Taste of India

WTF? How are the reviews on this place so high?
After a couple of years of passing this place by on our way to other Indian restaurants in the city, we finally decided to give it a try. And I am glad we did, if only to let me know I have not been wasting my time and to always trust my instincts. When you walk in there is a living room set in the middle of the restaurant, Yes, a whole living room set; a couch, loveseat, coffee table, and side tables and a big screen tv. I wish we would have left right then. To me that living room set represents a lot of down time for the staff. So we are seated at about 6:30 on a Friday night and there were two other tables of guests and it was completely silent. It was very uncomfortable. And the «dim lights» another reviewer mentioned… really means no lighting at all. They only had wall sconces on at the edges of the restaurant so in the middle there was no lights. NONE. «Like eating at our hip Indian friend’s house» another reviewer had said, hardly it was like eating at an old pizza hut with old white sheets seperating the rooms.
After we placed our order, and waiting forever I started playing with the fake flower arrangement on the table and it was apparant that the vase had never been cleaned. The dirt was so thick and greasy but hey, we had already ordered I just tried to pretend I didnt notice.
The food was fine. It wasn’t delicious but it WOULD have been fine (though pricey) for takeout for a night I didnt want to make the drive to somewhere better.
After dinner, I went to wash my hands and when I walked out I told my husband to ask for the check so we could leave right then. There was a dead roach in the bathroom, and the place looked like it had never been cleaned. ever. I can only imagine what the kitchen looks like.
In the end, even the food disappointed us. We literally raced home so there would be no bathroom emergencies in the car.

I had the misfortune of dining at Taste of India last night and I will no be a repeat customer. Firstly, upon entering there was a distinct stale smell of fried food. Secondly, the place was dark, almost to the point I had to use my cell phone to read the menu.
We started with the vegetable samosas. Over all they were fine, nothing special. Unfortunately they were very greasy.
I ordered chicken vindeloo, which was average. Everything was cooked fine, but again I’ve had much better. My wife ordered chicken tikka masala, which i tried as well. It tasted like jalapenos to me. She thought it was so-​so, and was off-​put by the fact that the dish was red. Like stop sign red. Like big bowl of blood red.
On the upside the rice and naan was good.
Somehow in the food ordering process our orders were lost. At least one table that came in after us, was served the food before us. Our waiter informed us that there was some sort of slip up in the kitchen.
Also, this place is way overpriced. I can go to any of the 5 other good Indian restaurants I regularly go to and pay ¹⁄₃ less. Seriously, they overcharge on the food, which is definitely sub-​average.
Dare I say more? I dare. The bathroom was like an outhouse. I don’t think its been cleaned since the place used to be a Pizza Hut. Did I mention they seperate 2 dining rooms with sheets. SHEETS. It’s like I was in some low income housing apartment.
My final thought… This place was straight out of Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares.

‘was in the neighborhood on Hampton Road, and thought I would stop by for a quick buffet. I wasn’t expecting anything special, especially since the location of this place is on a real crummy part of Hampton Road, capping off the end of a row of fast food restaurants that are begging to be closed down. The décor inside was very cozy, felt like eating at your hip Indian freind’s house. Nonetheless, I wasnt really expecting much quality on the food, and this place went surpisingly below my expectations. The buffet table really did not have much to choose from. They paid too much attention to more of the sauce based vegetarian dishes that really serve to me as something to dip the Nan bread with and nothing to fill me up, i guess I was hoping for some variety?. I was searching for something with some meat inside, and they didnt even have any Lamb Vindelo which is a staple at these buffets. The tandori chicken was plainly awful. It didnt have the characteristic taste of the way tandori chicken should be. Instead it tasted like a piece of chicken you’d find at 8pm from the shop and save kitchen, you know, the piece of chicken that they get ready to throw out at the end of the night; usually, the tandori is something hard to get wrong, but I just dont think they really prepared it well. So since I am not a vegetarian, my whole outing was not that good, but Im a carnivore. The plus side is that the desert was really good, mango lasse, and rice pudding. The worst part was when I went to pay for it, the final price was $ 11.00, and this for a lunch buffet! I was expecting in the range of 7 – 8 dollars but $ 11.00? I’m not a cheap guy, but if you dont try on the quality of the food, and expect a big price like $ 10.00, then yeah, I am not going to be too happy. Mr Curry’s downtown is $ 7.50, and they blow this place outside the Indian Ocean, they’re miles better. I was always curious about this place, and at least I tried it. Oh well.

