22/40
Unfortunately, due to various commitments, our May visit (121st) was delayed until the end of the month, and although Leicestershire still has so many curry restaurants that we have not yet visited, I decided to stay relatively local for this one.
Syston has five Indian restaurants to choose from, and although the Taraj has been frequented many times by some of our members over the years, it has never had the official ‘Leicester Curry Club’ visit.
Taraj Palace is situated on the main Melton Road in Syston and has a small car park at the rear of the restaurant, there is limited on street parking although there is a large car park around 70 metres away. It has recently been refurbished and has had a change of ownership, so I thought now is the time to see how it rated.
On entering we were greeted by Naz whom was very welcoming, and although there is a small seating area adjacent to the bar (should you wish to have a drink and peruse the menu), we decided to go straight to our table. The restaurant has a number of booths (that seat four) either side of a large run of tables down the centre.
As soon as we sat down, we were offered drinks and of course the obligatory poppadoms/pickles. There are two draft beers available (Kingfisher and Cobra) and they also offer alcohol-free bottles of Heineken, if preferred.
The poppadoms were crisp/light and the pickle tray, in our opinion, was the best that we had experienced in our 11 years… it included dry coconut, onion salad, mango chutney, mint yogurt, lime pickle + others that were extremely enjoyable.. a great mix of flavours – Well done Taraj.
The Mains chosen were Chicken Jalfrezi (Madras), Garlic Chicken Satta, Chicken Tikka Biryani (Phall), Mixed Korai and Chicken Chana Saag… and of course one of our members likes extra Coriander. Our accompaniments were a Vegetable Pilau Rice and a Garlic/Coriander Rice along with a Cheese/Garlic Naan, Garlic/Coriander Naan, and a Plain Dry Naan.
Overall, the experience was mixed… a couple of our members enjoyed their meal, a couple said that theirs tasted powdery, a little bland and had no depth of flavour, and unfortunately one of our members did not enjoy it at all (as you will note in the score)… not only did he receive the incorrect accompaniments (twice), he also experienced another problem with his meal.
This may have been just a bad day for the chef, as we have definitely had better meals here previously… it was pleasing to see that Naz took time at the end of our meal to apologise for the misunderstandings and to offer us a complimentary drink… which was gratefully accepted by some.
The price was slightly higher than the average (around £27.50 per person including tip).
A couple of additional comments that we would like to make… other than Naz, whom was polite and friendly, the waiters seemed to be in a hurry and just wanted to put the food on the table as quick as they could and they lacked the customer service that is so important… they could be a little more attentive and friendlier. We were also surprised at being charged for the additional Coriander.
The score out of 40 on this occasion, based on the venue/surroundings/food/service/cost was unfortunately low at only 22.
Please note our reviews are personally subjective and isn’t necessarily what others may think or experience when they visit.