and when we ask for lemon they said we need to do side order. I said okay and then later they said. They are out of lemon. Pretty bad service. read more

Me and a few coworkers always come here every now and then. We especially love coming here when coworkers have not tried this place because this is the best place to try Indian food. Everything is very flavorful and tasty. One of my favorites to order no matter what is the garlic naan and butter chicken and mango lassi drink. We were here yesterday and we accidentally ordered Chicken tikka thinking it was Chicken Tikka Masala. We asked the waitress if we could exchange it or pay the price difference for what we wanted and she said no. We still ended up ordering what we wanted but we paid for it. I was hoping that we could exchange it or pay the price difference. Other than that upsetting experience, The food is amazing. read more

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Indian cuisine is one of my favorites and so I often come here cause I personally think they have pretty good Indian food in Irvine. Some of the things I get is the Mangalorean Chicken Ghee Roast because I love the flavors of all the spices and herbs they use, and I always get either Butter Chicken or Tikka Masala with a side of garlic naan which is absolutely heavenly. The perfect combo of creamy and savory, though sometimes the curry can be a bit sweet at times. They have great samosas too (usually get the veggie ones). I really like the interior of the restaurant too, very warm with pretty decor. Will say though the service does fall behind sometimes as I've come multiple times and orders get misplaced or delayed cause they tend to get really busy during the dinner rush. Everything is mostly self service here (you seat yourself, order online or at the front) but we had to remind one of the servers about our samosas which was supposed to be an appetizer but ended up coming out last after we'd finished our meal. However, other than that the food was great and I'll still come back whenever I'm craving it! read more

Southern Spice - Butter Chicken (GF), Prawn Mango Curry (GF) in the back - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

Southern spice is one of my favorite Indian places to eat at in Irvine. I loved their butter chicken, Kempu Bezule, chicken tikka masala, and their paneer dishes. I have yet to they their Dosas but that seems to be another really popular item to order by regulars. They have a cool contactless ordering system online by using a QR system and the interior is like you are in India. They have cool swinging chairs and also regular booths and tables if that's not your thing. They also offer a ton of good bar if you order more than you can finish. Overall, I highly recommend this place if you are craving delicious Indian food that is not buffet style. read more

Food taste really yum. Must try masala dosa and vada. South Indian food tastes better than typical north Indian enteries

Food is decent but the service, not so much. We get take out here pretty often and the pick up time is never promised. I am forced to wait another 20 minutes, when I ordered online, what's the point for online ordering then?! Also, when you arrive to pick up the staff ignores you, I have to ask when they're free to pick up my order. Also they do not check the orders, I had missing rice and something else both times! Really disappointing, going to look for another spot if things do not improve. read more

Best South Indian food in SoCal. All the dishes were stellar. Please open a location in San Diego. None of the current places even come close in San diego. read more

The service is okay. You really don't talk to anyone here. But the packing to-go is awful! You would think because it's one of the few jobs they have to do that the job would be well-done but we lost 75% of the sauce in our dish in transit due to bad packing! That's a $15 dish that was WASTED due to bad planning and packing. Shameful! Waste of my money and I'm furious. Only was left the malai kofta bits, no sauce! That's miserable! read more

Southern Spice - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

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Not a good experience for us. Dosa batter tasted sour and not freshly prepared. The kind of oil they use, not sure but it has smell. Idlies were hard and sambhar didn't taste authentic. Very much disappointed read more

Crazy spicy even when you write mild on the order (here medium is like hot elsewhere which is fine but ordered mild and received hot with no willingness for them to fix it), extremely poor service - 1 person bringing the food out for the whole restaurant, plastic cups, fill your own water and then need to ask for another bottle, one dosa arrived cold, they said the chai was premade so no way to get it without sugar read more

Randomly decided to stop in for a late night dinner after driving around Irvine trying to figure out what to eat. It was our first time ever trying Indian food, but one of the waiters was really kind and guided us through the menu with recommendations. We ended up ordering veggie samosas and a spicy curry. Ordering through the QR code was really simple and the food came out very quickly. Everything was very flavorful and the chicken in the curry was juicy. Overall everything went really well for our first time, we'll definitely be back to try more! read more

Southern Spice - Puri Masala (2) - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

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First time in. It's interesting how they run this place. You scan the barcode, order it, pay FIRST and TIP ahead. We asked for water after waiting for 10 mins then got told you have to go get your own water, plates and utensils. After tipping 15% ahead we felt so cheated when everything was pretty much self served. Dosa was good, the shrimp and chicken dishes were flavorful but a bit too spicy for us. We might come back to try out something else. Next time, no tipping when there's no service rendered. read more

This is our favorite Indian restaurant. The menu is interesting and extensive. Their okra has a cashew fenugreek sauce and they have an entire biryani menu. read more

