Mughal The Biryani House — Restaurant in Maine Township

Now this is what I'd call simplicity at its best. As we walked towards the restaurant after parking, you could smell the heavenly spices and it being one of the first cooler days of the season, that fragrant air was amazing. You enter the restaurant; it's super clean and not crowded at all. The decor is simple yet elegant. Yes, if they want they could probably add a few thousand more tables but honestly, I didn't mind it. The music they had was traditional classical Indian music which is refreshing since most places either play the usual Indian modern songs. The level of the music too was just right. For us Desis, I think we should appreciate the fact that there are more spots opening up that are taking risks by introducing flavors from different parts of India slowly but surely. I think the time is ripe for other regional Indian cuisine to be introduced to the world.

We ordered a couple of dosas, idlis, one paneer dish and the Thalapakattu goat biryani. Here's another thing I appreciated; the beautiful description given to us by our server of the biryani. We had never tried this type of biryani so asked him. He shared with us the description which I appreciated as now our expectation was a bit different. It was a different kind of biryani, from Tamil Nadu. If you can forget the biryani you have had in the past and approach this biryani with an open mind and not have the usual expectation of what a biryani should be like, you will enjoy it. It is beautifully spiced with an ever so slight tangy feel to it. You can taste the ghee in every bite and the rice used is a short grain rice, not the regular basmati rice. The goat was cooked beautifully. I only wish the meat to rice ratio was just a touch bit different. Wish there was a little more meat.

Definitely a place I'll be visiting again soon as I want to try more of...

Update: Came a second time. Tip- on the weekend, come either at 5:30pm or before 7pm. It gets super busy at 6pm & service is slower.

The Lamb Tikka Masala that we loved the first time, had delicious sauce & the meat was tender, but every piece of it had chewy fat that you had to cut out.

Fried rice was amazing. Biryani Chicken 65 we don’t recommend (dry a bit & hard to tell what it was).

Service still good but very busy. Still beautiful place & will come back.

First Time: We hadn’t been to an Indian restaurant in a while and found this place on Google. We arrived before 6 pm while it was still quiet. The waiter who greeted us ended up being one of the best I’ve ever had—not just friendly, but incredibly helpful.

The menu is huge, offering a wide range of dishes from different regions of India—not just the usual chicken tikka masala. There's a button on the table to call your server, which was great because we had a lot of questions. He explained everything in detail—what dishes had thicker or thinner bases, which ones were naturally spicier, and which spice levels could be made mild.. Even as the place started to fill up and takeout orders picked up, our server never rushed us.

You can also BYOB. There’s a big variety of breads beyond just plain naan, and we tried a couple along with some unique mushroom appetizers—everything was very fresh and delicious. The server even checked in to make sure our food wasn’t too spicy, since we had mentioned we prefer mild.

Prices are very reasonable for the amount and quality of food. The only downside was the table design—it’s a solid wood block with no leg room underneath, so there’s nowhere to stretch your legs. That is definitely a minor thing and we’ll definitely be...

I'm not a frequent writer of reviews in general. The only times I've done so are when a particular provider has exceeded expectations or grossly failed to do so. Today, I'm writing a review on the rare occasion that both the conditions above have been met. Allow me to explain.

This is our third time visiting this restaurant - twice in 2024, and now again in 2025. It seems that the quality of food has improved. While we were happy with the taste last year, we were even more so this time. Yes, it seems portion sizes have reduced, but that is no longer a surprise in this inflationery environment, especially since this restaurant hasn't increased its prices by much as far as I can recall from last year. That's the positive.

Now, here comes the negative - the service. While the servers were attentive, I did find the billing practices deceptive, if not illegal. First, they charged a 18% gratuity for a "large table" - 6 people, including children. First of all, they named it a "service charge"; it's not unless it's specifically mentioned in the menu, which it was not. Since I was anyway meaning to pay that percentage as tip, I let it go. However, when I took out my card, I was informed of a 3% "credit card fee", again nowhere mentioned on the menu or on the restaurant premises. I refused to let this one go, and said I'm not paying both. Obviously, with 18% being more than 3%, they decided not to pursue the latter at the risk of jeopardizing the former. But it did leave a bad taste in the mouth after the wonderful taste of the food itself.

While finishing up our food and before this drama over payment, we were discussing returning regularly for our Indian food fixation. However, that seems...