Just had our Groupon at Taj Mahal. That was delicious! We will definitely be returning! I had the Butter Chicken slice level 5. It was much hotter than the Indian or Thai food in Jefferson City at a level 5. I loved it, it was just too hot for my husband as we had intended to share our entrees. He had the Afghani chicken and loved it. We did taste each others and agree they were both fantastically flavourful. The wait time and service were adequate, though not overly friendly. read more

Taj Mahal - Butter Chicken in front, Afghani Chicken in back. - Indian Near Me - Columbia, Missouri

This is my favorite Indian place in CoMo because I like some heat in my Indian food. While the food is outstanding, the service often leaves something to be desired if you go in for the lunch buffet. Key point - get there early for the lunch buffet and you will be ok. If you get there closer to the closing time (2:30) for the buffet, you may find yourself having to ask them to replenish a dish or two on the buffet (which they will do on request). I guess they are trying to keep from making too much extra food that gets thrown away at the end of the day. Just have that expectation if you get there at the end of the buffet time. For dinner, the service and food are great. We have tried a number of different dishes and have liked all of them so far. There are plenty of food options to choose from on the menu and they will let you adjust the heat if you want things hotter or milder. read more

I checked the reviews before eating here and figured it sounded like the food was great and the service was poor. We were going for dinner, so any concerns about the buffet quality were irrelevant. It met those expectations. Some of the BEST chicken tikka Masala I've ever had. The service was impersonal but the food came out in good time. Pricing was average. We'll be going back for dinner read more

Look at their health ranking they got 1 out of 100 Not a very good buffet they ran out of tandoori chicken at 12:30 and didn't fill it up for two hours our waitress never checked on us once I had to get up to get our drinks refilled. the food is definitely subpar to India House they have a much better buffet. the only reason we went here was because of the coupon and it didn't even work even though it did not say a weekday buffet on it so instead of being $15 for two people it was $25 absolute ripoff. the only good thing about this restaurant was there was a nice woman I don't know if she was the owner or what but she did comp our drinks because of the confusion with the coupon that one's not really their fault that would be on the Groupon. where you should have that not just in the tiny FinePrint that I need to scroll all the way down to see lol The buffet may have made people sick because we were the only people there for almost 2 hours. save your money go to India House if you want Indian food ps it should be a crime to call that chicken tikka masala. read more

My boyfriend and I decided to come here for date night on a whim because he found a groupon for 2 dinner entrées, 2 drinks, and two baskets of naan for $26. We ordered the appetizer platter which was a lot of fried food and kind of greasy, but the flavor was great. We ordered a mixed platter that came with a variety of meats and shrimp curry for our entrées. The rice was great, the curry was great, the naan was great, and the meat was super tender. Our waiter was a total trooper, running the whole dining area by himself; he kept our waters topped off and we were never having to wait that long. Overall, great first experience with Indian food. read more

A restaurant that doesn't seem to like...customers. The place was dead when we walked in yet it took the server/owner quite a while to get to us and take our order. When I asked about whether a particular dish was good/recommended, he just shrugged and gave a me look that said WTF? While service sucked, food turned out to be pretty good. May have been my low expectations after dealing with the staff but I would give them another try for takeout. read more

I cannot speak for the lunch buffet or the rest of the items on the menu but I had the chicken biryani and it was phenomenal. It was filled with chicken and it was very flavorful. I asked them to make it extra spicy and they did not disappoint. I really like the grocery store as well. read more

I really liked the food. Chicken karahi with garlic naan. Both of them tasted really good. And the service was really good too. Definitely recommend it. read more

The food was ok, not good, just ok... But the service was Horrible, we had to wait for our order for more than 1h and nobody showed up to explain what was going on. The waitress did not deserve any tip, she is too lazy. I don't understand why people like her works in a job like this. The waiter was ok, he told us they got a lot of delivery order before we get there. They should inform us before we took our seats. I believe there is better places for spending my money. Taj Mahal no more!!! read more

Okra and naan from lunch buffet are delicious! They also have a lot ore options with potatoes, which I love. The naan here is better than India House. read more

This restaurant was the "local recommendation" for the best Indian in Columbia MO! I discovered it is in a dodgy neighborhood and was wondering the whole time whether there was about to be a "hold up". I wouldn't want to be a woman walking alone around here. The place smelled of burnt something when we walked in! :( Service was slow but courteous. However the food was outstanding! Coupled with a good bottle of red wine off their menu, I was delighted! The Lamb Khorma and Murg Makhali was the best! read more

Visited for lunch buffet ($10.99/weekday) with a group. Had dal tadka, chana masala and narvatan korma. All seemed a bit bland and watery. Several friends in my group had the chicken tikka masala and tandoori chicken and said they enjoyed both dishes. Consensus was that the naan was so-so and a bit charred. Kheer tasted good but was watery. Mango pudding received thumbs up. No appetizers on the buffet. Ambiance was nice. Service was fine. Overall, a slightly disappointing experience due to the blandness and the buffet price. read more

Our waitress left half way through our meal. I had to go to go in the kitchen to find anyone that could get me my check. That's ridiculous.

