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Iddos, Kothrud, Pune

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Iddos, Kothrud, Pune

Postby manish » Fri Feb 20, 2015 12:17 pm

Iddos - Idali & Dosa's is a new South-Indian restaurant near famous Durga Cafe on Paud Road, Pune. This is a busy street with several small eateries, but surprisingly there were no decent South Indian restaurants there and Iddos has smartly filled in this space.

To start with, this is relatively a spacious South Indian restaurant as compared to other smallish eat-outs that exist in that crowded area that is full with lot of students from nearby colleges. The menu is creatively designed and you'd be surprised to see that Idali costs only Rs. 25, and then discover that for many items they are quoting price per piece unless mentioned otherwise (that's what their menu says), which is rather unusual for any restaurant here. Anyway!



Now food - we visited it just for quick evening snack and could not taste lot of dishes there, but whatever we tasted was really very good! We tried Wada-Rassam, Podi Mini Idalis, and not to miss - Filter Coffee. And everything was really delicious. Rassam was one of the best I have ever taste, beats many other established south-Indian restaurant in Pune, including famous Wadeshwar. The Wadas are bigger than what you'd get normally (see the pictures) and they were just perfect in taste. The pricing, Rs. 68 for 2 pieces is quite appropriate for its quality and quantity.

We had to wait a bit longer for our Podi Mini Idalis, and when they arrived the dish only had 11 mini idalis instead of 12, and they used one small piece from bigger idali to make for the missing 12th mini Idali. I think they ran out of stock due to demand on that day. Nevertheless, these mini podi idalis were delicious - right amount of ghee to give that beautiful taste, but not too oily. Podi was quite tasty without being unnecessarily spicy. They serve 3 varieties of chutneys instead of just one. Serving on banana leaf makes it look more authentic and quite aesthetically appealing as well. The samabar was good as well, but their rassam is miles ahead of sambaar in its taste. Next time, I am going to ask for rassam instead! :-)

Filter coffee was perfect again - as you'd expect in any typical South Indian restaurant. We were quite full after thus, so could not try more dishes, but they also serve appam, idiappam and few gravy's, stews and we are planning to taste them soon! But if what we've tasted now gives any indications, the food is quite exceptional compared to most other south-Indian joints that exist in Pune. IMHO, they are second only to restaurants like South Indies or Zambar, arguably the best South Indian restaurants in Pune. Obviously, Iddos is more of snacks & breakfast restaurant, and they have only few items for lunch/dinner on their menu, whereas the other two are specialized fine dining South Indian restaurants. But Iddos taste is almost at par with them.


Wada-Rassam, you must try this rasaam!



Banana leaf waiting for Podi Mini Idalis with 3 Chutneys



Podi Mini Idalis, with perfect coat of Ghee and Podi



Well, they took 20 long minutes to arrive, and we had finished more than half of them in 2 minutes, and then I realized about the photos!! :p


I really hope their management listens to the customer feedback and add more lunch/dinner items to their menu and I am also personally requesting them to add a glass of rassam to their menu! It is the kind of rassam that could make you travel all the way to that place, forget about all the traffic and inevitable parking problems that exist in that area, and relish its taste! Slurp.... :p

The ambiance is pleasant and vibrant - the big screen TVs with world cup matches make it perfect!

As for service, most of the serving staff seems to be from north-east India, and hey don't really understand their menu or its variations or ingredients well but they are quite warm and smiling and make an effort to help you with the menu. Our Podi Mini Idalis took longer than what we anticipated, but I think I understand the reason as they didn't have enough of them ready.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant if you're looking for the best South Indian eat out for quick snacks or breakfast! Don't miss the Wada-Rassam when you visit!

Food - 4.5/5
Service - 3.5/5
Ambiance - 4/5
Value for money - 4/5

Overall - 4/5


Zomato Link: Iddos, Kothurd Pune
manish
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Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:38 pm
Name: Manish Hatwalne

Re: Iddos, Kothrud, Pune

Postby manish » Mon Mar 16, 2015 1:52 am

I am not deleting my old review, but adding today's horrible experience with Iddos as well _

Do you know any restaurant in Pune which would rather prefer to close down at 8 PM on weekends?

Well we had honour and horror of visiting this place called "Iddos" today and had one of the most horrible eating out experience there. Allow me to explain....

I had tried and liked some snacks that we tried at Iddos about a month ago and I had praised them here and on Zomato for their delicious food and had decided to try their full meal option soon, so we decided to go there today. In fact, food is still not the problem, food was really good today, but service was appalling to put it mildly.

There were six of us and we went there and were seated by 8.15 PM. The restaurant was full, but luckily we got place after 5-10 mins of waiting. We ordered 2 plates podi mini idali to start with and then ordered Pondu Kozhambu, Veg Chettinad and Butter dosa with 5 appams. We asked for iddyappams but we were told that they are not available so we decided to settle for appams instead.

