Review Roti Chenai - Wellington

Roti Chenai is a longstanding restaurant known for serving up great Malaysian and southern Indian cuisine in a casual environment. The food is consistently good with appealing regional variations. I enjoyed chicken murtabak, which is bread stuffed with spicy chicken, egg and onion with lamb curry. The rest of my group had butter chicken with roti, chilli chicken masala and lamb korma. The service can be a bit slow and our meals were just lukewarm tonight. We also had to remind staff about our side order of roti, as we’d nearly finished our meals before they were served. Other than that, Roti Chenai is somewhere we happily return to for delicious meals.

Great Malaysian South Indian food. Friendly service. Value for money. Hard to find car park during peak hours but still worth it. Highly recommend.

In the early 90's this place was the best for value for a 20 something looking for an ethnic meal under $5 for lunch. 20 years later I walk in with my wife and child and I recognize the faces of the person making the food and the person waiting on the tables. It's the same people I shared my low cost lunches with! The amazing thing is that they recognize my wife and I! We smile and grab a seat and introduce them to our soon to be 21 year old daughter and the faces change from recognition to "OMG I'm old" The food is always good. The gingerbeer is still the great Bundeburg. We will use Roti Chenai as a Wellington Staple. Now it's up to our next generation to keep enjoying this place.

I’ve had lots of Curry’s in my time, been living in NZ for 6 yrs and this is easily the best curry I’ve had.

The staff were really friendly. Portion sizes generous. Try the chocolate roti YUM! I'll be back!!

On a 6 week NZ trip. Have been in Wellington for 3 days. This place is right next door to our apartments. We leave for South Island tomorrow so went in because it's handy. Regretting now that we hadn't been in before. Delicious food and friendly service at a fair price. What more could you want?

Best food. Authentic Indian Malaysian food. I love their Roti Chena and Chicken curry. Spicy but not hot. Very Flavourful. The Masala tea is very nice. Staff are very friendly. Lovely Atmosphere with desi music playing in the background mostly. I would love to visit this place often. I would definitely recommend this place

Located in a very central business area this popular Indian-Malaysian food place offers great tasting food. If you are lucky you may be able to watch the chef twirling flour dough in the air skillfully that ultimately ends up being a delicious paratha to be enjoyed with one of their lip-smacking curries for which this cafe has achieved popularity amongst locals and tourists alike.

I love this place,I always come here for dinner if i want some Indian food. Big portions,fair price and currys had great flavor. Staff are also friendly.

The atmosphere here is peaceful and warm. I felt so welcome and my masala dosa was perfect. Something about this place which manages to create a consistent service and food quality with real humbleness.

We enjoyed the food, I took my family here. <br/>We loved the service and the vibes. <br/>Be sure to book in, especially on the weekends<br/><br/>For more follow @wellymunchers on the gram

Came here one weekend in the evening. <br/><br/>Ordered the Chicken Murtabak, girlfriend ordered chicken fried rice.<br/><br/>Meat was really dry, both in the Murtabak, and in gfs dish.<br/><br/>Rest of the 2 dishes werent all that great either.<br/><br/>Ambience is ok, food was not good<br/><br/>Pretty disappointing, given the price.<br/><br/>Will not return.<br/><br/>Cannot recommend to anyone.

Disappointing takeaway! $18 rendang was all rice with 3 pieces of meat (see photo), bland to add insult to injury. Mee Goreng was not made fresh noodles on top were dry, Murtabak was great.

Very disappointed with the food and service.<br/>We went for lunch, had to wait 45 mins before our food was served, actually to cook only came 45mins later. After her arrival we recieved our lamb curry, chicken curry, dhall, potatoe curry in less than 10 mins. Which indicated food wasn't freshly cooked. We asked if food was freshly cooked and we were told 'yes' being indian we knew curries weren't fresh.<br/>Sadly we suffered ingestion for the rest of the day with.<br/>

What a fantastic experience! Friendly faces greeted us the moment we walked in. The rotis there are unbelievable and you cannot go wrong with an of the curries. Quick anticipatory service with a smile. We have been here twice now and will certainly be back. YUMMY

We visited Wellington for WOW.  We bought a groupon voucher which got us two mains and two entrees.  The food portion was average.  We had the chicken and beef rending.  They were both rendang but did not taste alike which was good for us as we wanted to share.  The service was ok, unlike what I read from the many reviews.  Not exactly friendly but practical.  This restaurant is good for a quick meal that will not burn your pocket.  The food were quite nice with a difference, not the usual kiwi Indian kind of food.

