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  • Cafe Taj

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Cafe Taj
Cafe Taj

Cafe Taj Details

  • Dining Style: Fine Dining
  • Website: http://www.mycafetaj.com
  • Phone: (703) 827-0444
  • Hours of Operation: Dinner: Sunday - Thursday: 5:00PM - 10:00PM Friday & Saturday:5:00PM - 10:30PM
  • Payment Options: AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
  • Cuisine: Indian
  • Dress Code: Casual Dress
  • Accepts Walk-Ins: Yes
  • Additional Details: Beer, Full Bar, Late Night, Non-Smoking Restaurant, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Takeout, View, Wheelchair Access, Wine, Wine Bar
  • Catering: Call us for details

Getting there

  • Cross Street: Old Dominion Drive
  • Parking: Private Lot
  • Parking Details: Garage Parking
A word from Cafe Taj
Cafe Taj Restaurant was established in 1992. The atmosphere at Cafe Taj is casual and inviting, offering fresh food with a friendly and attentive staff. Food at Cafe Taj is prepared fresh daily. Cafe Taj offers an extensive wine and beer list and a fully stocked bar.Creamy curries, rose and… cardamom-scented sweets, fragrant grilled meats and seafood cooked in tandoor making it Low Fat .Lamb chops, aromatic with spices, the flavorful chicken and the smoky salmon.Continued
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Diner Reviews
  • "Great to find a good restaurant in McLean. We enjoyed the meal - nice flavors, although the dishes that the waiter said were spicy, really weren't. The Naan with the fruit and nuts was very good. Service was attentive and accommodating. Café Taj will definitely be on my McLean rotation when meeting friends."
    Dined on 7/21/2014
  • "The waiting staff were awesome and very attentive. The food was solid and the Resturant staff gave us several things to try at no cost!"
    Dined on 3/6/2014
  • "Great food and service. Will definitely go back again."
    Dined on 11/9/2013
  • "Tasty yummy Indian food. Enjoy spicy dish. Mild dishes are particularly flavorful."
    Dined on 10/28/2013
  • "It was a week night 8:30pm & my friends wanted Indian food. I was introduced to Cafe Taj by an Indian friend & I enjoyed it, so I suggested it - it's in my McLean neighborhood & open till 10:00. Ordered butter chix, a shrimp dish & an eggplant dish & usual nan. Chix was okay, but disappointing - didn't taste smooth & a bit sour. Shrimp & eggplant dishes were tastier - all served w/Basmati rice. Just after 9:00 we decided to split the mixed grill. They weren't thrilled & even tried to dissuade us from ordering cause it would take "at least 30 min," but we did & it wasn't 30 min & was the best dish. Overall, about average incl. wait staff - nothing special. Nice menu selections, but I felt a bit too expensive. Portions were mostly sufficient."
    Dined on 9/11/2013
  • "We ordered the two entrees...but the sauces, tasted much the same. One was ginger chicken, one was curried shrimp. Both also looked like the same sauces. We had to pay $4 extra for the shrimp...not worth it, as portion was not small. We ordered Naan and expected a charge for that, but the raita sauce is also an extra charge. Restaurant was very empty, which is a shame. Could have been so much better. I'd like to return, but I suggest they do some menu choices that reflect different sauces."
    Dined on 8/15/2013
  • "A good Indian restaurant with no pressure wait staff. Perfect for a relaxing night after a long day/week of work."
    Dined on 6/14/2013
  • "I wanted to take my wife someplace different for Mother's Day. I had spent far too much money on 2 dinner's for her birthday 3 weeks prior. The Goal? No place generic and the meal has to be under $100.00 - Cafe Taj fit the bill nicely. Very, very good food, the place was fairly quiet and filled with couples at 7:30 on a Sunday evening, which I thought was awesome! The staff is friendly and they make sure you have enough of everything. I will add... In their market area, they would fair better and gather another grouping of customers, by simply updating their decor. Switching from plastic flowers, to live flowers or plants adds a special flare. Overall, a good experience and I'd be willing to return."
    Dined on 5/12/2013
  • "I ate here for the first time. I am pretty knowledgeable about Indian food. I ate at dozens of other Indian restaurants. I don't remember too many of them being better than Cafe Taj. In addition to delicious food, service was wonderful. Personally I loved the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Paneer dish that we tried for the first time(I think it was the Shahi Paneer). We also ordered Bread Basket, which was awesome. Overall a great experience. I would love to go back sooner than later."
