Madras Mahal

Roach found in Sambar !!! Disgusting!. Absolutely revolting experience. I found a roach leg in my sambar in a delivery. I immediately called the restaurant to complain and they hung up on me. I have reported the restaurant to the NY Department of Health.

Avoid this place at all costs. If I found a roach leg in my sambar, there's no telling what else you might find!

Sesh…

Extremely bad experience for Students.. Extremely bad experience at Madral Mahal. They worked w/ Groupon to advertise a deal, that we purchased and got us into the restaurant but didn't honor it when we were done w/ our meals. My roommate and I first found out of about the place through the website called Groupon/Now where they had a deal that said spend $8 and get $15 dollars worth of food. We both purchased a deal each and decided to pay for our own meals.

We had used Groupon several times at several restaurants before and expected to be treated with the same kind of customer service and respect as the other places that honored Groupon purchases. And we expected nothing less because businesses that work with Groupon are usually trying to boost their business or keep their businesses with these deals.

Anyway, we went in and decided to have a buffet which was $10.95. We figured if we got a Coke or dessert that would cover the $15 dollars we had in our Groupon account. Once we finished w/ the buffet, I asked the waiter to give me a regular menu (Non Buffet) so that I can purchase an item separately from the menu. ( such as a dessert or a drink to go) and informed him that I would be using my Groupon deal that day.

1. He immediately told me that groupon does not apply to items to be taken out of the restaurant. ( I understand a buffet menu item that cannot be taken out of the restaurant, but when I was willing to pay full price for a non buffet/ regular menu item, I didnt understand the logic. Plus, Groupon did not specify any such thing)

2. He drops a bomb on us and tells us that only one groupon offer can be used per table. ( Again, Groupon never mentioned this restriction on the offer. The restriction is usually mentioned by Groupon if the restaurant tells them to place that restriction. The restaurant had not mentioned this restriction on the groupon Offer. Plus if it said that on the offer, we wouldnt have purchased a separate deal each between the two of us. Or maybe we would have sat on two different tables)

Finally he told us to speak to the manager at the front desk, which we did. This manager by the name, Nina was extremely rude and patronizing. Her response was ''i dont know about all this Groupon stuff, but only one can be applied to the table and the rest has to be paid by creditcard/cash'' Ofcourse she didnt listen or look at the groupon receipt we had and nor pay attention when we tried to show her that the only restriction was the one that said - one offer per person, not one offer per table. Then she goes on to say '' No other customers tried to argue with us on this matter. When I told them about 'one per table' policy, I just advised them to call Groupon to get their money back''.

Why would her advice of getting their money back even come up if these customers were not trying to use their individual Groupon offers for each table. Made no logical sense.

And finally she told us that we should have checked with the restaurant before using Groupon. This suggestion completely devalues the company of Groupon because thousands of customers trust Groupon in the way that once they spend money with Groupon, they do not have to doubt a business for not honoring it. And Groupon never gave us any trouble w/ that in that past one year that we have been using it regularly.

I hope a restaurant like Madras Mahal is not chosen by companies like Groupon because a restaurant and management such as the one makes the customer feel cheap, makes the customer feel as though they are doing them some big favor w/ that deal, in spite of the customer spending money, and makes the customer regret spending any money at all at a place that patronizes their customer.

Final Bill - Two buffets - $10.95 each - 21.90

One can of Coke - $1.95

Total with Tax - $28 and change

Only one groupon applied - ( - $15)

Credit card paid - $13 and change…

Kosher & Interesting. Madras Mahal is a kosher vegetarian restaurant, that not forgotten that the main purpose of restaurant is to serve good interesting food. Most of the items offered at Madras are standard fare for New York Indian restaurants; although all are kosher and non meat (some are dairy), but there are much larger selection of vegetarian dishes. While the food is good, there is one item that stands out the Dosai. These are very large (over 24”) fried thin double layered pastries, rolled and filled with a large variety of ingredients and served with various dips. Tearing apart and eating a Dosai with more than one person is definitely a way to break the ice.

The wait staff is friendly, but clueless, so you have to remind them of what you ordered.

The food is inexpensive a full dinner for two is $ 40.

For more see www.ditmasestates…