Good food

Had the Dat curry with 2 Puris and it was so bomb. Every bite is a flavor explosion in your mouth. The Puri is delicious. Mildly sweet and savory. Went really well with the Dat curry

Love this spot. Food is very flavorful and comes spicy enough for me by default. Clean and tidy dining area too.

Yummy South Indian food. Must try.

Chicken Tikka Masala was great and had huge portion sizes. Very clean and nice staff. Overall great, highly recommend

Most importantly, they're pet friendly ❤️🙏🏼 Food is delicious. Good service. Good people. Good vibes.

King of Dosa, they have authentic South Indian Dosa. special in Chutnies and sambar

Good Indian food at reasonable prices. Spent $25 on dinner for two and have plenty left over.

Staff extremely friendly! Mysore masala dosa and filtered coffee was amazing. Highly recommend

Spicy and Delicious, saag paner, chicken tikka masala and semosas were fire. I'm definitely coming back

This place stays true to an authentic indian palette. If you like spicy hot stuff visit this place.

This is my favorite dosa place in San Antonio. I get the rava dosa with cheese onions and chilis

We tried fish curry . It’s was too testy . I will definitely come back

Good and tasty food Madras’s coffe is amazing

Very good masala Dosa. I love it! Best dosa in the city.

Great South Indian cuisine at reasonable prices in a fast food restaurant.

One of the best home foods that I ate. Thanks for the food and my family is so happy

We tried masala dosa , idli . Very good .we will come back soon

Delicious! Generous portions-a treat. Thank you!!

Good location and very tasty food.

Everything was amazing and the food was spectacular.

Best dosa buffet ever!!

Nice lunch buffet on weekdays and I recommend you try on weekend break fast buffet.

The best Indian restaurant I have ever tasted in San Antonio. Its very authentic and economical. Highly recommend it.

I am from south and got to tell you, they have the best south veg food in San Antonio. People inside are friendly too and the lady always smile at you. Nice people.

We ordered Masala Dossa and bhindi Masala. We love Masala dossa and that chatni most and the lady over there was very sweet, she makes fresh tea for us.... last but not least, she give us free Ladu for kids.... we recommended.

The food is delicious and quite authentic, however if spice intensity is an issue I would advise sticking to milder options such as their dosa or butter chicken. Staff are quite friendly and the place itself is quite chill. I do get some stares from the other patrons but nothing menacing...

If looking for a good food with good price. Then it's the place. Not too fancy Location with seating and other attractions . Simple but good items on menu , you can get your taste buds satisfied more than you pay. Worth it and recommended to give a try by supporting them.

I absolutely love the malia kofta!!!!

Ordered Idli and Medu Vada while on the way from Six flags and we really enjoyed it. Was fresh and very tasty . Friendly environment and Service.

Amazing breakfast buffet, must have.

Love the South Indian food specially the dosa was Awesome (size & taste) also Medhu Vada was freshly cooked

Have ordered Dosa and Idli from them multiple times coz we love it! Very good South Indian dishes. Once they even gave us complementary rava laddoos, which were amazing!

Go to place in San Antonio for South Indian food. It’s spicy at times but authentic. More of a hole in the wall place, which some of us prefer going to! I’m vegetarian, plenty of options.

Really enjoyed our Chicken 65 and Egg Biryani, eaten with chapati and puri breads. Definitely need to order more bread next time! Order and pick up at counter, pay when you're done eating (also at counter). No frills place, but super yummy so we'll be back to try more items. Friendly owners.

Very humble and clean atmosphere . The dosa was amazing . I recommend coming for a quick bite of Indian food here. The dosa reminds me of my times traveling in India 🇮🇳 they had a Govindas Restaurant and they served such great dosa.

YES! YES! YES! Pavani Express is back in San Antonio. For years the dosa scene in San Antonio wasn’t very competitive. Then Pavani comes back and blows anything in town out of the water. This is a no frills South Indian eatery that delivers flavor and value. The samosas I ordered were cooked and seasoned to total perfection, and they give you generous portions of sauces to dip it in. Outside was flakey and inside was soft and flavorful. Dosas are made fresh. Be warned they DO NOT travel well. They are best eaten fresh, as they do get soggy so this is not a To-go dish. Do not sleep on Pavani express and their awkward gas station location. Seriously delicious authentic and hardy. Enjoy!

