Madras Chettinaad

Food 8.5
Great apps; chili baji and spinach pakora were excellent
Décor 9
Huge improvement over previous restaurant
Service 9
Well-​spoken English; friendly wait staff
Rating 4 out of 5 due to the fact that they’ve only been in this location for 3 days and didn’t have their full menu available. We’ll be back for more yumm.

Things have changed… for the better.
The owner and management have changed at this location– the name has also been changed (now called «Madras Grill» despite the old signs along Lawrenceville highway) but the chef stayed. Booyah! The food is still every bit as good as it has been, and the new management seems to think that $ 7 (before tax and tip) is a good price to charge for lunch buffet. Say that again??? $ 7 bucks??? On top of that, service was excellent– with a smile.
Their rendition of butter chicken is definitely spicier than Mirch Masala, and is not as sweet. I like this dish from both places. Just cool to get variation on a theme. My wife and I came here after watching «Up» at North Dekalb mall, and I couldn’t help thinking about how that’s exactly what’s going to happen to my weight/​waistline if I come here more often. Sweet.
This place beats any other Indian buffet I’ve had– ever. I know that Bay Leaves is opening soon (though I have no idea exactly when) and they offer lunch buffet and dinner buffets for even cheaper… but until that place opens, this place marks the spot for me

Huge selection for its lunch buffet ($ 11). I tried a little of everything and enjoyed all of it except the desserts, which were too sweet for me. The food was amazing and rich, not bland at all, but not too spicy. All the curries were very creamy, and the meats were well done but not overcooked.

They have a new name and mgmt, and the same chef. Still good, but not as good, and somehow the vibe is not as warm, but I miss the pictures of Bangalore and the naked lady statues.

I’d been here many times when it was called «Bollywood» (or something like that) and a few times under the new name … but it’s probably been a year since I’ve been here. And thankfully like the other many times, it’s still very good. Yay for consistency!
I came with two other ladies tonight, and we decided to start with an order of the Vegetable Samosas. Contents inside (potatoes & peas) were hot & yummy, and accompanied by two different chutneys — a sweet brown chutney & a very spicy cilantro chutney. I love cilantro so you can guess my favorite :)
For entrees, we got the Chicken Tikka Masala & the Chicken Biriyani — I don’t remember a time coming here when I didn’t order the Tikka Masala, my favorite Indian dish :) The Biriyani was pretty good but my friend (who’s Indian) said it looked & tasted very different from the Biriyani she ordered for takeout last week — not as red & not as spicy. We asked our server and appreciated his honesty — apparently the Biriyani is marinated longer for the buffet & takeout (therefore red & spicy), but cooked-​to-​order as an entrée during dinner (fresh but maybe not as flavorful). Interesting.
Service was very friendly & attentive, although I think b/​c the booths are pretty deep, it’s harder for the servers to notice when refills are needed. Ambience is more contemporary than your other Indian restaurants — I like that they play Bollywood movies on the big screen … obviously nice-​to-​have if you’re with a dinner partner who’s not so conversational. Just make sure you sit on the right side :)

I tasted my boyfriend’s dinner from here — the malai kofta was transcendent. It’s one of my favorite Indian dishes, and this place delivers the goods. The fresh, crisp papadum that came with our meal was also awesome. But my cheese dosai had grated cheddar or some similarly yellow, melty cheese in it. When an Indian menu says «cheese» I expect paneer, so that was odd. They also served us pretty skimpy portions of rice. Still, the rest of the food we ordered was so good, I’m willing to go back and try something else (hopefully without the surprise cheddar).

Excellent Indian food… especially if you like yours a little on the spicy side. Very accommodating. Good service. The only thing that was weird was that this place is huge and we went at 6:30 pm on a Thursday night and there was literally no one else there. It’s just strange to hear your voice literally echo while you’re eating. But the food was great! More people need to try this place out.

