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never had a dosa so nothing to compare to. was starving at usc and pissed that i had to eat at UV or cafe 84. so sick of it. all you ppl who work at 5700 wilshire are hogging all the food trucks. seriously.
anyway, when i saw the dosa truck, all i knew was that it was indian food. got the mumbai madness, mango lassi, and had some masala fries. all were good, particularly the masala fries. addictive as hell. the mumbai madness was delicious too, though i would not have minded more spice.
i'm a fan. wanna try all the other flavors!
My sentiments exactly Yelp. This truck was Meh to the tenth degree. I was really impressed with the India Jones truck so despite the not so stellar reviews i decided to check this place out. There was no one in line, or even remotely close to this truck, yet they were out of samosas. Weak.
Got the mumbai madness, dosa filled with Smashed Curried Indian Potatoes. Not the most flavorful or biggest dosa I have ever had. The smashed potato was heavily lacking in spice, and the large chunks of potatoes had me questioning the "smashed"-ness.
Also the exterior of the truck is tacky as all hell, not super inviting.
Ryman looooooves Indian food. Loves it. Mmm mmm mmm so good. Well, I guess that it depends upon the place. Some places do it right. Al Watan Halal in Hawthorne. Go there now. Some places don't do it so well. Some places hit the spot, even if the experience doesn't embody perfection. I had read about Dosa Truck for awhile, but never really took the time to look them up and head over to wherever they were. Although they were due for a try so that I could establish where they stood in the aforementioned pecking order.
So when I was running some errands down in Santa Monica, I started getting a little hungry. For those of you who know me, hungry Ryman=bitchy Ryman. Feed the beast. The monster requires more satiation. I was going to hit up a taco stand, but when I was driving along Main Street and saw Dosa Truck, I flipped the proverbial beyatch and pulled up in a cloud of tire and brake smoke. FOOD!
Despite the fact that I eat a ton of Indian food, I had never had a dosa. I ordered the "slumdog," and for $6 or so I had a large sandwich: naan-ish bread wrapped around various potato, spinach, some other veggies, and an Indian version of pesto. The ingredients were pretty tasty. Everything was fresh, and they custom-made the dosa to order (no premade crap here), so basically what that amounts to is that I a) had to wait for awhile for my food, and then b) I burned the shit out of my mouth. No qualms though, it was tasty.
My only complaint (and this isn't really a knock on Dosa Truck) is that I would have liked to have had the option for some meat in my dosa. Chicken, beef, I don't care, but anything without meat, for the most part, isn't a complete meal in my book. Some vegan establishments excepted (especially those that serve that bomb fried "chicken").
In all, I'll go 3 stars. Why not 4? I don't know, if you think it deserves 4 stars then YOU write a review and YOU give it 4 stars. But the lady working there was helpful, the food was fresh and tasty, I didn't have any stomach problems after consuming said grub, and the prices were reasonable.
The food trucks have added excitement and diversity to my lunchtime meals and I love it. After 2 years, I am over eating sub-par-way or shitty kitchen, and I'm too lazy to leave campus.
The Dosa Truck was in my hood and the lunch crew and I decided to give it a try. There were about 10 people line, but wait was deceptive. From the time we order to the time we left with our food, it was about 40 minutes. Apparently Dosas take a while to make.
I ordered the spinach mushroom cheese with a glass of ginger lemonade. The ginger lemonade was flavorless, but the dosa was very crispy, cheesy and tasty. Frankly, this was not my cup of tea for lunch. I felt like I should be eating my dosa on the go at an amusement park or as a snack as I tour Indian. But it's just me. The price was a little high. Dosa + Lemonade = 8.
3 Stars. But, I'll eat it again, on another day, at another time.
My coworker were headed to Kitchen 24 for a quick bite when lo and behold there was the Dosa Truck. My coworker dragged me over to the truck cause she is a huge fan of Indian food. I don't have a lot of experience with Indian Food. I ordered up a dosa and samosa. The dosa was alright. The taste wasn't spectacular but was lunch worthy. The samosa was massive and I thoroughly enjoyed because it sort of reminds me of empanadas. My coworker who could Indian food till the break of dawn thinks the dosas could use some spice. She found them to be bland. The dosa truck is not the best but not the worst of the truck. It's just eh.
Lets get two things out of the way for the sake of my review:
- I love truck food. I have been a big fan of the taco truck for decades, and take advantage of the fact that I live in the Glassell Park/Eagle Rock/Highland Park golden triangle of great taco trucks. It goes without saying that I am excited by the new crop of food trucks roaming the city.
