A Disappointing Snack Stop in Tirunelveli – Hotel Nellai Saravana Bhavan Review

Hi foodies, welcome to Mellowbites!

During our recent trip to Tirunelveli for the darshan of Lord Nellaiappar, we arrived at the temple a bit early, just before it opened. With some time to kill, we decided to explore the nearby area for a quick snack. That’s when we spotted Hotel Nellai Saravana Bhavan, a pure vegetarian restaurant located right across from the temple. It seemed promising with its wide range of South Indian delicacies, a chaat corner, and even a juice station. We thought it would be a popular spot for devotees grabbing a bite after their temple visit.

The place wasn’t crowded when we visited, which was a relief. As we settled in, we noticed hot vadas being fried fresh right in front of us—definitely an encouraging sight! The ambiance of the restaurant was decent, with average lighting, but overall, the space was well-maintained. However, the experience quickly took a turn when it came to placing our order.

Now, here’s where things got a little frustrating. The server’s approach was unusual, and honestly, quite annoying. Instead of letting us place our entire order at once, he insisted that we order each item one by one. Yes, one at a time! It made the whole process unnecessarily slow and tedious. We were just ordering a few snacks—vadas and bajjis—but it took forever. This approach really put a damper on our experience.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, our snacks arrived. First up, we had bajjis with coconut chutney, two medhu vadas, and a vazhaipoo vada (which is a plantain flower vada). Bhargav tried the urad dal vada first, and his reaction was telling—it was just average, nothing special. I was curious and gave it a try myself, and sadly, I had to agree. The vada was bland and underwhelming.

But then we tried the plantain flower vada, and thankfully, it was much better—crispy, hot, and delicious! Definitely the highlight of the meal. Unfortunately, the joy didn’t last long. When we tried the bajji, we were disappointed again. The batter was thick and undercooked in some places, which ruined the dish. It didn’t have that light, crispy texture we were hoping for.

At this point, I needed something to wake me up, so I ordered a hot filter coffee. While it was okay, it was way too strong for my taste—almost overwhelming. Bhargav decided to try a chocolate milkshake, but that was another disaster—it just didn’t taste right. Poorna opted for her usual sweet lime juice, but even that was overly sweet—far more than it should have been.

In the end, we spent over 400 rupees for what turned out to be a disappointing tea-time snack. Most of the food was either average or downright bad, definitely not what we had in mind. However, the silver lining was that the temple opened shortly after, and our darshan at Lord Nellaiappar was absolutely blissful. It more than made up for the disappointing meal. If you want to check out our full temple vlog, you can find the link in the description below.