Taj India — Restaurant in Birmingham

We had a very good first experience at Taj India, with one exception but I’ll get to that later. We went for dinner on a Wednesday evening arriving about 5:15, we were the only ones there at the time (they reopen for dinner at 5) and were seated promptly. The waitress returned to the table very shortly after seating us with a flask of cold water and a complimentary serving of some sort of a very thin “flatbread” with two sauce options. One sauce was brown and sweet, the other green and spicy. I’m not real well versed on Indian food to tell you what they actually were, but they were tasty. I personally preferred the green sauce. My wife, not liking spicy food opted to eat hers without sauce. She said there was something a little spicy in the flatbread she thought. Our order was taken, my wife ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and we expressed to the waitress that she did not like spicy food. So she offered, “so, you want no spicy?” And we responded, “Yes, please.” I opted for the Mixed Grill that had a bit of a sampling, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Tikka, Chicken Tandoori, and Shish Kabobs. I had also read reviews about how good (and large) their garlic naan was, so we ordered that to share. After a short wait another server brought out very hot plates to use for our entrees. Our food arrived and as we started to eat my wife said her mouth was on fire. She can be very sensitive to spicy food so I tried hers and it was quite spicy. This was the only negative thing about the meal. She couldn’t eat much because of the spice. If they weren’t able to prepare the ordered dish to be not spicy we wish they would have told us that or recommended a different dish that would not be spicy. It came with basmati rice that was prepared well. I honestly have a slightly mixed review of my Mixed Grill, no pun intended. The chicken & lamb tikka both had a good flavor but were very, very dry. The chicken tandoori was good, but the star of my dish was the lamb shish kabob, so delicious and moist. Again, I don’t know much about Indian food. I had to ask the waitress what the shish kabob was. I would definitely order just it as an entree in the future. Maybe the tikka meats are meant to be eaten with other sauces to not be so dry? I don’t know. Still an Indian food newbie. The garlic naan bread was also fantastic. If you have a meal here and don’t order it, you’re missing out! The ambiance is very nice, slightly upscale without being pretentious. Many nice little details from the cloth tablecloths and napkins. To the hammered metal drink cups and matching silverware. We had a good experience, just need to figure out a more acceptable dish for my wife that is not spicy. I’d love some suggestions. Price to portions ratio is good. I could only eat about half of my meal, my wife, not even half but mostly because it...

New location on Clairmont. Inviting exterior, lots of parking, which nevertheless fills up at noon, clean, mostly white, light-flooded interior with only few, dust collecting ethnic decorations. Tables are spaced nicely, leaving room to move chairs and walk around. The waiters are fast, friendly, and attentive. Water comes in a pitcher, naan bread appears by magic while empty plates vanish by the same kind of magic. Hooray a buffet! I hadn't seen a buffet since before COVID and needed all my self-control not to morph into an all-you-can-eat-buffet-werehog. The buffet offered ~10 different dishes and although I was missing labels for vegetarian and vegan options, it was pretty easy to recognize the dishes. They really need a better way of labeling the dishes. The cards don't look clean or appetizing and easy to read fonts might look unappealing but are more helpful than fancy fonts. All dishes tasted quite different from the Indian food that I cook or find in other restaurants. I liked the pakora, navratan korma, dal tadka (?), and the cucumber salad, but was not convinced by the other dishes. The aloo matter was good but I was missing the earthy flavors and the sauce was too thin. The saag, was too acidic and I was missing paneer, the spicy pickled onions were raw and not pickled at all, the tomato soup was very thin and so were the brothy pulses. All in all a decent option for a vegetarian meal but w/o a disclaimer about ghee and other milk products not for vegans.

Old location 2023: The buffet is set in a hallway that needs some deep cleaning, better lighting, and a lot more airflow. The signs that provide the name and brief descriptions of the dishes could use some icons to denote jain, vegetarian and vegan dishes as well as the use of Gluten and, nuts. I sampled most vegetarian dishes and was .. underwhelmed. The only sauce that was as thick as I like sauce was Saag Paneer that was very acidic, quite spicy and didn't have paneer. The Chana Dal had almost no split chickpeas and was more of a broth. I had to fish around in the Korma to find vegetables. What I believed to be Pakora were potatoes lightly "breaded" that begged the question if the cook had used the oil for frying chicken before. The Egg pilaf had no egg and instead of fragrant spices and a nutty Ghee aroma tasted more like fried rice. The onion chutney was too fresh and tasted like raw onion, missing all the deeper flavors, I already forgot the other dishes that I sampled. Maybe you have better luck ordering a la carte but they need to rethink their cost model and reduce the buffet or increase their price to provide the deliciousness I am always hoping for.

Still 3 stars because even mediocre Indian food offers plenty of lacto-vegetarian...

My wife and I have been big fans of Taj India for many years and decided to try the buffet lunch at their new location on Clairmont Avenue on Wednesday, August 30th, at approximately 12:30pm. The first thing we noticed was a nearly full parking lot - certainly a good sign for the new location! We were seated quickly in the bustling restaurant and were impressed with the atmosphere - bright and airy with high ceilings and white tablecloths.

Unfortunately, on this visit the quality of the food was not up to the standards of the previous location. All the pieces of chicken were gone from the chicken tikka masala and only the masala sauce was left (I returned to the buffet table later and there was still no chicken). The egg yolks in the egg curry were green indicating the eggs had been boiled way too long. All the dishes except the spinach soup were extremely bland. It seems like the restaurant has adopted a new low sodium policy. Even the naan tasted like a low-salt version. Fortunately I was able to find a salt shaker on another table in order to make the dishes taste a bit more like they tasted at the old location, but a little heat in some of the dishes is needed as well.

Likewise the service was lacking. There were plenty of servers but there was little coordination. We watched as the table next to us was given a full basket of naan (more than they were able to finish) while we were given none. We flagged down a waiter who promised he would bring us some but he never came back and we finally flagged down another waiter who finally brought some when we were nearly finished with our meal.

Initially we were pleased when a server brought us a full carafe of drinking water. It was a hot day and we emptied that quickly, but we waited in vain for a refill. Finally I flagged down another server and handed them the empty carafe but they didn't seem to take that as a sign that we wanted more. Eventually I got the attention of yet another server who refilled our glasses but never brought us another carafe.

I hope Taj India can go back to preparing their dishes the way they used to in the old location, and train their servers to keep an eye on all the tables to see what diners need. We will be back in a couple of weeks to see if they have made progress.

UPDATE on October 15, 2023: We came back for the buffet lunch again here on Sunday, and both the service and food were much improved. All the items on the buffet were fresh and well-prepared, and the servers were attentive and brought tasty naan and carafes of water quickly. We are looking forward to coming back again...