I’ve had takeout from here a few times (get the chicken ghee biryani, trust me), and tonight decided to go dine in and it was an incredible experience.
The restaurant inside is really nice, and the staff from the host to the servers are all very nice and accommodating. I know I like Indian food, but my experience has been pretty limited to the safe “white guy” Indian food that we always try when we’re too intimidated to order unfamiliar dishes. You know what I mean - tikka masala from Trader Joe’s and garlic naan.
I wanted to branch out and experience more of the cuisine, so I asked the super nice waiter if he could make some recommendations and he put a lot of thought into it, asked some questions about what I like and recommended two appetizers I didn’t catch the name of (one a spicy mutton dish, the other a delicious and savory chicken dish), a dhosa and the chicken biryani.
I can’t speak to authenticity, but I can say not only did I find a favorite Indian restaurant, but I found a top 5 favorite restaurant period.
I’ll definitely be a regular here, and I recommend if you even like Indian food a little bit you should go out of your way to check out Virundhu!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
We went for lunch buffet on a Sunday. The place was very crowded and we has to wait for 15 mins. I felt the buffet was bit pricy compared to the quality. The main attraction for me was the live Dosa and Egg counter. I could try Chennai Street style egg dosa and one side omelette. One flip side of the live counter was lack of exhaust fan. The dining area was little smokey because of that. Other than that the buffet spread was adequate for both veg and non-veg. The thalapakkatti mutton biriyani was too good. I am not sure if they have it everyday so ask before yoh go. Not to be missed. Chicken biriyani was also equally good. Restrooms were pretty clean. They had paper plates for the buffet that was bit odd!
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Lunch
Price per person
$20–30
Food: 3
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Inedible food is the best way to put this. Parotta was so thin and hard we could hardly bite it. The chicken lollipop was just huge chunks of chicken in a sauce that was sweet n sour. It is definitely not a chicken lollipop. Briyani lacked salt. This is all we ordered and not one dish was edible. I called the restaurant asking to speak to the manager twice but they were not there. I do not know how they run a restaurant without a manager. Please stay away. I would not encourage a business that does not care about the food or their customers. Terrible experience.
Service
Take out
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$10–20
Food: 1
Service: 1
Atmosphere: 1
Please check out this restaurant!! Our family has eaten here many times and we also had a small event in their hall with catered food. The flavor is fantastic both for the South Indian food and also for other classic dishes like the paneer butter masala and Malai Kofta! Their gobi Manchurian is so well flavored. Sometimes with catered larger portions the taste can be altered but they did such a good job keeping a great taste even with the catering. Very nice people to work with as well. Great food, great service, will come back many more times.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Gobi Manchurian Cauliflower Manchurian
We had an amazing food at Virundhu. All items we ordered were with authentic South Indian taste and the service was excellent. It’s been a while we had proper chettinadu style food. We were delighted to have it there. I would plan to visit more to try out all the special items in the menu.
Meal type
Lunch
Price per person
$10–20
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Podi Dosai
I am always here for their Authentic South Indian breakfast,filter coffee and the awesome briyani especially vijayawada chicken biryani & ghee roast chicken biryani. They are yumm, spicy the way i want & wrapped with a banana leaf which enhances the taste of biryani. The service is always quick for us (coming on weekend mornings) and Biryani’s are always to go. So no complains. It will and is my biryani spot always if my 30mins away. Definitely recommended!
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Breakfast
Price per person
$10–20
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
This used to be my go-to place for butter chicken and some appetizers. The owner of the place was a plus, as he used to come on the floor and talk to customers about his background and experience; a very nice person. I learned after getting my food that they have changed management. I ordered take out and the service was pleasant. It was very evident that the recipe for butter chicken has changed drastically. The sauce was very runny and filled with an extreme amount of oil. It is not even comparable to what it was before. The garlic naan was good and the samosas and chutneys were okay.
Service
Take out
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$20–30
Food: 2
I had a wonderful experience at this South Indian restaurant! The filter coffee was authentic, aromatic and rich, just how I like it. The ghee roast dosa was good but could have been better if it was more buttery than dry. Idlis although were super fluffy and fresh. They also put a small banana leaf in your plate which indeed gives even more authentic south Indian touch to the food. The ambiance was cozy, and the staff was attentive and friendly. A must-visit for anyone craving authentic South Indian flavors.
Food: 4
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
The restaurant was below par based on the highly rated reviews that it has received.
The service was awful at best, we ordered three items: Poori bhaji, Dosa and Chicken Biryani, the first two arrived in five and 15 minutes, respectively. However, the biryani took awfully lot of time, more than 60 minutes. In addition, it required two follow up reminders at 30 minutes and 50 minutes to bring our food. Apparently, the server forgot to key in the order that makes me believe that they are not equipped to handle that many guests.
Coming to taste, I would rate this restaurant as average.
1. Dosa was good as we would have expected along with all the chutneys that were on the offer
2. Poori Bhaji was definitely below par. The sabji lacked salt to the extent that it looked like the chef forgot to add salt, poori had way too much oil ( check the photo)
3. I would not recommend Biryani from this place. The meat lacked spices, the rice had spices but the chicken was bland. After an hour wait you expect to get a better Biryani but unfortunately that was not the case.
This restaurant disappointed us.
Service
Dine in
Price per person
$10–20
Overcharged by 46% ($13.10)! I called during the day of 2/14/24 to see if they were having their dinner buffet. The person answering my call said, "yes starting at 6:30". I said, "great, is the price about $20 per person (it was about that price when we went to one of their recent Sunday buffets), and I was told, " no, it's $15.99". So we had dinner and when we went to pay, the person at the register said we had to pay $46.62. I asked how that could be right as the buffet was $15.99 per person for 2 people. The register person said it was $21.99, not $15.99 because it was a Valentine's Day "special", and extra items were added to the buffet. I told him I called earlier in the day and we were told it was $15.99 per person, but to no avail. So reluctantly I gave the register person $60 cash and he gave me $13 in change. I asked where the rest of my change was ($60-46.62=$13.38) and even though there was plenty of change in the register drawer to give me the remaining $0.38, he hands me a dollar bill. At this point I told him to just keep it. It's a shame because the food is pretty good there and otherwise the staff seem nice, but we will never go back because we were told the price up front then charged a much higher price after we had eaten. That's just wrong and bad business.
Food: 4
Atmosphere: 3
