Royal Taj Indian Restaurant, Beechmont Avenue, Cincinnati, OH — Restaurant in Anderson Township

We were super excited to try this place for the first time, especially seeing good reviews. The front of the restaurant (main room) was tidy and tastefully colorful, pretty standard for the Indian restaurants around here. The tables etc were reasonably clean, though part of our booth bench was sticky. Service was good, we did not have to wait overall and our waiter was friendly.

Overall it started out well, until I went to wash my hands in the restroom before eating. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were filthy, and I do not exaggate as a rule, so trust me when I say this. One of the first hints was the buildup of grime on the door around the knob. That theme continued throughout both bathrooms, one of which was being used as a storage room (but lacked a trashcan). Both toilets had urine on them and other signs of grime. It is clear that the bathrooms had not been properly cleaned in a long, long time.

Unfortunately, this image was very hard to dismiss for the rest of our meal. Was the food truly less good than other Indian places, or was it just my imagination? We considered leaving without actually eating, however we had already ordered at that point and I hoped that perhaps it was a problem limited to the bathrooms and storeroom. We are not people to make a big fuss about things, and wanted to support the small business, so we stayed and ate, trying our best to forget the bathroom. I am still a little wary of the food however as there was an eyelash in my rice, the peas were underdone, and the samosa had a bit of a funky (chemical?) aftertaste.

I am sorry to say, I don't think we will be going back, at least not until the place could pass inspection.

EDIT: I am editing the text of this here because I see no way to reply to Taj's response... Hello Isabel Thank you for your feedback. Last week there was a leak from the water heater in to the washroom, because of which there was some water in the restroom. This issue has been fixed. We clean the washrooms every there hours. Regarding the food we are serving the community for 22 years, we only use natural ingredients and do not use MSG or chemicals. I am sorry for your experience, please give us one more chance. Thank you I do not doubt that someone thinks they are cleaning the restroom, but what is their definition/scope of the job? There is grime embedded into the doors, walls, floors, and visible on pretty much all of both toilets. This is the kind of stuff that takes weeks to accumulate, if not months. The grime on the toilet in the left-hand bathroom was completely dried on (again, this included urine), so clearly had been there more than a few hours, and as a customer there was not even a way to clean it because that bathroom had nowhere to dispose of soiled towels. This is a level of gross that I have just never seen before, not even at a gas station. It sounds like whoever is wiping the sink and scrubbing the toilet bowl is not taking the time to look at anything else in the rooms.

As for my "chemical?" comment, I would describe it more as maybe a cleaner/disinfectant was not adequately wiped from a surface that some of the ingredients came into contact with....

Edit: the owner called to speak to us and apologize, he was very friendly and apologetic about the situation. They are the best indian restaurant in this area and have the best food! This is our usual Indian place which we loved BUT we decided to use them for a large order for a baby shower I was hosting. I called the day before and early that morning when they told me to call to order, I told the restaurant numerous times that the shower was AT 6, so I called at 440 ish to let them know I would be picking it up at 5:30, they said okay. Within 5 minutes I received a call that I was told I needed to pick it up at 6 to which I corrected the man on the phone stating the shower was at 6 & I needed it before then & he was extremely rude. I said okay fine, thanks. Fast forward 45 minutes later, I’m setting up for the shower, he calls and says it should be ready soon, I thank him & hang up. I had to send my mother in law to pick it up due to getting ready for the shower, she arrives and the man is extremely rude saying “It’s been ready”. One: being rude isn’t necessary, two: their mess up does not warrant that behavior. I was busy and wasn’t going to rush over when I’m setting up. They’re lucky we even picked up the almost 300 dollar order at all with the inconvenience, rudeness and mess up it caused. The morning staff was helpful and friendly and I understand messing up but the evening staffs handling of the situation was...

We've gone to this place almost once a month, and we've had decent service and food, but this last time we went for lunch (Sunday, August 18, 2019) we noticed that most of the food was dried up and very little was placed in the buffet. The Chicken Tikka (our family's favorite) was mostly gravy with tiny shreds of chicken. The Kheer tasted slightly spoiled-- I was afraid to eat it, and the Dal soup was really watery. I asked about the Chai tea, which had always been a part of the buffet every time we were there in the past, but the woman said they weren't going to make it. The tea is the only reason why I go to this place. She said it was too hot outside to make it, but then she said that we could buy it for $2 a cup. I don't see why I would have to buy it if it was always part of the buffet. It was very disappointing. I don't think we'll be back. We noticed that the restaurant had been gradually going "downhill" since the first time we visited over a...