Tajmahal Express — Restaurant in Prague

It’s a pretty familiar sight in Europe: a corner Indian restaurant called Taj Mahal. There’s one at the corner of Schweizerstraße in Frankfurt am Main. There’re others on Rue du Strasbourg in Luxembourg and Szondi utca in Budapest. Each one different from the other in its idea of India, but they all had one thing in common: a consistent spike on the Scoville scale at the sound of “Indian spicy, please.” The good news in such case is you know what to expect. So totally tired and famished after a six-hour journey, my wife and I walked into this bohemian tribute to Taj Mahal. It was a Thursday afternoon with a just a corner seat occupied, not something we expected. Taj Mahals worldwide are known to draw visitors in hordes. To complicate things further, the steward spoke to us with a thick Bangladeshi accent, a sign that we may not end up with an authentic Indian fare, after all. We ordered chicken bunna (215 korunas), a chicken tikka biriyani (225 korunas, roughly €9), butter naan (130 korunas, about €5) along with two pints of Cobra beer (160 korunas) and a glass of Mango lassi (75 korunas). Ten minutes had passed since the beer and mango lassi had been served. I used that time in using the restroom and strolling through its relatively long hallway, punctuated with colourful curtains and canvas prints of Indian elephants and game hunting. Everything was spic and span, giving rise to a faint affirmation that things can’t go wrong here. By the time I was settled the servings arrived. What followed was an out-of-this-world experience with a taste promising to last for a lifetime. Calling it a celebration of spices would be an understatement. It was the best bunna I had in my life, an absolute 10 on 10. The biriyani was equally good with an explosion of textures and tastes that you find in some of the best non-vegetarian restaurants such as Paradise Hotel and Hyderabad House in south India. The difference between this restaurant and other Taj Mahals I had visited in Europe was a request for “Indian spicy” did not necessarily entail a spike in Scoville scale. It meant a perfect melange of taste, texture, aroma and a sense of satisfaction. The experience was so good that we came here the following day and ordered the same fare to experience this artistry of taste. It’s a must visit for people scouting for a slice of incredible...

The restaurant is called Tajmahal , but the food was horrible. I asked the waiter what their specialty was, and he recommended the Madras Chicken. I ordered that along with 2–3 rotis and a salad.

Honestly, I can share photos and videos of the dish does this really look like authentic Indian food? How do they even have so many excellent reviews when the food is this bad?

The Madras Chicken was about 65% oily gravy and only 35% actual chicken. It didn’t look or taste like Madras Chicken at all. If they cannot prepare it authentically, the least they could do is make it lighter, with less oil and fewer unnecessary spices. Sometimes simple is better and it would even save them money.

The food was not cheap either. I can share the bill as proof. They even gave me a 30 CZK discount because I couldn’t finish the small bowl of Madras Chicken.

Sorry, but I cannot recommend this place for anyone looking for proper Indian food. Editing mesage because your respond of feedback is non professionalism businesses owner: From the picture, it’s hard to justify the taste of Madras chicken, but at least people can see how much oil is used for such a small portion of curry. I don’t mean you shouldn’t use oil, but not to that much like soup. I didn't said no oil no masala no gravy I said make as proper Madras chicken . Another thing have you ever checked your chapati? It looks more like an baby elephant’s ear than real chapati . Are you really from India your chef knows how to coooked a indian food ?

You asked if I am a chef yes, I am. I worked at JW Marriott, one of the biggest international hotels. I don’t work there anymore because now I own two Indian restaurants. So believe me, I know better than you what authentic Indian food is.

Instead of accepting your mistakes, you blamed me. That’s why I rewrote this message. This is not personal—it’s about proper Indian food. These days, many people use Indian food names without even knowing what they...

Thank you Taj Mahal for taking your time to reply.

Please note that this is my personal view upon my first visit to your place. Thank you so much for pointing out that I did not bring this review on notice of you people when I visited, and I agree that a fair chance should have given to them for knowing the reason behind my bad experience.

I am sure to visit your place again and be fair in giving them chance, if I happen to have the same experience(which I hope does not).

Note: I had a very good experience with the restaurant people during my visit and I should compliment them. But my experience with the food was not good. I have visited most of the Indian restaurants here like Lal Kila, Everest, Kathmandu, Masala, etc and I never had such an experience with them and I never wrote anything negative. Also there is no reason for me to fake the review, as it is not useful to me in anyway. Thanks and hoping for a better...