- I love Indian food and dosas in particular. I don't know if it is the places I frequent, but dosas seem hard to come by, maybe because of the 'street food' stigma. Not sure, but I loves me some Indian food.
So you can imagine my disappointment when I walked away from my Dosa Truck experience more than a bit underwhelmed. I ordered the Mumbai Madness dosa and some Masala fries for a total of $8.50, an amount that you can feed a small family with at any taco truck. If the food was great, the price would have been reasonable, BUT the food was totally unremarkable.
The dosa was good but the texture was definitely lacking. Actually, there was no texture - it was just creamy and doughy throughout without any bite I would have expected. The real kicker, though, was the ALUMINUM WIRE hidden inside (so I guess in retrospect there was a little bite). I would have brought this back to the truck but as I had taken the food to go, this is the only forum for my complaint.
Now onto the Masala Fries. Take soggy, undercooked french fries and sprinkle some seasoning on them. Now pay too much ($2.50) for a small amount. There ya go.
I *might* try the truck again, if only to see if I caught them on a bad day. You better believe I am going to eat on site lest I encounter more foreign objects in my food...
Aha. Another check mark on my food truck list. Kogi, check. Fishlips Sushi, check. Dosa Truck, check.
My Yelpy friend and I decided to try the Dosa Truck for lunch today since it was only a block away from the office. I tried the caramelized onion and cheese dosa; my Yelpy friend had the spinach, [something] and cheese dosa. We each took a few bites and looked at one another for confirmation. Yup. Just as we thought - good, but nothing to write home about. I do agree with Yi Z. too - $6 for a dosa is a bit on the expensive side.
The one thing we decided (after the fact, of course) was that we should have tried the masala fries. Those looked pretty good that day.
Anyway, 3 stars...I'm willing to try it again. Maybe. We shall see.
i don't get all these haters... certainly this eatery isn't the most authentic, but it's not too off from the real thing.
I had the half sweet potato, half mumbai madness, which was pretty standard, pretty a-ok. the sweet potato side was obviously a more american influence in flavor than the regular potato dosa. Felt like it had just enough spices that kept it indian, but not enough spices to give it that real zest and kick.. Also, there was a lack of accouterments and chutneys to add. my friend got a spinach, mushroom filled one which she said she liked, but i think she was just being nice.
we shared the masala fries which were nothing to write home about. the fries were kind of soggy from the cold sauce dolloped on top, which didn't really add anything but a lack of warm temperature to the side dish.
and $6 is definitely too much for these dosas that should be $4, $5 tops. will i be coming back? probably not, but is it worth a shot? yes
So today they messed up my order :(
First, I wanted to love this place because it's NOT the stereotype KOGI, Mexican, fusion taco kind of a truck. It's Indian... supposedly.
I yelled out the damn 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 masala dosa order 3 different times because I had this strange feeling he wasn't understanding me... and I was right! I do not understand how the hell that happened, but somehow my order translated all 3 times as "SLUMDOG" dosa to the cook. (WTF!!)
The slumdog ended up being pretty good, but I was just mad because I seriously did not know how to make that order any clearer than I did. The samosa's were pretty good, not very authentic, but good. It came with a sweet sauce, which I NEVER KNEW samosa's came with prior to that. (I could be wrong, I'm not Indian, but I have a TON of Indian friends, who would probably hate this truck).
Also I totally agree with Jasleen.... The decor was tacky and stereotyping... which is normally fine for sales, but the owners weren't actually ummm INDIAN. So it felt wrong, like how a white person paints themselves black-faced wrong.
Come to think about it, I didn't see ANY Indians there. They parked in front of a yoga place so it was a lot of assless women in line. (lets be honest, yoga bitches usually don't have ass, COME ON!).
I forgot where I was going with this yelp lol... Oh yes, it's good! Not authentic good, but different good. :)
sooo many mixed reviews...here's another to throw on the pile:
Best dosa ive ever had in my life. Considering this was my first dosa thats not saying a whole lot. Im not an Indian food expert or fiercely protective of the authenticity of my Indian food and Im not a food snob; but i know what i dont hate and i dont hate the dosa truck.
I came upon it early into the evening, 6:30p i think. There was nobody there and the new zealander dude (i think thats what he was, he sounded like an actor on Flight of the Conchords) in the truck, fumbled through our order of 3 dosas and order of samosas. The lady boss got there and was friendly and hospitable. She was cool and reminded me of those old but cool n quiky art teachers i had in high school/college.