Years ago this place was amazing. Now, it's lacklustre at best, food is over your salty and over frankly, the chicken Korma was inedible. When raised with the staff their response was "it's not salty, just spicy." either way it was disgusting. Would not recommend eating here. The roti was ok, but have had better.

Don't go here. Service is not friendly and staff frankly are rude. Tried to get some takeaway and ended up being such a struggle we went elsewhere

The roti bread is really delicious. The curries are nicely fragrant. Wouldn't recommend beef rangdang it's a bit chewy. A lot of microwave usage to heat dishes might be the issue.

Nice food, simple decor, and friendly service. This place offers a variety of Malaysian and South Indian dishes to choose from. Food is hearty, but not lavish.. it's more like a home cooked meal.. and it's not expensive either.

Called the restaurant, booked the table, confirmed that is OK to order that thalli with Grabone voucher - was told yes. Arrived after 30 mins on a special occasion(my birthday). Started to order and was told that we can't order thalli and we were like that is clearly mentioned on the voucher. He then said we can order 1 but we are allowed Two mains as per the voucher. He then went to check with his manager and didn't let us order thalli. Waste of our night and time. The restaurant should be blacklisted and closed because of following dishonest practice. We left the restaurant without eating and had to starve on my birthday. Not recommended to anyone

I came there after 6 months for lunch today.See big difference in the Service.Great place for lunch and counter Guy is super friendly. Great food and fantastic Service lunch Team. Will be coming back again next week. Bob

We had lunch today at this place , One person was serving too many people. Still he was quite happy and very friendly.Good Service Well done. food was just ok,nothing special .

I like Malaysian food and I really enjoyed my lunch today. This is a wonderful family run restaurant and it has a nice quiet atmosphere here today. I have been here several times and always enjoy my meal. I highly recommend this restaurant.

Team lunch. Recommended by a couple of the team. No frills decor but I liked that. Waiter friendly but slow. We ordered. One of our party is vegan and made a request. We had a little wait. As meals were being served the waiter then spoke to our vegan colleague about his request and it turned out had couldn't have that. Luckily though his alternative meal turned up quickly. I ordered the roti chenai and it was good. Nice roti with a tasty curry with plenty of chicken pieces. The cutlery was quite funny. Felt like prison food with the metal trays and cups but again no frills but I liked it. None of us were blown away by the experience, mainly the seeming lack of organisation and wait but it was ok. My meal cost $8.00

Ordered takeaway - lamb rendang was gristly & tough the opposite of what it should be. Curry laksa also not very nice unfortunately. I found the meat quality to be poor, & the curry itself only slightly better.<br/><br/>Maybe I shouldn't have ordered Malaysian dishes from an Indian restaurant...

A Wellington institution!<br/><br/>Quirky decor (glowing eyes in masks....) but very tasty food.<br/><br/>Fresh roti is lovely.  Great for a "cheap and cheerful lunch or dinner.

The service and setting is not the best for this place but their food is so good its worth putting up with grumpy waiters. Their dosas are especially delicious and their Thali meals great value. Probably not the best place to go if looking for a fancy meal out but if you are looking for great Malaysian food which is a good price you can't go past this place.

This is quite a small restaurant but the staff are inviting and the food is good. They also do lunchtime specials which are well priced and decent portions

Dosas! Mmmm I love these large crispy rice pancakes. We've eaten here numerous times and I never get past my dosa. Food is quickly prepared, staff friendly. Our go to for a cheap dinner in a diner type environment.

I was a bit skeptical to be honest, the waiter didn't seem that interested and it took 40 minutes for the main to appear. What I really liked was the food that really tasted like homemade. The butter chicken was not sickly sweet at all which was a pleasant surprise (I actually could have kicked myself for ordering it). It was very tasty. We would have liked to try dessert but couldn't be bothered waiting..

Price guide is for lunch- mains at night are closer to $17. I had the Chef's Special Thalili plate- nice mixture. Would go back. It was a rainy windy night and the place was still very busy.

Roti Chenai is something of a Wellington institution; it seems like everyone has been there at some stage over the years and it's just like they remembered it all those years later. That's how it was for us last night, with our first dinner at Roti Chenai in a long time. Declared by my chef colleague as "the most authentic Malaysian food in town", three of us sat down to an early mid-week main course. The standard chicken and lamb curries weren't particularly memorable but I can highly recommend the lamb rendang. The combination of spices served over lamb and rice had a really pleasant after taste and was the standout of our three meals. Don't expect much in the way of service as the food is what brings people back for more.

