I finally got to try Maharaja last Friday. A friend and I went there for the "day-after- my-birthday". It was very disappointing. One of the main reasons I wanted to try it was because I had heard that lassi was included in the buffet. I love lassi and most places charge almost 2 bucks a glass so I can never afford to order a second glass, which I am always craving. (Although, most places make it way too thick for my taste so I can actually get 2 glasses for the price of one by asking for an empty glass and pouring half of the lassi into the 2nd glass and then diluting both glass with ice water.) In the case of Maharaja the lassi was pretty pathetic tasting. It seemed to be some sort of commercially produced mango lassi (not my favorite flavor to begin with, but I usually don't mind it). It lacked any flavor at all. Now, what I consider good lassi, and maybe it's because that was how I first tasted it, is the way they used to make it at Star of India around 1985 to 1990 approx. when I used to eat there on a regular basis - back when they actually had excellent food. (I stopped going there after about 5 years because the food quality declined.) Anyway, there lassi was not thick like a smoothy, it was the consistency of milk. It was just plain yogurt, lightly sweetened, lightly flavored with a touch of rose water, beaten till slightly frothy, and served with a sprinkling of finely chopped pistachios. It was a very refreshing drink with a mild tangy-ness and not too sweet to be a good thirst quencher. That is the way I like it. Every other Indian restaurant where I've had it makes it way too thick for my taste. And none of them have achieved the delicacy and refinement of the lassi at Star of India. (I wonder if they still make good lassi there?). So, the lassi sucked. The rest of the food was not that great either, for the most part. The buffet was quite limited and pathetic. The best thing on it that I tried was the tandoori chicken. It was pretty good although a lot hotter than I've ever had tandoori chicken elsewhere. The worst dish was the Rajmah, kidney beans in a creamy sauce. The sauce had no flavor and it was like eating plain kidney beans out of the can. The Mattar Paneer was too hot and either the heat obscured any flavor in the dish or there was none to begin with. The Chicken Tikka was okay but too hot. I like some heat in my food but I like to control it. I prefer the main dishes to be mild and then I add hot chutney to taste as I desire it. The Saag Aloo was nasty tasting - all heat no flavor. The naan was good. I didn't try the pakoras as they were made with cauliflower which I dislike. There were a couple of other dishes - all vegetarian, which I passed up. Basically the only meat dishes were chicken. That was disappointing. (India Garden in Monroeville usually has goat curry and some other meat dish.) For dessert I was excited that they had gulab jamun on the buffet and *warm* - boy do I hate eating it cold which is what you get at most restaurants when you order it off the menu, and then when you ask them to zap it briefly in the microwave to take the chill off, they overheat it and it comes back too hot to eat. Sheesh! The gulab jamun was nice and warm and the balls were tasty for the most part, although I did get one bite that tasted like baking powder that didn't get mixed in thoroughly. However, the syrup was overly seasoned with cardamom. That sort of spoiled it for me. The kheer was quite tasty, however. The cost of the buffet is quite reasonable these days - it's $6.99. I thought people were saying it was more like $11 or $12 on weekends when I first heard it mentioned here. Another friend of mine who goes there often said they have been lowering the price. Anyway, even though it's cheap I'm not planning to go back. Even at those prices the food is not worth it. And the service was almost non-existent and the guy to took our money at the register was downright rude and brusque. Another reason not to go back. I guess, I'll just have to make my own lassi the next time I need a lassi fix. I do make really good strawberry lassi. Yum! Kate
Pittsburgh, PA