The first to come out of the truck were the samosas, which were a hit with our group. 2 nice sized golden brown pockets of potatoes/vegetables in a sweet sauce for $2. Ok, not the best Ive ever had but definitely on par with most Indian places ive tried them. SO good, my friend went back to buy more.
The dosa I had was the "mumbai madness" i believe it was called and had a potato/masala mixture in it. I liked it, when you eat it right out the truck you get the crispy dosa "crepe" which adds a satisfying crunch. Wait too long, and its limp as a soggy pancake. The inside mixture had the right amount of spice and I detected the presence of like a fennel seed that added a hint of licorice/anise to the party. More potato than masala. Not bad at all.
Now, I know im not an expert but i do know that dosas are supposed to be huge. These were, well, in terms of appearance--skinny burritos. I was still full by mine and that is saying something because i can pack it in when prompted.
My companions got the "slumdog" dosas with the spinach and pesto with the potato mix.Theirs took a few more minutes to make than mine and the line was growing. Their dosas were good, the spinach added more texture and bite to the dosa as a whole...but it did give them diarrhea. Sorry to report that but it did.
So overall, i liked this truck. Its an unexpected genre in a city gone mad with food truck fusions, IMO. Its probably not as authentic or as cheap as most people very familiar with Indian food would like but if you look past the snobbery or the touting that the truck itself gives... itself, you should find em, try it and you might just like this truck's grub..
One thing I love about Dosa Truck: it's a horse of a different color. While I enjoy the fusions and hybrids of the other food trucks, Dosa Truck is committing to one concept that isn't the most common among street-foods and snack shacks in the continental US. Lots of people seem to be trying their first taste of dosa here.
I don't love that so much.
Dosa Truck's main feature isn't the greatest or most authentic dosa I've ever had. While I like it far better than many of the sit-down/quickie options I'm close to at work and home, it's got some growing up to do. I have hope that with time, effort, and a lot of patience, it'll improve. Until then, it is far closer to me than a lot of the joints in Artesia that I really love for a dosa, so if it's nearby, I'll definitely enjoy the DT's offerings.
The Brahma's Boon dosa is a mix of lentil/rice flour, cheese, caramelized onion and mushroom. It's something of a "Philly cheese steak" among the current offerings, and tasty, too.
Good luck to Leena and the crew, I think they've got a great concept.
First off, I was so excited to hear about the Dosa Truck. Especially since my NY friends would rave about the Dosa Guy, and I though, yay, we have our own.
But I think not. First off, I was really annoyed (and kinda offended) that the DosaTruck is decked out in cliched Indian stereotypes - that horrible design is exactly the type of exoticized representation that an aging hippie would have of India. Oh, wait, it's owned & operated by an old hippie white woman who mispronounces the names of the Indian foods she sells. Ugh.
Oh, and she sells dosas that are smaller & more expensive than you'll find in actual Indian restaurants (even though she told me decided on a truck rather than a restaurant so she could be affordable). Seriously, $6 for a tiny dosa. Go down to India Sweets & Spices and you can get a dosa that's twice the side of your head, that tastes better, and is only $5. (And, for better dosas, try Paru's or anywhere in Artesia - the Little India part of Cerritos).
Oh & besides the culinary imperialism, the dosas sucked. They were soggy, bland and tasteless.
I was so annoyed by the entire experience that I had to drive down to a REAL Indian restaurant right afterwards and have a real dosa.
Please don't go!
#6 in my quest! :)
i'm taking back what i said about marked5. dosatruck is now my fave food truck out there! although i did love marked5 and everything they had to offer, dosatruck takes the lead in this race of food trucks for me. but i might be a bit biased because i LOVE indian food. hehe
i ordered the spinach, mushroom, and cheese dosa and a mango lassi and both were perfect! the dosa was perfectly cooked and the seasonings were not overpowering and the overall flavor was amazing. the mango lassi was sooo creamy! i loved my whole experience! and to top it all off, after sending them a tweet thanking them for the awesome food, they tweeted me with a $1 off password for next time. so yea! i'm sooo following this truck everywhere!
$6 for a dosa is far too expensive! It's not nearly as filling as a $5 Kogi burrito and it's not even half as good.
We ordered the half sweet potato & half potato dosa and shared it among 4 people. It was our first stop on our Abbot Kinney food truck crawl and we were still barely able to finish it. If it had been one of our latter stops, we probably would've given up on it after one bite a piece.
