Mom's Biriyani — Restaurant in Sunnyvale

This is a review for Mom's Biryani.

Both my mom and I enjoy real Indian food. This place is close, and has good reviews and we thought we would try it. The bottom line here is that the food is fantastic, but the ambience and the environment leaves something to be desired. Here's the full story.

We ordered the Mysur Masala Dosa ($11), the vegetable samosas ($7), the Aloo paratha ($11), the fish curry ($11), and the gulab jaman ($5). The masala dosa was hot, crisp, with enough stuffing to fill the dosa. The samosa has a delicate pastry layer, the way it supposed to be, with a potato and peas filling. The vegetables inside were distinctly and intentionally combined well, so that the result was delicious - not a hot mash of a mess.

The Aloo paratha was made well, and not just a tortilla look-alike repurposed as a paratha. I asked for a plain paratha, but they don't sell those, which was surprising. The fish curry was quite good, with a combination of spices in the aromatic sauce, and the fish itself was tender and flaked apart easily. Even the raita (yogurt) they presented was better than I have seen in most places, but they could improve the mint chutney by adding more consistency, making it less watery. Finally for desert, the gulab jaman was heated and presented to finish off the meal. The food was good, and apart from the curry, the portions was adequate. I feel like they need to increase the portion size on the fish curry, by approximately 15%.

The surroundings and ambiance on the other hand was different matter. The glasses used for water varied from table to table, and I liked the glasses on the other tables compared to the plastic glasses on my table. When they served tea (complimentary), they served it in paper cups, and not in porcelain cups or in stainless steel cups. I had to ask them for additional knives and forks for the table which were not present at the table.

The folks running the place are friendly, the food is excellent, and I plan on going back. However, I might just do takeout as opposed to eating there and having to put up with childproof glasses and drinking out...

The restaurant responded to my last posting "One of the worst experiences we ever had at a restaurant with customer service.

First they made a big mistake in redeeming a Groupon voucher in a wrong way that made it void: it was a $100 voucher and I asked the waitress if she is sure that her claim that we can use about $40 and the remaining amount later is definitely correct which she confirmed after calling a superior and taking a screenshot. With that she assured we can redeem the remaining balance/credit later. When I asked another time to make sure that this will actually happen she confirmed once more. Today when ordering by phone I told the manager that I would like to use the remaining amount / credit, BUT he refused to do what we were promised before. After longer discussion he finally gave a discount, but much lower than the remaining balance/credit. Meaning we lost money and time. When I asked for the food he handed me a bag and ensured that all items would be in it. But when opening the bag at home two chicken curries were missing. When I called and explained the situation I was asked to drive to the restaurant to pick it up even though it was their mistake. They could have sent a driver or find another solution for delivering the missing items especially when I told them that my wife is hungry and sick at home. But no willingness to provide such customer service and only after I asked for a reimbursement I was told that they can reimburse me. When I wanted to know how and when I get a refund they hung up on me. I consider this rude and very poor customer service. Everyone can make mistakes, but then one can make up for them. That didn't happen here."

After getting a refund and the promising complimentary items next time, I changed my review accordingly. If they actually give an appropriate compensation then I would happily give an even better rating. So let's see if they stick to their word, because last time...

I don't know about these ratings... This place was just OK for me and the foodie crew.

The venue itself needs a decent overhaul. The tables are very small, making it difficult to comfortably dine if one has a bigger party or orders several dishes. We had to combine two tables between 4 of us. The Restroom is run down, there were no paper towels and the toilet seat fell off!

#BiriyaniEats: ~ Podi Dosa - 4/5 Tasty Dosa.

~ Mysore Masala Dosa - 4/5 Another solid tasty Dosa with filling.

~ Aloo Gobi Adrak - 2/5 I had Aloo Gobi before countless times, I just never had it like this. This was more like Potato Wedge Fries with curry. Weird...

~ Boneless Vhicken Dum Biriyani - 3/5 The flavor was OK, too much rice and not enough Chicken. The Chicken was chopped up into tiny pieces.

~ Baby Corn Manchurian - 2/5 Skip this. Doesn't really work. It's edible, but not my choice.

#LASSIBAR: ~ YOGURT LASSI: Mahabaleshwar Strawberry Lassi - 4/5 While the food was tasty, we all left feeling overly stuffed and bloated... Which lead me to conclude; not the greatest quality of ingredients were used or possibly lots of inflammatory ingredients like seed oils and or additives were utilized. The table side service was not the best; service was almost nonexistent sometimes. I had to flag down the staff a few times; additional plate, more water, a container etc. The bill never came. You have to pay for the bill at the front counter.

If you order from the Lassi Bar you have to pay for the drinks separately at the second counter. Initially it was fairly confusing and unclear why... The (LASSI BAR) drinks are a separate business or spin-off. I had to pay for 3 Lassi's separately, then take care of the bill on a separate transaction, all while being in the same restaurant that provides table service...very strange.

I wish them the best. I don't need...