Rangoli Indian Grill

FYI: Rangoli’s is CLOSED as of 1÷23÷09.
Too bad, as I was warming up to it. (Not the best Indian buffet around, but it was close to my work, and was generally OK in my book.)

Pros — Lot of menu options to choose from
Cons — Most of the options suck… atleast the ones we tried.
I’ve been in this restaurant TWICE (went there again after my first bad experience… just to give the restaurant another chance incase they had an off day the first time I’d been there)
Went for dinner the first time — there was us and another couple. Took them 50 minutes to bring our food. Understand its not a fast food restaurant… but 50 minutes to prepare food? that too when there’s hardly anyone in the restaurant? Oh C’mon! Food quality sucked too.
Went to a lunch buffet the other time… tried most of the vegetarian options, and didn’t really like them. Except the Naan and Gulab Jamun’s are delicious.

I am troubled by the latest reviews. We went there a week or so ago and had a great experience for the lunch buffet. The food was fresh and tasty. I loved the lentil masala and found it very delicious. I do agree that the selection is limited compared to other buffet restaurants, but I was happy with the quality of the food. They also put out the basmati rice which made all of the dishes flavorful. I found the interior clean and pleasing, much better than some other restaurants. I haven’t experienced their dinner yet, but found that for their weekend lunch buffet, it was very tasty and is the best in Round Rock and Pflugerville.
I spoke to the manager and he said that they had recently gotten the previous chef from Chola. I am unsure when they hired the new chef, but hopefully it was after the bad reviews! I should also add that the waitstaff was very prompt and friendly. I overheard them answering questions about the food on the buffet and was happy to hear that they were very accommodating. They seemed genuinely interested in sharing the food and making suggestions based on a person’s likes or dislikes.

Not bad, but probably my least favorite Indian lunch buffet in the Austin area. Food was cold, but well seasoned. Not a large selection and the salad bar is the weakest I’ve seen. Not worth my drive from the UT campus because many are closer to campus and are alot better. No dish stood out, all were just ok. Don’t recommend it.

i ate there once when they just opened, it was great and i went there again yesterday but i was not impressed yesterday. I was not happy the quality of food yesterday. the saag paneer had alot of salt and their tandoori chicken was not something that looked at me and said EAT ME! I dont know if i would go back there again.

I’ve eaten here 4 times previously, and I’ve never been disappointed, so I hate to do this, but Rangoli really let me down on Friday. First impressions mean a lot to me, so when I drove up and saw the new signage, I immediately got a bad feeling about things. The new sign and window décor looks garish and juvenile, not at all consistent with the restaurant’s interior, which is subdued and pleasant.
I could definitely have gotten past that, but the food had changed in a negative way as well. The only chicken available was bone-​in (which is inconsistent with how it’s listed in the description) and it did not taste fresh at all. The fish was horrific. I don’t know what happened; maybe it was left over and they just put it in some sauce, but in any case, I wasn’t impressed. The saag paneer, which I loved previously, tasted somewhat bland this time, and the color looked off. Maybe they switched from fresh to canned or something? Overall, the meal was a real letdown, and to top it off, I got sick to my stomach later that day. I can’t be sure it was from the buffet, but still, I think I’m going to wait a while before I eat here again. Hopefully, they’ll get back on track.
On a positive note, the naan is still awesome. I love that it comes out fresh to the table. The lamb was tasty, too.

Lunch buffet place near Dell’s Parmer Campus. Not bad, but the selections were limited compared to say Bombay Bistro. What I had was good and I like the interior. They had some Bollywood-​type movie or MV on one big screen and a cricket game on the other. The service was excellent, they were at our beckon call. They just don’t have a off the menu option for lunch. only buffet.

