Saravanaa Bhavan

This place has dope dosas! They are so crispy, even though the norm seems to favour the soggy dosas in these parts. Definitely recommend the paper masala dosa (ask for the masala aka potatoes on the side if you want the crispness to last) and a mango lassi to go with it. Super affordable, yummy and filling.

This is part of a chain of vegetarian food from the South of India. The food is spicy.
The location is a retail mall so lots of parking available, except on weekends because of a movie theatre in the Mall.
We usually try the Special Meal, which has an assortment of vegetables and bread options.
During the weekend and on weekdays they also offer a buffet option.
Service is efficient and the prices are reasonable.

A great place for some South India flare.
They are very attentive with the service, and the menu has some great translations for those who are not as well versed with the dishes.
Masala dosa-​simple and an all time favourite is what most folks seem to go for… the taste plus the presentation with the large dosa on your plate never fails to disappoint.
I highly recommend also giving the tea a try. Will definitely return.

Great authentic food, love the Dosas and Idlies. Try out the idly (14 pieces) and the Mango Lasssi. Good service.

I Love the food here — the layers and complexity of spices are amazing. I am not a vegetarian (I love meat) but this place will make you forget the meat!
The overall look of the restaurant could use a lift… it’s a little tired. The wait staff was excellent!

I’ve been to this restaurant on several occasions. The food is amazing, definitely one of the best South Asian vegetarian restaurant out there. I usually get the Saravana Bhavan special, which comes with a huge variety of curries, rice and 2 small pouries (fried dough).
However, my last visit was not very pleasant in terms of the service. Fridays are usually the busiest at any vegetarian restaurants. But I felt that they were not prepared and seemed to be scrambling. I went with my family and we had placed our order. One of my family member got their food within 10 mins of ordering. But, it took exactly 45 mins for the rest of us to get our food. Hence, by the time we all started eating the food delivered 45 mins prior was cold. I looked over at other tables and it was the similar situation where only one or two people had their meal while everyone else was still waiting.
As much as the quality of the food is important, the quality of the service is just as important.

Food is good but was not satisfied with the level of service. Don’t come here if you are picky about service.

Casual restaurant. Food was pretty good. One thing I didn’t like was that the onion dosa had onions stuffed inside where as I thought it would have been a part of the batter. Seemed like the onions were stuffed raw, then moistened from the heat of the dosa. When tearing the dosa, all the small diced onions just fell out.
We ordered 3 plain dosa, 1 onion dosa, and 1 uttapam. The bill came to about $ 40.
This was my second time going there. It’s definitely my go-​to dosa place.

I have been to this location couple of times and it was decent. However I was there on Sunday July 05,2015 with my family and the family from the United States of America and we had a horrible experience with the restaurant. We are 10 people plus a kid and had the worst experience. We had to wait for over an hour to get our food and two of us didn’t get our food and the waiter came twice asked if we got our food and told him that we didn’t get our food and tell him what we ordered and 20 mins later we got our food. But one order was vegetables briyani and it was bad. Only vegetables were in the biriyani was frozen mix veg that you buy from the grocery store (carrot, green beans and corn) and who makes biriyani like that? It is fried rice which added biriyani spices with food red coloring and its horrible! I have lived in India and had food in saravana bhavan but these people who runs the restaurant ruining their reputation. I would never go back to that location. We complained and they didn’t charge me for the biriyani or the replacement of my food however it was not good enough because it left bad taste in my mouth to go back there. I personally not recommend anyone to go there or they need to fire the management there hire new management because they suck!

Let me start by saying that I love meat… With that in mind, I love this place. I know it’s vegetarian, but it has lots of tasty food that really show cases what vegetarian food can be.
The paper dosa is crispy, tasty and definitely an experience. The curries, rice dishes are amazing, and the desserts are authentic.
If you’re a big meat eater, give this place a try. It may change your mind about veggies.

Loved the food. As good as its Indian counterparts. Didnt like their Biryani though… Something was missing. Nevertheless 5 stars

This is place is one of my favorite places to go to when i want to eat Indian food, i love the parrota’s at this locations.
The only concern is the how they clean their cups and culinary utensils because since they serve their customers so fast there was once where i found stains on my cups and it wasn’t appetizing at all.
All and all the food is something you really don’t want to miss!