I was in town for a business visit and came here with my business associates. The place was completely empty, may be that was a sign!!! We ordered an appetizer platter and none of the items were good except the spinach pakora. We also ordered Malai chicken kabob and paneer tikka, the malai (butter) chicken was tough,looks like they were low on butter. The paneer tikka was the only item which was good, i mean it has nothing to mess up. Then we ordered some Garlic naan along with chicken kadai and butter chicken (for people who dont eat indian food, these are pretty standard indian foods which cannot be messed up). The chicken kadai was bland and butter chicken was very watery with no butter. Even the tea we ordered was very ordinary. Will definitely be my first and last. read more

Great selection of authentic middle eastern food. Things for those who like mild spices and for those who like it hot. It's wonderful to walk thru the aisles and find new things to try. read more

I've eaten at the Taj Mahal since coming to Columbia six years ago. In that time, I don't think they have cleaned the ceiling vents, and I can guarantee that they haven't become one bit more interested in serving customers. I went there today for the Sunday buffet, which is usually the best deal. The food on the buffet all looked good, and I can guarantee it was untouched because, 45 minutes after they had opened, none of it had spoons with which you could serve yourself. The surly employee who appeared in the dining room after a minute didn't care; in fact, she went back into the kitchen, I guess so that her telephone conversation wouldn't be disturbed by something as inconveniencing as customers. After five minutes of waiting in the dining room with no water, no spoons to get the food, and no attention, we left. I've put up with the Taj Mahal because, on weekends at least, the food is very good. However, they seem to have given up all pretense of serving customers, so I'm giving up all pretense of being one. Hopefully the next business to move in to their spot after they finally fold will clean the vents. read more

Probably the worst Indian food I've ever had. I got chicken tikka and cheese naan for delivery and the amount of rice they give you does not enable good proportions for the bucket of tikka masala they give you. The naan is absolutely disgusting, soggy and has no flavor at all. I ordered it to not have any spice at all and I can't even eat it because it's so spicy. There is also no flavor at all in the chicken tikka masala sauce so I feel like I'm just eating spicy rice. The only reason I did not give it one stars is because they do give you a large portion of the actual chicken tikka masala and the chicken is cooked well. I normally order from India's House but decided to try something new tonight and I regret it immensely. I will never order from here again and I will continue to go to India's house. read more

Absolutely horrible service. Waited 10 minutes before even getting a menu. Was not shown a table and told to sit where ever I want. My options were limited because none of the tables had been cleared. The waiter looked high on drugs and was very poorly dressed, shirt not tucked in correctly, stains, very unprofessional and he didn't seem to have any idea of what was on the menu. First and last time. read more

This review is based on service alone as we went there for dinner and were never served: Went to Taj Mahal at the new location for dinner. Walked in and after a minute or two, the man near the front pointed out a table on the second tier. We sat down and started waiting. Keep in mind that since we seated ourselves, we had no menus. Waited about 10 minutes for a server to appear. One finally did and apologized that nobody had served us. He brought water and menus. So we looked over the menu, decided what we wanted, and started waiting again. We waited another 10 minutes or so, sipping on water, and our server never returned to the table, so we left. read more

Since Taj Mahal re-opened in its new location, we thought we would give it another shot. The new location looked very promising. It was bright and open. However the service has not changed and I felt they did not use the location to their advantage. The booths are squished in so tight together that we could barely fit. We had to scoot our seats back to eat comfortably, but unfortunately this made the booths on either side of us impossible for people to use. This setup would only work if you had multiple groups of thin people, in my opinion. The service was also still sad. There were only two girls serving the whole restaurant. We thought that would be fine, as it's a buffet, but it seemed like one was always wandering off but not doing anything productive in that time. When we walked in it took probably five minutes just to be seated. Then they asked what we wanted to drink, but decided to serve the large table (10+ people) before serving us, even though we were there first. My husband and I were both on our second plate of food before we even got our waters. We also never got refills - my husband had to walk up to the bar himself and find a pitch of water to fill his own glass. They also ran out of bowls on the buffet and took several minutes to get more, after my husband had to chase them down to ask for them. The food was still good, but it's still not enough to bring us back for another try. read more

