Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant — Restaurant in Vila Real de Santo António

The day before my husband went to the restaurant to check out about a Goan dish we liked and asked if they did it and were told yes we do . We were really looking forward to it and skipped lunch . We got there and ordered our favourite wine . We asked for poppodoms which came but were soft and stale. The waiter was good and brought some more but no better. It was fine . We let it go . So we ordered the goan dish Xacutti made with coconut. We got chicken sag ( chicken in Spinach !!!! Spoke to the waiter politely and said this isnt what we ordered! He took it back and apologised bless him. Then he returned with the same dish and said here it is!!! We said no this isnt a goan xacutti dish. He apologised and said the chef doesnt know how to make it . He said if we could order a chicken dish of another kind so we did but it was not nice at all. We asked for the bill snd were ready to go but as i got up the next table of 3 Geordies were rolling their eyes at us and said we were rude!!! I assure you we were not rude but just stated to them if for instance you ordered a fish dish and you got a meat dish would you just eat it or send it back ??? The talk got very nasty as rude comments were hurled backward and forward. It ended up very ugly unfortunately . The staff were really good and apologetic its not their fault really as probably not experienced in cooking these dishes. But my point is these people who eat in restaurants who dont have a clue with different cuisines shouldn't interfere with the next tables complaints. To top it off they ended up with our reject dish of the spinach chicken they probably...

Towards the end of my career I was honoured by my industry to be elected a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality so I feel qualified to give a professional opinion. I don't give negative reviews lightly; I know the damage they can do to a business. In this case , however, I feel obliged to give this review as a warning to potential customers.

This was the worst dining experience I have ever encountered.

Despite having booked in advance, we were not expected; the service was slow and patchy (there was just one waiter but apart from us he only had 3 or 4 tables of two to look after). There was a lot of shouting and arguing eminating from the kitchen which should have warned us of what was to come. Our drinks took an age to arrive as did the starters which were cold and bland. The waiter delivered the dinner plates with the usual flourish and show of wiping each one, which seems to be the standard in Indian restaurants. Unfortunately the plates were cold. From our arrival to the delivery of the main course was almost two hours and when it arrived it was barely warm and all six of us commented that there was little flavour in any of the dishes. My prawn vindaloo was more like a stew and the potatoes collapsed into liquid as they were so over-cooked. The restaurant was untidy and not very clean. Accordng to that chart on the toilet wall they were last cleaned in October...

We ate here on Saturday 16th May 2021. We had eaten Thai at their sister restaurant on Friday, which was very good. Our expectations were high for an Indian meal. We started with Chicken Tikka, Onion Bhaji and Samosa. The Tikka didn't have a strong tikka taste and needed more and thus it was a bit bland. The Bhaji was not crispy enough and again was fairly bland. The Samosa was made with home-made pastry (not Filo) and whilst I'm sure this may be authentic, for us the pastry was too thick, (short crust pastry, I think), and again the filling a bit bland. We both ordered Lamb Madras, which was tasty, fresh and hot as we had requested. Pilaf Rice was good. The Nam breads were okay, maybe a bit on the crispy side, but flexible enough to scoop up some curry. We had a bottle of wine which was priced very reasonably. The service was very good, which would have been expected as we were the only customers. We were happy with the pickle tray which we ordered with the poppadum’s. They served a home-made mango pickle, which was fantastic. The restaurant is up a side road and only has two outside tables, which is fine. We have dogs, so we have to seat outside. I would recommend this place, however, if you are like me and love spicy food, you really need to emphasise you want your food hot as I think the flavours are catered for the mild...