Taj Restaurant | Bar — Attraction in Lagos State

This restaurant is gorgeous!! I love the pink backlit marble bar, their table settings & the way they plate their dishes (they have the most creative plates ever, each one is like a mini work of art). You can tell they put a lot of care in the details. The upstairs decor is perfect for a bougie girly lunch spot.

The Pulled Hoisin Beef Brisket Bao was delicious. VERY rich in flavor - almost too rich, which is something I never thought I’d say about food. You’d have to try it to understand. Hoisin is really strong so I think if they pared it down a bit, it would be perfect. But I was happy I ordered it as it was certainly delicious.

The "Shrimp Cocktail" I believe is a menu error as it’s 100% NOT a shrimp cocktail, but actually a shrimp tartare. The person who ordered thought it was excellent though they were expecting a shrimp cocktail. The garlic bread it comes with is amazing.

The Shrimp Dumplings were described as really good by the person who ordered. It comes plated in a classic Chinese bamboo steamer which is a nice touch.

The Lasagna Bolognese was delicious. Someone said it was one of the best lasagnas they’d ever had. I don’t even like lasagna and after trying it even I had to admit it was fantastic. Definitely a dish you won’t regret!

The Portuguese Peri Peri Chicken was also fantastic. The cut of chicken was the thigh, which looked like it had been flattened by the chef, so it was even more tender & juicy. No struggle hard chicken here. The sauce it was drizzled with was also extremely rich in flavor (again, almost too rich but still delicious). This is the kind of dish that would work quite well with plain white rice because the sauce is VERY flavorful on it’s own. But I got it with a side of garlic butter herbed potatoes - and OMG those potatoes were mouthwateringly delicious!

We also got the Maple Ginger chicken to-go for another person and they said it was amazing (they rarely use this word when describing food so I can only imagine how good it must’ve been!)

The Pan Grilled Salmon was not good. It wasn’t particularly flavorful and also wasn’t de-boned, so the poor person who ordered it spent half the time taking out bones before each bite. None of us had ever ordered salmon at a restaurant that arrived with bones in it, so it was an unwelcome surprise. The hollandaise sauce it came with also tasted very strange…not bad or off, but an extremely odd flavor profile that just didn’t work with the dish (I struggle to think of any dish it would work with honestly). Certainly not like any hollandaise I’ve ever had. No one was a fan. I’d skip this one.

But the Taj’s Signature Smoky Jollof Rice side was wonderful! Giving very much party rice.

For cocktails, Pina Colada is my favourite and theirs is delicious! (though not very strong). Another person got the mojito and said it was one of the best they’d had.

The menu has another little error - the things described as Entrées are actually appetizers. You can tell by the dishes - bruschetta, sliders, calamari, dumplings, etc. are all classic appetizer dishes. but I think it’s worth reprinting so people aren’t expecting Entree-sized dishes and get upset at the size.

One drawback though is there are a LOT of additional charges. There’s a 5% service charge, a 5% consumption tax, and 7.5% VAT. This is not yet (and hopefully never) standard practice in Nigeria so the final total was more than anticipated. About N30k extra. One thing I like about Nigeria is what you see is what you pay, so wasn’t a fan at all of this. We dined at many places where the bill is simply the total of all dishes ordered - so this one stood out in a bad way. Everyone hates the American model of billing for a reason. I suggest they reprice the menu to reflect exactly what will be billed (or at least minus the VAT) so one doesn’t have to do math while trying to eat.

All in all, great food, decor, & good service. All the dishes minus one were hits! Just mentally add 20% to your food cost. 1 Cocktail, 1 Appetizer & Main for 3 averaged out to N49k/person after...

I went to Taj with a few friends, and none of us had ever been there. In terms of location, it's nicely situated in a not very busy pocket of Victoria Island. It's a very nice and well decorated space, but perhaps a bit too well-lit for my personal preference (I'm more a muted lighting and cozy person).

The personnel are very pleasant and service-oriented, which is something I really look out for. No matter how great a place is, I wouldn't return if the service is poor. Taj checks the great service box. I didn't know what to drink and I asked to be surprised. I was very pleasantly surprised with my cocktail (sadly, I don't remember the names of my waiter and mixologist 🥲).

The wait time for the food is quite long - I don't really mind waiting, as long as the food is great when it comes out. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. In terms of taste, it was probably fantastic, but almost all the items came out cold (or lukewarm at best). My lamb, which I had emphatically requested (read as begged) to be cooked medium, pink and juicy, came out well done, chewy and cold. The fries and rice were also cold. We sent back the plates, but by the time they came back, I had already eaten from my friends' food, which tasted very nice.

My friend's rib eye steak was prepared in the main dining area, beside another group - so we thought it was their order. The main dining area became quite smoky and a few of us were coughing - the space isn't designed for table-side cooking in terms of ventilation. Also, table-side cooking is supposed to be an experience for the party that ordered it. We were not informed that it was our food that was being prepared and we could barely see what the chef was doing (but we were "suffering the consequences"). When they brought the finished product round to our table, we were surprised that it was for us - since it was being prepped quite away from us, beside another group.

That said, the steak was delicious!!!! It was tender, juicy and seasoned just right. The red snapper was also a delight. I can't say anything about my lamb, because it was packed up for me and forgotten in my fridge 🤦🏾‍♀️

I'll go back to Taj and try again, for sure. I hope my food comes out...

Taj is made for the gram and it is evident by the sheer number of aspiring influencers staging their photo shoots by the stairway on a random Tuesday evening. Style is clearly a priority at Taj, but prioritizing form over function usually ends in dysfunction.

My experience was mostly diminished by the small table size (seating for two) that required constant spatial awareness to avoid tipping over my drink. The table size also meant that only one main could be served at a time. It’s a relatively small restaurant and the need to optimize for maximum headcount is understandable but function should never be compromised. Oddly, they do have additional seating on the ground floor but have chosen to label that a VIP section with seating paid by the hour, brilliant! 🙄

The menu is a fairly interesting read..and you can quickly tell that the curator has a mild obsession with apricots or perhaps received an outsized order and is attempting to offload 😅. Food quality and portion size are both passable and questionable at the same time, but service pace definitely needs immediate attention (Had to abandon my last order). The hosts and servers would benefit from an upgrade in styling and education to match the ambience and ambition of Taj.

Easy to recommend to the impressionable, less...