We absolutely love eating here. I spoke to the manager regarding the business hours. He said someone is changing the hrs on Google (guess anyone can do it). Not the fault of the business. read more

Guys, I really don't understand why the rating here is so low. Their food is IMMACULATE. The portion is so worth the price, each curry is under $20 yet enough for two for sure. We've tried chicken, lamb and paneer curries, and all of them are so bomb especially their paneer...that was my first time trying it, and I was addicted afterwards. I saw a few comments saying their curries are too sweet, and personally I think the sweetness is acceptable, they taste good anyways. I don't know how exactly they marinate their chicken, but damn that was so tender, it's like waltzing in my mouth. But I'll still prefer paneer over other protein options, as it'll elevate your curry to a whole next level by adding a rich milk flavor to it. I'm sure we'll come back some time next week again, since we're decided to try all of their 26 curries.( we've already tried 4, although I forgot which 4) Hope they can keep on with the outstanding food quality! read more

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Food is tasty and good, but I don't enjoy ordering on an app. The app does NOT have any or enough description of what is being served, specifically some curry dishes came with rice, others didn't. How are we supposed to know? I like technology, but either update the menu with better descriptions or bring back a waiter. Would come back, but hopefully at a time an employee could be available to help. read more

Excellent food! Every dish we ate was sooo full of flavor and it was incredibly savory. Not to mention the beautifully decorated atmosphere, such a perfect ambience :D I'd highly recommend coming here any day! read more

Southern Spice - Idli (3) (V,GF) - Indian Near Me - Irvine, California

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The food, the wait staff and the ambiance are very good however, customers with misbehaved, unruly loud children should be fined $50.00 like other restaurants do. My husband and I eat here 2 -3 times a week and cannot enjoy a peaceful meal over 50% of the time because the parents do not know how to parent. I blame the parents. Their kids run around the restaurant screaming, this is just unacceptable. Use the take out service! Also, the Toast Tab online 3rd party service when ordering does NOT work! It is very frustrating. Because we frequent the restaurant often, we like earning the points. read more

I had a Dosa and something else. I don't remember what. Both dishes were the least good I've had unfortunately. Service and ambience were ok. read more

Another place located in the crossroads plaza that would be 4 stars if they had better service. The food here was good and flavorful, and they have a huge (albeit confusing) menu. I asked a few questions, and they were just overall unhelpful. At one point I wanted to change out one of the items I had ordered, and she basically said it was too late because the order already went to the kitchen. But I didn't even pay at that point yet, and was still finalizing everything. That left a bad taste in my mouth. And when it was time to leave, I asked for some to-go containers, and the server just pointed to a section for me to help myself. Nobody was smiley or friendly here. Anyway, this is what we ordered: South Indian Fish Curry - I wanted to try a South Indian dish since this place is called Southern Spice, so got this dish. The fish was really tender and flaky, and the curry was a flavor explosion. They did mention that anything from the South Indian section is going to be spicy, and this dish definitely had a kick to it. Tikka Masala with Chicken - got this for the kids because this is their go-to dish at Indian restaurants. This was very mild and creamy, and wasn't too spicy for my kids. They ate it with jasmine rice, and dipped the naan in it too. Chicken 65 - $5 Indian style fried chicken off the happy hour menu. I wouldn't quite describe this as fried chicken the way you imagine KFC or Popeye's fried chicken, but it was flavorful nonetheless. No harm in trying for $5. All entrees come with jasmine rice, and three mini side sauces. It was a lot of food, and you can share one entree between two people. You'll need to order naan separately. Verdict - 4 stars for the food, 2 stars for the unfriendly service. read more

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Delicious, authentic Indian food. I also love how they offer biryanis dishes that originate from different parts of India

The waiters took good care of individual needs, even though this is a buffet. It is reasonably priced and the food quality is great starting from salad to desert and tea. There is also new idli dish which is a novelty. Go early for a nice cup of tea and welcoming staff. read more

Their butter chicken was amazing but the biryani and pav bhaji were just ok. I also liked the garlic naan. It was packed on a Saturday night! read more

Super cute restaurant! They have two seated swings and beautiful doors. Very unique and instagrammable. While it looks like a nice sit down restaurant, you put your orders in at the counter. One server with super nice and sweet and other one was lazy. We had asked for non-spicy for one of the dish and the server wouldn't go back to to the chef to let him know. When we got it, it was too spicy and we had to send the dish back. I ordered the lunch vegetarian thali and was loved all the dishes. The seasoning was flavorful, and I love all the blend of spices. I paid $12.99 for my thali which seemed reasonable for the lunch, based on the quality and selection. The meat option is the same price. read more

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