Taj Mahal - Trier

Wonderful food, very friendly staff. Convenient for the town centre. Menu very extensive, loved it. Seemed very popular with locals and tourists.

We tried to find a table at Taj Mahal for dinner one evening but the place was packed, so we returned the next day for a late lunch, on our way back from the close-by Imperial Thermae. Despite the fact that the restaurant was only half full this time, we had to wait quite some time before we were brought a menu or were even asked if we wanted to order drinks. The waiter simply ignored us and kept clearing tables. As a starter, we shared vegetable pakoras, which were nice. As mains we had chicken tikka masala and lamb with bell peppers and tomato sauce (Gosht Jalferezi), both served with rice and nan. As is usual in Indian restaurants, dishes came in three levels of spiciness: mild, medium and hot (‘mild’, ‘mittelscharf’ and ‘scharf’ in German). We both opted for the mild version and ended up with rather bland food. Maybe we should have gone for medium? Especially the lamb was not very tasty. Service was distant and unsmiling. Still, as we only paid 38 euro for the two meals, with a large and a small beer, we didn't think it was a bad deal. Taj Mahal is located on the first floor of a rather unusual house with Jugendstil elements (Eisenhaus, reviewed elsewhere) that architecture lovers may want to see. Diners who have fear of heights should be aware that some tables in the middle of the restaurant rest on glass blocks lighted from underneath. When we visited, none of these tables were taken, people clearly preferred a table along the wall.

Sorry but this incredibly popular restaurant obviously gave me their worst ever portion of lamb in their house speciality dish (Rogan Murghail?). Tiny pellets of hard lamb in an otherwise delicious sauce was difficult to take. Having waited for more than an hour for the dish, I was not going to complain, apart from which I was in company. The place was packed full and had two servers only for 60-80 people. Crazy economics as the kitchen was also obviously not coping. We waited more than 10 minutes before we got served and a further 10 until the drinks arrived.

I love Indian cuisine and I must say this restaurant offers a great variety of Indian specialties, some of them even not so common.Food presentation is nice, service is gentle and accurate.Having read that Indian food in Germany tends to be rather bland I was very impressed with the food I tried at this restaurant. The lamb curry I had was well spiced and very flavorful and the meat was tender and well cooked. The naan, lassi and rice I tried were also very good. All in all, a good option for Indian food in the Trier area.

Taj Mahal has nice food, friendly people and excellent location in the old city of Trier. We will go there again next time we are in Trier.