Taste of Taj Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Perry Hall

Food was very good, but the rest of the experience was very lacking. Took my girlfriend here for dinner as we wanted to try a new Indian restaurant.

The first red flag was that the restaurant was entirely empty on a Saturday at 6PM. Our waitress directed us to find our own table, which isn't a big deal, but still felt a little unprofessional for such a nice-looking establishment. The waitress was very friendly, and did her best to explain a bit about the menu despite seemingly not knowing English terribly well. The waitress took our drink order at the same time as our entrées, instead of letting us ponder the menu while drinking, which seemed atypical.

2nd Red Flag: There was no drink section on the menu, so I asked for green tea, which has been available in every other Indian restaurant I've ever been to, but the waitress said they ONLY HAD FOUNTAIN DRINKS. You'd think we were eating at McDonald's. I ordered a fountain sweet tea instead.

Anyway, the waitress brought us some kind of cracker with sauce, and then our appetizer, Samosa Chaat, which was very good. Then, we waited a bit too long for our entrées considering we were still the only people in the restaurant aside from the occasional doordash driver picking up food.

Eventually they brought our food. I ordered Lamb Kadhai with a 7/10 spice level, and it was very good. My girlfriend ordered Chicken Tikka Masala and was also very impressed with the food. This was the point the issue with service really picked up. Our nice waitress entirely disappeared, and another lady started serving us. I only got one refill of my tea, which sucked considering I'm not incredibly experienced with spicy food. She didn't check in with us for what felt like 45 minutes to a hour, despite the fact that she was sitting ACROSS THE ROOM FROM US doing some kind of paperwork at the table. We both had finished our food and were sitting back looking around the room, hoping to get our check so we could leave. It still took another 30 minutes before any of the 4 or 5 employees acknowledged us, and I basically had to flag our second waitress down. We asked for 3 boxes and she only brought 2, and the check didn't come with a pen for me to sign so my girlfriend had to pull one out of her purse. Another odd thing, the receipt said Namaste Nepal at the top instead of Taste of Taj. I almost thought we were in the wrong restaurant, but the door definitely said Taste of Taj on the outside.

Good food, terrible everything else. I'm actually angry at myself for leaving such a decent tip after writing this review. Not sure how this place stays in business considering they only made 60$ in an almost 3 hour time period. After our experience, it's easy to see why we were the only people in the restaurant, and we will almost certainly not be back. In fact, I'm concerned about the food quality and sanitation considering how dissociative the staff was from serving their customers. Sizzling Bombay, The Mint Room, and Bombay Nights are all 1000% better experiences and the food is just as excellent...

This was our first time calling this restaurant for delivery. We called at 4:45 p.m. and was told to expect the delivery in 35-40 minutes. At 6:10 p.m., almost 90 minutes later, no food arrived. We called and were placed on hold and then the phone was disconnected at 6:20. I called again, since they had our credit card number. I wanted to be sure we got our food.

The manager apologized stating that there was a mix up in the delivery. He said would remake the order and ensure it would be delivered in 35-40 minutes, and he would not charge us for this order. It has been 50 minutes and no food. I just called again. The staff member claimed that the driver left three minutes ago and will be here in seven minutes.

I appreciate that they are not charging us for this order, but no one should have to wait over 2 1/2 hours for a delivery. We are only 4 miles away. My husband is diabetic and has to monitor his food eating times carefully. Despite offering this food for free - if it arrives - I'm afraid I cannot recommend this restaurant, at least for delivery. Maybe they can offer a better experience when eating at the restaurant itself.

Oh...and that seven minutes just went by....no food, yet. UPDATE: the food finally arrived at 7:35 p.m. The woman who delivered it apologized again and promised that the manager would not charge us for the delivery. The food was good.

If I could give separate ratings for various parts of the experience:

Timeliness - minus 3 stars Food - 3 stars Communication - 1 star (based on being placed on hold then hung up upon, then being asked to hold when I called a third time when I had to insist I speak to someone). A phone call from the restaurant during the remaking to report progress would have gone a long way. Willingness to make it right - 3 stars

If you're reading this, I'd say give the restaurant a chance. I am hoping this was a one-time problem and will not happen again if we decide to call for delivery. I think we will play it safe and go to the restaurant for a meal and call someone else if we...

My family and friends have gone here for years, and it had always been great service and food. In June of 2022 was my first HORRIBLE experience with this establishment. I don’t know if they are under new management or if the new staff they hired is just horrible…but things have gone downhill. In June i ordered an almost 300$ order for an event (hours in advance and paid a deposit).when we arrived to pick up the order the waiter told us that he didn’t have this order. We were left waiting for long periods of time with no updates at all. We had to constantly check in with the waiter to see what was even going on. When we FINALLY got the order it was bagged so horribly that the oils from the food completely degraded some of the packaging and about $40 of this order spilled all over our car when it was picked up. Back then we called and left a verbal complaint (with the manager i suppose)…our main concern was that the server was completely unconcerned, inattentive, and unprofessional. Well months later, and nothing has changed. Last night our family ordered some dinner for pick up and we were told it would be a 30 min wait. After 30 min we went to retrieve the food but we waited there for 2 HOURS! We were told that they were super busy but there was literally 1 couple in the restaurant. The entire time the server was unhelpful and inattentive. When we finally got the food they forgot our drinks and we had to step back into the store to get them. We got all the way home before realizing that they completely forgot a portion of our order and the Nan bread was doughy and raw… we had to drive all the way back to ask for a refund. Offering customers coupons or a free desert upon returning is not enough to compensate for hours of inconvenience and continued inattentiveness . Something needs to be done in terms of management and customer service. As customers who’s friends and family have eaten here for YEARS, we have no intention of supporting this establishment...