Everything about moving to Austin has been positive minus three things:
1. It’s hotter than holy hell, although I’m not too unhappy about that.
2. The Thai food here is fairly pathetic.
3. The Indian food here is fairly pathetic.
…and then on my culinary journey, I found Rangoli. Or rather, I was directed to it, because I honestly I don’t think I would’ve ever known about it unless a couple of friends had directed me there. It’s pretty far up North Lamar near Parmer. I try to stay away from the north part of Austin because it makes me feel like a sellout. Case in point, Rangoli is in the same generic shopping center parking lot as a Wal-​Mart, and Wal-​Marts make me feel like I’d like to yank my tongue out with a pair of rusty pliers.
I believe Rangoli is new… about 3 – 4 weeks old. We were there on a Friday night, and I felt like perhaps we had hit the jackpot because there were a lot of Indian folks there. It wasn’t incredibly busy.
It has slightly-​better-​than-​generic innards and a lot of flat screens throughout the place with cricket and soccer playing on them. Strike one there, because it takes away from the overall ambiance of the place.
Strike two comes from the fact that the waiters pretty much sucked. They were nice enough dudes. However… to put it bluntly… they are slow and pretty damn clueless. Slow in that they had a hard time understanding that people need some drinks on a regular basis. Clueless in that we had a table of 5, and they only brought out one small bowl of rice. Come on, fellas… you should know that the ol’ Indian cuisine isn’t as awesome without a giant plate of rice. We had to wave, wink, yell, scream and do things just short of throwing butter knives at them in order to come back over to give us another bowl of rice. And even then, it took about 5 minutes to bring it over.
That’s where the strikes stop and the only reason this place gets a three in my book. The food was excellent. I had some of the best saag I’ve had since moving here. I ordered chicken tikka saag (which isn’t on the menu, but you can request it) and it was some of the best stuff I’ve had… the perfect combination of spicy, richness, and sweetness in one fine creamy spinachy package. The chicken could have maybe possibly been a little more firm, but I’m not complaining because it’s the sauce that houses the magic.
Incredibly Hot Wife ordered a paneer dish that had onions, bell peppers and potatoes in an orangish colored sauce. It may’ve been tomato-​based with a bunch of curry in it. She ordered it medium, but I think maybe the cook slipped and dumped an entire jar of chili powder and curry in it because it was burn-​your-​nuts off hot; fill-​your-​tear-​ducts-​up-​with-​liquid-​hot-​magma hot; arse-​over-​a-​spit-​cooking hot; devil-​prying-​open-​your-​mouth-​and-​massaging-​your-​tongue hot. But it was still good.
We had several different kinds of naan at our feeding frenzy disposal as well… some plain, some garlic and some kind of potato-filled…and potato filled is truly a little bit of a magical mystical experience. There is some magician that sits in kitchen the dressed in a turban who’s eyes glow snapping his fingers and making little chunks of potato appear in the naan. He then blesses it with a little bit of awesome powder and then sends it out to hungry patrons. I loved it. It made me happy.
I live approximately 30 mins away from this place, and I’d feel good about driving there to eat again, although the service has absolutely got to improve. I think it’ll get better as it’s open longer.

I tried the lunch buffet at Rangoli today, and I was very pleased. They had a pretty good mix of dishes there, and it all seemed fresh. One minor thing was that the buffet was definitely chicken-​heavy. No problem for me since I dig chicken, but you might have to hunt for some lamb or goat if that’s what you want. The atmosphere was casual and the service was good. I’ll definitely be back for the buffet.

This place was wonderful! We walked in, got greeted right away, and someone took our drink order before we sat down. There is a great ambiance in Rangoli. They use cloth napkins, use very nice dishes and glassware and the restaurant décor is very inviting.
After looking over the menu, we decided to check out the buffet. What a great selection for the price. We opted for the buffet and quickly loaded our plates.
The variety of dishes was really nice. We tried a bit of most of the items and loved them all. They were cooked with just the right amount of spice to please most if not all who eat there. There was a nice salad and desert selection as well.
The wait staff kept our waters filled and promptly removed used dishes from our table. My friend paid cash and got 10% off her tab.
I would highly recommend Rangoli to anyone looking for a great Indian restaurant or just a good meal.
Peace out!

I can’t even begin to explain how fantastic this place is! This amazing new Indian place just opened up but the cooks are pros at making everything perfectly. Everything we ordered was so flavorful and they made all the substitutions we asked. They let you pick your spice level when ordering just about anything and have a really big lunch buffet. The menu is huge with over 100 items and includes 20 different veggie options, south indian specialties and indo-​chinese yumminess. We couldn’t believe how nice all the servers and cooks were and you can stay and eat (and watch one of the muted tvs) or take it to go. They serve desserts (not just rice pudding) and beer so it’s a great place for friends to meet up after work, go on dates or just to pick up on the way home. Most of the menu is under $ 10 and the entrees are the perfect size to share. Go there now! Enjoy! Do it!