• 4
• Excellent South Indian vegetarian restaurant!

My son, husband, and I visited Udupi Cafe for their lunch buffet while on vacation. As vegetarians, we were in heaven - there were approximately seven entrees available, three of them vegan. (Each vegan item was labeled.) The buffet included the entrees, soups, naan, rice, chai, one (masala) dosa and rice pudding (which we didn't try - we were too full by then). We tried most of the dishes - all were flavorful and most were what I would call "medium+ spicy" (to a person from the US). I see that on another popular restaurant review website, Udupi Cafe has several low ratings along with some glowing ones. It looks like the most of the negative reviewers visited for dinner. I can't speak to their comments about the lack of service except to say that our experience was totally positive. A few tidbits from our experience.... My son really wanted a dosa and when we saw the buffet, we asked if we could order a dosa from the dinner menu. The host told us that a "small" dosa was included with the buffet, and ours arrived a few minutes later. (We could hear the host telling the cook to prepare them, so I know they were fresh!) I'll let you decide from looking at the photo whether they are small. (I didn't - not as a side dish for the buffet anyway.) We had arrived fairly early and there were no soup bowls out. I asked if there were any available and the host apologized profusely, then brought them out to the buffet table right away. Oh, I should comment about the decor - there isn't any. The restaurant is in a former strip mall storefront and it sort of looks like they just opened - very plain and white. Some of the furniture looks well-used. But our table and chairs were sturdy, and the food was hot and v-e-r-y tasty. I'd rather have this combination than lovely decor and bland food. I wouldn't hesitate to go back. I would be a regular if I lived nearby.