My first experience with Taj Restaurant about a year and a half ago wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. I enjoyed the taste of the butter chicken and rice in the buffet up until my basket of naan was brought out. Much to my surprise, I grabbed a piece of naan and saw a cockroach quickly scurry from under that very slice I had just picked up, to underneath an adjacent slice of naan. I immediately informed the owner, an Indian gentleman with glasses, and he picked up the basket and he too saw the cockroach. Apologizing profusely and explaining that they had just done some remodeling in the kitchen, and promptly comped my meal. After a brief rest and some water to stop my gag reflex, I finished my meal and informed him that I would be back to give the place a second chance. Today I wish I hadn't.\r
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I had a craving earlier today for Indian food, something quick and relatively inexpensive. Reluctantly I chose Taj Restaurant again deciding to give them the benefit of the doubt. I arrived at around 2pm, with a good hour before the buffet would finish and the place was nearly devoid of patrons. The food was delicious so I began to wonder why there were a lack of customers. I soon discovered the reason was that the service was horrible. To begin with, I was also informed rather rudely that additional baskets of naan would be $2.95 upon asking for a refill which wasn't a big deal. Any other Indian buffet that I have been to never charges for naan, since it is naturally part of the buffet. Next, I had the awkward African waiter pass me not once but twice without refilling my water which was noticably empty to quench the thirst brought about by the curry chicken. I even went so far as to suck the ice cubes through the straw to give some sort of indication to my drink needing a refill. After several attempts coming up empty (pun intended), I approached the waiter standing at the bar after getting a new plate of butter chicken. He fully filled up the glasses of several middle-aged women sitting at a table adjacent to mine, but only had enough water in the pitcher to fill my glass halfway. I thanked him and thought he would return to completely fill my glass however I was wrong. Once that glass was finished, again I went through the ritual of trying to draw their attention to me. Once again it didn't work and was forced to approach the waiter standing idly by the bar. I took a break in eating and the African waiter attempted to take my plate without even asking me if I was done, I stopped him and asked him if I could finish if he didn't mind. He apologized which was fine. Afterwards, I decided to grab some dessert as it got closer to 3pm before they took it away. Once again the African waiter attempted to take my plate which still had a significant amount of food on it. I ran back and once again had stopped him from doing so.\r
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After returning to eating, there were a couple sitting at an adjacent table who had summoned the owner. One of the two had made a suggestion to the owner that as a restaurant worker himself, they should not rush the patrons in order to clean for the dinner crowd. I am not sure if he noticed the waiter trying to take my food right from under my nose or if the same thing happened to him. Regardless, another couple came in to enjoy the buffett but were a little rudely told that there was not enough time to eat, so the wife decided to get it for take out while the husband argued with the owner and the owner arguing back to the customer. I'd like to think that it was because they were close to the end of the buffet and not because the woman was black and the man was white but after seeing how they were spoken to, I'm not sure. At any rate I left without leaving a tip for the abyssmal service and was followed out by the owner to inquire as to why I forgot to leave a tip. I began to explain to him that I found the service to be horrible with the amount of time I had to wait for refills and before I could continue he abruptly cut me off. He said that if I do not respect his wait staff then I should not come back. I responded by saying that if he does not respect me as a valued customer, then that won't be a problem. I suppose that culturally speaking a tip in India is obligatory and not at all a reflection of service, but I digress.\r
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So if you want to eat good Indian food and enjoy being ignored by rude waiters and rushed through your meal then Taj Restaurant may be just for you!
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