Rangoli Restaurant — Restaurant in Severn

My husband and I went to the Rangoli Restaurant in Hanover, MD on Friday, August 30, 2013. It was a nice summer evening, so we decided to sit on the patio. We ordered the Veggie Platter appetizer, my husband ordered the Murg Saagwala and I ordered the Smoked Eggplant Bharta. The short review is there are mice on the patio and waiter will not give you all you food when you ask for take home container.

Here is the detail review.

Positive The servings were very large. One dish was really enough for two people to share. The food was delicious

Negative The bus boy was sloppy, could not communicate and needed more training. He mumbled when he came to the table and we had no idea what he was saying. It was only because he had a water pitcher in his hand and pointed to our glass that we assumed he was asking us if we wanted him to refill our water glasses. He over filled the glass and spilled water all over the ground. He also started to fill my glass that contained ice tea with water. I had to point out to him that it was tea, not water. He mumbled something I believe was an apology. There were mice on the patio. When we were eating our appetizers we noticed a man at the other end of the patio stand-up, start waving his napkin and stomping his feet. We did not pay much attention. After awhile the couple finished eating and left. As we were eating our entrées, my husband noticed mice on the patio. (That is when we realized why the man was stomping his feet and waving his napkin). I am not a fan of rodents, so I immediately went inside the restaurant, told the waiter there were mice on the patio, asked for the check and some containers to take our food home. I never returned to the patio. The waiter went outside with container and boxed up the food. My husband came inside while the waiter continued to box the food. The waiter gave us our food and the check. He also talked to someone I am assuming was the manager. That person came over and told me the mice stay on the patio and don’t come in the restaurant. I told him that we were ON the patio. DUH!!! We paid our check and went home. The next day we noticed the waiter only gave us a small portion of our food. I believe we received about 1/3 of the food we had remaining. I had hardly eaten any of my food, so that means I did not receive a large portion of the food we had paid for. Granted the containers was full, but they were small containers. The waiter should have used bigger containers or used multiple small containers and given us all the food we paid for.

Summary

I can forgive the sloppy bus boy because he was more of a minor annoyance than a major problem. I don’t blame the restaurant for the mice, because the restaurant is in an area that was recently developed and there is a large wooded area next to the restaurant. We were outside and the restaurant staff can not control Mother Nature. However, it would be nice if they tell patrons who want to sit on the patio they may receive some unwelcome visitors. From a customer service perspective, it would be nice if they were not so nonchalant when a person’s meal is interrupted by mice running around. There is no excuse for them not giving a person all of the food they paid for when boxing up their food (especially when they are leaving after being chased off by rodents).

Despite the good food, we probably won’t be eating at Rangoli’s in Hanover...

A.MA.ZING. My boyfriend and I could not get over how incredible everything tasted. Both of us, being Muslim and Indian, have rarely had the opportunity to have proper halal Indian food (outside of our moms' kitchens). Everything was incredibly prepared and fresh. We were able to order quickly and while we waited, they served us our free little appetizer of Pappad and three little dips (tamarind chutney, some onions mixed with the tamarind chutney, and spicy green chutney). It gave off a "chips and salsa" kind of vibe, but honestly it was a little weird in my opinion. I've never had Pappad served as an appetizer before (and truthfully don't care for it much in general), so it made me feel a little anxious about the kind of food we'd be getting. Thankfully the food was absolutely incredible. My boyfriend said it was perplexingly phenomenal. Everything was prepared with so much care and attention. The garlic naan had ACTUAL smashed garlic on it. The basmati rice had a dash of saffron water and a bay leaf which added just so much delicate flavor to the rice that if I were a southern Belle, I'd definitely have fanned myself and swooned. The butter chicken was perfect. It wasn't overly sweet or bright - it was just a perfect balance of flavors. The chicken kadhai was so incredibly fresh and savory that I had a hard time keeping up conversation because I couldn't stop eating it.

Looking at the menu, they have TONS of vegetarian options. They also serve vegan things too which I thought was so awesome of them. You don't see a lot of vegan choices when it comes to Indian food - it's usually just vegetarian.

Note: I will say that I was slightly disappointed that rice, and not naan, was the complimentary pairing for all dishes. That, to me, screams "American Desi food" as opposed to "authentic Desi food," which is fine but a little disappointing.

When asked about catering, our waiter told us that for large events (100+ people), they need ten days' notice. For smaller events, they need just a day or two of a heads-up.

I genuinely cannot wait...

Recently went here for lunch, though because of COVID there was no lunch buffet. I ordered the butter chicken (chicken mahkni at other places) and it was pretty good. My concern with this place, as with many similar places, is the butter chicken, and the tikka masala, looked like they use some kind of food coloring to achieve an expected look. The colors of the sauces didn't appear the result of natural ingredients. Whenever I try a new Indian restaurant, I usually order lamb vindaloo to test this specific hypothesis. If it comes out Kool-aid red then, for me, the kitchen is automatically suspect in their practices. On a side note, I also test the place by having a mango lassi, that also tells me what to expect. Instead, on this trip I ordered the butter chicken to allow a friend to sample another dish to see if they like Indian food. It was their first time trying out the cuisine and vindaloo is typically really spicy so I ordered this dish. I might head back, if my friend wants to return, and try the vindaloo to see if I'm correct, but more than likely I'll end up avoiding this place. Overall though, the service was good and food prep was quick while they got everything right about the order. The butter chicken was pretty tasty and held over well for leftovers. My concern, as noted above, is that if they are adding food coloring then I'm not sure what other shortcuts they are using in the kitchen which makes it difficult for me to comment about the quality of the ingredients. It's not a bad place so it's not a waste to eat there but if you're a bit more discerning then there are better quality places to go... at least in the...