After not visiting for years we decided it was time to visit Roti Chenai for lunch again. I have always enjoyed the food in here but Mr Muffin claimed not to be a fan. I was right, as per usual. This was one very good lunch.<br/><br/>There were 4 adults and 1 child ordering. All 4 grown ups chose variations of the Thali meal -<br/>One choice of lamb/chicken/vegetable/fish curry served with a roti, rice, potato varuval, rassam (soup), dhall, pickles, yoghurt, appalam (papadam) and dessert (sweet kesari)<br/><br/>Everyone enjoyed their feast and we all agreed it was very good value. Miss 11 had chicken Roti Chenai and asked for it mild. She also enjoyed her 2 massive roti and the chicken.<br/>This place is defiantly back on our radar.

food: we ordered roti chenai lamb and chicken, and were all very pleased. lamb chenai had about 4 pieces of lamb in it, could have been more but nicely spiced. two huge roti breads will fill you up just the right amount. <br/><br/>service: water isn't refilled by staff and the toilets are outside the building, so you have to get a key and then go on a mission to find the toilets. staff weren't very helpful in giving directions but then came outside and showed me the way, which was very nice.<br/><br/>prices: 8,50$ for a roti chenai is pretty decent.<br/><br/>In my opinion Satay kingdom on leftbank makes better roti, for less money. The roti is more tasty and the chenai soup spicier and somehow altogether tastier, and for 6,50$ a perfect deal.<br/><br/>conclusion:<br/>a nice little restaurant, great for family dinners and cheap but filling meals. They do chocolate roti as well, for the adventurous!

I eat at roti Chenai almost every week day because it's right next to the building I work in. When I tried to find their opening hours for dinner online today I saw the one star comment below and joined just so I could reply to it! <br/>The food here is so authentic and it is definitely my favourite Malaysian place in Wellington. I have never not enjoyed my meal. I don't know what the guy is on about with the roti bread, you can see the chef making them fresh right in front of you when you wait for your food!! Everyone is always friendly and the guy cooking remembers my order every time I go in. I usually get the vege Chenai meal which has the korma and it's honestly so good. I'm glad people have given the restaurant five star reviews because whoever wrote the one star review is seriously misguided. I would totally recommend the place to anyone who wanted a decent authentic curry, which are kinda hard to come by in welly!

This is one of my favourite places to go ! Love the food and the atmosphere at this restaurant and i am always served with fantastic food for good value. The lamb sukka with coconut rice is my all time favourite dish. The lamb is always succulent and flavoursome, i definitely recommend this dish. Never disappointed.

I love this place!, I went there today for lunch. I am surprised to read all the other reviews though.<br/><br/> I had a chicken Roti Chenai and my colleague had a plain dosa for lunch. It was absolutely delicious! The roti was made freshly in front of us, it was soft but crisp at the same time and the chicken curry was scrumptious. The dosa looked absolutely divine and it was huge. <br/><br/>Highly recommend this place, great value for money. Will definitely be going back again.

Went there for lunch today. Was shocked. What happened to this place, it used to have a good reputation!?<br/><br/>Issues where as follows:<br/><br/>I ordered a Chicken Korma - Received a watery chicken curry. 99% sure it was garlic, curry powder and water. <br/><br/>Partner ordered Fish Curry - Similar thing, was more like a soup then a curry.<br/><br/>Roti - Terrible. Dry, tacky and doughy. Couldn't understand how it was so bad, then realized why when we left. They had about 25 roti's sitting on the burner to presumably keep them warm and save time for the lunch rush. But roti sitting on a warm heat for a long time = dryed out dougy roti. Was bad. Really bad.<br/><br/>We ordered coconut rice too. They apologized for it not turning up with our meals (when they brought me a lamb korma not a chicken one), but said it would be right there. Finished meal. No rice. They removed it from our bill once we told them it never turned up.<br/><br/>When I questioned my Korma, by asking "Isn't a Korma made with a cashew gravy?" - I was told "It had some dried cashew in it".<br/><br/>Man that served us had about as much personality as someone after a lobotomy. <br/><br/>Left puzzled more then annoyed. Will never go back. Suggest you don't waste your money when there are so many other great Malaysian places in Wellington.<br/><br/>EXTRA NOTE - Find it interesting that as soon as I write a bad comment. Two new 5/5 ratings appear, from people who have never commented on Menu Mania before, both who created their account the day after my poor review... Looks like the same thing happened straight after their last bad review too.

