Deccan Grill - Irving — Restaurant in Irving

We’ve been hitting up this place for years now because that's how much we love it. Especially the mutton biryani. Bro, I swear on all the biryanis in the world , this is hands down the BEST mutton biryani I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.

Backstory time 🎥: I wasn’t much of a meat eater growing up. At home, they always told me mutton would be super chewy and I'd sit there chewing like a goat for hours 🐐😂. But the first time I tried the mutton biryani here... game over. The meat was softer and juicier than chicken. I literally sat there stunned like 😳. It was crazy good. The flavors hit you right, and I still can't figure out what kind of sorcery they use .

Usually when you make biryani, you can see all the mint, cilantro, fried onions, biryani leaves chillin’ on your plate like "Hi, we’re the flavor." But here, nothing like that. It's clean, it's magic, it’s flavor packed. No herbs doing photo shoots on your plate, just pure flavor 🔥.

Another thing, they don't scam you with meat pieces like other places. The mutton-to-rice ratio here is WILD 🤯. Yesterday, me and my bro went again, hungry like we hadn't eaten for three lifetimes 😩😂. We ordered the family pack mutton biryani (classic move) and it arrived fresh, hot, and smelling like heaven . Tons of tender meat, tons of masala. We went a bit late (4 PM ish) so the biryani was swimming in that extra masala goodness, exactly how I dream of it at night .

Now, yeah, a few tiny cons 😅. They give you these super tiny styrofoam plates 🥲 like those sad little breakfast plates. We begged for a bigger plate so many times... they gave it once... one time... like it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing 😂. So this time we just big-brained it and carried our own steel lunch plates from home like pros.

Raita? Meh. More like malai-cream vibes , not real curd. Chicken 65? Ok-ok, needed a bit more salt but pretty decent when reheated at home the next day 🔥.

Their mutton haleem during Ramadan? ABSOLUTE MADNESS 🥵. Full of chicken 65 chunks, cashews raining everywhere, a boiled egg chilling inside . If you catch it in season, you’re lucky.

Also tried their Sitaphal Malai yesterday... bro, that thing slapped 🥰. Custard apple mixed with rabdi... dreamy stuff.

One more thing. Ambience? Mid 😅. Sometimes it gets hot inside, and you’re there sweating bullets 🥵 while your biryani steams in front of you. But honestly, I'd rather sweat and cry happy tears than cool down my biryani with AC 😂.

Still gotta try their chicken seekh kebabs, rabri, and rolls next time!

Oh and Deccan Grill, if you’re secretly stalking this review 👀, PLEASE for the love of biryani, fix your music playlist 🎶. Play trending songs, not sad dad music from 2005. Give people a vibe while they’re stuffing their faces with mutton.

Final Tip: DO NOT do takeout 🚫🍱. Sit there. Eat fresh. Biryani deserves respect 🙏. I’ve tested all the use cases. Trust me.

Deccan Grill, you have my heart ❤️. And probably 70% of my...

OK, first of all let me just say I’ve been making Indo/Pak food for over 19 years. I’ve eaten Indian food all across this globe, and I’ve had biryani just about everywhere. (Japanese version of Indian food is the absolute worst, not Japanese curry, but their spin on Indian food). I am somewhat of a food snob to say the least.

This restaurant’s Karachi Biryani was absolutely to die for!!! I got the mutton. I don’t know how on earth anyone would think otherwise. I am visiting from San Antonio, and am going back here before heading home to get the family size order. They also make this special secret brownish sauce that is intended for their Hyderabad biryani, it is crazy awesome. Come hungry, because the amount of food you get is massive!!! One order could easily feed three people. I also ordered garlic naan bread, and the chicken tikka masala to go. The cost for all was around $37.

What I have learned as a professional reviewer is that ya really can’t trust reviews, ironic but true. Other reviews show a bug in the food, and how it was greasy, etc. I am not sure if these are erroneous reviews by the local competition, but I can assure you that my experience was the complete opposite. Some commented that the employees were racist or bigots. I am a white guy, and we are the most hated in the US currently. The employees that helped me were very sweet and kind to me. Not sure if it was a Indo vs Paki thing (I am aware of the feud), but they were more than excellent per my experience. I will be back for sure 100%!!!! Even if I found a bug or hair in my order, I wouldn’t care. Yeah, it’s that good!!! Also the India Bazaar next door is awesome. Not one, but two of their employees went out of their way to help the dumb...

This is the third time this is happening so a review was overdue in hopes of ownership taking some action.

Placing orders through DoorDash here is nightmare. If you order Karachi biryani and the restaurant is sold out of it, they’ll just replace your order with Hyderabadi biryani. This has happened twice for pickup orders and once for delivery now.

The don’t even care to communicate this to the customer — after taking the time and effort to make it to the restaurant to pickup your food, you come to realize they are trying to give you an item you didn’t order and may not even like.

The logical way to handle this is to pickup the phone or message through the app to let the customer know the item you ordered is not available and ask if you are wanting to get a replacement item — not just deciding that on your own as the restaurant. Also imagine paying for delivery with fees and tip, and an entree you didn’t want showing up at your door after you waited 45 minutes to an hour for food.

The staff here is also clueless majority of the time. They claim they have no access to DoorDash so we would just need to dispute it through DoorDash directly to get a refund.

This place needs to hire someone with success in restaurant operations to train the staff and streamline logistics in the restaurant — this is what they should’ve focused on instead of the money they poured into the distasteful remodel.

Ownership should be embarrassed to operate this way but sadly sometimes that’s all you can expect from some of our...