| rev:text
| - Let me start by saying we are new to Indian cuisine. Not an adventurous diner, I had a surprisingly pleasant experience last spring with a friend at a restaurant in Oakland, and have been wanting to try more. I finally talked my husband into trying still another Indian place, using a Groupon, and he was also intrigued. We are always hearing about Taj Mahal from friends who are more familiar with the cuisine, so we finally made time to get there on a night when their famous buffet was available.
Frankly, I was a little disappointed. First, it was SO LOUD. There was a huge party of folks with a bunch of small kids who were running around, playing and yelling to each other. Kids will be kids, and I know that's not the restaurant's fault, but the noise level was a little unnerving. Conversation, unless we wanted to yell louder than the surrounding diners, was impossible. The greeting from the staff- and that's the best phrase I can find for it- was, well, weird. We had never been there before. We don't know what's expected- do you go find a seat? Do you wait to be seated? Do you grab a plate and jump in? What? A tall guy in a white chef's jacket kind of pointed at us from across the room, as we were standing uncertainly amongst people shoving to get out the door or to the buffet- and held up two fingers, asking how many were in our party. When we nodded, he then pointed in the direction of the back of the room. We kind of wandered back to what looked like an empty table. There was silverware and glasses, but the table looked as though it hadn't been wiped after the previous guest. We then sat for a bit until someone came and poured water for us, and said we could go to the buffet when ready. The buffet, though laden with delicious foods, was confusing and intimidating. We had to search for plates, which were in the middle of the line, so people are pushing around and reaching to get what they're looking for. Maybe that's just how buffets are done in Indian restaurants? As I said, we're new here. Eventually we both got an assortment of dishes to try, and the food was delicious. There were LOTS of choices, including desserts and breads, and everything was hot and freshly cooked. I really love chicken tikka masala, and the tray was almost empty when I got there, but a new tray came out soon. Everything was refilled constantly, fresh from the kitchen. I wanted to try a buffet so we could sample several things. That worked out well (though i really need to take notes next time so I remember what dishes I really liked!) The water glasses were magically refilled all the time, and I asked for a soda, which was delivered promptly. When we were finished, we sat for a while, unsure if the check would be brought to us or if we were to just pay at the counter- which seemed to be what others were doing. I think just having staff trained to pay attention and offer guidance when customers don't seem to know what to do or where to go would help a lot. And would their faces break if they cracked a smile? Sheesh!
I really, *really* wanted to love this place. I wanted to be able to agree with my friends who rave about it. But... well, not just yet. My husband isn't interested in going back but maybe I'll give it another try with those friends, see if we were just there on an off night.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)