BARR - Komala Vilas
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at 11:14PM Komala Vilas (KV to the fans!) is at the south west corner of Henderson and El Camino (diagonally opposite to the Bhavikas complex). If there is one place we frequent as often or more than Bhavikas it is KV.
Parking is not a problem, what with the pizza hut in the complex closing down. KV has been around for 4-5 years, if I remember right. In its early days, we were more infrequent visitors because we seriously found that the staff couldnt handle the crowd.
There has been a recent management change at KV, with Dharmaraj Sir taking charge (Mail Bag fame). Now we are addicted to the place. I took my time to write the review for KV because once we go there, we keep going there.
Wait time : 2 minutes (find a table yourself)
Food wait time from order : 10-15 minutes (depending on what you order)
Check time : 3 minutes (Visa Mastercard - Minimum is $16 for charge, else Cash)
Average price per person : $9
Rating "Grandma, where are you ?".
Service : Excellent
Items sampled : Rava Dosa, Poori Sabzi, Sambar rice, curd rice, chips, masala dosa, vadai, Coffee
Just like I mentioned, we have gone to KV twice this week already.
For those of you who are used to visiting Komala Vilas, one of the first thing that Dharmaraj Sir has changed is the coffee.. It is now his patented coffee (for which he is famous throughout the bay area) instead of the darker, stronger variety before. Don't miss it. It cures depression, headache, family problems, kid problems, just to name a few..
You should not miss the lunch thali during the week. You get unlimited rice with sambar, rasam, curd, pickle, ghee and sweet porridge for dessert ! The best part is, Komala Vilas sets the standard for HOSPITALITY !!. The guys serve you rice and the gravy just like mom serves you at home ! Amazing, considering it is hispanic guys speaking fluent Tamizh (I kid you not !). And the food is out of the world.
The evening menu is more of the individual item orders. Their sabzi is superb (try it with poori) and the Rava Dosai is excellent (a little pricey though at 7$).
Today we were very late and were really hungry. Any other restaurant would have seated us and made us wait for our order. KV does it differently. We were specifically asked which items were being ordered by the pregnant woman, then were told that those items are the ones which have maximum delay time, and were recommended some immediately available items in the meantime!
I have always admired Mr. Dharmaraj's way of doing things. His taking over KV is a blessing for hungry people craving good eats!. If my mother-in-law feels nostalgic for home cooked food, guess where she is going ?
Reader Comments (3)
Sundar,
couldn't agree more on the healing powers of filter coffee. adhuvum andha first sip, when you enter into that world, feeling is awesome.
Somehow I never liked KV dinner menu. Will try it again may it is better now.
The first time I went to KV for lunch almost had a reverse cultural shock. For a minute, idhu hanuman ghata, illa madrasa, illa bay area-va oru confusion. Apprum recover ayi regular lunch customer anadhu oru thani story :)
I am not sure how long you have been going to KV but I have been since 2000. Sadly, the quality has come down considerably. KV's tiffin really sucks - they use old dosa and vada mavvu. Their vdadai feels like a chungu chakkaram in Diwali pattasu family (I mean that hard!) Greed has taken over the new management I would say, and I really miss the original owner and very original chefs!
I have to agree with the previous "Anonymous" post. I have been going to KV since my bachelor days (2000) and the food used to be great and authentic and worth the money spent. With the new management, I see that the price for lunch has been increased to $10+tax, and the quality of food has gone down - more spicy and old food sometimes. KV's tiffin has always been not that great and we stopped going to KV any time other than for lunch. Not worth the money spent...