Taj Mahal Lucknow — Hotel in Uttar Pradesh

Built in the mid 90s as one of the earliest true luxury properties in the city, the Taj Mahal Lucknow has gone through many avatars: as Taj residency to start with, which was rebranded as a Vivanta and finally as a full Taj after a recent renovation that ended only couple of years back. All along, the hotel has seemingly tried to up its luxury quotient, perhaps to better compete with the arrival of international branded properties in the city. Meanwhile, the iconic dome has also changed its colour. As for us, being frequent visitors to Lucknow, we kept this property at the last after having stayed at every major upscale/upper-upscale property in the city. This naturally gave us the opportunity to better assess the standing of Taj Mahal Lucknow with respect to its peers.||The occasion was to celebrate our twin boys' 10th birthday and I was also looking forward to redeem one of my Taj stay vouchers. I made two reservations, each for a night, one directly with Taj and the second via Amex Travel. Both bookings were made for a Superior Pool View Room (their second room category), both included breakfasts while the direct booking one also included a full meal. Before our travel, I contacted their GM, Vinod Pandey, who quickly confirmed an upgrade to a suite based on availability and also an early check-in. He even made an exception with our included meal by converting it to a family dinner at Oudhyana with a chef's choice menu.||We arrived slightly later than our intended arrival time but were quickly received by Nidhi Singh, the FOM after a traditional welcoming ceremony that included welcome drinks and welcome gifts. As we proceeded toward our room, we were also welcomed by Ranjeet Singh their Operations Manager and Pankaj Srivastava their F&B manager. On entering our upgraded room I quickly realised that the hotel had upgraded us to one of their (out of 4) Premium Suites. This one was at the lobby level. Even after extensive renovations the rooms at this hotel remain rather small in size, not at all consistent with a luxury brand like Taj, but I guess they had tried to overcome it by elevating their service standards. Our Premium Suite was just 58 sqm which would be barely the size of the lowest category room in many luxury hotels. For Taj Mahal Lucknow, this size hosted a rather small king bedroom and a medium sized living room. The living room had a 3 seat sofa, 2 chairs, a rectangular coffee table and a low side table located on a carpeted area. Otherwise, the flooring here was wood-panelled where on one side there was a work desk and chair and another high side table near the minibar. The latter consisted of an electric kettle, some decent tea bags and a fully stocked minibar fridge. The fully carpeted bedroom was dominated by the very comfortable king bed with a foot board bench, the latter a sign of luxury property. The remaining space could only accommodate a single chair and a low side table. Both the living room and the bedroom opened to respective narrow balconies via these full-sized French windows, the signature design theme of this property. Although, the view from the living room balcony was not much, the bedroom balcony gave a nice glimpse of the marble lawn, the pool and the domed central building. Toward the bathroom, there was an open cupboard cum dressing area that could be also closed via frosted glass doors. The 4 fixture bathroom was again quite small in size which still included a built-in tub and a separate shower area. The amenities were standard Taj Forest Essentials branded. As the room was recently renovated, there were enough power outlets and the switches were also properly segregated. Each of the living and bedrooms had a smart TV while there were quite a few photographs on the wall, including a few nice sepia-toned black & white ones.||The welcome amenities included two fresh mango themed cakes for the kids, some chocolates and fruits and four glass jars that included roasted cashews, almonds, raisins and some cookies. The latter were refilled the second day. There were also candles and a personal handwritten message from the GM. The cakes were really good where the fresh mango had really elevated their taste. Very soon after we checked-in, Pawan Punetha from the restaurant came down to take order for welcome drinks which were cappuccinos for us and milk shakes for the kids with cookies and all. ||The hotel originally had a very large built-up area that translated into a huge outdoor space of the order of 30 acres or so. Over the years the local Government had taken back a significant portion of this space but whatever was left still seemed a large area that was primarily set in white marble stone. This outdoor space included a large but rather shallow swimming pool, fountains, lawns and other walkways. The pool was too shallow even for our kids (who were learning swimming) which also had very high chlorine content.||We tried all of their three food venues and also the in-room dining during our stay. | The highlight was our dinner at the Oudhyana. We opted for the 5 course Chef's choice menu. Before it started we got a papad basket and our drinks orders were taken. There was an amuse bouche to start with which quickly followed the courses. Here is what we ordered. Thandai for the drink, murgh zafrani tikka, kakori kebab & fish tikka as appetisers, bhuna gosht and murgh awadhi korma paired with paratha, sheermal and dum gosht biryani as the main courses and shahi tukra to end with. The staff also had a chocolate cake for the kids after the desert course. The food was very good, especially the appetizers (kakori was the best) while the gosht biryani wasn't elevated to the levels of what is usually available outside on the streets. The food came out quite fast but the service sometimes lacked given the restaurant was packed on a Friday night. Sahib cafe was their coffee shop, sharing space with the grand lobby with the dome. The menu here had some selections from the Machan restaurant of the other Taj Mahal in New Delhi. We found them to be excellent and were also at a comparatively lesser price than the remainder of the menu. Service during our lunch was a bit off which was more than made up during our dinner here on the second night. Although, initially we didn't get a table and had to come back after a little while. This time we mostly focused on continental food like pasta, risotto, grilled fish, which were equally good while the floor manager on duty made sure we sampled several items from their buffet menu too. We got 25% Epicure discount on our food here and then redeemed our Neucoins to pay them off fully.||The breakfast was very busy and unfortunately the space inside the cafe was sometimes not enough to accommodate every one. There were some interesting items like a non-alcoholic bloody Mary and fresh mangoes of different types that were cut and served at the table. But overall the spread was quite standard and we didn't find anything exotic or overtly local like a nihari for breakfast, etc. We did try out the egg Benedict and Florentine from the kitchen on both the days. While on the first day they were quite okay, on the second day the English muffins were rather soggy. The in-room dining food was all right while at Saqi, their bar, where we redeemed our Epicure voucher there was some confusion as to what a buy one get one drink meant. It was sorted out at the end. The titbits that came with the drinks could see some improvement though.||The housekeeping was all right overall but they missed cleaning the inside of the sofa and one of our kids found a coil of human hair stuck inside the crevices. Although it was cleaned immediately, the housekeeping manager could have been more forthright in accepting the mistake. However, they made two excellent beds for the kids: one in a roll-away while the second in the larger sofa.||On the day of our check-out we did a slightly late check-out and Nidhi was there to see us off. Overall, it was a great experience and definitely our best hotel stay at Lucknow which we had been saving till the end of it all. It was also nice to chat and get to know Mr. Pandey, their GM who seemed to have been around at some other iconic Taj properties too. Where the hotel lacked a bit in the sizes of their rooms/suites and food venues, the finesse in their housekeeping and the quality of pool was more than enough compensated by the F&B and stellar hospitality standards. But, being a Taj, I do think that they perhaps needed more variety in their food options, especially a pan-Asian restaurant would be good with only the Hyatt having one at this level in the city. A Club Lounge would also be a great addition to sip some good wine with the views of the manicured...

