Avatar Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Canton

Here is my honest review. I've been eating Indian food for about 40 years now so I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what is good and what is not. Also, I went here two times. Once for pickup and once for the lunch buffet so I will leave two separate opinions for each.

First, the pickup. Went there to pick up Seekh Kabobs. The kabobs were tasty and good, but as you can see by the pictures, the portions are small especially for the price they charge. Also, this entree does not come with any rice or naan or any chutney. If you've been going to Indian restaurants, you know that most entrees like this come with a side, but this did not. As a result, this is not a great value at all for the price that they charge. If you're going to charge this much, increase the portion size and offer a side with it like rice or naan.

My second experience was the lunch buffet. Now, I will say that the price that they charge is a really good price point for all the food that you get so kudos to them for that. The different food options offered at the buffet is more than enough to get your Indian fix in. Please note, that most of the food at the buffet is cooked in a way (not that spicy) where it's not hot at all so that it can be palatable for most people. If you're Indian or like hot food, you will find that you need a little bit more heat in the curries and other dishes. The samosas, pakoras, daal, and butter chicken were pretty good. Also, I liked that they have golab jamun. Overall, I would say this is a really good value for the lunch buffet.

The one thing that I will say that they need to definitely work on is the flies. I know it's impossible to control 100%, but surely they can take some steps to eliminate flies. Other than that, I think this restaurant is definitely doable if you're craving Indian and don't want to have to drive to Alpharetta or Marietta.

I will probably go here again just for the...

Edit: Three months later I decided to give them another try. The flavors have much improved since my previous visits, and I'm now going to add this spot to my lunch rotation. Upgraded from 3 stars to 4.

I've eaten at Raj Mahal three times in as many months. The people here are friendly and care about the cleanliness of the restaurant.

That said, the food is not what I expect from an Indian buffet. I have only been here for the lunch buffet, so I can only speak to that; ordering from the menu may provide a different experience.

The various tikka masalas are very sweet and have a heavy cinnamon flavor, both of which I find off-putting. The tandoori chicken was quite dry on each visit, despite trying it immediately after the kitchen staff brought more to the buffet. The palak paneer is hit or miss. On my second visit it was excellent, but when they brought more from the kitchen it had too much cream and maybe coriander, was a much lighter color, and the flavor was pretty off. The dal is ok but nothing special. The samosas are good but taste just like the frozen Haldiram's samosas you can find at Suvidha.

Also of note is the buffet food refill delay. On one visit, I was there for almost 45 minutes, and the chicken tikka masala was gravy only, no chicken. It was like that when I arrived and none was ever brought out. Naan refill is another issue.

Bottom line - It's not bad, but it's not for me. I was hoping this would be an "it'll do" place when I'm not near one of the other Indian restaurants I like, but going forward I'll just wait until I'm near one of...

This place totally exceeded our expectations. And I’m a crazy picky eater, so even going was outside my comfort zone. But I was open to the new experience. I’m so glad we went! We went thinking we were going to experience the buffet, which is what we wanted so we could try various different things without committing to a dish we maybe weren’t fond of. However, they only do the buffet at lunch time Tuesday - Sunday. Good to know for the future. But now here we were needing to commit to a dish or two. Folks!!!! The food…..THE FOOD was outstanding! There was four of us and we had the following: Vegetable Samosas (fantastic!), Chicken Tikka Kabab (very good, little dry), Shrimp Curry (wonderful, curry sauce was spot on), Chicken 65 (one of the favorites of the table…think sweet/sour sauce…Yum!), and finally Garlic Naan (best naan I’ve ever had).

Service was super friendly. Drinks full all through dinner. The atmosphere was blah. Would love to see a lot of color and cultural pictures and accessories to kind of wrap you into the experience.

We can’t wait to go back! I’m afraid the location may keep people from visiting. It’s in a strip mall, but in the part where there doesn’t seem to be much foot or car traffic. Trust me! You need to go. So much to choose from. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I know it exceeded our...