Do you know what amuses me to no end? Re-​purposed fast food restaurants. There’s something wonderfully incongruous about an instantly recognizable building housing a completely different business. There was a Wendy’s-turned-hair salon in my grandparents’ hometown that used to make me smile as a child. Ever since then, I love visiting such places.
Imagine my delight, then, when I got to eat at Taste of India! It’s a really old school Pizza Hut (with the red bricks and wall mounted booths to prove it) that now houses a really respectable mom-​and-​pop Indian joint. The décor was really… comfy. Maybe it’s the living room scene at the front of the restaurant, featuring sofas and a big screen TV playing Indian channels. Or maybe it’s the colorful decorations festooning the interior of an old Pizza Hut. I don’t know. But it felt laid back.
The food was very good. We started with vegetable samosa that were very generous in size and fried to perfection. My dining companions and I shared a trio of vegetarian entrees (including vegetable korma and vegetable biryani), as well as regular and garlic naan. Everything was delicious and pleasantly spiced. Our waiter warned us against ordering the food «Indian spicy», since we probably couldn’t handle it. I like spicy food, but «American spicy» was just right. Perhaps I’ll work up the nerve to try Indian spicy another time…
Our waiter, the owners’ teenaged son, also told us that his parents will soon be opening a location in Jefferson City. Anyone who has ever had the dissatisfying task of eating out in Jeff City will tell you that this will vastly improve the local restaurant scene. So next time you find yourself in Missouri’s centrally located capital city (because really, what else is there to say about Jeff City?) do yourself a favor and and visit their new Taste of India!

I had a maaaad craving for Indian food one night. I was also feeling super lazy. This led me to two realizations:
1. Why don’t Indian food places deliver? There’s such a huge market out there for it (read: ME!)
2. Why are all the good Indian places so far from me?!
Well…I guess you can scratch the second note. I did find an Indian place pretty close to me. Was it good? You’ll have to keep reading to find out…
I called in an order of chicken tikka masala. I threw in some garlic naan for good measure (because what is Indian food without some yummy naan?). The friendly guy told me it would be about 15 minutes, and I was on my way!
I got there in about 10 minutes, and my food was bagged and ready to go. Nice! Time for the damage: $ 23.55.
TWENTY FOUR BUCKS for chicken tikka masala and naan? «This better be the best damn Indian food on EARTH», I thought to myself.
I get home. Open the food. The rice looks good. The chicken tikka masala? Not so good. Andy took one look at it and said «that doesn’t look good at all». Thanks a LOT, boyfriend. Let me eat my 24 dollar meal in peace!
Honestly, the food wasn’t bad. It was spicy like I requested. The naan was a little on the thin side, but it was definitely garlicky (maybe too much garlic?).
Overall, it was decent. But I’ll probably never go back, because 24 dollars for a meal for ONE person is just a little ridiculous.
*sigh* Back to square one. I guess I’ll just have to man up and make the trek to House of India, Raj’s Rasoi, or Mayuri next time I want Indian food.

This place is conveniently located just down the street from the love shack, which makes it quite tempting. I absolutely love their lunch buffet with the various veggie/​meat/​curry combos. It is a little amusing that the building is obviously an old Pizza Hut, and the décor is interesting. I can’t speak much as far as service since I typically do the buffet, which requires no service. The staff are very cordial and helpful, though. It’s a little steep for a one-​person lunch… roughly $ 20 but, it is an all-​you-​can-​eat buffet.

