Meet and Greet
We were excited to eat at the first South Indian restaurant in
Mise en Scène
This location recently was bought out and renamed. Just previous to these owners, it was called
**We did not have to use restrooms, so no comment on that ambiance!
Choosing a Veggie Treat
Mysore Woodlands bases their menu items on a region of
Among the tempting vegetarian options, we ordered the sambar vada and aloo bonda for appetizers and the Mysore Masala dosa and bisi bele bath for main courses.
Sambar vada was very tasty. The accompanying coconut chutney was nothing to write home about. The vadas were nice and very large. In fact the two vadas soaked in this dish of sambar were bigger than the ones we had at Palace of Dosas and also a meal in themselves. The sambar that accompanied the sambar vada was tasty, with a thick consistency. I make a Mysore sambar for Pongal celebrations. My feeling is the specialty of Mysore Sambar is the fact that the dhal is boiled separately then rather than just placed in the sambar, it is blended into a paste along with other spices before putting into the sambar broth. This gives the sambar an overall thick consistency. I had hardly any room for the other food after eating this. The aloo bonda was ok, but then again aloo bonda is a North Indian treat and not so typical of Udipi or South Indian cuisine. The Mysore Masala dosa is a lentil crepe filled with mildly spicy potato filling. The dosa itself is also coated with a layer of masala (spice) – which is a mix of spiced ground and mixed in oil and lightly spread on the inside of the dosa. This was very tasty. The bisi bele bath was not on the menu. What was on the menu was bangala bath. I am still not sure what that is. When asking the waiter what it was, I asked if it was like bisi bele bath, which is a rice dish with veggies and spices. He said not really and offered me the bisi bele bath. I have to say I haven’t had bisi bele bath since I left Chennai in 2001 and it was so tasty and amazing. It had a spicy tasty but not hot spicy but a blend of wonderful tastes. The dish was accompanied by lemon ginger pickle. Unlike the lemon pickle I make at home, this one was made with oil as there were mustard seeds in it. However, the lemon ginger pickle had an amazing flavor as again though it did have some chili taste it was not too spicy and complemented the bisi bele bath very nicely.
Checking In
We were waited on in regular intervals by either waiter on staff. Service was courteous and prompt.
See you later
Bill was given in reasonable time and collected back quite timely. When paying the bill, they had packed my left over bisi bele bath. When I looked in the bag later, I noticed they packed the pickle in a separate container which was impressive. Even more impressive was the fact that they had given extra pickle than what was in the original helping. Thanks! (Incidentally, I had taken the leftovers for work the next day, eating the bisi bele bath with the pickle and potato chips, it was very tasty. In fact, it made me wonder why the bisi bele bath is not served with papad – Indian chips.)
Pay Scale
$11-15 per person (one vegetarian appetizer and main course per person)
Tips 10-15%
Star System 4
For an Indian restaurant it was good and quick service. Also liked the fact they gave me something not listed on the menu. Food is value for money as it was very filling and in comparison to other South Indian restaurants, somewhat cheaper.
To find/Contact
Located in
(Near back left corner where mall makes a turn)
Phone: unsure
Get Directions
Notes: If you want to come to Rochester to visit the Hindu temple and then go for some great South Indian food, here are the directions from the Temple to Mysore Woodlands!
View Larger Map
**As of the posting date, the old sign (
Related Links: My recipe for Mysore Sambar My recipe for vada Pongal Celebrations- What is Pongal and how I celebrated it in a remote Tamil village Palace of Dosas, Buffalo, NY
tags:4 stars, rochester-ny, indian, south-indian, economical, restaurant review,
11 comments:
Yes I agree food is good, need to create better ambience, and improve service. I do not see them serving any apetizers. They are udupi type restaurant but they do not have pure vegeterian or seperate vegeterian menu, there is mixing of veg items with non veg I think. They said that they will improve in future,
Best place in rochester for Dosa and other indian food.
owner are very well behaved people
Do not try there rasam soup its nothing but water with salt and color, but Dosas are really good.
I found out what is bagala baath! It is curd rice with veggies added!!
Vidya has posted a recipe at http://iyercooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/bagalabath-curd-rice.html
I have been there a number of times the food is really amazing, i have been to almost all the indian restaurants in Rochester n i think this was the best the SAMBAR n DOSAS were really really authentic.
Vegeterian(above post) i think u missed their VEG section and Appetizers, they do have a huge VEG Options as well as huge choice of Appetizers
I tried their Gobi Manchurian(indo-chinese dish) which reminded me of a my fav restaurant back in Banglore India.Also must try thier lunch buffet which is big with Dosas and Nan served on the table.
Thank you, Nisha.
I have heard from others the Gobi Manchurian is amazing! We must try it in our next visit!
Thanks Nisha.
I tried Gobhi Manchurian, its best I ever had.
It is best Indian Restaurant in Rochester, NY
From Jennifer blog author.
