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| - As others before me have said, the strength here is NOT the service. However, if you're in the mood to settle in for a while, put down your phone and chat with your dinner companions, and then "ooh" and "aah" over the most authentic South Indian food...you've come to the right place.
The place is great - they offer impressive portions, and this is alongside relatively cheap prices. Despite having the vibe that they might not take credit cards...they DO! Most every offering has a tasty coconut chutney and sambhar (lightly spiced lentil soup) that comes along side the main course. This is super traditional in South Indian cooking, so kudos for authenticity.
This is a great place for people with special diets. They offer many many many lentil and chickpea flour only dishes (again, very traditional for South Indian cooking). For the friend who is vegetarian or vegan but feels like they've exhausted Pittsburgh's offerings, this would be a pretty impressive date spot. The food is authentic, having recently returned from a trip to India, I can vouch for this. The heat profile is moderate, meaning you won't be crying, but you will feel the burn with some of their dishes. Likewise, if you are sensitive to heat, you can always stick with the plethora of tasty fried lentil dishes that come with mild coconut chutney.
The downsides are mostly those that others have voiced - the poor service (which also includes that the servers aren't great at explaining dishes to you if you don't already know what you are ordering), and the iffy ambiance. I actually wasn't a giant fan of the spicing on some dishes (not the heat, the actual use of salt and spices). My concern was that they sometimes were blander than I'd hoped. Now, I will say, when you order Idli (lentil pancake), expect a gluten free version of very spongy wonder bread. This is traditional, but I was kind of unimpressed with the dish. If you soak it in coconut chutney and sambhar, though, it's pretty good.
I'll certainly be back, because the flavors are great, and there's nowhere else in the area to get this kind of food. If they just improved and tweaked some of their problem areas, this place would be a total destination.
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