It may not quite live up to the hype (featured in a Toronto Star ‘best ethnic food suburb in the world’ article, and one of the places that US economist & foodie Tyler Cowan dined at), but Saravanna Bhavan in Scarborough is good.
It was my first visit to a south Indian vegetarian restaurant, so bear with me!
We visited on Sunday for their lunch buffet, which offers a great range of spicy and mild tastes. VERY good paper dosa — luckily an endless supply from friendly servers — and poori for dipping, spicy potato poriyal (my favourite!), mint & coconut chutneys, channa masala… yum! The only thing I wasn’t ecstatic for was the mango pickle dish. For refreshment, we had mango lassi and mango juice — filled to the brim, and perfectly fresh and sweet. :)
It was steady (not crazy busy) during the lunch hour (12−3pm), but we didn’t feel rushed to finish our meal. In fact, we stayed and chatted by the ceiling-​high windows for 2 hours!
If you love Indian food, definitely check this place out. I’ll probably be back! :)

Why does it have just 3 star rating?
We went there thinking we’ll order just a thing or two but looking at the spread for brunch buffet, changed our minds.
Despite being busy, it was tidy and clean and we were promptly attended too.
Everything had a terrific quality! I know it sounds presumptuous of me but I loved, well everything. The thing is even the best items from Ala Carte are dressed down for buffet but not in this case.
I loved their crispy Medu Vadas and three kinds of Coconut Chutneys. They don’t place Dosa and Puri among the spread but regularly serve that on your table. Upma tasted exactly like what I used to get back home.
I bowed out but not before sampling their filter coffee. Ahhh, the bitter sweet flavor of Chennai that I missed.
Economical joint. $ 35 all in including tip for two!

We often go to this restaurant as my south Indian son-​in-​law really likes this place for the buffet. (He used to go one of the locations when he lived in Chennai for several years.) For nonIndians, the food is totally vegetarian, from the southern state of Tamil Nadu and therefore does not have some of the standard north Indian dishes that most anglo-​Canadians know. The buffet has a good variety of dishes and they will bring hot dosas and puris to your table. Yummy! Be sure to try the south Indian coffee served in a metal cup and bowl (you pour the forth to cool it). The customers are almost all south Indian and if you go during Diwali, it will be very busy.

Brunch (Vegetarian)
Food, Value: ⁴⁄₅
Ambience, service: 3
Return: if in the area likely.
This place has improved the quality of its brunch and presentation.

I’ve been here for years since they first opened. No longer come here as much. The food here is decent and good, don’t get me wrong… But it’s nothing to rave about.
Bruce buffet: decent
Dosas: good but nothing spectacular
Rasa/​sambar vada: pretty good… One of my faves
Puri/​curries: not the tastiest.
It’s not innovative or new, just decent/​good South Indian cuisine. To be fair, of all the times I’ve been, the foods never been bad…
I’ve just never experienced the ‘dang that was good’ feeling here.
Though I personally think it Is beyond absurd to charge for extra pappadum when you get a rice dish (I think it was at least $ 1.00)… Seriously. It’s going to
Take me a while to get over that one.

Five years later, I still have to say that this is a fantastic restaurant.
I ran a Meetup outing here. I got the mini tiffin set, which included ravi kachadi, sambar, idlis and a small masala dosa with potatoes. One person did chicken out out of the South Indian dishes and ordered something Northern instead, but overall, everyone was really happy with their food.
Everything was outstanding and people even talked about bringing family and friends here!

Quality and taste of the food has been degraded. They must have change the chef or they might have started using bad spices.
I think it’s not a South Indian food at any angle. I’ve been in south India for 4 years and I know how the food is.
I came here 5 months ago when the food was good but today (31 may 2014) the food is awwwwwwww. I hated the food that’s why I’m too disappointed.

Good food, good service.
The mini tiffin is great if you want to try a bunch of appetizer style south Indian food as a meal.
The dosa, idli, vada & chutneys, barota & kurma, khyma idli are all very tasty.
The south Indian brunch on weekends is a fantastic idea!