Rock N Grill Authentic Indian Cuisine & Bar in Austin - Round Rock, TX — Restaurant in Round Rock

If you ask people where to get good Indian food in Austin, Rock N Grill inevitably comes up in the conversation. I know, I know, it's in Round Rock, but after visiting them for lunch for the first time, the hype machine for their cooking is spot on.

I love Indian food. From the North and South and West and East.  I love the country's spice profile, and I love the heat of their dishes.  I always laugh when they tell me a dish may be too spicy...bring it!

I came alone, so I was only able to try a few items.  I had the Gobi 65 Sauce as an appetizer, and then the Home Style Chicken Curry for my main meal with the Peshawari Naan.  I was also going to try the Goat Kizhi Paratha, but I ran out of room.

The appetizer is a deep-fried cauliflower dish from Southern India. While there are many variations of the spices in the batter, typically, it has red chili powder, garam masala, turmeric, and coriander. After frying it, the cauliflower is often tempered in oil with cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, dried red chilies, curry leaves, and yogurt. Rock N Grill's take on this street food was perfect.  I had it very spicy level.

My waitress Maya suggested I try the Home Style Chicken Curry since it was my first time at the restaurant.  She said it's a classic curry recipe that has tons of spice variations depending upon what area of the country you are in.  Cardemom, cinnamon, and ginger are highlighted in Rock's version.  I went with a medium spice level.  The dish disappeared quickly, and the Peshawari Naan made sure I soaked up all the juice after the chicken was gone.

I really wanted to try the Goat Kizhi Paratha.  It's another Southern Indian dish that takes a flaky parotta bread and wraps it around a flavorful goat curry.  It is then steamed in banana leaves to enhance the taste and aroma.

The "kizhi" aspect refers to the wrapping and steaming method, which helps the flavors meld together.  Note: I had to look up this cooking method since I have not tried it at home.

I also passed on a whole counter of Sweet desserts treats.  I took a picture to entice you to visit Rock N Grill if my descriptions and other pictures of the food were not enough.  Excellent service.  The restaurant is located in a small strip mall.  More than enough parking. ...

This place is what I expect of a good Indian restaurant! The food was spicy with a great depth of flavor. My wife and I had dishes with medium spicy and it was good enough to make me feel it but not overwhelm the dish. I may try one level higher next time, but am prepared to drink a lot of water. The staff was amazing - we arrived 50 minutes before they reopened after lunch (5pm) and they let us in 15 minutes early. The kids didn't like their first dish (noodles) and they brought them butter chicken instead that they loved (no extra charge). The amazing guys gave my 3 & 5 year old popsicles (also no extra charge). They made us feel at home, the food was great, and we left full, satisfied, and appreciated. Not sure how much more any customer can ask for!

UPDATE - 12/23/2021 :( What a difference a year makes. Last year the food and service was amazing. This year the food alone maintained the high standards. We were seated at 5:15, they forgot about us and didn't take our order until I had to approach someone 20 minutes after sitting down. When they did take our order we were told an appetizer could be made mild enough for our kids, which was awesome! When our appetizer (fried potato & veg balls) arrived 40 minutes later it was too spicy for them and it was clearly not noted to be toned down (wife and I still found it delicious). Our main courses, minus my wife's, came 10 minutes later. My wife's dish didn't arrive until we had been seated 90 minutes and after my kids and I had completed our meal. The food was still great, but the staff seemed disorganized - missing some and helping others. This was the second year my wife wanted to come here for her birthday and after this I'm not sure there will be a third. We may order take out as those customers seemed to be taken care of. I am very disappointed to write this because I love the food. Hope I can revise with a better review next time I venture out to Round...

The owner’s Bhanu attitude is DISGUSTING. We ordered a plate of rice for $75 for our graduation party and it was clear to all of the guests as we were eating that it had gone bad. The smell was very strong and had a bad odor. We took it back to the restaurant for a refund and was immediately greeted by the owner’s defensive and hostile attitude. We went in with a respectful and calm demeanor but the owner was extremely rude to us, arrogant, got in our face and cussed us out. He brought out the cooks and had them smell the rice, which all of the cooks agreed that it had gone bad. Not sure what the point of that was other than placing blame on the cooks and not taking any ownership. We were still calm but he was increasingly getting more heated and proceeded to call us a Bi* not once but TWICE. That is no way to run a business. We understand that there are occasional mishaps with service or taste at restaurants but it’s up to the owner to know how to handle these situations and provide positive customer service to long time customers. We were close to calling the police but did not want to create a scene since other customers were eating there. We will never be stepping foot in this restaurant again and do not recommend any one to do so. Our stomachs are already not feeling great. There are plenty of other restaurants in Round Rock that provide both quality food and great customer service. This restaurant used to be great but I guess the popularity got to his head. Very disappointed. **EDIT: Posted this review and saw dozens of fake 5 star reviews posted right after to drown mine out. He’s definitely paying people to post good reviews because there’s no way this restaurant has 5k reviews lol. I’ve never heard of a restaurant with a customer service call center in India but makes sense since the owner needs help providing good...