I am surprised that this restaurant has not gotten better reviews. I cannot speak to the service, since I ordered takeout, but I can honestly say that this is as good or better than any Indian restaurant that I've eaten at in New York. (I lived in New York for fifteen years, until last year.) By far the best food I've eaten in Columbia- including the so-called 'good' restaurants: Sycamore (mediocre), Trey (mediocre with bad service), etc. read more

I love indian food and having grown up Eating indian food kinda know what authentic indian food tastes like. Have travelled all over the world(boston, NY, SFO, LA, Chicago and many places abroad too) and let me tell you this..this place has the best Indian food ever..I agree with all other reviews that the service is slow, so be prepared to wait..but the wait is worthwhile..(better yet order food 20 mins. Before you expect to reach there) I frequently go to this restaurant, at least once a week because I am addicted to the food here..I like eating A la Carte and food is always fresh and hot..I love this place. I have had them cater food for 3 big parties and every guest was amazed at the quality of food. read more

Went to the lunch buffet around 1:30pm. I'm sure the flies around the buffet enjoyed it more than I did. Our party of 5 were the only ones there. The lighting was bad and there were dishes lying around on the tables. The waiter took forever to bring us drinks. Overall poor food and poor service. read more

Taj Mahal is the second Indian restaurant I've tried in Columbia. I had navartaan korma, the same dish I tried at the other Indian restaurant in town. The service was good. We got water promptly, and were checked on regularly. Maybe they read Annee's review... It wasn't very busy, but then again it was a Tuesday night. The food was pretty good. I ordered mine mild, and it was. In that way, maybe this is a good restaurant for a first time experience with Indian food for people who may not be used to spicy food. The vegetable samosa's were crisp and tasty. I think the ingredients in my korma may not have been as fresh as what I had at India house, but I'm not really sure. I think I liked the other one better. To be fair, I should come back to each and try something for their tandoris. Also, the dished as reasonably large. If you have a group, you may just want to get a couple of things to share. An appetizer and a dish for each person was more food than could be eaten. Also, I believe they have a buffet for lunch. I'm not a fan of buffets, but for those that are... read more

Always excellent food here if you want a traditional Thai Food excellent chicken curry maybe a little pricey but is so worth it.

Here is what to do to increase the chances of a satisfactory experience: 1. Arrive right at 11 am or thereabouts for weekday lunch buffet. We arrived at 11 am. The food was yet to be brought out, the restaurant was full of smoke and loud Christian radio. But the food arrived in minutes and was hot. The door was opened to let out the smoke. The radio was switched off and soon replaced by soft bollywood music. So we did not have the problem reported by other reviewers of a dirty restaurant or cold/tepid food. I did not venture into the restrooms. 2. Focus on the vegetarian dishes. They were better than the non-veg dishes. ( My friend agrees). What I liked: naan, plain rice, saag, gulab jamun that I mixed with kheer. The gulab jamuns were average but tasted good with the kheer. Another yum combo is gulab jamuns with vanilla ice cream( they don't serve ice cream here). The walls have black-and-white posters of bollywood stars-much nicer than the tacky stereotypical "portraits of Indian life" that other restaurants have. If you want a change from your usual lunch stuff, this is a good spot. Don't expect delicious food( flavors were average) or ambience and come early. $17 for 2, pre-tip. read more

The wait is worth it! Our food took a minute to get but we could see into the kitchen and they were making our meals from scratch! Absolutely worth waiting for the less-than-speedy service. Just know that you won't get in and out quickly and you'll enjoy food that feels like you are at the kitchen table in India! read more

I'm pretty sure these people don't like being bothered with customers. The service at this place makes the few customers who do go look around to each other and share an expression of bewilderment. That said, the food is good. I suggest ordering to-go. Edit: I have visited their new location several times now. It is much cleaner and brighter than the last location. However, still with the awkward service and waiters that don't really seem to have experience. With their grand new location I was expecting an overhaul of the service as well. It seems different, but not better. The food remains delicious. read more

Tried their buffet. For $15 per person including tax and tip, seemed high. Food quality was good. The day I went, looked like the potato's were on sale, every item on the buffet had potato. read more