At least I tried it...but now I wish I got my $6 back.
I give it 2 stars for the unique concept but the execution wasn't there. I maybe picky but I like my food hot and fresh. When I ordered my slumdog dosa, I was handed my dosa right away. If I wanted something prepackaged, I would have gone to Fresh and Easy (corporate plug of the day). Aside from that, it was bland.
The samosa was yummy though and made up for the dosa, but this is called the Dosa Truck so that cannot be forgiven.
2 stars for YOU!
Give it time! Dosa Truck is only less than a month old! Kogi has had months and months to perfect their cooking techniques.
I agree the dosas aren't the biggest or most appetizing in compared to the 21 some-odd years of my eating dosas, but everything gets better with time.
The owner, who is not a hippie, ehem Jasleen, is very passionate about her work and wants "constructive" feedback to help her out. She even told me when I spoke to her that the Indian crowd will be her toughest critic.
As an Indian, I will say, it's getting there. It's not perfect, but the passion and soul is there. With help from designers/marketers, she's going to make this truck something spectacular so that snobs like Jasleen can come back and keep her 2 cents to herself.
I liked the caramelized onions dosa because the flavors were all there. Spices do need be added for flavor in the "Indian" dosas.
Mind you, just because it says "Dosa Truck," doesn't mean there is a dirty desi chef broiling in the back. People have ideas to run businesses, so they achieve their dreams.
Give it a few months, and the Dosa Truck will be on point and just as popular as Kogi or Marked5.
I love my visit there, and Leena was very kind to me.
Follow me on twitter @gmangoman: http://www.twitter.com...
I'm just back from lunch at the dosa truck, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My Slumdog was fresh spinach, paneer, and potatoes, wrapped in a dosa of perfect texture: crisp on the outside and smooth, almost creamy within. While it came out promptly, it was hot and clearly freshly cooked. It was well-spiced, too, tangy and a good amount of hot.
My co-workers liked theirs, with caramelized onions. There was general agreement that there could be more chutney, and the sizes are a bit small, but the owner and the experience were very pleasant. The ginger limeade was delicious and refreshing - though that, too, could have been bigger.
All in all, a fun lunch excursion.
This is basically your roach coach serving Indian Goodness! It just started a little less than a week ago, they have over 800 followers on twitter, I was follower #803. So here's the deal, the truck goes around LA from 5pm to 9pm, parks itself and serves Dosas. Dosas are indian crepes made from rice and lentil. Based on twitter, I've seen that it has set up a few times in front of the Silver Lake wine shop, but you can get updates from twitter where the truck parks and sell around other areas of LA. The only way to know where it's going next is twitter.
The menu is simple. 5 different fillings for a dosa, all the same price $6 each, and the Daily Special for $7. The serving size was perfect, filling was perfect, and not heavy on the spice factor either, and definitely had a great taste.
Follow it and try it.
Thumbs Up!
I vouch for the masala dosa, and their samosas dipped in tamarind sauce and mint chutney.
Really great Masala Dosa!
Nice balance of spice and sweetness from the mango chutney.
I only wished there was a little more of the yummy masala filling in mine.
Great price though at $5 a dosa, I think it's a solid value.
I hope this truck continues to make it's way to Sawtelle and Olympic around lunch time during the week :)
Imagine my surprise to find that there was not one, but two Indian food trucks making an appearance on the burgeoning roach coach scene.
This truck happened to be with a few others at Barnsdall Park, so I decided to do a mini-truck crawl. I was really intrigued to see how they would be able to make a masala dosa in take-out form from a truck. Sadly, my intrigue gave way to disappointment when I tried it.
The dosa itself, aka "that crepe thing", was thin and crispy and perfectly made. However, the filling was a huge let down. It was incredibly bland and spice-less for being an Indian dish. We Indians love our spices and this was just lacking. I thought that the chutney would help (both the coconut and tomato...tomato?!), but they were missing something as well and so I couldn't even finish mine.The service was on point and friendly, but the consensus from my truck-hopping companions was "meh."
Spice it up, Dosa Truck!
Dosa Truck= EPIC WIN!!!
I first tried to sample the dosa goodness at Art Walk, but their pilot light on their stove wasn't working. They were very disappointed and gave those of us who were waiting samosa samples (super good, for the record) and coupons for the next time we visited. I thought it was really nice of them to not just say, "Sorry! Try back next time!" Their niceness, however, didn't end there! I tweeted them about having ordered at Art Walk but leaving dosa-less, and they told me I could have a dosa on them!
