Taj Mahal Pittsburgh — Restaurant in Ross Township

We went here because we were craving Indian food and were going to be in the area. We landed here on a Saturday afternoon around 3pm. It was a buffet day, which was great because we'd never been to The Taj Mahal before and we were looking forward to trying all they had to offer. I haven't been in Pittsburgh long & I'm still on the hunt for a great Indian restaurant. The place was about 1/3 full, which we figured was a good sign. The food on the buffet was hot and fresh. There was a lot of variety and mostly the food was tasty, even if it wasn't as spicy as I would have hoped.

That said, I will never, ever go back. The service was absolutely awful! At first the hostess tried to seat us at a table where there was no way for me to get into the chair since it was so close to the table & chair behind it. The guy that was at the table nearby even gave the hostess a look that, to me, seemed to say, 'you're kidding, right?' At 5'4" and under 150 pounds, I don't require much space, but there was no way I was going to squeeze into & out of that seat without bumping into the guy behind me every time I got up to go to the buffet. We asked for a different table, which didn't seem to be a huge problem, but the hostess was determined to seat us at a 2-seater even though the place wasn't even half full. The many tables that were waiting to be cleaned off made that impossible to do right away. Thus, we waited patiently for her to clean a table, even though we were standing by 3 perfectly clean (& set) 4-seater tables. After that, she was just plain rude to us. We sat down & waited for a while, but nobody came by to bring flatware or napkins or offer menus. So, we walked over to the buffet, helped ourselves, and picked up some flatware from a neighboring table. Still no drinks though... We grabbed a few glasses from a nearby table and put them on our table hoping that one of the people that kept walking through the dining area w/ water pitchers would fill them. Still no luck. That darn hostess, who was now pointedly ignoring us, even replaced the glasses on the table next to us & STILL DID NOT BRING US WATER or offer any drinks at all. It wasn't until I spotted a cart full of water pitcher and went to fill our glasses myself that an very kind, matronly woman offered to do it for me. We did get one table-side refill, but I eventually ended up going to get a water pitcher & bringing it to our table before we left. We were here 45 minutes, tops. We could not get out of there fast enough.

To round out the awful service, the place is filthy. The walls are dirty. The black tablecloths were covered in curry & various sauces. The salt & pepper shakers on our table looked like they hadn't been cleaned in ages (very glad we had no need of them). The buffet was clean & tidy! However, the floor was covered in food from one end of the restaurant to the other. Lastly, vacated tables sat there dirty for far too long. Tables that were waiting to be cleared when we came in were just getting cleared as we were paying our check.

The search for a great Indian restaurant continues.

2025 edit - how bizarre is it that I got a response from the owners 11 years after posting this review? I haven't even thought about this place in years and I...

The food was very good, as it always is. I don't eat from the buffet because I like the flavors of Indian food but I cannot have spicy (I have GI issues), so I order from the menu at a level 1 heat. They seemed offended that I wanted to order from the menu. I don't know why, it's definitely more expensive than the buffet. My son and his wife ordered the buffet.

I also brought wine because they have a very limited wine menu. When they first installed the bar years ago they would still let you bring your own wine for the corkage fee. That is no more and they seemed offended that I asked. I honestly didn't know their policy had changed. So, that was fine, I left my wine in the bag I ordered wine from their menu.

After my dinner came out I asked for some raita. That was met with what I would characterize as distain.

Finally, since it was my son's birthday and his wife has gluten sensitivities I had brought some french macarons and one small birthday candle so that we could quietly sing. His wife and I literally whisper sang because we were becoming increasingly aware that the staff were giving us the side eye. After that I asked for a check and some boxes for my leftovers (again, NOT FROM THE BUFFET) and they seemed taken aback. But I had ordered the lamb tikka masala, and a garlic nan, and a vegetable korma all from the menu. It was a lot of food and I wasn't about to throw it all away.

Food was still amazing but by the time I paid the check we felt very uncomfortable being there. My son said he felt like everyone was staring at us.

I have been going to this restaurant for decades and have never been made to feel uncomfortable until last night. It's a shame that the service has changed so might that we didn't feel welcome. And it's not like the place was packed. We went at 7:00 and there were several open tables throughout the seating area. Not sure what was going on that evening but I'll have to think twice about going back.

Also, they now provide Styrofoam for leftovers, not the foil containers they used to use. That is like a throw back in time. Fast food places don't even use Styrofoam any more. The service has certainly changed since the new...

“Bland Mahal - Americanized with a hint of Indian taste” is better name for this restaurant.

Are you even an Indian restaurant if you cannot make real Indian food?

Apparently few Americans customers complained that their Indian food is too spicy. so they have decided to make the food tasteless for everyone else.

People who can’t handle spicy food don’t come to Indian restaurants and ask for bland food. That’s common sense.

You are disappointing 10-20 Desi tables to please 2-3 bland eating tables. Poor business decision.

It makes better sense to offer food from ala carte and cook it according to their needs instead of making an entire buffet tasteless and bland.

It is sad that an Indian restaurant cannot make Indian food the way it should taste to please 2-3 customers who have no clue about Indian food or the Indian palate.

Food:

Gulab Jamun was made of Vanilla cake batter or Vanilla pancake mix. The taste was extremely weird due to the vanilla. It was very rubbery.

Biryani is just rice with color and Kewda. It felt we ate perfume rice 🤮 The cook making biryani has no idea how biryani tastes. The cook needs to be fired.

Every single Curries was bland. Curries have other flavors too. No tanginess, no salt, no masala, no flavor. Just tastes like cooked vegetables in some gravy.

The plain rice was cold mushy, watery like day old rice about to go bad. Naan was so thick, badly burnt, cold and rubbery. It felt like chewing car tires.

South Indian food: There is capsicum in Sambar, Bonda is made out of Idli batter, Aoo bonda had nothing but turmeric.

Please don’t label this as South Indian food and mislead people.

Rawa Kesari was the only decent thing.

We spent $45 for bland tasteless food. What a waste of money!

Extremely disappointing!

The restrooms were smelly. Paper towel was set on the sink. It was soggy from all the handwashing splatter. The people serving are very nice though.

I’m sure nobody wants to spend $50 and get no food without flavor.

Never coming back to this restaurant ever again.

Good luck staying in business if you want to please only non Desi...