This is definitely a 5 star restaurant for its food and purpose. You can tell when walking by or entering that it is not going to be a fine dining experience. But if you stop by there you will get an excellent meal for a very low price. I have been visiting since they opened many years ago and the high consistency has never varied. They do the best roti breads in wellington in my opinion. The lamb rendang is packed full of flavour with tender lamb pieces.

I'm a big fan of Indian cuisine. I've tried many restaurants across many cities, even the best curry house in the UK (of 2006 I think it was), but none of them compare to the great service and family values of Roti Chennai. Their ingredients are home cooked from India when the meals were just for the family. I lived in Wellington for two months and this was a hidden gem for me. Try the butter chicken with coconut rice with a roti, you won't regret it. Oh and they have this red dessert (I forget the name) which can only be described as nom nom nom.

Six months ago, when I came to Roti Chennai, I rated this as my favourity curry place in all of New Zealand (Although I didn't write a review here).<br/><br/>I went back today and was extremely disappointed. <br/><br/>I paid $10.50 for Fish Roti. That is a meal that comes with a bowl of fish curry and two rotis.<br/><br/>The rotis were “Malaysian rotis” and well cooked.<br/><br/>The Fish curry was delicious but I got a bowl of Fish soup with a piece of fish that was barely 5cm in length or width.<br/><br/>My friend got two tiny pieces of chicken in her curry.<br/><br/>I am definitely not going back here.<br/><br/><br/>I believe ownership has changed which may be a contributing factor.

This was for a delivery meal. The food arrived very promptly which was nice &amp; the delivery girl was very polite, however our meal was beyond disappointing. For what we paid, the serving size was quite small, which turned out to be a blessing as the food was pretty subpar (my roti was undercooked and inedible). <br/><br/>Could be different if eating in, but I wouldn't recommend as a takeaway option- you really don't get what you pay for.

We had supper; Chicken curry and Beef Dosai. They are very tasty. They have range of meals. We were not sure what we order so we asked help. Staff are friendly and nice place to have nice meal. Recommend.

Living not far from this restaurant, I've popped in a couple of times and have had a take away too.<br/><br/>The service is good and pretty quick and their food is really well cooked and value for money. They perhaps need to be sure that they serve the food in the sequence it was ordered, rather than haphazardly; folk do get upset when someone gets served before them but who ordered after them!<br/><br/>Portions are smaller than expected, especially with their lunch menu, which does not compare favorably with other places not too far away..this is something they need to think about.<br/><br/>Overall though, a pleasant place to eat but don't expect to go away feeling full or that you've had value for money.

Came here again for dinner before a concert. The food was lovely as usual. Had the Beef Reendang as I recently saw it on Rick Stein's Far East Asian Odyssey. The beef was tender and very flavoursome. It comes with coconut rice and a curry on the side. I ordered a garlic roti on the side which is always fantastic. My wife had the classic Roti Chenai for $8.50 which was enough to feed her. Next time I will have the Butter Chicken again. It is outstanding at Roti Chenai. Thanks for a lovely dinner and see you again soon.

Great place for South Indian &amp; Malaysian cuisine. Tasty meals, cosy atmosphere..always busy.<br/><br/>Found this place a wee bit pricey compared to others. But they have great spiced tea and authentic Dosa!<br/><br/>Its a pity they don't have egg less Roti/ flat bread as it would be perfect for vegetarians/ vegans!

Went here with friends to lunch and next time I am after Indian I'll be here. The service is great and when the waiter (Manager?) heard I enjoyed a good chilli, he came back with one for me to knock my socks off. Open kitchen is appreciated to. It's also Halal so my Muslim friend could come.

Always good value for a delicious, filling lunch.

have visited sevral times and has never left disappointed. great food at a reasonable price.

The food is above average and the location and atmosphere are both good. Some of the food quantities are not quite adequate but its definitely worth a try for a quick lunch or a nice dinner.

Great place for a cheap and filling lunch!

I always enjoy coming here, it's been incredibly consistent over the years and is deservedly still popular.<br/><br/>The murtabaks are great, as are the dosai. I've never had any bad dish, tho...<br/><br/>Layout is often a bit cluttered, which sometimes makes me a bit eager to eat up and clear out.

Love the food and atmosphere at this restaurant. Always fantastic meals at a good price.<br/><br/>Staff are quick and attentive without being over bearing.<br/><br/>Recommend this place for a quiet, inviting meal on the cheap.