India Taj Palace — Restaurant in San Antonio

My relationship with Stone Oak have been one of love-hate. I love the large influx of commercial restaurant space in which some great new eateries have arisen. I hate the lunchtime traffic, the weekend traffic, the church traffic, and just about every other time of day that clogs the 1604 and neighborhood with miles and miles of populated traffic. I cringe every time I have to visit, but it's usually worth the visit, because I find great places to visit, like India Taj Palace. It's very similar to the popular India Palace, both in name and business model, and I'm sure fights will occur over personal favorites, but regardless, India Taj provides a great dining experience.

I didn't even bother to look at the menu. I took one look at the buffet and said "I want to go to there". There's nothing better than a good Indian buffet, perusing all of the funny-sounding names and wonderful vegetables presented in many different ways. I like meat as much as the next guy, but I love the versatility of vegetables. To anyone who thinks that a meal is not complete without some dead animal, Indian food is a great way to show that it is not needed - Over the course of two full dishes of all different kinds of food, I had two small meatballs, and that served as the meat for the evening.

I tried just about everything being served, with favorites going to the saag paneer and its wonderful freshly-made cheese, and a collection of vegetables in a tomato sauce, the name of which I've since forgotten. It had plenty of cauliflower in it, which is perhaps one of the best vegetables. The chana masala - a surprisingly spicy chickpea dish which showcased the underutilized lugume in something other than hummus - was new to me, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Not everything was a hit - there was a cabbage dish that I thought was a little too undercooked, but that's the beauty of the buffet - just eat something else.

The one dish I just have to have when I visit a good Indian restaurant is actually a dessert. The sweet porridges and custards are all well and good, but the galub jamun - sweet milkball cakes - are heavenly. Previous visits to India Palace have sometimes produced the sweets, and sometimes not, but if Taj can keep them on the menu, I'm a Taj guy for life.

The quality of any buffet hinges on how long and how hot the food is kept while on the line, and India Taj definitely cranks up the heat on their buffet. Everything tasted fairly fresh too, and I would have a hard time believing that anything is kept sitting around for very long.

I learned of this restaurant from a positive review in The Current, and the Taj proudly displays this review on the outside of the restaurant. It's hopefully the first of many accolades for the place - the place wasn't exactly bustling when I visited, but hopefully there's enough business to keep the restaurant in operation. Better than India Palace? Hard to say, but India Taj certainly deserves to be spoken in the same breath with regards to the best Indian San Antonio...

I regularly visit India Taj Palace. The food here is made with Western palates in mind and hence some Indians might find the food bland. In my opinion the food is tasty, flavorful and spiced sensibly. The most important thing I like about this place is that it is consistently good. The service is decent. The owner is a really nice person and makes an attempt to connect with the customers even though his English skills are somewhat limited.

The restaurant serves buffet all day. The ala-carte menu is also available all day should you decide to go for the same. The buffet area is very clean. There is a small salad section that is adequate. The Naan is the best part of this place. They bring fresh Naan to your table. Each time you can request a different kind of Naan. The Naan is tasty and soft. I can very confidently state that no other restaurant in San Antonio serves better tasting Naan than India Taj palace. Pasha Mediterranean is good but Taj Palace has the variety and the gravy/curries that go well with the Naan. The Samosas are Fantasstic! Among the other items, that are consistently good are: Mango Lassi, Pakoras, Mint and Tamarind Chutneys, Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Tikka Kabab(ala carte), Seekh Kabab, Chicken Saag, Tandoori chicken, Tomato Coconut Soup, Kadhi Pakoras, Chicken Korma (ala carte), Malai Kofta and Daal Makhani.

If you prefer to eat a certain buffet item with a customized spice level, the owner accomodates your request. On occasions when you order from the ala-carte the owner encourages you to sample items from the buffet.

Now let me talk about the negatives:

1. The buffet is filled (on most occasions) with an overdose of curries based on cream. Chicken Tikka Masala, Navrathan Korma, Malai Kofta are all cooked in a cream based gravy and hence they look and taste similar. Likewise, there are occasions where Potato based items can be found all over the buffet - Bombay Potatoes, Alu Mutter, Alu Gobi, Korma etc., Potaties tend to fill me up quicky (and gas me up)and hence I do not appreciate this potato heavy buffet lineup even if the food is tasty.

2. In my opinion, the desserts are strictly ok and there is a lot of room for...

Reply to owner's response......

I asked your server to warm up the entire tray of appetizer for everyone as it has been there since 2 hrs and it was cold like ice, I didn't order one off the menu. You must know that appetizer you had on buffet should be hot/warm not cold like ice. Many places serve diluted curries but, they are seldom tasteless and in your case, it was TASTELESS.......FYI Spice is Not equal to Taste...are you really a chef? I didn't complain about missing chicken in curry, somebody else did!! I just included other people's comments as well, you can confirm with your server!!! Per dinning advantage, you wanted free publicity so, you made a contract with them to advertise coupon and then you broke the contract.....your cashier told me, "this 3rd party is selling coupons without your consent and you are acknowledging otherwise".....if you do not have guts to honor coupons then why do you contract with 3rd party? your food speaks about your restaurant and your tactics about your character!!

POOR SERVICE & FOOD Quality of the food was the worst, cold food, tasteless & the lady who took us to the table was looked like working bcoz she had to, no smile, no welcome. Curry was diluted with water, appetizer was cold & chicken curry had no chicken!! At the checkout, i gave coupon but, she gave an excuse that coupon has to be printed. There was an option to redeem coupon on the phone but, she refused to redeem on the phone & insisted to printed copy. She just didn't want to honor the coupon. I hate these kind of people who LURE people with FALSE ADVERTISING, if you do not have guts to honor the promotion then don't advertise!!! Bottom line, tasteless food, poor service, DO NOT WASTE time...