The India Garden Restaurant

I used to love this place.  I would drag all my friends here.  I don't take anyone anymore, and barely myself.  I generally would hit the lunch buffet....but it's going downhill.  The flavors are gone, the freshness is lacking, the raita is milk with a carrot chunk, there's no paneer in the saag paneer, the tiki masala is soup, etc.  I so want this place to be good again.  I got chicken vindaloo carryout recently, it was bland too.  How can a spicy dish of so many spices be so bland?  So sad.  So disappointed.  I'm afraid to waste the money anymore.

I'm not Indian, but I cook Indian food at a fairly advanced level.  I go here quite regularly and generally enjoy myself well enough, but my main impetus to go is because it is so hard at home to make a great variety of Indian foods.  I really value that I can go here and try half a dozen or so items and get some solid naan and tandoori items (both hard to do at home).  I think that all of their offerings are really worth trying.  That said, the food is milder and somehow less intense than what I used to enjoy at Taj Cuisine when it was open, or what I make at home.  

My only caution for this review's assessment is that I've only tried their lunch buffets, so don't assume that the dinner menu isn't a few notches higher than the 3 stars I give here.

Edit (March 2013): I'm upgrading from my original 3-star to a 4-star rating.  The place is really very solid in the last year or so, at least, and I've never been less than happy with their offerings.  I've also taken to getting some of their items in the evening for take-out, and the quality is invariably very good.  This place has come a long way from when it first opened, several years ago (at which time I found their lunch buffet way too bland and weak).

Chicken in tikka masala wasn't tandooried...but had good sauce. I really enjoyed their rice pudding for dessert. I recommend not getting the malai kofta..we ordered it spicy and it tasted sweet. Also the service was pretty bad...very slow.