    Dined on 3/26/2013
  • "I absolutely loved this place. I really enjoyed my meal, it was a great mixture of delicious food, great service, generous portions and good prices. We would definitely be returning soon!!"
    Dined on 3/9/2013
  • "What a disappointment! This place used to be fabulous, but something changed. Every single morsel, from appetizer to bread to entree to dessert, was grossly overcooked. Fried appetizers were dark brown and even black on edges. Naan was charred to crispness on the bottom. Butter chicken, their longtime star, lost all of its subtle spices and was nothing but dry chunks of chicken in what tasted like canned tomato sauce. Waiter was sloppy and inattentive, even though we were the only ones in this usually lively neighborhood restaurant. Didn't wipe crumbs from table between courses, didn't offer to replace dishes that were left untouched they were so bad. This was a regular haunt for us, but won't be going back."
    Dined on 3/4/2013
  • "Nice to have a good local Indian restaurant, but the food is not as good as it was in the early days (over 15 years ago!)"
    Dined on 3/2/2013
  • "Lamb was so tough I could not chew it. Some pieces were only mildly tough. The management shrugged its shoulders at this. Not the reaction one might hope for from a responsible restaurant. In the future, if we return, it will be chicken tika masala. That's pretty good at Taj."
    Dined on 1/20/2013
  • "We had a large party of 7. I had made a reservation through Open Table for 5 and that was confirmed. During the week, we added 2 to our party, so I called the restaurant to add those 2 to the reservation. That was confirmed by the restaurant. But when we got there, they did not have my reservation and had to scramble to accommodate us. I am not sure what happened to my reservation. The food is always great here, but they are a bit short staffed for a Saturday night, so the service was a bit slow. It was okay for us because it gave us time to visit. I am sure that the unexpected group of 7 added to that. But this is truly a neighborhood gem-delicious food and friendly atmosphere."
    Dined on 1/19/2013
  • "When my daughter and I went into the restaurant I told the waiter that I had a reservation, it seemed like he did not know about opentable. He just seated us. The waitress never introduced herself nor did she say welcome. She tossed our napkins onto the table each time she filled the water glasses. From that point we could not stay. We were hoping to have indian food that evening, but I guess it was not going to happen."
    Dined on 1/11/2013
  • "The Food is always wonderful here. But this time, though I had booked through Open Table and had requested a window table, we walked in and a lady working as a waitress told us that we could not have the larger window table. This seemed odd insofar as the restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived. I find it difficult to eat at the small tables when you order several dishes as the space is very limited. But right away, when we uttered our dismay, another waiter came over and offered us the table we wanted. So the situation was quickly corrected. After that, all was well, the food was wonderful and the service was good. I had never seen that woman there before, so perhaps she was new and did not know the ropes yet. Perennially good here."
    Dined on 11/17/2012
  • "Food excellent, service good, but food preparation very slow."
    Dined on 10/20/2012
  • "Maitre'd not very accomplished, I am not sure he had been one before; the service wasn't all that great; food was good."
    Dined on 10/19/2012
  • "Poor food...everything tasted like brown gravy. I won't return."
    Dined on 8/16/2012
  • "Food and Service were both very good. Appetizers were really good and we tried several dishes. Bread was not as good as other places I have had which was a bit disapointing. Salmon was a huge portion actually and was good but not as spicy as I would have hoped."
    Dined on 8/4/2012
  • "Some food was cold, but flavors were good. For a relaxed casual night out it was good. Ambience is more fit for lunch or a cafe atmosphere."
    Dined on 7/20/2012
  • "We were a little disappointed this time. Have had better meals here. Tried fish for the first time and ordered the salmon masala. The sauce was good, but the fish was dry and overcooked."
