Taj Aiken Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Aiken County

Worst Indian food EVER.

We walk by this restaurant often and the spices smell good from the street so we finally decided to try it. I'm not really sure how you get Indian food wrong. In fact, in all my years I can't recall ever having Indian food so bland and underspiced, oversalted and greasy.

The mango lassi was all lassi and no mango. Sickly sweet, it was basically just fatty buttermilk without any of the pleasant tangy mango flavor. Cheaping out on the fruit, maybe? I drank less than a quarter and it made me feel kind of queasy.

The parawathi naan -- normally one of my favorites -- was served in a pool of its own grease. It tasted okay, but why so much grease? I've had this many other places, but never has it been greasy.

The saag paneer and and malai kofta (two of my favorite go-to dishes when I try a new Indian place) were greasy and underspiced and were SO salty I couldn't eat more than a few bites. Hint: SALT is NOT a SPICE. _

I previously gave a 5☆ review... but after the last 7+ visits I've decided to give and updated review. Over the last 6 months or so, the food quality has diminished drastically. The food is for the most part bland and in no way, shape, or form what it was or should be. The service from my first visit to now has always been absolutely horrible. No refills on drinks, 20+ min waits on tickets, not getting all the ordered food due to server error, and literally asking the servers for something and never getting it. The bad service was something we would deal with bc the food was worth it.... but not anymore. During out last visit we sat at our table trying to get our servers attention for OVER 30 MINUTES to get refills, gave up, and was then waiting on the check. She then asked us had we paid..... I was floored. The restaurant only had a few tables but the servers they hire can not get it together. After 15 more mins she finally brought the check and we were allowed to finally exit the establishment we had just dropped over $130 at just to find a gas station to finally get something to drink. This is unacceptable. They have dropped food standards or gotten a new cook. On second thought, its both. Nevertheless, I will go to Curry Hut from now on. I wish Golvin Bora still had his restaurant as he made the best food I've...

Wow! I wish I hadn't waited so long to try this place! I'd honestly never had Indian food that I hadn't made myself before. Boy oh boy am I humbled, because this was fantastic! I tried something new I'd never had before, which was a huge leap for me but man am I glad I did. I had a chicken with some kind of cashew sauce (I cant remember the name to save my life) We also tried all the nanns (garlic for the WIN) and the homemade cheese with chickpea flour breading was to die for. My daughter did the tomato soup, and she muscled through but she's young and still learning to try new food (Its the chicken nugget generation I swear lol). She did like it, it was just very very different for her, but I feel confident if we just keep trying stuff on her we'll land on one she likes.

Now that part that really blew me away. It's so so rare to find staff that genuinely want to make sure your having a great experience. Seeing my daughter I believe it was the owner approached us to recommend things for next time, and to let us know he is trying to get together a kids menu. He was very very kind and thoughtful. Regardless of if they add a kids menu or not we will be back. Its good for kids to be exposes to...