Taj Palace in Chesterfield, MO

Taj Palace is the second in the St. Louis area under the same ownership. The first one, India Palace is right outside St. Louis airport.

I am not the greatest fan of Indian restaurants in this country, and have to do much vicarious taste-testing before I step into one. But a co-worker who happens to be Russian, urged me to go out with her for lunch to Taj Palace. It was the first Indian restaurant experience for her. So, I went.

I was a little surprised to see quite a decent crowd on a Thursday afternoon. This place is in a humongous shopping Center and has a good corner location. Well lit and decent decor for an Indian restaurant. It is still new though and I am sure the decor will improve in the next few months. I can even vouch for it since India Palace has a great ambience and decor.

It was a buffet lunch with Naan, plain pulav, 3 vegetarian and 3 meat dishes. They also had a couple desserts. The vegetarian dishes while I wouldn’t call them superb, were pretty decent- saag paneer, mixed vegetables and dhal. My co-worker liked the meat dishes as well. The degree of spice was a 1, a bit too mild for my palette. The mango custard was anything but. I don’t know why they would name a dish one thing and serve some thing quite different. The rice pudding was okay.

The waiters were courteous and the service was good as well. Overall, I would give it a rating of 2.5 on a 5 scale.