I adore this place! Three times: dosa masala, dosa masala with pakora, and rava dosa. Three times yum 😋 😍! And the Boondi ladoo !!!!! Wow. The counter guys are always super nice and informative. I'll be back. Again and again and again.

Vada is 👌Chutneys are 👌👌. Best coffee and filter coffee in SAT. Tried Puri as well, it’s great

Amazing Telugu place run by some sweet people. Dosas taste exactly like at home and so did the accompanying 3 chutneys and Sambar. Must visit if you’re missing Andhra or Telangana home food.

Johanna Krueger

Really enjoyed our Chicken 65 and Egg Biryani, eaten with chapati and puri breads. Definitely need to order more bread next time! Order and pick up at counter, pay when you're done eating (also at counter). No frills place, but super yummy so we'll be back to try more items. Friendly owners.

Joel Aldo

YES! YES! YES! Pavani Express is back in San Antonio. For years the dosa scene in San Antonio wasn’t very competitive. Then Pavani comes back and blows anything in town out of the water. This is a no frills South Indian eatery that delivers flavor and value. The samosas I ordered were cooked and seasoned to total perfection, and they give you generous portions of sauces to dip it in. Outside was flakey and inside was soft and flavorful. Dosas are made fresh. Be warned they DO NOT travel well. They are best eaten fresh, as they do get soggy so this is not a To-go dish. Do not sleep on Pavani express and their awkward gas station location. Seriously delicious authentic and hardy. Enjoy!

Gary Szalwinski

Very humble and clean atmosphere . The dosa was amazing . I recommend coming for a quick bite of Indian food here. The dosa reminds me of my times traveling in India 🇮🇳 they had a Govindas Restaurant and they served such great dosa.

Joan Villa

I adore this place! Three times: dosa masala, dosa masala with pakora, and rava dosa. Three times yum 😋 😍! And the Boondi ladoo !!!!! Wow. The counter guys are always super nice and informative. I'll be back. Again and again and again.

Suresh K

Vada is 👌Chutneys are 👌👌. Best coffee and filter coffee in SAT. Tried Puri as well, it’s great

Suhas Parimi

Amazing Telugu place run by some sweet people. Dosas taste exactly like at home and so did the accompanying 3 chutneys and Sambar. Must visit if you’re missing Andhra or Telangana home food.

We were a bit skeptical after reading some of the reviews, but we decided to give this place a try and we’re so glad we did. The food was genuinely delicious, fresh, and flavorful. The service was exceptional from start to finish. They constantly checked on us, refilled items without us even asking, and kept bringing hot dosas right to the table. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and we’ll definitely be coming back!

Such an amazing experience always. I forget to take pictures here because I’m so busy enjoying my food here. We generally go for Saturday/Sunday breakfast- there are so many options fresh idli vada dosa puri and chai cost extra. I can’t stop eating here. Uncle at counter is so sweet and friendly.

Delicious South Indian food. Worth waiting for sometime to get a freshly made food. Idly was so soft and we ordered for our house warming function here.

The food is excellent and authentically South Indian. There is some room for improvement in cleanliness.

Amazing food and place qas very clean and lady was nice, masala dosa was genuinely amazing and I loved it.

I recently discovered Pavani Express through a message in a group chat, and I decided to give it a try. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of taste or quality, but I was pleasantly surprised! The food was absolutely delicious, with flavors that reminded me of homemade meals. It was a comforting and satisfying experience that I didn’t see coming. While the wait time was quite long, the quality of the food made it completely worth it. In fact, I wouldn’t have minded waiting even longer if necessary, because the end result was that good. If they offered a daily meal plan, I’d definitely make this a regular stop and skip cooking at home entirely! Pavani Express has really set a high standard for authentic and quality food, and I’m glad I gave it a chance. If you’re looking for a place with exceptional taste and a homely vibe, I’d highly recommend this restaurant. The wait might test your patience, but trust me, the food will reward you. I’ll certainly be back soon in no less than 24 hours!

