Paradise Biryani Pointe

I had lunch at Bryrini Paradise on Thursday. Upon entering you will notice a food bar that appears to be set up for a buffet but it is not. Many of the dishes are prepared in advance and are assembled at the bar. They offer an extensive menu, and in addition they offer a two or four item combo for lunch. I chose the 4 item combo so I could try a variety. My four items were the Chicken Chili appetizer, Chicken Curry, Vegetable Curry, and of course Chicken Bryrini.

The Chicken Chili appetizer was bite size peices of chicken that were battered and fried. They were coated in a sauce that had chii pepper and a slight sweetness. It reminded me of Chinese Sesame Chicken that you might find at Manchu Wok in the mall. I didn't care for the appetizer.

The Curry chicken was much better. Chicken peices were simmered in a orange-yellow curry sauce that was flavorful, and not just the strong yellow curry flavor. The sauce was perfect for dredging my fresh Naan through.

The Vegetable Curry was very good. The vegetables were chick peas and a spinich-like veggie. The veggies were cooked down and tender. I enjoyed mixing the vegetable curry with my Bryrini.

Bryrini is a traditional Indian dish that is made with basmati rice, spices and meat (lamb or chicken) or vegetables. It is a colorful dish that is often served at special occasion such as parties and wedding banquets. I thought the Chicken Bryrini was fantastic. It was very spicy, but also had good seasonings. There was a generous amount of chicken and even a drumstick.

The owner was super friendly, and she said they had just opened in August. She did a wonderful job of explaining the menu and describing the dishes.

I enjoyed this place very much, and it was a good change from my go-to Indian buffets. The dishes had bold spice and nice depth of flavor. The lunch portions were huge, and price(s) were very reasonable.

Check out my list of favorite ethnic foods in Bham!

To start off here, the man who served us was very polite from the start. Though "buffet" was on the menu, they didn't have one so he offered us a sampler platter with us choosing either vegetable or non-vegetable. My friend and I got one of each and were very excited to see what would come out. What came out tasted fine but was a pretty big disappointment from what I had wanted and gotten at other Indian restaurants in Bham.

The good - I liked the orange sauce (I guess that's tikka masala sauce) and my paneer was great. The rice was really flavorful and could have been a dish all on its own, maybe it is.

The bad - expecting a buffet and being brought two very similar plates with very limited options was a real disappointment. I really am turned off by being served in a metal tray plate (see picture). I just felt like I was tasting the metallic flavor several times and that I was either in a 80's school caf or a prison food line. When we asked to split the bill at the end the server didn't say yes or no but kind of made this weird head shake and grabbed the cards.

Overall - everything was ok. It's not a favorite but I'm glad a tried it out. If I go back, which I probably won't, I will order off the menu so I have more control over what I'm getting.

It has been about 8 months since I ate here with Paul. Today I brought my family. I got to choose since it was Father's Day.

The first thing that hits you upon entering is the strong Indian incense. It can be a little overwhelming if you've never experienced it before.

Their interior would get a solid 2.5 stars. Their booths, tables and chairs are in bad need of face lift. They also go a little over board with their enlarged menus plastered on the front of the restaurant.

But their food is the star. They have an extensive menu of over 100 items they claim. The last time I was there I visited during the week and sampled their lunch buffet. It was excellent. Today they did not have the buffet. In fact I was informed that they recently did away with their all you can eat buffet but for lunch they have an excellent deal of 3 items and a desert for $7.

The first item we sampled was their veg Samosa. Wow this was fresh made and fried to perfection. I haven't had a good homemade samosa in a long time. Next was the Chicken 007. Why the 007? I have no idea. It wasn't very spy like or anything :) It tasted pretty good. Not too spicy. Next was the egg fried rice. Of course this was cooked Indian style with some curry powder and it was HOT! It was a generous portion of rice too. Lastly we sampled their Pepper shrimp. There were only about 4 to 5 shrimp but it was cooked in a wonderful spicy curry with bellpepper. We also ordered a plate of plain nan bread which was toasted nicely. It tasted even better if you dipped it into the pepper shrimp curry.

Our server was great. He was attentive and even brought us extra ice because our mouths were on fire. This isn't like a Chinese restaurant because they charged $2 extra for some basmati rice. The entrées we ordered does not come with anything else. But our server gave us all small cups of their famous mango lassi to sample. It was mango juice with yogurt and milk. I thought it was ok buy my kids liked it. With their many other items, I will have to return again.

I really love to eat here. I haven't eaten anything off of the buffet yet, in several visits, that I haven't enjoyed yet. The hot, fresh naan bread brought out to the table is also amazing.

You can also order off the menu or take food to-go if you want.

Last night I decided to try this new place in the Hoover area and I am super excited for this new addition. My cultural taste buds were very happy:)

The food: I haven't been able to find an authentic dish named Palak Paneer since I moved here to Birmingham. It is a spinach gravy with a special cheese type dish served over rice. This place has a very authentic, awesome, and good quality one. I ordered to go. I didn't have to wait too long for my food. I am definitely going back for it.

The customer service was really great. One of the owners was telling me more about the company and there was another helpful server that was telling me his favorite things on the menu. They immediately acknowledged me when I walked in, which I really like.

Make sure if you go you sign up for the spot program. It's a rewards program and if you become a regular like I will be it could really be useful

Tried the following dishes:

1- Chicken Takka Masala; was good.

2-Chicken Biryani, although it came modestly warm, the taste was incredible. I would confidently say it's the BEST Biryani in the area.

3-Nan bread, was alright.

Paradise Biryani Pointe started off very promising with good food and okay service but quickly deteriorated. There are many occasions that they do not have certain menu items available and not to forget the time they actually ran out of Biryani (Yikes). The chicken 007 is pretty good and so is the Biryani but they lack consistent quality.

The place really had potential but it seems as if they are not exactly striving for five star quality or service. The service is pretty questionable and it is always quite hot inside and the whole place is really dark in a not so calming way. The whole restaurant does not seem very sanitary either especially the bathrooms.

All in all, the restaurant is a big question mark. Will the food be good today? Will the service be better this time around? Questions I would rather not ask when I am going out to eat.

Used to love this place until I saw that they received a 49 on their health score and had to close temporarily. Even if the food does taste good if it is unsafe it is not worth risking. Here is the full article from AL.com.

http://www.al.com/expo/erry-2018/03/e26dc2af3f/the_15_jefferson_county_restau.html

So hot! Hot as in no A/C and hot as in all the food is so hot that it all starts tasting the same. Four of us went to the restaurant after having a great delivery experience through Grub Hub. The food that was delivered was perfectly spiced and so authentically good that we told ourselves we had to go in person.
Wrong move. It was hotter inside than outside. The servers adjusted fans around the room depending on where customers were seated which was nice, but not as nice as air conditioning.
The food, well like I said, it was all so hot that it tasted the same. Even our 6 y/o child's food was so hot that it was barely edible. We laughed about the experience and paid the $57 bill for four people - which seemed reasonable then took our little one across the street for a burger.
Maybe we'll stick to delivery.

The food was good and my favorite was the mango lassi drink. My favorite meal was the chicken butter masala with the garlic naan. The food came quickly and was fresh. However, the atmosphere was dark and sort of hot, but they had fans blowing everywhere. I believe he was either the owner or manager and was REALLY persistent when getting us to write a good review online and spreading the word of the establishment. The first time was alright, but afterward was kind of annoying. Perhaps more attentive and trained service staff. Overall, it was an alright experience but can't say I'll be back.