We went back on October 4, 2008 for another visit. Again I ordered off the menu. I ordered curd rice (rice with yogurt). I did not note the price, but it was decent curd rice for not being on the menu. There is something nice about hot rice with yogurt added to it. It was plain- as in no tadka (mustard seeds, curry leaves or green chilies), though served with delicious lemon pickle (my favorite). A little more yogurt would have made it just perfect. Hubby got again masala dosa. He raves about the potato filling. It is spiced just right... not too spicy.. not too salty.. just right! Usually when we get the masala dosa (at other south Indian restaurants) it's so easy to finish the dosa part, but the potatoes are not easy to finish. That is not true here. The entire dish is easy to complete. Hubby also raves that the dosa mauvu (mix) is always consistent- the fermentation is just right! Kudos!!!
For starters we had dahi vada (again hands down, very tasty) and sambar vada. If I remember correctly, I think the sambar served with the vada was thick with dhal, and the sambar served with dosa was thin and watery. We'd prefer it the other way. We are not sure if it was the same sambar (just the liquid taken from top for dosa side) or two different sambars are used.
By Blog Author
We visited again on December 20 for a lunch buffet. This was our first visit for buffet and can't wait to come again!!
It is the most comprehensive Indian buffet in Rochester - with special focus on pakka (authentic) South Indian food. Only few items were North Indian (raita and aloo gobi/potato cauliflower) and only two non-vegetarian items.
I enjoyed first course of two cutlets (vegetarian burgers, small size) with chutney and pau bhaji (vegetarian sloppy joe). My second course included rice with sambar, beans poriyal (a restaurant I have seen in a long time in US using the word -"poriyal", it's bean's curry) and Hyderabadi eggplant curry. I also had some masala dosa (freshly prepared from the kitchen, not sitting to get cold on buffet) with sambar and chutney.
Everything was fantastic! I liked the eggplant dish most as it was unique for an Indian restaurant in US. The gravy was so tasty. Maybe someday I will learn how to make it! Beans poriyal is a dry fry of beans with potato. I thought this was eatable, but I prefer a side dish with only one vegetable- if it were plain bean fry or plain potato fry then I like that more than the mix of the two.
I have not listed all the items that are on the buffet, there was rasam (or otherwise known as mulagaitanni - pepper water in other Indian restaurants), the two non vegetarian items and two or three other vegetarian items I did not have space in my stomach for!!
We liked the fact we could have seconds and thirds as in other Indian buffets (North Indian) we find the dishes filled with richness like cream and oil which makes it very difficult to eat very much without having an instant full feeling. Also this restaurant buffet food seemed to remain warm even after collecting and bringing back to the table.
The price was a little high, I thought at almost $11 per person. Though it can be balanced with the fact there are many exotic items not found elsewhere, I wonder if it justifies the price. The service was good, with frequent water refills and plate removals. The main improvement would again lie in decor. The interiors need to be painted and the photos of the food on the wall are actually not very appetizing, though of course reminiscent of photos seen in any hotel in India.
Overall, I'd recommend you to try the buffet if you get a chance. It's worth a first try and again if you enjoy it!
Jen,
We visited this restaurant recently...Don't know if our expectations were too high...but we were disappointed a little bit..food was Okay..The disappointment was mainly on how bad Indians are in running a business.
First of all we had a hard time finding the place..we couldn't find the place even after driving through it's front..no front lighting, no illuminated name board, just a couple of cloth banners, and above all it still has the "India Palace" board. They could have removed that board at least!!!
The greeting person ( seems to be the owner or manager) was very prompt in seating us..but no greetings, no smile, no friendly talk. Just asked us how many and pointed us to a seat..and brought two menu cards and left!!! Came back with two glasses of water... again no words!!!
Once the menu was placed, food was served quickly...The serving boy was very nice and courteous...and the food was very good..for me it felt like a little too spicy, but ironically, for him, who finds every Indian restaurant food to be spicy, all the items were excellent!! He loved it!!
After the main course, I actually wanted to order some desssert..but I thought let's wait and see if someone asks us...as expected, no one gave us the dessert menu or asked us if we want any desserts...they lost the easy dollar!!!
Again we had to ask for the carry out boxes for the left over..and this Manager/owner gave us a single box with multiple partitions..we did not want to mix the veg and non veg items, so had to ask again for separate samller boxes and the other serving guy brought us a couple of small boxes..
And finally, the payment was done and we were preparing to leave..we were putting on our coats...this manager/owner guy came over and squeezed in between us to reach over the table to take the signed off receipt..why couldn't he wait just a couple more seconds to take that receipt from the table!!!!
I am very disappointed at the way Indian do their businesses...they don't even care about customer satisfaction or customer service...and no wonder why none of the Indian businesses or restaurants are running successfully here!!!!
Actually, it's not the first South Indian restaurant in Rochester, but it may be the only one currently. When I moved here in 2000, from DC, there was a vegetarian restaurant which was part of the India House "chain" (of now two restaurants and one grocery store, the one I typically use). It had very good food, but it closed a few years ago. The owner said there just wasn't enough interest/traffic in vegetarian food in the area. I haven't tried Mysore Woodlands, yet, but will. I miss being able to go out for South Indian - it would be nice not to have to always cook it myself!
Thanks for stopping by, JumpingJade
The food is bad, and service too. Sambhar was worst, after eating the food I felt I would no be able to eat South Indian food for next 6 months atleast
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