When we asked for a seat the lady at the counter wanted to know what we wanted to eat
She then asked us to pay and after a short wait we got a place to sit. Found this arrangement a little strange. However, the place serves authentic south Indian cuisine and I specially loved their filter coffee.

We were a party of four. Went for a lunch on Saturday morning. The place was busy but staff paid full attention to our needs and also gave us suggestions. All in all a great place!

Tough call. The little shopping center behind McDonalds has Madras Cafe and a pho restaurant a door down. I was almost going to choose pho when I found out the wait was 20 minutes. Glad I didn't. Love the masala dosa - yummy crepes for the initiated in S Indian cuisine. I also ordered something else that I can't remember the name of, but big puff balls of wheat with a light (but salty) lentil curry. I still prefer the fried dosa but the big balls are pretty.

Side comment: the Bay Area has the best Indian and Pho, better than any I've had in Asia (well I haven't been to India but likely my stomach wouldn't be able to handle the "real" thing).

You order. Wait 20 minutes. Name gets called. You go to your table. Your food arrives 5 minutes later. Not all food comes at once so be sure to ask for something if it doesn't come after a while. Water is self serve.

I introduced a good friend to South Indian food who was leery of just having a vegetarian meal and leerier still when she saw the huge crowds of people waiting in the lobby for food etc. Great sign - every waiting seemed to be Indian / South Asian -:) The food itself - we ordered each one dish of Pongal (a rice/lentil blended dish with cashews and other spices) and one dish of Rava Dosa (a wonderfully crisp savory wheat pancake with onions) - was out of this world. Both came with an assortment of dipping sauces of which the coconut chutney was amazing. Oh, and service throughout - quick, lots of smiles etc even though they were clearly very busy. The only reason for the four stars... there wasn't really an option to order coffee or tea from the servers. We were told we had to go back to the cashier for that and giving there was such a long line there, we wound up at the neighborhood Starbucks.

Some restaurants excel in certain dishes, Madras Cafe must be visited for their Kara Masala Dosa which is spicy. My US-born teenager loves it also, although she will not eat most other things on the menu. Their methu vada is also excellent.