Taj Cuisine Indian Pak food — Restaurant in Garden City

First off, let me say this if you want indian food, skip Taj and check out The Himalayan Flames. The food is tasty, the environment is great, and best of all staff is very hospitable and you can actually enjoy eating a meal at that location. Also, if I could give taj zero stars I would.

Secondly, this is what I have to say about why I won’t be going to Taj for indian food and neither should you. I was a loyal customer for years. There is only one waitress named Jessica who is very sweet, but also very mistreated by owners. Also, they just recently started to have a bus boy as their only other employee. This should’ve been a sign enough that the owner is extremely stingy and unreasonable. However, that wasn’t a problem for me as the food was okay and often located in a convenient place for me. So my bad experience was that I had ordered a lamb dish that tasted bad...really bad. I asked to have it remade and received unnecessary attitude about it. As if it tasting bad was somehow my fault and not the cooks fault. They argued with me to the point I felt uncomfortable and almost didn't want anything new and paid for it anyways. Then they decided I could get it exchanged for a "new" one, but really they just gave us the SAME one watered down because I took one bite and could immediately taste the same horrible thing again. So I asked if I could either get it remade once again or just an entirely different lamb dish instead. The waitress seemed hesitant and afraid of the owner. So I asked to speak to him myself. And when I did the owner refused to make me any more lamb dishes (the same one or a different dish) because he "wasted" enough lamb on me. As if an extra plate of food wasn’t worth a customer who spent at least $60 every time I came in. The owner asked if I wanted to see just how much he had thrown out because of me and was trying to intimidate me. Although I felt harassed by him, I actually said, “yes show me where it was thrown out”, but it wasn't at all visible in the trash can even after having dig through it all. It was very obvious they were lying to me on top of being difficult to deal with. So I asked if he couldn't remake the dish I ordered, or give me a different substitute, then could I at least have my money refunded because the dish served to me was disgusting and not edible (which has NEVER happened here before). He simply said he would refund me the money and never serve me or my family again. He said I was unwelcome because I disliked one dish in literally like the 10 years I've been eating there. The whole situation was UNBELIEVABLY RUDE. Would not recommend eating here. Looks like taj isn't a decent quality restaurant anymore, and it's sad to see. I loved eating here, but never again if it has to be in such a harsh and mean and rude atmosphere to be in. As well as feeling sick to my stomach about the potential recycling of food that happens here. Was it just because he served it to us again? Maybe. But that’s not really a risk I’d like to take....

If you like Indian food with meat, you have found the right place.

I always love the idea of an Indian/Pakistan restaurant, because those two countries are usually at odds with each other.

The lunch Buffet is gone for good (the place used to be hopping at lunch).

Naan - delicious, puffy, tandoor bread. Available with butter or butter/garlic. So good, you could make a meal of it alone.

Vegetable Samosa - crisp pods filled with peas, potatoes and spices. Not wimpy at all. An easily recommended appetizer.

Lamb Bhumma - super tender lamb, with the richest, most complex sauce imaginable. It's oily, but not greasy, salty, spicy, oniony. Nothing to compare it to, you really just need to try it.

Chicken Chettinad - coconut, but not sweet. Not for the timid, this dish is a flavor explosion. If you order it "medium spicy" it's spicy-ness is on par with most medium Thai food. More complex flavors going on than Thai food, though.

Service is fast and well paced.

Watch RRR on Netflix and get take out from here for a perfect...

Probably the best Indian restaurant in the area. Some dishes are better than others. The buffet is mediocre but the regular plates on the menu are phenomenal. Still, a buffet thats under $15 with the dishes they offer is a great deal. The chicken biryani, butter chicken, vindaloo, tikka, and the lamb or chicken seekh kabobs are by far their best dishes. The chana masala is great also. I wish they would consider expanding their menu and offering some new things. Seeing chicken 65, papri chaat, or chicken jalfrezi would make me and alot of other customers extremely happy, even if for a once a month special entree. The wait staff is great here also and deserve a lot of credit and I would say is the reason for most of their return customers. They know the regulars by name and go out of their way to make sure customers are happy. I had a less than satisfactory experience once and the waitress was the only reason I bothered to continue...