Ponnuswamy Restaurant Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Food was very tasty and homely."
• "Delicious, homecooked South Indian food."
• "The food which is fresh, aromatic, plentiful, authentic and delicious."
• "Best Mysore Masala dosa in town, plus loads of authentic South Indian restaurants."
• "The food was really amazing. The Masala Dosa, Methi Vadai, Filter Coffee everything is perfect just like what you get in South India."
• "Excellent South Indian food! Dosa and biryani were exactly as how we would get in India."
• "The food is exceptional and the closest I’ve found to the authentic southern Indian cuisine including masala dosai."

Cons:

• "Mostly disappointing copies of Indian food."
• "Visited 6 times and out of six times half of the time food was not good infact below average."
• "Food was not good infact below average, they cannot maintain consistency in taste."
• "Very below average food and the quantity is not at all worth for the cost."
• "Worst food that what I can say. No taste at all."
• "Food is very oily. In some of the dishes you can taste powders. I was very disappointed."
• "Cauliflower fry was not cooked properly and we had raw smell."

Service

Pros:

• "After months of lockdown it was a pleasure to come here for our first meal out and as usual was a fantastic dinner and service."
• "The staff are friendly."
• "The chef is actually the one coming out and waiting the tables."
• "The service doesn’t take too long."
• "Service was good, if a little slow but the food was freshly made and piping hot."
• "Really friendly staff and attentive service!"
• "Lovely helpful service."

Cons:

• "Ridiculous and absolutely rude reception staff."
• "They cancelled our food orders without asking us and gave only what they were able to cook quickly, unprofessional."
• "The waiter was very intimidating."
• "Service needs to be improved as there are not many probably one or two to serve even on busy days."
• "The service is too poor, we ordered only one oothapam and a dosa and waited for 45 minutes for them to take the order and again 30 minutes for the food to get served."
• "Not enough staffs to carry orders."
• "Service was awful....asked to clean the dirty table and had a rude response stating 'It's already clean'."

Authenticity

Pros:

• "Taste is purely South Indian."
• "Kothu Porotta and cauliflower or Paneer Manchurian is a standard order - can't go wrong if you want something different to your standard curry house fare."
• "It is a must visit place if you want to have an authentic South Indian food, nothing beats it."
• "Very authentic and super friendly to us."
• "If you are looking for South Indian veg and Non veg in Cardiff...I would definitely recommend this place for sure...Absolutely amazing food...Tamil vibes 😉"
• "Authentic and excellent South Indian cuisine - quite different from many UK’s typical 'Indian restaurants'."
• "The most authentic south Indian food I've had in UK."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately, most of what Ponnuswamy is not authentic South Indian."
• "South Indian food is good, North Indian not so much."
• "Didn't like the biriyani though."
• "Sambar might disappoint."
• "The quality of the food was not good. We had Masala Dosa. They were not only soggy."
• "Mutton chuka was not chukka rather it was gravy."
• "The plain dosa was soggy in spite of telling to make crispy."

Value

Pros:

• "Reasonably priced."
• "The prices aren't exorbitant."
• "South Indian restaurant that is both delicious and reasonably priced."
• "The value is good (4 of us ate for £45)."
• "Very reasonably priced for the quality of the food."
• "Great family feel to this place and it is very reasonably priced."
• "Prices are very responsible."

Cons:

• "What I got for £15 was 3 very small cubes of mutton meat and 3 very small pieces of chicken boneless in half bowl gravy and ending up still hungry."
• "Very expensive."
• "The portions are definitely on the smaller side and the price is way too high."
• "I wouldn't recommend going to this place if you are really really hungry because it will be a long wait and your bill will be like £30 per person before you know it."
• "The portions are definitely on the smaller side and the price is way too high."
• "New management is too much expensive. ..gave me old food too and less what I was ordered..."
• "Prices more than reasonable and service was great."

Ambience

Pros:

• "From the outside this place looks tiny but inside its compact and can seat up to 36 people. The decor is nice bright, simple and clean."
• "The shop is quaint and wholesome."
• "The atmosphere makes you feel like you are somewhere in TamilNadu."
• "The ambience was lacking due to the small nature."
• "The decor in the restaurant is a very casual cafe vibe, I wouldn’t take anyone here for a fancy date but Its good for a group of friends :)"
• "The seating area could be improved, but it was still comfortable (toilet OK)."
• "Firstly this is NOT a restaurant as you may imagine. It is several long tables and a couple of short tables set up in a long thin room, it’s more of a cafe set up."

Cons:

• "This is not a restaurant you come to for the ambiance, I urge you to overlook the tired decor and come here for the food."
• "The ambience here is not that good and the service is also poor."
• "The Only thing I’d say is that the ambience can improve a bit."
• "Close to authentic taste but the ambience could be a down for some."
• "It's was ok. Not very special South Indian u get here."
• "It does get extremely busy on some evenings and weekends though."
• "Parking is hard to find in the evenings here, allow time to search."