Taj Mahal Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Frederick

My husband and I ate here today 2/18/23, where we were quickly greeteed by our server. We sat down and got our menus, but immediately noticed our booth shifted noticeably (like up and down) every time someone moved behind me.

My husband ordered the chana masala and I ordered a chicken curry and a mulligatawny soup. We both ordered a buttered naan.

The first thing I noticed was that our waiter seemed more concerned with a table at the entrance to the restaurant, only filling our drink order once.

When the food came, it came out of order. We got the chana masala and the chicken curry about 10 minutes before the mulligatawny soup, which was an app. I have to say the food itself here is spectacular.

My husband said he had a new indian favorite in the chana masala. For me: Chicken Curry- Delicious and very spicy (6-7 is more like a 9-10 at other places) Nice, bite size chicken pieces, as opposed to half the bird in one piece like at Clay Oven. (This happened even after I requested the chicken be cut smaller.) This resulted in the chicken soaking in the flavor whereas at Clay Oven you basically just taste dark meat chicken. (I dont like plain dark meat chicken.)

Mulligatawny- flavorful and bright, not sweeter, which is wjmhat I expected. Also spicy.

This is where my rating for the service went down. The food was spicy, so I needed my drink order refilled, and or waiter was so concerned with yhe table at the entrance that I stopped eating because I had nothing to drink and my mouth needed something to offset the spice. That could have been the buttered naan, but it never came, even after he finally decided to stop conversing at that front table and come see what our needs were. Even though it had been a long time since he adreseed us, rather than refill my drink, he decided to seat other people who had just come in.

It was so bad at one point the waitress not working our table refilled our water, and a teenager (I think) took our payment, accidentally giving us the store copy and not the one in which you tip. I considered giving less than 15%, 10, even, but ultimately decided to do 17%.

About the prices: They are lower than most of the local indian places, but the portion sizes are smaller too. In my opinion the portion size is perfect. It is just enough to fill you up, whereas in most indian places I feel like I ate too much.

I recommend you try this place for the food- but be aware the service does not appear to be strong, so expect either lack of it or your food to come...

We were excited that a new South Asian restaurant was opening in Frederick and finally ventured out to try Taj Mahal's take-out. It does not disappoint — we’ve been there twice this week now! Ordered by phone and everything was hot and ready when promised, in 25 minutes. We’re pleased that all the dishes we ordered were pleasantly spicy and didn’t seem to be completely tamed for a western palate. Our first visit we ordered onion and fish pakoras for apps, and lamb vindaloo, aloo saag, and bhindi fry for mains. Both pakoras were delicious, but the fish were a favorite — these come with tamarind and cilantro chutneys for dipping. The vindaloo was much spicier than we were expecting it to be (for Frederick), though not as spicy as we’ve had in other places. It’s a good level of heat for a meat curry, though my spouse would like the chance to ask for more heat. The bhindi fry is a dry curry with okra that was a nice contrast to the creamier spinach and potato curry (aloo saag). All portions were generous and we had 2 full meals and a snack for 2 people.

Our second visit included fish pakoras (told you they were good!) and chicken momos, then whole chicken tandoori, dal makhani, and mix veg curry. The momos were very tasty — though they look like steamed dumplings from a Chinese restaurant, they are seasoned very differently. They come with a dipping sauce, but they almost don’t need it. Tandoori chicken was deeply marinated and cooked perfectly — cooked through but not dried out. In some restaurants, tandoori can be dried and hard as a rock, and we hesitated ordering it here but are glad we tried it, and will order it again. The mixed veg curry is also a dry style curry and featured an interesting variety of vegetables, including upo (bottle gourd), potato, cauliflower, peas, carrots, tomato, and flat beans (maybe snowpeas?) in an aromatic blend of spices. It went particularly well with the whole wheat roti. The dal makhani was a revelation — creamy, buttery black lentils that were hard to stop eating. All curries and mains come with real basmati rice, not parboiled rice like in some other South Asian restaurants, and that also makes a big difference in the overall meal.

We’re going to work our way through Taj Mahal’s menu in the coming weeks, and highly recommend it to all. You will not be disappointed.

And kudos and thanks to the Taj Mahal owners and staff for opening during this crazy pandemic time. Be safe and best wishes for...

Long review - I'm marking everything as "ok" and will update whenever I make it back for another try. I came for the lunch buffet, only to find it's not available Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Their website doesn't list this but other reviewers have posted the same information, so trust the current reviews - it is only available Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun. I was the only car in the parking lot and the only person in the restaurant which almost sent me on my way but there were so many positive reviews I decided to give it a try. The two people I interacted with were friendly and available when needed but not overbearing. He did say that the vindaloo was spicy and asked if that was ok. I said yes because I like spicy but he was not kidding. This was the spiciest vindaloo I have ever had. I had to take it home and add some coconut milk to be able to eat it. Obviously this is no one's fault but my own but I'm telling you, the spicy vindaloo is SPICY. I also got a house salad which was a little disappointing but it is what it is. I'm not sure Indian food is known for salads, but the Indian place we frequent in Hagerstown has a salad that I crave so I was hoping for the same. The portion was I feel fair. Large amount of aromatic basmati, medium sized bowl of vindaloo with 4/5 pieces of chicken and 4/5 potatoes in it. Not a huge portion but fair for the price I think. All in all, I love Indian food and as many good reviews as this place has I will absolutely be back to try something else. I appreciate them still treating me as a customer even tho I was the only one there. The food was quick, accurate and definitely flavorful (oy vey! Lol) looking forward to coming back and trying something different,...