Shamiana — Restaurant in Mumbai

The food was really good in taste. However, this was the WORST luxury buffet experience I have ever had. Am surprised this is part of Taj Mahal Palace. Here are issues I experienced during lunch buffet:

It was super hot in the restaurant. We specifically requested to be seated in the AC area, and I was sweating throughout my lunch. To be noted, right outside the restaurant in the lobby it was pleasantly cold. I requested our station server to turn on the cold, said he will request, but never came back with an update

Food items were not labelled properly at all. At some places the name under the salad item did not match what was placed on top. There were 10-12 different dressings placed under the salad, and NO NAME under/beside any of them

To top it all, throughout the entire buffet, no mention if any of the items had egg or not. You have to ask someone for each item

The buffet was placed without any logic. There were drink carts placed just at the entrance and no label on them as to what type of drinks they were, not sure if they were included in the buffet or not. Didn’t see any starters there. There was a circulation menu listed above the buffet items, but no mention of where it with whom could I place the order. Though there were more servers than people in the restaurant

Our station handler didn’t mention anything to us about how the buffet works. We asked him about the circulation menu and he brought the a la crate menu which would have made us pay extra for any items ordered. This was on top of the INR 3300 we were going to pay for the buffet

Our station handler was serving 4 other tables at least, so whenever we needed him, he was at another table and always running around. We did place 1 order with him for naan and moong dal tadka, that order arrived after 25-30 minutes

For people who DONT eat eggs, AVOID this place. Most of their veg items contain egg and THEY DONT LIST THIS ANYWHERE.

VEGANS, DEFINITELY AVOID THIS RESTAURANT, THERE ARE ONLY 2-3 SALADS IN APPETISERS, HAKKA NOODLES, FRIED RICE AND SOME ASIAN GRAVY DISH FOR YOU. GO VISIT SOME OTHER CHEAPER RESTAURANTS IN THE AREA. ALMOST ALL ITEMS CONTAIN BUTTER, AND STAFF DOESNT KNOW

Drinks like mockails are placed at random places which people cannot view. Didn’t know where to get glasses for the drinks either

For people who prefer to have an excellent experience, I request go and try BBQ nation, they will make you much happier than this place and that too at a more economical cost

I would place BBQ Nation over their buffet even if this costs the same as them. However, at this price, this is the WORSE...

Even a single star is too much. I’d rate 1 out of 10. We first went after lunch for some coffee and desserts. Despite having at least 15 staff on the restaurant floor, they seemed extremely chaotic and unorganised. We had to call the waiter multiple times to engage and place the order. We gave the order but after 5 mins the person comes back stating that the items are not available and to choose anything else. We changed our order and after another 5 mins the person comes back with items not available. We reluctantly ordered the third time and the items were available. We order rose faluda - it was ok; not the best we’ve had nor it was as per Taj standards! The restaurant was quite busy so we didn’t make much of the poor service and quality of food. We decided to give them another chance and returned the day after for lunch. The disastrous, chaotic and unorganised staff remained unchanged. To be fair, women staff seemed ok but all the male staff were poor. Most male staff seemed to be gathering every 15minutes in different corners of the restaurant and just chatting away themselves with no regards to customers, service, hospitality and the brand Taj! Anyways, we were sat on the gable but it wasn’t clean and there was water on the floor. Again, despite having at least 15-20 staff on the floor, no one cared to do their job properly. After we sat down, we had to change our table due to poor seating. The scone table was also not set up. We waited for someone to take order but no one did. We called couple of times and then a person took our order. We waited for 10 minutes for our simple beer and fresh lime soda; the soda was made with water instead so we asked to change. Waited for another 10 minutes. We waited for 35 minutes for our meals. When it arrived, one order was not as per requested and was sent back to fix. Food in the same order was cold. Unfortunately, no one bothered to come up to us and check about our food or take repeat drinks order. Most of the staff, including floor mangers seem to look at our table and just walk by, completely ignoring us. We did speak to a floor manager towards the end but not sure if they will take any feedback onboard and escape to higher management. Shame that our Taj Mumbai experience was so poor. We have visited other Taj hotels across the country and our experiences were good. We expected consistency across all hotels at the very least. The company doesn’t compromise with the prices, etc. but seems like it expects customers to compromise with the service! Never coming back to the...

So on Friday 9 th December 2022 at 4.10 pm I drove for 2 hrs here from Borivali to give a birthday treat to my daughter. The table alloted was not covered with mat while other tables were. No courtesy chair holding for women and it's a 5 star, even upscale Udupi staff do that. A tired guy arrived (Allvyn) with a bored expression laced with a contemptuous smirk handed menu to us and left. Came after 10 minutes to take order. I asked him for directions to rest room, he said you first order, then go to rest room so when you return your food is ready (same contemptuous attitude). We ordered 2mocktails, jalapeno parathas, chicken tikka, singhada kebabs. Mr Allwyn suggested that parathas with kebabs will be rather dry combination so I asked him to add raita too. Mr Allwyn said "ma'am don't order raita I will get it for you ' on the house"". I was puzzled but agreed and left for rest room with my kid and returned in 10 mts. Our mocktail glasses were already sitting there waiting for us. They had placed our drinks on table in our absence. No one came to tell us which mocktail was which. In another 5 minutes the food server came, just hurriedly plomped the plates on our table with tired and disinterested expression and scooted as fast as he could. The raita was missing. Next 40 minutes Mr Allwyn didn't bother to attend to us to ensure if we needed any thing or if everything was all right. After we finished and played were empty at our table, Mr Allwyn finally arrives and asks " Oh they didn't get you raita? I will bring it now". I mean how stupid is this? Was raita meant to be eaten after food like a dessert?. The mood was spoiled, evening of my kid's bday was destroyed thanks to Mr Allwyn's callousness. I wanted to leave that horrible place so maintaining my calm thanked Allwyn for his (absence of) hospitality and asked for bill. For the first time in my life I left no tip. By the way; paratha, mocktails and singhada kebab were good, chicken tikka horrible. In conclusion, I will never visit Shamiana again. Do visit this place to experience how overrated upend 5 star restaurants treat a woman and a child when a man is not...