Disgustingly the butter dosa was served in a plate which was not washed at all...there was greasy stains of chutney and podi on the plate. We informed the lady who seemed to be the manager or owner of that place. She changed the plate (not dosa) and despite some annoyance, we decided not to spoil our mood and continued with our dinner....food was pretty decent and we must have finished our first set of 5 appams in 5 mins and decided to go for the second round. So we ordered 5 more appams, to our surprise the waiter returned in just a minute after talking to the same lady and asked us -

He: Chahiye hi kya? (Do you really want appam)
Me: Of course...
He: Par bahut time lagega...(But it will take lot of time)
Me thinking....: (You don't have iddyappams, what option are we left with?)
Me: Chalega...(Will do)
Mind you, it must have been around 8.40 or 8.45 PM. And when we had confirmed that we really want appam, I could see distinct frown on that lady's forehead....and we were baffled!! I mean almost every restaurant owner/manager would be happy with customer ordering more food, and this lady just didn't seem to want customer to order something!!!!

And after some wait, 3 appams arrived and two of us were waiting patiently and hungrily. And that lady came and asked us in Marathi now....

She: Tumche aahetch ka ajun? Kiti? (You still need more? How many?)
Me: Don rahilet (2 still left from the order)

Finally, two appams were delivered. We relished them with tasty curries (no problem with the food itself, it is easily 3.5 to 4 out of 5). Meanwhile, I was curiously watching that lady with annoyed look on her face while she shouted on waiters/stewards and looked at the 2 year on the next table with a big frown on her face as he was a bit cranky and was crying a bit. She shooed away some parcel orders and probably refused some customers and the security guy actually closed the fence gate at around 9 PM!!! (Yes! Seriously. 9 PM on Sunday evening!). It seemed as if she didn't want customers to come, and those who were in, she didn't want them to order anything! Meanwhile, my father wanted some drinking water and requested it 5 times, but it took them 20 mins to fill our empty glasses. We wanted to try rice, but their service really pissed us off and we decided to leave as it sounded as if they didn't want us to order anything! Coffee looked ready and it was smelling good, so I hesitantly asked the waiter if I could order one - he agreed.

Meanwhile, while we were waiting for the coffee they cleaned up our tables and this lady who I'd call "I-don't-want-anyone-here" arrived at our table, and asked with clear annoyance on her face....

She: Tumache kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ajun? (understand the eye-dialect)
Me: Coffee yete aahe. (Coffee is coming....)

Interestingly, our bill arrived before the coffee which I promptly paid, but our waiter came rushing with embarrassed smile on his face,

He: Sir, aapki coffee aa rahi hai. (Sir, your coffee is coming....)
Me: Ab aapne bill apahele diya, to maine socha bill pay kar doon. Don't worry, coffee ka paisa lagaaya hai. (Well, since you gave me the bill first, I thought I might as well pay it. Don't worry, coffee has been included in the bill).

He got coffee quickly after that and I finished it quickly. I was too pissed off to talk sanely to the restaurant owner/manager, but two women from our family decided to give feedback to that owner/manager lady about their "hospitability". And here comes the best part -

She was arrogant and outright unapologetic. Despite all of us feeling like some crap ST canteen due to to her rudeness and shouting, she said that she wasn't rude at all - but her voice itself was loud and she can't help it. That's how she talks to everybody...

Guess what???????? She actually said that she wanted to close down at 8 PM, but annoyingly customers just kept coming and kept ordering food. Well, we wouldn't have entered at 8.15 PM if we knew that restaurant is closing, right?

Sarcastically, a lady from my family suggested her she should put up a board outside suggesting that her restaurant closes at 8 PM and she affirmed that that's what she is actually going to do from tomorrow!!!! The women from my family were speechless...one of them said that we wouldn't like to visit ever again after this experience, and she actually had guts to say - "that's ok", without a hint of apology or regret for their poor service.

The stewards, waiters are good...probably they were annoyed as well. I heard her shouting at one of them as he was asking whether a customer can order a parcel and when he came at our table, I did gently tell him -

Me: Boss, aise lag raha hai ke aapko customer chahiye hi nahi yaha pe, aise nahi chalega yaar...! (It looks like you don't want customers here, that's not how you run the restaurant business.)
He just nodded and smiled helplessly....

The other guy who took our order (tall north-east gentleman with glasses) was also warm and was embarrassed when the bill was presented before my coffee. But the management seems to be a big let-down, their staff can't help in that case.

It is frustrating when they talk to you as if they are obliging you with food when you're paying for it. It is disgusting when the manager/owner does not show even basic courtesy while talking to the customer, leave alone while talking to their staff. We won't obviously visit this place again, and it seems that they themselves don't want customers, the lady was visibly annoyed and outright rude when her restaurant was full and bustling...even small cries from 2 year old from the neighbouring table made her look at him with disgust & irritation. I haven't seen a bigger misfit in this hospitality industry. If they don't change their attitude, I am sure they'd close down soon!

Here is our bill, printed at 9.15 PM o Sunday and they made us feel as if we were ordering some exotic items at 1 AM in the late night!! For they'd rather close down at 8 PM!!!

iddos-food.jpg
Here is our bill, printed at 9.15 PM o Sunday and they made us feel as if we were ordering some exotic items at 1 AM in the late night!! For they'd rather close down at 8 PM!!!
manish
Master Chef
 
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:38 pm
Name: Manish Hatwalne


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