Kumar's Minneapolis - Apple Valley

This restaurant is a must-try for local residents looking for authentic South Indian non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes. The food is different from what you would find at traditional Indian restaurants in the USA, which typically serve North Indian or Punjabi cuisine. I gave it four stars because there is still room for improvement, but I provided feedback to the chef during my visit and he was receptive. The restaurant serves food in the traditional South Indian style, on banana leaves. While this is a sustainable practice in India, it can sometimes feel like a marketing ploy when the leaf is placed on an additional plate. The food was delicious, and I hope it continues to improve. They also excel at serving North Indian dishes, with a special mention for their naan bread.

Do not waste your time and money at Kumar's Apple Valley if you are craving authentic Tamil Nadu style food. The chicken biryani lacked flavor and resembled tamarind rice, while the chicken gravy was tasteless and the chicken fry was overcooked and oily. The dal was undercooked and lacked seasoning, and the flavored buttermilk was unpleasant. The restaurant may have ambiance, but the food does not live up to expectations. Save yourself the disappointment and cook your own food at home instead.

The customer service at this restaurant is exceptional! The staff were all polite and went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and ensure everything was up to par. The chefs are amazing, and I would choose Kumar over other Indian restaurants because of their excellent customer service, delicious flavors, reasonable prices, and generous portion sizes.

TL/DR: There?s a lot of potential but the place really needs to fix its issues around food and service. The review is from the PoV of a South Indian who grew up in TamilNadu, and needless to say the judgement comes from a very high level of standard, ascompared to a review of any other cuisine such as Mexican, Italian etc. That being said, I really wanted, with all my heart, forit to a good experience and was really looking forward to it. About an year back, lunch time conversation among non-Indians atwork was that the place had some good food. But honestly, we had a disappointing experience. We were a group of 4 people,ordered 2 vegetarian thali, two dosas, a vada and milagu rasam. The rasam never came. The thalis were ok at best, decent valuefor the price but very average taste. At least they came out quickly. But I don?t think we?d come back specifically to eat thethali. Two dosas took more than 40 mins to come, by which time the two people who had thali finished their meal. And the chutneywas straight out of the fridge and cold and the dosas had gone pretty cold too by the time we got it. The very least that needsto be good at a South Indian restaurant is the dosa and that ended up being not great too. Looked like there was only one personat the front desk who was also handling the orders at the table, cleaning tables, bringing food etc. Three cheers to that personwho despite doing all this still had a smile on his face. The restaurant concept is great and South Indian food is unique tothe twin cities and there is quite a bit of demand but I feel like it?s all just not coming together at this restaurant. Withfood not living up to the mark and service very slow, I?d rather eat South Indian food that I can cook for myself at home thango here. It?s probably worth a visit for many especially non-Indians if you haven?t had South indian food) and maybe you?llhave a better experience but I don?t think we are going back here.

One of the nice Indian restaurants. Great food. I have been here more than couple of times. Weekends are normally too crowded. We had to wait a lot of time after ordering because of lack of people to serve the food(that's why giving one star less)