Googly Eyes

Indian Taj

May 12, 2008

Jon and I had a hankering for some Indian food the other night, and ended up at Indian Taj in the Village. The atmosphere was nice enough, with an open balcony-type overhang onto Bleecker Street and Indian elevator music. I had a bad feeling when I noticed there was a bottle of Evian and a bottle of Perrier on table – translation: you’re paying for water. We sat for quite a while and no one filled our glasses, so Jon opened the Evian, dooming us for the evening. But I’ll come back to this.

Jon ordered the “meat snack platter” for an appetizer. What arrived was, a meat snack platter. Consisting of various, somewhat mysterious, meats on a plate. It turned out to be mostly chicken and lamb (I forgot beef wouldn’t be on the menu) and it was tasty enough, though I refused to eat that one thing that looks like a turd.

(Picture taken from my phone).

Anyway, then we waited forever after the appetizer for our entrees. It took a weirdly long time. When the food finally arrived, it was ehhhhh… not good times. Jon’s chicken tikka masala tasted like rancid fruit salad covered in barbecue sauce. He’s not one to complain and refused to send it back or say anything about it, even though it was quite awful. My shrimp korma wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really good either. The nan was okay, same for the rice. After struggling through a few bites of his food, Jon felt instantly ill.

At the end of the meal, we got the check which included three bottle of Evian water, adding a total of $12 to the bill. That’s right, $4 per bottle and each was less than a liter (and Evian tastes like crap). We were never offered tap water and didn’t think it was available, until we were nearly finished and saw another table getting served from a pitcher. The food wasn’t cheap either, and definitely not worth the price.

So all in all, this place had average to bad food and dishonorable business practices (kind of tricking you into paying for water.) I wouldn’t go back or recommend it.

181 Bleecker St.

Btwn MacDougal and Sullivan

New York, NY 10012

Entrees: $15-30

Entry Filed under: Alison, The Eat Sheet. Tags: Food, Indian, Restaurant, Suckfest.