Went there for the lunch buffet. Have been to a few different ones around the city and this one had great variety, but there food was only so-​so. For $ 20 (two people), I left full, but wasn’t blown away by any of the items. Enjoyed the fun décor, but would have liked the tables to be cleaned between visitors. Not being a hater, but not raving either.

I really love Taste of India, and I don’t get to go there as often as I’d like, as its not in my ‘hood. Their lunch buffet is great with many vegetarian dishes. I absolutely love their vegetable korma, which is very creamy with loads of veggies, cashews and raisins (or currants?) and their rice and naan are great. They are not cheap, but when I order takeout, they give you such large portions of everything that I have enough for two meals, so the value is really good.

I did a take out from Taste of India — vegetable Biryani and Karahi paneer, Paneer pakoda. I kind of went after they had closed (between lunch and dinner), but the owner was kind enough to put the meal together for me. The food was good and tasty. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good, since I went after closing. The Karahi paneer was creamy. The portions are scrumptious and I had enough left for lunch the next day. Like all Indian restaurants, they have a variety of vegetarian options!

I came to Taste of India on a random lunch day. there were 6 people in there at the time so it seemed pretty empty. The ambiance was nice and so was the service. the food at lunch is buffet style. for 10 dollars you have all you can eat salad, naan, various curries, masalas, some tandoori chicken and saag paneer. i dont know if this changes often but thats what was available when i was there. The tandoori chicken was good, but i didnt really want another piece. the masals were good, but wht i liked the most was the saag paneer. It may not look very nice, but spinach cooked down with chunks of cheese is always good. there was plenty of naan, but it seemed to have been out for a bit so it wasnt that warm. overall it was a good experience, but the food was just ok.

Tonight myself and a friend went here because we decided to branch out and try a place we never had gone to before. After reading some of the reviews here we chose this place. Can’t say i was let down either. We came in, and for a tuesday it was slow, when i mean slow we were the only ones in there. Which really didn’t bother us at all. Hey, what is not to like, people to wait on just us and not feel crowded. We sat down and found ourselves watching the television and the more interesting soaps (as i like to call them) before the server came to talk to us. I ordered the Chicken Tikka, which was delicious! My friend had the lamb tikka masala. We also ordered the cheese naan. All were delicious, and very flavorful. We then had the gulab Jamun, which for me was interesting, but my partner loved it. I will recomend this place to anyone whom has never been there before, and i know i really have to come here for the buffet.

I’m upgrading my review, because I’ve decided this is the best Indian buffet in the city! On my visit today they had matar paneer, saag paneer, chana masala, chicken curry, goat curry, tandoori chicken, okra, aloo gobi, veggie pakora, 3 kinds of bread (naan, papadum, and puri!), basmati rice, salad, many garnishes/​condiments (mmm… tamarind sauce!), and 3 kinds of dessert. You should go on the earlier side to get the best selection. You pay at the counter, so you can get in and out very quickly. I believe they have this lunch buffet every day of the week including weekends. I love how they play Bollywood music videos on a big screen TV. Some other Indian restaurants are so stuffy, but not this one!

Officially, I’m not a fan of Indian food. But that doesn’t mean I’ll try it out once in a while.
I actually pulled up to Taste of India while on a hungry quest for food. I found their buffet to be pretty impressive and clean. Whenever I think of buffet-​style dining, I think of bad Chinese restaurants or the messy side of the family and tense wedding receptions. Bad news Bears.
However, this buffet was kept spotless and there was usually a person walking around to point out which dish was which. That made me more comfortable with a cuisine that I’m ashamedly unfamiliar with.
I found their food to be filling and flavorful, but a little lacking in the spiciness factor. That’s cool, since I was looking more to taste my food, rather than drink tons of water to wash spicy heat away.
I was also surprised to note how close this place was to my house in South City. It’s amazing a short trip down Fyler takes you to Hampton and a decent destination to reintroduce oneself to Indian Cuisine.
Try it out.