Taj Indian Cuisine - Merthyr Tydfil

The Restaurant was clean and tidy and there was a nice welcome as we walked in. Usual Poppadams and accompaniments arrived, but in tiny little containers insufficient for two people. A small additional pot of Mango Chutney at £2.30 did make me chuckle, but moving on.... Starters arrived with the Chicken Pakoras good but the Garlic King prawns were served as a mushy sauce with a total of four ordinary prawns mixed in. The main courses were Chicken Tikka and Lamb Tikka Masala. The Chicken Tikka sauce had a good portion size but was so over tomato flavoured it basically tasted like Bolognese sauce. The Lamb Tikka Masala itself was a tiny portion sitting like a puddle in the container. I counted 6 small cubes of lamb that had been overcooked before being added to the Sauce. Naan breads were good. Service was polite, but they really didn't know how to present things and lay out the cutlery. Granted that on of the staff was a brand new starter and was trying his best. After plates were collected, random knives etc. we're left on the table as if the job was half done. They tried hard, but it was a bit embarrassing to watch. The manager didn't seem too worried about things. I have to say it was not the most expensive restaurant I've been to, so there was I suppose some roundabout value for money in that respect.

I'd heard good things about Taj, probably the best Indian restaurant/takeawy in the Heads of the Valleys area. I live about a 15 minute drive from Merthyr, I phoned the order in and collected. So far so good. The food was piping hot, no issues there. We ordered onion bhajees which were very good, large, lots of onion, but not stodgy, light and crispy And that was probably the best part of the meal unfortunately. Mains were King Prawn Pathia and Garlic Chilli Chicken Masala. Sides of Channa Masalladar and cauliflower bhajee. The Pathia was most disappointing, terrible to be honest. No King prawns, but about 10 normal small prawns, overcooked and tough, swimming in a very thick and gloopy sauce. Flavour was ok, but overall, a really poor Pathia, and terrible prawns. The chicken masala was better, but again, a very thick sauce. Lots of sauce but not much content. The chicken was fine, but in quite small pieces, in a sea of sauce. One thing that struck me was the colour of all the sauces, which was mostly dark brown! The channa side dish was best, soft chickpeas in a flavourful sauce. The cauliflower was again in a dark brown sauce, odd for a dish usually made with tomatoes. There were about 3 pieces of cauliflower, poor ratio to sauce again. We ordered pilau rice, which was ok, a bit dry and not much spice flavour. All in all, a very disappointing meal unfortunately. Due to living a 15 min drive away, I didn't bother taking the meal back, but I don't think we'll be ordering again any time soon.

My husband and I went to the restaurant tonight for a belated Valentine's Day dinner, hoping to sample a variety of dishes from the buffet menu we had booked. However, upon arriving, we were disappointed to find out that it was not a buffet. Despite being told we could order as much as we wanted, the service was so slow that it would have taken us 4 hours to try all the dishes. The restaurant was uncomfortably cold and the waitresses seemed to be ignoring customers. The food was lacking in flavor, much like the overall atmosphere of the restaurant. We only managed to try one curry before deciding to leave, as we weren't being attended to. We will not be returning.

I ordered take-out from this restaurant and it was excellent. The online ordering system was efficient and my order was ready on time. The food was well cooked and delicious. I will definitely be coming back.

I loved this place. And our lamb and prawns was very good, the meat is alway delicious in Taj. But unfortunately, meat samosas are much worse than a few months ago. This was my best food from them. This time samosas wasn’t crunchy. The pastry was hard and it tasted like it had been made much earlier. The filling was not seasoned and it was dry. I wil order the meat again but definitely not samosas anymore. Sad, because I was ordering food from Taj especially for samosas.