Breakfast was exceptional and was refilled regularly. Overall, it was an excellent experience.

Navnit Singh

Amazing food and place qas very clean and lady was nice, masala dosa was genuinely amazing and I loved it.

Abdul Kaleem Mohammed

Breakfast was exceptional and was refilled regularly. Overall, it was an excellent experience.

MUZAKKIR HUSSAIN

We were a bit skeptical after reading some of the reviews, but we decided to give this place a try and we’re so glad we did. The food was genuinely delicious, fresh, and flavorful. The service was exceptional from start to finish. They constantly checked on us, refilled items without us even asking, and kept bringing hot dosas right to the table. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and we’ll definitely be coming back!

Divya Choudhary

Such an amazing experience always. I forget to take pictures here because I’m so busy enjoying my food here. We generally go for Saturday/Sunday breakfast- there are so many options fresh idli vada dosa puri and chai cost extra. I can’t stop eating here. Uncle at counter is so sweet and friendly.

Sankar Maruthachalam

Delicious South Indian food. Worth waiting for sometime to get a freshly made food. Idly was so soft and we ordered for our house warming function here.

Pavan Venkat Kanaparthi

I recently discovered Pavani Express through a message in a group chat, and I decided to give it a try. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of taste or quality, but I was pleasantly surprised! The food was absolutely delicious, with flavors that reminded me of homemade meals. It was a comforting and satisfying experience that I didn’t see coming. While the wait time was quite long, the quality of the food made it completely worth it. In fact, I wouldn’t have minded waiting even longer if necessary, because the end result was that good. If they offered a daily meal plan, I’d definitely make this a regular stop and skip cooking at home entirely! Pavani Express has really set a high standard for authentic and quality food, and I’m glad I gave it a chance. If you’re looking for a place with exceptional taste and a homely vibe, I’d highly recommend this restaurant. The wait might test your patience, but trust me, the food will reward you. I’ll certainly be back soon in no less than 24 hours!

Amazing tiffins to explore

Great quality food

Good food, good people. They can improve on hygiene and should have a dress code. They should use gloves to handle food. Tasty otherwise.

Like the resturant. Food is good. Small area to dine in. Decent place and friendly management. Priced resonably.

Dosa is very crispy and good.

I think there have new ownership. Food is pretty good. I think the chef/owner is really nice. Food is consistently good but I feel, the atmosphere is dull and lacks any taste. Everyone looks gloomy and the place looks gloomy. I did notice, one time a chutney did taste bad. But they corrected after pointing it out.

Best South Indian food in town! Glad to have this option open up in otherwise a dismal Indian food scene in San Antonio! Edit:05/08/2022: Reducing one star after eating here for a few more times. The taste and quality is not consistent and needs to be improved upon.

Ordered Onion dosa and coffee, Dosa provided with 3 chutneys (Putnala chutney, Palli Chutney and Tomato Chutney). Dosa was crispy, Chutneys were good. Coffee is also good. Overall it’s good.

Srikanth B

Ordered Onion dosa and coffee, Dosa provided with 3 chutneys (Putnala chutney, Palli Chutney and Tomato Chutney). Dosa was crispy, Chutneys were good. Coffee is also good. Overall it’s good.

I came here for the food and not for the atmosphere and I was not disappointed. The masala dosa was freaking awesome with the little cup of soup and the chutney. Favorite chutney was the tomato and peanut. The coconut chutney, to me was like a dessert. Highly recommend eating in since you want the dosa to be crispy.

NHB N

I came here for the food and not for the atmosphere and I was not disappointed. The masala dosa was freaking awesome with the little cup of soup and the chutney. Favorite chutney was the tomato and peanut. The coconut chutney, to me was like a dessert. Highly recommend eating in since you want the dosa to be crispy.