    Dined on 7/7/2012
  • "Cafe Taj is a nice place for the McLean, VA neighborhood. The food was good, the ambiance quaint and the waiters friendly. However, this place is better served for lunch and not dinner."
    Dined on 7/3/2012
  • "I had last been to this place in 2006 and was pleasantly surprised that it was as good as it still is. I really enjoyed the butter chicken and the chicken tikka. The rice was delicious as was the Naan (bread). Also, the service was very good. I'll be back. PS: My Wife is Indian and she liked it very much."
    Dined on 6/24/2012
  • "I like Cafe Taj but they are short-sighted, especially for a restaurant that needs to build it clientele. With the onion culcha a small container of riata was served. (Riata is that yoghurt dip for the bread.) I wanted a little more and they brought a small container of it. They then charged me $2.99 for that! I questioned the charge and got a runaround, which is a skill at that place given there were only 3 people working there -- none the boss! This little charge makes me NOT recommend Cafe Taj. Trivial? Yes! Annoying? Yes, enough to consider competitors."
    Dined on 6/23/2012
  • "The food at Cafe Taj was very good and was prepared in a timely manner. We were happy to sit outside and that proved to be a good experience. The ambience was quiet. The service at Cafe Taj is excellent. Never intrusive, but, always available to meet our needs."
    Dined on 5/25/2012
  • "great Indian food. Outdoor patio is nice and quiet"
    Dined on 5/19/2012
  • "Very good food at a reasonable price. I had the lamb vindaloo and it truly had a quick, when they say spicy they mean spicy"
    Dined on 5/19/2012
  • "This was my first taste of India. The food was delicious, the staff were so helpful explaining dishes , and they had both northern and southern dishes."
    Dined on 5/4/2012
  • "Good location, easy parking. Attentive staff. However, food was only so-so. Butter chicken was dry."
    Dined on 3/10/2012
  • "Food was so-so. Service was horrible. We had to wait an hour to get what we had ordered. I think that they had forgotten us and put in the order after I asked where our food was. The couple next to us were arguing most of the time, so that added to our frustration. Probably should have just left when did not get served promptly. Don't plan to go back. Sadly, the last time we went to Cafe Taj, about a year ago, both service and food were good."
    Dined on 3/9/2012
  • "Our trip to Cafe Taj started out on a sour note when we were greeted at the door. Although we had a reservation and the restaurant had many unoccupied tables, we were directed to a table just a few feet from the entrance. On a cold rainy night, this was unacceptable and I requested another table. The staff person who greeted us did not make us feel welcome. The food was tasty so I gave them 2 stars instead of 1. There was a smoky atmosphere in the dining room that probably came from the Tandoori oven in the kitchen. My husband who has asthma said that it gave him a choking feeling."
    Dined on 3/2/2012
  • "Basic Indian food is good. Menu should be more creative and diverse, including desserts."
    Dined on 2/17/2012
  • "The Cafe Taj is a nice neighborhood restaurant for us. However, we were a bit disappointed in the food when we went on Valentine's Day. The lentil soup was watery and tasteless. We complained and they made a new batch, which was slighly improved, but not a nice, thick soup that we had hoped for. The service is very good; the ambiance is nice and overall a good value for the money. We will return, but we're more impressed with the lunchtime buffet than the dinner."
    Dined on 2/14/2012
  • "Fabulous food, and the service, which has been spotty in the past, was very good. I recommend this restaurant."
    Dined on 2/11/2012
  • "The food was very good. The service was a bit slow."
    Dined on 2/7/2012
  • "The service was awful. However, the vegetarian curry I had was amazing."
    Dined on 2/7/2012
  • "We were not very impressed with the food at this Restaurant. The food was bland and it appeared that the meats were simply coated in sauce instead of being slow cooked in the sauce. The lamb was very tough. I want my Indian food to have a bit more of a kick with tender slow cooked meats."
    Dined on 2/4/2012
  • "Food was very good, but service was a little spotty."
    Dined on 2/3/2012
  • "We had a wonderful dining experience the other night. Hope you guys don't change. Thanks."
    Dined on 2/1/2012
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