Taj of India - new in St. Charles - long

I found out about this place through a community coupon book that came in the mail. We have eaten at most of the Indian places in Naperville and thought we'd try something close to home and new. If you are familiar with St. C, this place is in a spot called Tin Cup Pass which used to house a great restaurant of that name but now has Gino's East, a Curves and a few other small store fronts. Taj of India sits about in the middle and right now is best found by the flags and banners out in front. It's a small dark space with very bare bones decor. There is a buffet steam table along the back wall, most places have a skirt around it but this does not and all the piping is exposed. A young woman warmly greeted us at the door and told us they were still setting up the buffet but she never offered us a menu. We really didn't ask, I'm still learning Indian food and still prefer a buffet. An older Sikh man, in turban, brought out the steam trays, at least we knew it was fresh. The offerings were a rice dish, a potato and eggplant dish, a mushroom and pea dish, a chicken in curry, chicken in butter, rogen josh (lamb) and vegetables in a light batter with curry. Sorry for no Indian names, everything was in English except the rogen josh. My vegetarian partner took rice, the eggplant/potatoes and the battered veggies. She passed on the mushroom peas because they were swimming in liquid and barely visable. I had the eggplant potatoes, rogen josh and the battered veggies. I later tried Butter Chicken. The potatoes and eggplant were excellant and very lightly seasoned. My first helping of lamb was good however it seemed there was a LOT of bones in the tray and if it had been cooked down that much, well, the meat was just not tender. My second helping of the lamb left a very strong lamb/grease taste that sat heavy the rest of the day. The Butter Chicken was interesting in that I could not describe what parts of a chicken these might be, the sauce was very good though. We had a nice platter of naan and refused the tandoori chicken, my partner would not eat it and it was served when we were nearly done eating, I was too full and it would have been a waste. The young lady who greeted us told us we were lucky to come when they first opened for the day and that everything was so fresh, that kind of made me cringe for what it's like later. Hopefully fine. To compare it to something in Naperville, I would say it's similiar to Indian Harvest on West Ogden only not as nice and not as many options on the buffet. I cannot comment on the menu and I suppose we might go back sometime to try menu items. I must say the owners/staff were very friendly and entusiastic and seemed genuinely proud of their place. I forgot to mention that there were 2 singular other dinners in the place who each came in after we did, this was around 12:15.

Taj of India
1554 East Main Street ( Rte. 64 - North Ave)
St Charles, Il
630-377-0116