Annachikadai

We love their dosa, idli, chutneys and sambar. We have only had takeout which means it gets cold by the time you get home...but we learned a new trick - warm up your dosa in the toaster oven on toast mode - turns out fresh and . Their dosa is awesome, not greasy and super tasty. I have ordered other things and they were alright but believe dosa is their specialty.

The unlimited non-veg thali is a joke .. each item came in a little plastic container with no meats and only curry .. we had to ask them numerous times for meat/chicken ... fish curry is only curry and they do not serve any fish in it .. highlight was the chicken 65 which was under flavored .. there are many other places for a a great andhra experience .

Yesterday was my second time visiting. The first time was about 1 year back.

Food: This time I ordered parotta, mutton curry (Pirattal Kuzhambu), chicken biriyani, Veg Kurma, and chicken 65. All of them were good. I will not say GREAT, but good. The biriyani was spicy, so it is not recommended for folks with low spice tolerance. The quantity of chicken 65 was good - about 10 pieces, but the mutton curry was a joke - 4 small pieces for $17.

Service: You order food at the counter and then food is delivered to your table. Waiting time was reasonable (less than 10 min) since we went at non-peal hours. The staff was very helpful and good to deal with. Nice people.

Ambiance: Typical restaurant that you can feel in Tamil Nadu (South India). The tables were not cleaned properly. We found food particles on our table.

Overall, I will give a 3 out of 5 star rating since we had good food & experience other than the unclean table.

Interesting place as they do catering. Folks seem to come in not sure how to order. Every one of us go up to the counter to order expecting to pay and they say pay after. The food is interesting. It's what I wanted in terms of variety. Will come back to try other things. The best part is nothing has filler. All the food is natural.

I normally don't factor in ambiance unless it's at one of the extremes. We dined in and got one of the tables next to the window. The bottom of the window had a thick layer of dirt. One might say how does it matter as long as it's not on the food. Well, the cutlery they put for self service was dirty as well. I had to dip all the spoons and forks in fresh water and wipe them out before we used them. The restaurant is not large, they barely had about six tables so I couldn't see why they had difficulty maintaining it. By this point I was skeptical of the cleanliness of the kitchen as the dining area was in such a pathetic state.
We got some veg and non veg thalis and a plate of chicken 65. As advertised, the thalis came out on steel trays lined with banana leaf. But the rest of the dishes on the leaf were served on plastic and paper cups. The thali came with a South Indian style flaky paratha, rice, Kurma, chole, some vegetable curries, rasam, sambar, yoghurt and a dessert which had food coloring. I could see why the place was popular inspite of the cleanliness of the restaurant, the food was really good. The paratha and Kurma combination was on point, absolutely delectable. I enjoyed the rasam and rice combo as well.

We got the non-veg thali which was really good (it is unlimited and is only served on the weekend).

It came with chicken 65, chicken curry, fish curry, veg kurma, lentil curry, rasaam, pickles, plantain chips, rice, buttermilk and of course papadam. We were confused if it served chapathi or parotta as well with it. Some people had it with the thali and some didn't (I am in that group that didn't get it with it).

Every single item in that non-veg thali tasted so good.

We had take out with them as well during the weekday. I was surprised they put coffee in the bag, I wish they asked if we wanted it in the bag or if we wanted to carry them. I would of preferred to carry my coffee.

The service for the unlimited thali was really good. They are fast and efficient.

The place is small. They have 2-3 tables outside. And it's first come first serve. But the maximum amount of time anyone had to wait when I was there was at most 5 min. There is no music, which is great because I want to hear the people that I came to the restaurant with.

We ordered takeout from here. We got Idly with fish curry, Fish 65, and egg kothu paratha. The food is extremely spicy here, so if you can't handle the heat, then stay away from this place. I had to dilute the curry with yogurt to make it palatable, but that's just me; I can't handle the spice.

My husband, on the other hand, does appreciate spicy food and enjoyed it. Good selection of items on the menu, and food is usually ready quickly.

Perhaps the best Indian food I've ever had. Amazing rich/deep flavors.
The Parotta was the right thickness. Flavorfully, and serves fresh.
The Mango Lassi was waaaay too thick to drink with a straw, but it helped cut the heat of the curry nicely.
Not the nicest place to look at, but the food more than made up for it.
I'll be back if I'm ever in town again.

Heard great things about Annachikadai from my Indian coworker so we were super excited to check it out. In addition to our own entrees, we shared a cheese dosa and a chapathi. I got myself an Annachi Chicken Salina.

The Annachi Chicken Salina was overly salty and oily. The chicken was floating on top of oil (see attached photo). Even with chapathi, the chicken was too salty for me to take more than two bites. Can't imagine how much seasoning they put in there. Only thing I appreciate was how spicy it was - probably the spiciest Indian food I've had in a while.

Both the cheese dosa and the chapathi received good reviews. The surface of the dosa was slightly more greasy than I preferred, but it was still tasty. We also ordered lentil soup for entrees. The lentil soup was apparently tasty but much lighter than expected (clear instead of thick broth).

10/26/2022

Annachikadai
80 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040

Went for dinner with wifey on a Wednesday evening. It is in a small ECR strip mall close to Grant Rd./237. There is indoor seating for about 30 people, paper and plastic setups and the menu is via scanning a QR code. There was a lot of take out business while we were there.

We ordered the Veg Pakora, Parotta bread, Boneless Chicken Curry (medium) and Boneless Mutton Curry (spicy). Although we were dining in, the curries came take out ready in plastic tubs. The Pakora consisted of julienned vegetables battered and crisply deep fried. It was lightly salted and excellent. Both curries were very tasty with satisfying amounts of protein, lots of sauce and strongly spiced. The heat level was okay for me unless you eat one of the chili peppers. The accompanying bread was nicely flaky.

Prices are very reasonable, consistent with the minimalist operation experience. If you are wearing polyester or wool, your clothing (and hair) will acquire the Indian spices odor. Bothered wifey a little but not me. It's a new neighborhood favorite, definite repeat.