Butter chicken good... Naan great... Service 👎

I am not a fan of Indian food. Entirely too hot for me, even when they try to be light on the spice. I was unable to even take more than half a bite of my meal. I had to give it to my neighbors. They loved it. I did however like the spinach pakira

Great option for Indian food when you’re in a pinch! The garlic naan is amazing. The butter chicken wasn’t the usual bright-colored, spicy style I’ve had elsewhere; instead, it was creamy and mild, with a more milky flavor. Different, but still enjoyable depending on your taste.

Ashley Nicole

Great option for Indian food when you’re in a pinch! The garlic naan is amazing. The butter chicken wasn’t the usual bright-colored, spicy style I’ve had elsewhere; instead, it was creamy and mild, with a more milky flavor. Different, but still enjoyable depending on your taste.

Owner attitude is not professional

Ordered dosa and dosa texture is like papad. Masala dosa has masala curry which doesn’t have any taste. Puri texture is very had to bite. Puri curry color is like neon color and taste is very bad. Location of restaurant is add gas bunk with no name board and security wise I wouldn’t prefer since it is at gas bunk. Also restaurant looks untidy and it’s not clean. Overall Experience very bad. I would suggest restaurant owner to move the place clean n neat place not at gas bunk. Also suggest to cook tasty food.

I normally don’t bother to give poor feedback, this is an exception, to prevent others settling for such low standards. These guys randomly close the restaurant without warning. You show-up for lunch and they are closed, because they have a large catering order. This happened a few times with me. So, I stopped going to PE. Recently wanted to try one last time. Ate some food and got a to-go pack. Took it home and later I realized that the pooran-poli ($4 each) with almost no filling, mostly the tough chewy shell and one side was burnt :( see attached photos. They don’t even have any ventilation or AC running in the restaurant, the kitchen door was open for ventilation. I was sweating like crazy and all this set me back by $20. For a gas-station hole-in-the-wall restaurant, I am not willing to go thru this again. That is it for me. It seems that some other reviews are sharing similar experiences.

Invy

I normally don’t bother to give poor feedback, this is an exception, to prevent others settling for such low standards. These guys randomly close the restaurant without warning. You show-up for lunch and they are closed, because they have a large catering order. This happened a few times with me. So, I stopped going to PE. Recently wanted to try one last time. Ate some food and got a to-go pack. Took it home and later I realized that the pooran-poli ($4 each) with almost no filling, mostly the tough chewy shell and one side was burnt :( see attached photos. They don’t even have any ventilation or AC running in the restaurant, the kitchen door was open for ventilation. I was sweating like crazy and all this set me back by $20. For a gas-station hole-in-the-wall restaurant, I am not willing to go thru this again. That is it for me. It seems that some other reviews are sharing similar experiences.

Indian cuisine prepared by a non-Indian staff member tasted inauthentic. This was disappointing because when we visited a few months ago, we had a very good experience and the food tasted excellent. During our recent visit, the food was overly oily. We ordered tomato rice and garlic rice, and the overall flavor did not meet expectations. We were also the only customers, and the staff member waited outside in the parking lot for us to leave, which felt uncomfortable and unprofessional.

We went to try breakfast The masala doasa was good, Poori was good. Pongal was not good Chutney was made out of old coconut Vada was average or below average I think one was rava upma I didn’t have the courage to try that No water, we have to buy it, trash was full, no one notices until I told them, tables were not suitable for dining it like a table in a conference hall. Overall , I will not try Pavani again

Loganathan Veerabathiran

We went to try breakfast The masala doasa was good, Poori was good. Pongal was not good Chutney was made out of old coconut Vada was average or below average I think one was rava upma I didn’t have the courage to try that No water, we have to buy it, trash was full, no one notices until I told them, tables were not suitable for dining it like a table in a conference hall. Overall , I will not try Pavani again

Vallabha Lanka

Ordered dosa and dosa texture is like papad. Masala dosa has masala curry which doesn’t have any taste. Puri texture is very had to bite. Puri curry color is like neon color and taste is very bad. Location of restaurant is add gas bunk with no name board and security wise I wouldn’t prefer since it is at gas bunk. Also restaurant looks untidy and it’s not clean. Overall Experience very bad. I would suggest restaurant owner to move the place clean n neat place not at gas bunk. Also suggest to cook tasty food.