I took them up on that offer the other day with the Slumdog special. I've never tried a dosa before but, if this is what they taste like, I'm in!!! The outside was flavorful, but not so flavorful that it distracted from the filling and not too dough-y for how thick it was. The masala in the dough was great too...and be sure to add the paneer (an Indian cheese).
I downed my dosa with a mango lassi, which was easily one of the best I've ever had. I'm a fan!
Can't wait to try other things off their menu.
i was excited to try the dosa truck. got the shiva shikta dosa...1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 masala. flavors were nice. it's like a crepe wrapped with filling.
$6 is steep for the portion size. i think $4 would be more reasonable but i think the trucks are trying to capitalize on the trend by charging more since they know people are buying cuz it's new.
the line was unnecessarily slow. lady taking orders created a bottleneck (or maybe they wanted us to stand in line longer to build popularity).
i also think that they should have more variety. menu had about 3 types of dosas, 1 samosa...not much else..
This place makes me wish Yelp gave the ability to give 1/2 stars...because thats about all this phony truck deserves...
Probably the worst Dosa I have ever had...the food truck is run by some spiritually-inspired woman who probably went to India and had an ephipany that she should have been born Indian so she decides to create a truck with indian food to get in touch with that inner browness....a person who's only culinary experience must be toast and jam..
the food:
- oil soaked samosas served with a sweet chutney, gooey texture which is definitely straight from some packaged shit
- soggy, undercooked dosas with about as much taste as cardboard.
- service - she was petting her dog constantly and then began to serve us with the same hands. digusting.
It is unfortunate that those who have never tried REAL south indian food will have this as their first experience....
DO NOT GO!
Dosa - atrocities. soggy,
I thought my dosa was pretty tastey- just a bit too bland. Also, I didn't get any chutney (was there any to be had) and that probably would have made the flavors really pop! The crepe itself was tasty- just needed more spice. I would probably go back again though for sure. The woman who helped us was very helpful and friendly.
One of best truck food out there definitely can go against an win over kogi truck in it's good day and with people with more open minded or palate. The crepe is perfectly cooked. The spices inside the potato are definitely perfect. They are just explosions of flavors. I can't wait to get more. Love it!
Dear Yelp,
I think you should have negative star ratings!!
Aidan =)
______________
Dear Dosa truck,
Please stop what the F you are doing! seriously!!!
Aidan
______________
For real! Not to diss on the people that rated this truck good or great... but get real guys! These are not good dosa's. I don't understand why people applaud mediocre food. This is ridiculous! They are an embarrassment to Indian people and Indian street food. Yes i understand that i am no food critic but... i trust my taste buds enough to know what is good. This was just terrible.
I went over the weekend with my 'boy toy' and we ordered the Masala Dosa. Upon waiting for the Dosa i was wondering why the lady sitting next to me was eating a burrito with no Mexican lunch truck in sight. To my very unfortunate surprise... she was eating a Dosa! I thought... 'God Dammit... Boy toy ruined another date for us!'. The Dosa was terrible. I couldn't eat it. Seriously. Think of a plain, bland crepe... with stuffed potatoes! Dosa's are supposed to be crispy and savory not looking like a pancake stuffed with potatoes. I don't understand how people make money selling it. The best Dosa i have had is at this little place called Udupi palace in artesia. I also tried the samosa... and i thought to myself, 'why is there maple syrup in it?"... its not maple syrup... its their version of sweet chutney!!!!! the samosa was not crispy... it was a bit soggy and because it was soggy it was also greasy.
I could be wrong but... oh wait... I'm never wrong!
I love Indian food and I'm a vegetarian so when I spotted this brightly colored van with a heavily lined set of eyes painted on I was all in. First let me address why I give it three stars, I give them major points for wrapping yummy curry masala into a savory crepe type pancake and making it portable, they also get props for an alluring design in a vibrant blue and blinged out in jeweled Indian accessories. It came down to taste, there was a combo of savory and bitter going on in my mouth, that was a bit off-putting. I like savory and bitter, just not both at the same time. I believe there was just far too much going on, and perhaps my tastes haven't acquired this one yet, but if I run into Dosa Truck (hopefully not literally - ouch) again I will try something different. My companion had the spinach onion dosa and that one was decent. I may try the Slumdog as suggested by Misty O., as well.
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