Diya Bistro — Restaurant in Virginia

"FROM BEST TO WORST". Waste of Money. This is the third time having the same kind of experience and have to highlight this now. The issues - a. Service has become poor and the server arrogance is at another level. b. Freshness and quality of food (second time encountering the issue)

I have been a regular customer of Diya restro, went for a buffet lunch yesterday. We started with appetizers, as soon as we started he bought the breads and went. I told him that we will start main course, I will tell and then you can serve it fresh. He then kept those bread in some heater to serve it later. He was talking to his friend that has come for lunch rather than giving equal attention to all. His attitude was at different level whenever we asked something to him. I have not seen such arrogance behavior.Rather the owner was talking softly and listen to our issues.

Secondly, The buffet menu has written "Tandori chicken"as one of the item, I asked him to bring more as it was getting over. Firstly her said it will take 20 mins, so we waited and then when it arrived it was chicken tikka, they had replaced it by tikka and that too it was not cooked fully. When I inquired the server, he said and I am quoting "its a buffet and we can change whenever we like to."

When we started main course, he bought the same bread. We ask him to for butter naan 1st and then bhatura. he bought bhatura 1st and then the butter naan. Butter chicken - Earlier when I ordered butter chicken via a la carte , the taste and chicken quality in terms of freshness was good. But yesterday the preparation was worst, it was having more tomato like flavor and chicken was not fresh neither cooked thoroughly. After reaching home we did suffer from stomach problems.

I hope the management will address the...

We had an extended layover at IAD and got lucky and found this place for lunch.

Just a few caveats - I believe this place is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It is primarily a catering oriented place (all days of the week) that is open for the weekend. The dine in menu is limited due to this, while I believe the catering menu is extensive. This is true as of August 2025 and could possibly change so please check.

Having said that upfront the food ordered was excellent quality. I am usually not a big fan on Indian restaurants as they get the masala too much or too little and use standardized bases. But I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed the food here. The chole batura was exceedingly well made with the chole tasting really great. The malai chicken tikka was just too yummy. Perfectly marinated and cooked well. Strongly recommended as it was juicy and just melted in the mouth. I could taste the malai. The naan and batura also did not disappoint.

The presentation of the food was again commendable as you can see in the pictures. The condiments, pickles and onion garnishes were fresh and really added to overall experience and taste of the food. I think these attention to small details is important and the chef took the pains to make it perfect

We wrapped up the meal with a gulab jamun that was warm and soft and delectable. I recommend this place if you are nearby. The chef also stopped by and chatted with us and I believe they do have a full service restaurant that is open all days. Struggles with staffing led them to the reduced schedule and menu for...

We bought Groupon coupons for Sunday brunch. One coupon was for 4 people and the other two were for 2 people each, so 4 couples total. Pain Puri was..... meh.... We had to ask for potato-chick pea for pani puri. ... Pani was sweet! Dal-makhani, chicken tikka masala were sweet! Yuck! I did not try the mutton biryani but my friend said that the taste was "off" and the mutton was overlooked and very tough. As noted by another reviewer, naan was store bought and warmed up and not made fresh on site... Same story with gulab jamun. Mushroom peas was passable. Overall the food was not praiseworthy. However the kicker was when it came time to pay for the brunch. Cost of Sunday lunch buffet is $15 per person but on the Groupon ticket, it is $9.00. So we thought that was a good price for the brunch. The server who brought the check to the table said that only 1 Groupon ticket can be redeemed per table! This is something that is not made clear at the time of purchasing the Groupon coupon. Also the management did not clarify their policy at the outset. Classic "bait and switch" tactic. If we had known this from the outset, we would have sat at separate tables. Not so good food and shady practice by the management. Obviously we will NEVER go there again! For folks who are thinking about buying the Groupon coupon to eat at this restaurant, think twice before you hit the...