My 1st Indian restaurant. I didn't know what to expect and I certainly wasn't blown away by this place. There's better Indian places in Columbia. read more

I got take out here on Monday around 5pm right after they opened for dinner. I came in to place my order figuring they would not be busy. Good thought cause they were empty. Not one person. Score I figure. Wrong! I placed my order for Chicken Kihara and then proceeded to wait 30 minutes to have my order come out. For what I got I was surprised it took that long to make a bowl of basically a spicy tomato-chilli like base (did have a nice kick to it!) with white meat chicken chunks, onions and green peppers. It also came with at least 3 cups worth of basmati rice. For $12 bucks I feel this was a little high on both aspects of quality and quantity. Not that this was bad food cause it was not. I did like it. I will likely look for other Indian restaurants around Columbia before coming back that's all. read more

They left us sitting 60 minutes waiting for food. Small portions. High prices. Unfriendly servers. Disorganized. Unprofessional.

I used to love this place. The food has always been good and the service was excellent. Why 2 stars? Well, I had food poisoning after visiting Taj Mahal :( so sad because it used to be one of my favorite places to eat. read more

I love the lunch buffet and the foods great but the service is terrible. I'm not sure if the server's English is really bad or If she's just unfriendly. They often have groupons read more

I do so appreciate this restaurant. They offer a nice lunch buffet most days at a reasonable price, and provide take out also. I love the food! I grab a takeout buffet every 1 to 2 weeks, and I cannot stay away! read more

First of all, I'm rating this restaurant based on the experiences we've had at multiple Indian restaurants around the country. We pretty much only eat at Indian restaurants when we eat out so we know what we like. We walked in and the place was completely empty, not even a worker in sight. Someone finally came out of the kitchen and told us to sit wherever we liked. I was secretly hoping that this was only a strange precursor to some amazing Indian food, but it only went down hill from there. I almost gave them a second star due to the naan being decent and the gobi manchurian being a 4/5. The overwhelming flavor in the butter chicken was salt. Big disappointment. The chicken tikka masala was also lacking flavor, and very runny. The rice seemed old and was clumpy. Not much else to say other than the waitress was also less than friendly. Given the place was basically empty you'd have thought they could have refilled our waters. Nope. read more

Huge fans of India House. Wanted Indian while they were closed. Came here. Food was not even comparable. Service was terrible. Waited for water for over 10 minutes. waited for Togo boxes for over 15. Waited for 10 for our check. Had to literately go and get the server to come to us. She waited and finished her conversation with the other girl working before she came over. Terrible service. Gave another chance tonight. Called 50+ times. Busy. Wanted to make a Togo order of the lamb boti kebabs because India house doesn't have them. Had to drive in to order. Ask them if their phone is not working? The (owner?) was standing next to the same rude and incompetent server from last time...he looks at her and she pulls the phone out of her coat pocket and laughs. I proceed to tell him that I didn't find it funny I called over 50 times. He said he was sorry for that. While sitting on their dirty steps waiting for my food I regret even ordering I hear a couple come up to check themselves out. They said " this was the slowest restaurant experience they've ever had!" The girl told them "I'm sorry to hear that!" Then blamed it on a new gentleman that just started. He wasn't working when we had our slowest experience ever! I hope this brings business to India House and deters people from an establishment that doesn't put its customers first. Sincerely a Chef and woman of the culinary industry for 10+ years. read more

Taj Mahal - Indian Near Me - Columbia, Missouri

By far the BEST chicken tikka masala (order it mild) I have ever had. I try that dish at every Indian restaurant I ever go to in my travels and former cities (DC, South Africa, Chicago, Amsterdam, St. Louis, etc). Nothing compares to this dish. I used to travel back to MO and make a special visit to Taj Mahal to eat here. Luckily, I am only 2 hours away now and I intend to eat there and this dish upon every visit! read more

The best Indian restaurant in Columbia. Go for the lunch buffet when you can sample different entrees. My favorite is the chicken tiki masala! read more

OK, yes, they do seem to have some service problems. I've been there on a Friday night when there was only 1 person who seemed to be manning the entire restaurant. Even so, the food was delicious! We used to come here frequently until we moved out of state. We would get the vegetable pakoras (somehow they tasted like SAUSAGE!), naan (they have some really yummy stuffings, but we usually had plain garlic), and murg mukhani (chicken in a tomato-based cream sauce). The chicken was in nice small, bite-sized pieces, with lots of flavorful sauce to be soaked up by naan and rice. Between my husband and I, we would share the meal, leave fully satisfied, and pay about $30 total. read more