Taj: Indian | Chinese — Restaurant in Florida

I realize this is a new restaurant and just starting out but if you want repeat business the quality of your food needs to be first and foremost. I travel extensively for work, so I have a very good reference for Indian food and what is good and what is not good and the food here is NOT good. It shows promise but if something does not change, they will not be in business in a year’s time. My wife is from the UK and we have had some very good Indian food there and other places we have traveled to in the US. I don’t claim to be an expert, but it would be advisable for this place to read some reviews. I am hoping the reason for our poor experience was due to going in on a Sunday afternoon. The restaurant was not busy but seemed to have a steady flow of customers. I should have known from the start things would not go well when the waitress didn’t write anything down and tried to remember everything. We wanted to try some appetizer samples, so we ordered the Taj Sampler. This was the BEST part of what followed, and this was mediocre at best. The vegetable samosas were NOT puff pastry. It was more like a Cornish pasty. The filling was dense and had no flavor. The Onion Pakodas weren’t bad and the flavor was OK, they were just lukewarm. This probably would have been the best thing on the platter if they would have been hot. The Gobi (Cauliflower) Manchurian would have been good if they would have been hot and crispy, but they were cold and soggy. (From reading reviews other customers have complained about this as well). The chicken 65 was pretty good, the seasoning was pretty good as well, but again all of this was barely warm. The best thing on the platter that they didn’t even list was French Fries Pakora. I really question if this place has a clay oven (tandoor). My wife ordered the Tandoori Tikka but before her food came out and we thought this was weird because the waitress came out and ask if my wife wanted the Tandoori Chicken wings or the Tandoori Chicken. We again said the Tandoori Tikka but again because the waitress did not write down anything my wife ended up with the Tandoori Chicken (Whole Chicken). We also waited about 45 minutes for our food to come out after that. (I have no problem waiting for food if it is of good quality. We really didn’t want to wait for them to get the order right, so we tried the Tandoori Chicken instead. It should have been very flavorful but was very bland and was cold when it came to the table. I ordered the Tandoori Seekh Kebab (Lamb). The waitress said she wanted to warn me that it is shredded lamb. I informed her I understand and if was like anything I have had in the past I would be happy with it. It was horrible. It looked a sausage that was made with a ton of cereal fillers and tasted like spiced sandpaper. Even putting Raita (which tasted like plain yogurt) couldn’t even put any moisture into this. We had also ordered a vegetable biryani which had no flavor as well. It tasted like Uncle Bens boil in the bag Basmati rice with some have sauteed vegetables mixed in. We had also ordered Garlic Naan that never showed up, but we were charged for. The food was so bad that we decided to leave. I paid the bill and the only thing they would do was take off my wife’s chicken because the waitress got the order wrong to begin with. I also tried their Bira91 Blonde, which was actually pretty good, but I think the staff needs to get better informed. They want to charge imported beer prices, but this beer is brewed under license from Bira 91 in Utica, New York which is hardly imported. VERY...

Taj: Modern Indian Cuisine 2290 Town Center Ave. #115, Melbourne, FL 32940

1.5 Stars

According to my random name generator, it was time to get my curry on! Today, I am visiting Taj: Modern Indian Cuisine in Melbourne (Viera), FL. While I do love a good curry, they seem to be few and far between in this neck of the country.

Jim is my waiter today and he is not Indian (not an issue, more of a surprise). He has been here for some time and his knowledge of the menu shines through. Jim is professional, congenial and spot-on. Everything in Viera is average. It's all chains and assembly line food, nothing original or edgy. This is a microcosm of the bigger problem of dining out in this country. You have people raving about First Watch, meanwhile, there are 50 breakfast/brunch spots better.

Taj: Modern Indian Cuisine falls into this category. It is terrible. I put in an order for the Chettinad Lamb, Mango Lassi and some Paneer Tikka. I feel like the majority of Americans look at Indian as one type of food. It is not. Indian cuisine is as diverse as French, Italian, or American. It all depends on the region and what is at hand. Chettinad curry comes from the Southernmost state of India, Tamil Nadu. The Chettinad region is known for its spicy cuisine. The curry was spicy but not very well balanced as the spice almost overpowered the dish. What it didn't do was mask the flavor of the lamb. This is not a good thing as the lamb tasted like it was about a day past its prime. The accompanying beverage, Mango Lassi, is a yogurt drink made with mangoes. Hailing from the Northern Punjab region of the Indian sub-continent, this take on the classic summer quencher reminded me of Snapple, which is something I do not look for in a supposed freshly made libation.

This brings me to the last dish for review (thankfully), the Paneer Tikka. Paneer is a grill-able cheese whose origins are debatable with India, Portugal and Afghanistan claiming credit. Tikka goes back to 1700 BC and is credited to the Sumerians. You can have Tikka with meat or with vegetarian options such as Paneer. Regardless, the protein is marinated in yogurt laden with spices and then skewered for cooking in a tandoor (clay oven). I found the cheese to be dry and the side of Naan to be horrendous. The only saving grace, the only reason this is not a Swill Alert was the sauce; it was complex, flavorful and the only palatable item to skitter across my taste buds today.

Whoever the purveyor is of this joint must be importing leftovers from prisons in BFE India, as all of the ingredients are about the same quality and institutional grade. Actually, our prisoners eat much better than this slop.

The Big Boy says, “Blech. I wouldn't suggest this place to my worst enemy. I couldn't...

Hey, Cody Robberts, and I'm here to say that I had a really great first experience of Taj: Modern Indian Cuisine! When my grandma and I went through those doors we were instantly greeted by a women named Manali, who would soon also be our waitress on that chilly night! We were escorted to a table near the entrance and sat down to a surprisingly confrontable booth and a well made chair for eating! We looked thoroughly though the menu to find an wonderful array of foods and drinks, it was kind of hard to choose what we wanted to eat, but we decided to try something new, and I am grateful that I did! First, our server came, which even though she was wearing a mask I could tell that a smile was underneath, and took an order of what we wanted to drink and fun fact this place is one of the few in Florida that does business with Sula red wine,, so all you wine drinks beware for that flavourful kick to that mouth, and I ordered the Sweet Lassi, which tasted like a delicious fro-yo drink, but even better for you! Next, we started with an appetizer called Bhature, and let me tell you that it tasted like eating a fluffy cloud! Then, our main course arrived which we both got the same thing, but with different add-ons! It was the Biryani that made that cold night feel like summer with the spice that it brought to our mouths and that yogurt side that they give you with it is just divine, and mixes like peanut butter and jelly, and you can't have that without the bread, yes you heard right, by also adding the bread that you, hopefully, got, but still fine on its own, just turns the flavor meter to the max! So, after we were full of food, we ordered some to-go boxes for us to have lunch tomorrow from the big portion size that they graciously gave us! Another bonus was the whole time Manali (our waitress) was so nice and upbeat for us giving her restaurant a chance, and we were too! Thank you for the awesome experience and we will definitely come back for more! And for the people reading this to the very end, thank you for taking the time to read about this amazing place and I hope that this review will hopefully make you want to try something new, as for I have and remember to have a wonderful rest of...