I arrived at Taj at 10:45 am on 2-10-2026 to wait for them to open. There were already three cars there foe the same reason. The doors were unlocked at 10:58 am. Upon entering a cornucopia of smells made my mouth water. TMI, I know. Anyway after being seated I went to the buffet line. Everything was STEAMING and delicious looking. There were potatoes two ways. Small, crispy fried potato balls and potato patties with spices. Basmati in the middle of my plate. Spoon of the spinach, ground lamb, mushrooms in a curry sauce and butter chicken were put on the rice. I left a spot in the middle for tomato chutney. A meal fit for a king. Sadly, I could only eat one piece of Naan. The dishes I chose were all delicious and bursting with flavor. I had intended to take pictures but lost my mind when I walked through the doors....and forgot. One of the best "home cooked meals" you can find in Birmingham.
Taj India
Excerpts
I arrived at Taj at 10:45 am on 2-10-2026 to wait for them to open. There were already three cars there foe the same reason. The doors were unlocked at 10:58 am. Upon entering a cornucopia of smells made my mouth water. TMI, I know. Anyway after being seated I went to the buffet line. Everything was STEAMING and delicious looking. There were potatoes two ways. Small, crispy fried potato balls and potato patties with spices. Basmati in the middle of my plate. Spoon of the spinach, ground lamb, mushrooms in a curry sauce and butter chicken were put on the rice. I left a spot in the middle for tomato chutney. A meal fit for a king. Sadly, I could only eat one piece of Naan. The dishes I chose were all delicious and bursting with flavor. I had intended to take pictures but lost my mind when I walked through the doors....and forgot. One of the best "home cooked meals" you can find in Birmingham.
We had a very good first experience at Taj India, with one exception but I’ll get to that later. We went for dinner on a Wednesday evening arriving about 5:15, we were the only ones there at the time (they reopen for dinner at 5) and were seated promptly. The waitress returned to the table very shortly after seating us with a flask of cold water and a complimentary serving of some sort of a very thin “flatbread” with two sauce options. One sauce was brown and sweet, the other green and spicy. I’m not real well versed on Indian food to tell you what they actually were, but they were tasty. I personally preferred the green sauce. My wife, not liking spicy food opted to eat hers without sauce. She said there was something a little spicy in the flatbread she thought. Our order was taken, my wife ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and we expressed to the waitress that she did not like spicy food. So she offered, “so, you want no spicy?” And we responded, “Yes, please.” I opted for the Mixed Grill that had a bit of a sampling, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Tikka, Chicken Tandoori, and Shish Kabobs. I had also read reviews about how good (and large) their garlic naan was, so we ordered that to share. After a short wait another server brought out very hot plates to use for our entrees. Our food arrived and as we started to eat my wife said her mouth was on fire. She can be very sensitive to spicy food so I tried hers and it was quite spicy. This was the only negative thing about the meal. She couldn’t eat much because of the spice. If they weren’t able to prepare the ordered dish to be not spicy we wish they would have told us that or recommended a different dish that would not be spicy. It came with basmati rice that was prepared well. I honestly have a slightly mixed review of my Mixed Grill, no pun intended. The chicken & lamb tikka both had a good flavor but were very, very dry. The chicken tandoori was good, but the star of my dish was the lamb shish kabob, so delicious and moist. Again, I don’t know much about Indian food. I had to ask the waitress what the shish kabob was. I would definitely order just it as an entree in the future. Maybe the tikka meats are meant to be eaten with other sauces to not be so dry? I don’t know. Still an Indian food newbie. The garlic naan bread was also fantastic. If you have a meal here and don’t order it, you’re missing out! The ambiance is very nice, slightly upscale without being pretentious. Many nice little details from the cloth tablecloths and napkins. To the hammered metal drink cups and matching silverware. We had a good experience, just need to figure out a more acceptable dish for my wife that is not spicy. I’d love some suggestions. Price to portions ratio is good. I could only eat about half of my meal, my wife, not even half but mostly because it was too spicy.
We had a very good first experience at Taj India, with one exception but I’ll get to that later. We went for dinner on a Wednesday evening arriving about 5:15, we were the only ones there at the time (they reopen for dinner at 5) and were seated promptly. The waitress returned to the table very shortly after seating us with a flask of cold water and a complimentary serving of some sort of a very thin “flatbread” with two sauce options. One sauce was brown and sweet, the other green and spicy. I’m not real well versed on Indian food to tell you what they actually were, but they were tasty. I personally preferred the green sauce. My wife, not liking spicy food opted to eat hers without sauce. She said there was something a little spicy in the flatbread she thought. Our order was taken, my wife ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala and we expressed to the waitress that she did not like spicy food. So she offered, “so, you want no spicy?” And we responded, “Yes, please.” I opted for the Mixed Grill that had a bit of a sampling, Chicken Tikka, Lamb Tikka, Chicken Tandoori, and Shish Kabobs. I had also read reviews about how good (and large) their garlic naan was, so we ordered that to share. After a short wait another server brought out very hot plates to use for our entrees. Our food arrived and as we started to eat my wife said her mouth was on fire. She can be very sensitive to spicy food so I tried hers and it was quite spicy. This was the only negative thing about the meal. She couldn’t eat much because of the spice. If they weren’t able to prepare the ordered dish to be not spicy we wish they would have told us that or recommended a different dish that would not be spicy. It came with basmati rice that was prepared well. I honestly have a slightly mixed review of my Mixed Grill, no pun intended. The chicken & lamb tikka both had a good flavor but were very, very dry. The chicken tandoori was good, but the star of my dish was the lamb shish kabob, so delicious and moist. Again, I don’t know much about Indian food. I had to ask the waitress what the shish kabob was. I would definitely order just it as an entree in the future. Maybe the tikka meats are meant to be eaten with other sauces to not be so dry? I don’t know. Still an Indian food newbie. The garlic naan bread was also fantastic. If you have a meal here and don’t order it, you’re missing out! The ambiance is very nice, slightly upscale without being pretentious. Many nice little details from the cloth tablecloths and napkins. To the hammered metal drink cups and matching silverware. We had a good experience, just need to figure out a more acceptable dish for my wife that is not spicy. I’d love some suggestions. Price to portions ratio is good. I could only eat about half of my meal, my wife, not even half but mostly because it was too spicy.
Ordered chicken biryani and it was terrible, tasted more like Indian pickle rice than actual biryani. A few chicken pieces were burnt, and some cold rice balls clearly showed it wasn’t freshly made. This isn’t even close to an actual biryani.