How 'Bout Them Knockers: Roti Grill

Roti Grill
4438 McKinney Ave., Suite 100
214-521-3655
(Ordered through Diningin.com)

Promised Delivery Time: 60 minutes
Actual Delivery Time: 50 minutes and the driver got lost

The Score:

Outsourced call center efficiency (only problem was that the Canada-based representative misspelled my street, though the delivery guy figured it out): -5
Over the phone tone and friendliness: 25
Early delivery time, which included getting lost in the apartment complex: 12
Delivery guy's demeanor (How can you top being served by Santa?): 23
Food temperature: 19
Careful mango lassi packaging: 14

Overall: 88

Overall Standings

I've always adored Roti Grill. Not only do they have fanastic lunch combos complete with dessert, but it's an Indian place with a "Texas sized" entrée option (?!). I wondered, though, what it would be like to have my South Asian favorites delivered. Would the sauces' flavor be intact after a car ride? Would things taste the same outside of the restaurant's complex aromas?

I decided to give it a whirl. Ordering delivery from Roti requires third-party service from Diningin.com, which charges $5.25 to drop the goodies to your door. Diningin.com is a good thing to know about in case of--God forbid--a sudden injury or a nasty case of agoraphobia. It expands one's delivery options from a few pizza and Chinese places to a bonafide smorgasbord...and many non-Scandinavian options. I dialed the number on the Web site and was greeted by a cheery woman (at a call center in Canada, I found out) who took my order and informed me that my dinner would arrive in an hour. Excellent. Any longer and I'd be gnawing on my roommate's leftovers.

The delivery man called in 40 minutes to say he was lost in my apartment "community" (and to be clear, this is not his fault--these newfangled complexes could do an infinitely better job at explaining the layout) and so I guided him to our door. There stood a Santa Claus lookalike, complete with coiffed mustache and jolly demeanor, toting a leather delivery bag, huffing and puffing after his journey through the maze.

I'd ordered my favorite--chicken tikka masala--and the requisite mango lassi. As I spread the chicken and basmati rice onto a plate and sat down to eat, the smell told me this was just as good as eating it in the restaurant. And I wasn't disappointed.