Muniyandi Vilas — Meat is In!
UPDATE: Neither am I a meat eater, nor do I support eating meat!
It was a shock not to find any parking space at Bharat Bazaar in Sunnyvale the other day when we stopped in to get an Indian Ayurvedic speciality, Dabur Chyavanprash. No, the crowd and the fuss not for the age old traditional herb conglomer. Instead, it was for Rabbits, Cows and Sheep and not with the intention you would expect at Petsmart.
The resaon for the buzz is Muniyaandi Vilas’ grand opening inside of Bharat Bazaar. For the uninitiated, this is a famous chain of roadside restaurants in Southern India that specializes in “Asaivam” or Non-Vegetarian meat dishes. For the South Indians that eat meat, this seems to be a reason for milling in. The staff is cheerful and seems knowledgeable about the stuff they sell. They are authentic chefs who probably just got off the aircraft and hence the accent is authentic Muniyaandi!
Muniyaandi seems poised for success in Sunnyvale from the looks of it, if they can maintain their loyalty among their niche audience. It is also a good idea to start under the roof of another successful store instead of going on their own. Once they have established their credibility and the ability to pull in crowds, it is going to be much easier to branch off.
On the contrary, there are several Vegetarian restaurants with snobby un-authentic staff that close down soon after they open slightly south at El Camino Real. Yes, the competition is high, but there are ways to succeed in the restaurant business. It is back to the basics, understand your customers. Even a top chain in India like Saravana Bhavan is not doing its thing in the USA and although business is pretty brisk, Saravana Bhavan calls for some serious adaptation in order to survive.
It is a nice place to go to if you have the very least expectations for decent service.
One is reminded of the ‘Soup Nazi’ episode of Seinfield. The food is good and the portions are generous.But all the hard work of the chef and the service staff are negated by the awful front desk staff.The woman at the cash register is rude, with a constant frown even
when accepting our money.
God forbid, you decide to add something more to your order after you have started eating.
You have to stop eating, go to the cash counter, cough up the currency first and only then you will be allowed to eat!. The counter girl think the Desi customers could eat and dodge
payment. Bankrupt management I guess.
On the way to the rest room, there are open boxes of ingredients.Why look at them and have your appetite spoiled? Try looking the other side.
This is the best south indian non-veg restaurant in Bay Area. Muniyandi Vilas invented franchise and chain store concept much earlier than anyone… The food is authentic and tasty. I will recommend this to anyone who knows about Muniyandi Vilas concept. After tired of eating north indian non-veg food I found relief. Good Job Muniyandi Vilas
Forget about the non-veg, even the dosa was simply SUPERB !!! I went there last week for the first time. I ordered a Kara Masala Dosa. I simply do not have words to explain the experience. I would just say that it reminded me on spicy dosas in India
:) I am looking forward to going there and trying out different dosas 
:)