My new favorite Indian restaurant in town. The food was excellent, plentiful, and at a great price. The place is pretty large, a good place to meet for group dinners. The best part? A huge screen showing Bollywood movies. We seriously couldn’t take our eyes off it, and caught ourselves grooving along to them without even realizing it.
It took a while for us to get seated, but I’m not sure if it’s because we walked in pretty late (9:30ish), but someone finally noticed us and got us started. For appetizers, we had the veggie samosas and the Chicken 65. The samosas were great — not too greasy. The Chicken 65 was really good — a sort of Indian take on buffalo chicken tenders — yum.
For dinner, I couldn’t decide so I got the dinner thali (which also comes in vegetarian, but I went for the meat). What a deal for $ 12. It comes with 3 curries, soup, rice, salad, naan, raita, and mango pudding. A ton of food, and all of it delicious. The curries had just the right bite.
We were too stuffed to try the dosai, but we will be back!

A friend and I visited for Wednesday lunch. There was one other guy eating there, and the parking lot was empty! That was a little sad.
But then we ate the food. And it was great! It was a lunch buffet (i think around $ 7 – 8). Great variety, and awesome flavors. Each item did have a label above it, so that helped us a lot. During the meal, we both commented on how tasty the food was, and how we would love to come back.
My friend compared it to Udipi, and felt like it was better. It’s definitely better than Mirch Masala, another Indian buffet down the street.
I ordered a Mango Lassi, but then discovered that the fruit salad is based in Mango Lassi, so i shouldn’t have ordered it… Oh well. It was yummy still.
They probably could use one more dessert thing on the buffet.

I was craving Indian food yesterday and rounded up a few friends to drive over to Decatur and dine at Madras Chettinaad. When you arrive, don’t let the crumbling brick wall from the building being demolished next door scare you away. Not sure what’s going on there and it’s not pretty from the outside, but once you’re in the restaurant it gets much better. From the tangy mango lassi to the spice-​a-​liscious curry and Bollywood videos on the big screen, this place filled my craving!
We had an attentive server who was very polite and helpful with menu options. We started with a few orders of the veggie samosas and the Chicken 65 appetizer. My fav was the chicken — nice spicy kick! The mango lassi helped cool off the burn.
For my main dish I ordered the Chettinaad Fish Curry. The little pot dishes holding the curries looked small, but deceivingly so. I swear, they must have been bottomless because the curry went on and on. My dish had rich, deep flavors but I wasn’t crazy about the tilapia. It was cooked well, but didn’t work for me. It was a bit on the soft side and didn’t stand up to the bold curry flavors. I suffered from food envy and was jealous of the other dishes on the table. I should have ordered something with chicken or lamb. Oh well… good excuse to go back.
Namaste!

This is my absolute favorite Indian restaurant in town! Not only is the food excellent, but I love to zone out watching the Bollywood videos they have running on a big screen on the wall in the dining room (my girlfriend and I actually fight over who can sit facing the screen).
The service can be a bit grumpy sometimes, but the food more than compensates. We usually start with the veggie samosa. The 2 sauces they give you are both great to try — one has an almost minty flavor and the other is a bit more smokey and spicy. We’ve also had some fried spinach appetizer dish before that was really good, but I’m not sure what it’s called.
I can’t seem to tear myself away from always getting the Chicken Korma and garlic naan. The Chicken Korma definitely has some kick to it, but it’s not overpowering. The mango lassis are good too. My girlfriend usually gets the chicken tikka masala, which also has a good flavor to it. It would be a good dish to get if you’re new to Indian food — it’s not spicy. They also serve Indian beers there that come in HUGE bottles.
It’s definitely worth giving a try although you might be alarmed at first when you pull up to the building. For some reason, they’ve decided to rip out middle part of the strip mall adjoining the restaurant.

Delicious!!! Try the fish curry with tamarind. The owner makes it his own special way. Chicken curry is also good. All the breads are really good, especially the garlic nan, with little pockets of crispiness and butteriness. It’s garlicy delicious. If you go on a weekday don’t be fooled by the emptiness of the restaurant. That’s always a turn off to me because I think it means the foods not good. IT IS! and enjoy watching the bollywood videos on the big screen tv.