Thank you Taj Mahal Lucknow for making the stay of my Family memorable. ||Right from providing Airport pick up (Digvijay Singh) and Airport Drop (Sumit/Amit I do not remember) which was couched in comfort curtesy Ms. Ayesha and Mr. Singh to the stay in the two rooms (The house keeping team - Mr. Vishnu and others) was perfect. ||I have visited Taj Mahal on two prior occasions and I believe the the team has remained the same with Mr. Pandey being the GM.||This time though the hero of the Hotel was MR VICKY CHAURASIA (SWIMMING LIFEGUARD) who rescued my father (Colonel P.K Tripathi) while swimming in the pool and imparted vital swimming lessons to my 2 year old son and myself during the stay. He was indeed the Knight in shining armour and is an asset to this Hotel for his proactive approach, polite demeanor. Under his supervision the pool side has become much more vibrant and well maintained. |||The FNB section has been very well managed with my thanks to Chef Devender as well as the Chef overseeing the breakfast buffet. The chefs took personal pains to tailor made non spice food or our two year old child. Ever grateful to them and the team. Thanks to Mr. Sharad/sharath (i forget the name) as well as Mr. Subham and many other servers at the restaurant. Kudos to the FNB manager for his role. ||The Taj Chocolates and Terrakota crafts came to our rescue to give parting gifts to family members who came to visit and had breakfast with us. ||May the Hotel continue to excel.||Some advise on issue faced by us |1. The swimming pool area must have a non-slippery mat surrounding it as users walking towards the pool or returning back from the pool may not encounter any physical hazard as encountered by my father. Thanks to the prompt help of Mr. Chaurasia no major injury was faced by him. I too had some near falls on my return from the pool side. The makarana tiles without a mat is not suitable to be beside the pool. ||2. The tea of Taj Mahal Lucknow has flattered to deceive and does not meet the standards during our stay at the hotel. This was a dampner to the otherwise excellent spread. The coffee in contrast was excellent. ||Wishing you the very best ||Warm Regards ||Purushottam...

Location and Overview:

Established in the year 1995, Hotel Taj Mahal in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow is a top player in the category Hotels in the Lucknow. This well-known establishment acts as a one-stop destination servicing customers both local and from other parts of Lucknow. Over the course of its journey, this business has established a firm foothold in it's industry. The belief that customer satisfaction is as important as their products and services, have helped this establishment garner a vast base of customers, which continues to grow by the day. This business employs individuals that are dedicated towards their respective roles and put in a lot of effort to achieve the common vision and larger goals of the company. In the near future, this business aims to expand its line of products and services and cater to a larger client base. In Lucknow, this establishment occupies a prominent location in Gomti Nagar. It is an effortless task in commuting to this establishment as there are various modes of transport readily available. It is at , Vipin Khand, which makes it easy for first-time visitors in locating this establishment. It is known to provide top service in the following categories: Hotels, 5 Star Hotels, Hotels (Rs 8001 & Above), Hotels With Swimming Pool, Luxury Hotels.

Products and Services offered:

Hotel Taj Mahal in Gomti Nagar has a wide range of products and/or services to cater to the varied requirements of their customers. The staff at this establishment are courteous and prompt at providing any assistance. They readily answer any queries or questions that you may have. Pay for the product or service with ease by using any of the available modes of payment, such as Cash, Master Card, Visa Card, Debit Cards, Cheques, Credit Card. This establishment is functional from...