Tandoor Restaurant

I used to love Tandoor. But lately, I feel like the food isn't even as good anymore. Service is a hit or miss just like the food. I would order off of the menu instead of the lunch buffet. Also, the decor makes you feel like you're in an Italian restaurant vs an Indian one.

I found myself in the area of 494 and Penn around lunch time for the second day in a row.  Yesterday I stopped in and one of the two good Chinese buffets in the Twin Cities that I am aware of, Hunan.  Today I felt like changing it up a bit so rather than hit Hunan two days in a row, I figured I'd check out Tandoor.  I'd been to Tandoor a few years ago though I didn't recall much besides that they had an egg curry on their buffet I really liked.  After today's visit, I should have just gone back to Hunan since they never disappoint.

The place was mostly empty when I arrived, though it was closer to 1:00 so I'd missed their lunch rush.  The waiter asked if I'd like something besides water so I requested a coke.  Never did get that coke, though in fairness, I really didn't need it and I didn't get charged for it.  I made my way up to the buffet and it looked like pretty standard Indian buffet fare.  White rice and veggie briyani, saag paneer (spinach and cheese), chana masala (chickpeas in sauce), yellow lentils and a few other veggie dishes.  On the meat side, there was the obligatory tandoori chicken, chicken madras, something called "chicken on bone" and egg curry.  I loaded up a plate with some veggie briyani, saag paneer, chaat masala and egg curry.  The egg curry was as good as I remembered it though the eggs were a bit rubbery.  I'm assuming that's a consequence of being in the steam table for a while so I won't hold that against them.  The saag paneer was good, lots of paneer and very flavorful.  The rest of the stuff was just so-so.  I went back for a second trip and this time tried the tandoori chicken.  Based on it's looks, I wasn't optimistic that it was going to be very good.  Indeed, it wasn't.  It was dry and pretty much flavorless.

All in all, I'll probably give this place a miss for future lunch visits.  The Yelp two star "Meh, I've experienced better" rating pretty much sums up the lunch experience.  That being said, I wouldn't mind trying them for dinner because I think they can do better.

Our favorite restaurant in the Cities. Simple decor but fabulous Indian cuisine.