I love this place! Everything I’ve had there has been great! I honestly can’t remember it all since we always order a ton of food and share. All the dishes I’ve tried have great flavor and are really spicy… they don’t seem «watered down» like some other Indian places in Atlanta.

Nice, clean Indian restaurant in the same shopping center as Sarvana Bhavana, but at Madras Chettinaad they serve veg and non-​veg! Yummy!
For appetizers we got veggie samosas and chilli paneer. It was excellent. For my main dish, I got cheese masala dosai with hot sambhar and chutney. mmmmmm… Hit the spot! My friend got kadhai chicken, hot, and boy was it spicy, with a side of bullett naan (spicy naan). The quality of the meat was excellent. Nice and tender and juicy and so full of flavor. I absolutely loved it! I have had their chicken tikka masala here before and it’s really flavorful.
Definitely a good place to grab dosai and non-​veg dishes! I will be going back… hopefully soon :)

Pretty great indian fare. It’s in the same shopping center as the excellent Saravaana Bhavan, but MC offers meat dishes for those of you who simply cannot do without. They also offer takeout, which is how I was first introduced to them — chicken tikka masala and college football seems like a weird juxtaposition, but I DON’T CARE.
I really need to get by and try the buffet, apparently. The big screen showing Bollywood videos is awesome, and the ambience inside (based on sticking my head in and waiting for my order to come up) is a bit nicer than the neighbors — less «Old Country Buffet» and more «TGI Fridays» if you will. It also seemed to be a hair more expensive, but that’s cool, in that you’re paying for MEAT MEAT MEAT.

Ok, so being that I’m Indian, you can imagine, I’ve had my share of Indian food at restaurants here in the Atlanta area. This is by far one of my favorite places though.
I love the buffet here. They offer a good variety of food, both veg and non-​veg. This particular visit was great, they had my favorite vegetable dish Palak Paneer (spinach with cheese cubes), had some really good Butter chicken, and had my favorite dessert… Gulab Jamun (sweet syrupy balls of dough).
They even offer dosa as part of the buffet, which is awesome, because alot of place require you to order them separately. The buffet changes daily, but usually has rice, naan (pita bread), a sweet, chicken curry, and 1 other type of meat curry (goat, fish, etc)…
The place is quite nice for being in a strip mall, you walk in and it’s spacious, décor is nice, and as it has already been said… the Bollywood music/​movies playing in the middle of the room really add to the atmosphere. I love eating and bopping along to my favorite Indian tunes while I’m there.
As Erin E. said… Indian food is not for the health conscious so «wear your fat pants»…LoL!!!

My boyfriend and I love this place. The service is good, and the overall space of the restaurant is nice. Not to mention the entertainment– there is this big screen t.v. that plays Bollywood music videos.
Everything that I’ve had at this place is good. My boyfriend and I get dosa, usually. I like the Onion Rava dosa… it is so so good. I love Indian food and all of its beautiful flavors… yum yum.
Their samosas are perfect, the spinach pakora is good but a little too greasy. Their malai Kofta is delicious, but a little on the salty side. The basmati rice is good, the garlic naan is nice as well. I can’t remember the name of the dish we had last time as an appetizer, but it was very tasty. It was like the Indian equivalent of nachos.
I would give this place 4 stars, because it’s not perfect, per se, but it’s pretty damn good. I added another star for good measure, on behalf of my boyfriend who thinks this place is deserving of five stars.
I love this place!

Yum yum yum. The buffet at Madras Chettinaad is stocked with lots of tasty treats which change daily. They have a steady crowd, so none of the food sits there for too long. These guys don’t hold back on the butter and cream in their sauces, so wear your fat pants.

The Bollywood-​themed décor is reason enough to love this purveyor of «South Indian Veg and Non-​Veg» cuisine. But really, it’s all about the buffet baby, which features a decent sampling of some traditional Indian veg fare as well as 3 – 4 meat dishes.
Oh, and did I mention the baked goods? Thank your lucky stars if you’ve shown up on a lentil doughnut (medhu vadai) day or a french-​fried idli day or a dosai day. Awesome.