Worst food & service

Worst food, taste is very bad and completely oil smell..

The food is very tasteless. Don't waste your money. Trust me!!!! Bad food no flavor.

Very rude, employees will roll their eyes at you and talk to you very unkindly if you pick up an order.

Totally waste of money and time, very unclean environment. WORST WORST!!!!

Timings are not clear. Wasted my time driving there just to read the closed sign on the door.

Food was neither fresh nor tasteful.

Hi guys, It’s 8:10 am and I swear I couldn’t sleep the whole night because I had my dinner at Pavani Express, last night. It truly made me sick. The oil that they used to prepare our order was stale, (not at all fresh) and even the mango lassi wasn’t good. (I’m not talking about the taste here, just telling you all about the quality). Please consider any other place for your lunch/dinner in San Antonio but avoid going to the Pavani Express.

I ordered veg fried rice it tasted like veg pulao and no box no cutlery worst food

Ordered South Indian Breakfast and food taste was horrible.Vada had no salt,Dosa batter was not good and potato filling was stale. Ordered Andhar kara dosa and there was no spice. Tomato chutney was very raw. Very bad experience.

I got dosa/idly batter there and they charged me 25$ which is way expensive than the store bought for the quantity I got. And top of it, the batter was already loose and ready to use. Store bought is thicker and better. As per taste of dosa/idly as well it tastes same are store bought. Why would I spend more for less quantity. Total scam

Won't recommend as the food was disaster. First impression is last impression. I walked in to this place after hearing from friends. I asked the owner may be, what should I try coming here first time. He said mixed vegetables curry. Never will I visit them again. Review is not out of disappointment but for awareness as you compete where there are restaurants within 5 mile radius that are providing better taste along with service. Raise your bars sir! That curry he suggested had nothing but potato, broccoli and spicy masal which added no taste but only hotness. The quantity in togo was literally kids meal. Few things to consider is the location is a bit inconvenient, added the restaurant isn't setup well so the only place you have is good quality and service. Won't recommend.

We came here for the breakfast buffet and it was a disaster. The Buffer had only a few items (idli, vada, poori, bonda, and dosa on request), and most of the time the food was gone. Whenever they refilled, it was only for 6–8 servings, which disappeared instantly. We asked for dosa as soon as we arrived, but it wasn’t served for over 30 minutes despite repeated reminders — and when it finally came, the chutney was empty. Same issue with poori: after waiting 15 minutes for a refill, there was no chutney for another 20 minutes. At that point we dumped the food and walked out. The maintenance and service are terrible. Only one person is handling everything — refills, billing, and even receiving guests. Instead of taking care of customers already seated and waiting for food, he kept allowing in new guests, rearranging tables, and making the situation worse. Completely unorganized, understaffed, and not worth the money. Avoid this place if you actually want to enjoy breakfast.

Dinesh Sanga

We came here for the breakfast buffet and it was a disaster. The Buffer had only a few items (idli, vada, poori, bonda, and dosa on request), and most of the time the food was gone. Whenever they refilled, it was only for 6–8 servings, which disappeared instantly. We asked for dosa as soon as we arrived, but it wasn’t served for over 30 minutes despite repeated reminders — and when it finally came, the chutney was empty. Same issue with poori: after waiting 15 minutes for a refill, there was no chutney for another 20 minutes. At that point we dumped the food and walked out. The maintenance and service are terrible. Only one person is handling everything — refills, billing, and even receiving guests. Instead of taking care of customers already seated and waiting for food, he kept allowing in new guests, rearranging tables, and making the situation worse. Completely unorganized, understaffed, and not worth the money. Avoid this place if you actually want to enjoy breakfast.

Viraaj Tomar

Hi guys, It’s 8:10 am and I swear I couldn’t sleep the whole night because I had my dinner at Pavani Express, last night. It truly made me sick. The oil that they used to prepare our order was stale, (not at all fresh) and even the mango lassi wasn’t good. (I’m not talking about the taste here, just telling you all about the quality). Please consider any other place for your lunch/dinner in San Antonio but avoid going to the Pavani Express.