Maharaja Indian Restaurant

DONT GO! I have never witten a review like this before but here you go… hair in food. Gross. Then when waiter was cleaning table he took papadam we did not eat (sp) off table and put back on the the serving table where they had baskets of them stacked up. Double gross. People are nice but did not make up for the health concerns. Will not go back!

Very delicious. Great service. The food doesn’t seem very fresh, as if they opened a package of Indian food from the grocery store, but it’s still very good, and reasonably priced.

According to the reviews, this place is very polarizing as to what experience people have. Personally, Ive never had a bad meal from here. The vindaloo is great, and they even followed through with my request of «make it so spicy my tongue melts». They have a very friendly staff, excellent food, and a good location, but their décor kinda blows. Cant be perfect I guess.

I’ve had my parents take me here a few times while visiting me at UConn. The restaurant is pretty quiet, I’ve never seen it crowded, but the food has always been great. Quick service, and good food. The prices are fine too. Awesome for when you want a place to sit down and get diner but not take forever

Different recipes from Wings Express, so each dish has a distincly different sauce.
We order off the menu and eat there and we’re consistently happy. Reccomend: chicken patina and rasmali for dessert.

I’ve never been to the actual restaurant but I’ve had Maharaja’s food at the Coventry Regional Farmer’s Market, the owners have a booth there. Every time I went to the farmers market which was often I’d stop and get food. The chicken tikka masala and basmati rice were absolutely delicious. I did have a samosa with a dipping sauce but was not crazy about the samosa, it was too greasy. Very nice staff, definitely need to go to the restaurant when I’m in the area.

Good size restaurant, small buffet but the quality is there. Chicken Masala was the best, the veggies are excellent as well.
It s a good place for an easy going family lunch with a bang for the buck.

Service is a bit iffy and it’s Definately on the expensive side but the food is very flavorful.
Not a place you would frequent but it’s a nice change from the normal cuisine.

Was in the mood for something spicy and flavorful and Maharaja did not disappoint in that regard. The mixed tandoori grill while flavorful was a little more than a wee bit over cooked. Lamb vindaloo was spot on, however. Like usual, the service is spotty but not horrendous. Naan was tasty and sopped up the vindaloo’s luscious sauce oh so well. Will certainly return and hope they step up their game!

A small but very tasty buffet! They do a good job of getting food out there’s and not letting things go cold. The host is very polite as well

I have eaten here a bunch of times now (at both lunch and dinner) and each time the service has been good and the food tasty. Good food, and nice to have an Indian place in Mansfield. Yes, the food is pretty much identical to Wings Express (in Storrs), but it’s nice to be able to sit down pleasantly and eat it in this new space.

Been here many times and never had a bad meal. Loads of great food for relatively little buck. Staff is very friendly. The last time we came (last night) we brought an ice cream cake, which they stored in the freezer for us, and then let us eat after dinner — for no extra charge.

Had a great take-​out experience! Service was friendly and fast. Food was delicious! Had the Paneer Tikki Masala and Chicken Do-​Piazza. «Medium» spice was spot-​on for the amount of heat we wanted. The jasmine rice was fragrant and perfect. Will definitely be back!

It’s still good. Some of it very good. The service is probably the only thing holding back another star. They try, they really do. But the wait staff seems to become easily distracted and you might sit for a while waiting for a water refill. Or your check at the end of the meal.
The food is actually quite good, especially the fresh garlic naan (absolutely required for dipping in all the wonderful sauces). The goat dish I had on our recent visit was better than the first time, more tender. It was a different preparation, but I have to assume they use the same goat meat for all dishes, so maybe they’ve found a better supplier.
The appetizer plate of assorted Indian goodies was a bright spot. Unilocal doesn’t allow half-​stars, but Maharaja deserves closer to 4 than 3, but still… when the food is good but you leave feeling bummed because of the service, I’ll vote to forewarn. Definitely try this place. Nothing else like it out here in the boonies. Enjoy your meal, just be prepared for a few glitches.

First let me say — most of the time I eat out, about 90%, is at Indian restaurants for their buffet. I’d rather make my own food, see the whole process, know all the ingredients, and save a lot of money. But the Indian buffet, how can I resist so much delicious food.
I just moved back to the area in the beginning of June, and I’ve already been to the lunch buffet at Maharaja four times. And I’m a connoisseur of Indian buffets… I lived in New Haven before this and I’ve been almost all of them… India Palace, Tandoor, Sitar… and I have to honestly assess Maharaja as above average for food quality, and far above average for service. It beats out India Palace and Tandoor easily and its on par with Sitar, which is also delightful.
Take it from a local: the service has improved dramatically! When you’re from a town as small as Mansfield, everyone has an opinion about every place. And I heard from friends and families of friends that when Maharaja first opened up, the service was totally lacking. This seems to be due entirely to the restaurant being understaffed.
Now? Even at the lunch buffet the service was almost overwhelming… giving us fresh naan, encouraging us to get dessert, constantly filling the water glasses. As «Dave G.» posted before «people don’t often review stuff unless there’s an incentive to, either to build stats, get reward points and such, or because they had a sub-​par experience». Well my ONLY reason for posting is because I want this restaurant to not be tarnished by reviews of those who haven’t been there recently.
As for the comparison to Wings Express… apart from not having to eat out of paper and styrofoam… Maharaja’s lunch buffet is FAR superior. I remember eating the lunch buffet once at Wings Express and it was so bland and unappealing it really made me not want to eat there again. I’d always enjoyed ordering take out from Wings Express, but the buffet was seriously lacking.
If you’re just ordering take-​out, by all means order from Wings Express. But if you want to sit down at a restaurant with service, with the food served in metal dishes and water served in glasses instead of plastic and styrofoam, or if you want to enjoy a far superior buffet, check out Maharaja! I just want this Indian restaurant to stay in business as I live 2 miles away! :)

What is the point eating here when it’s menu is basically identical to the wings express at Storrs? (So are the seasoning and everything else about the food, so they are probably owned by relatives or something like that)
What’s worse is that it’s 30−40% more expensive!
Most of the waiters are rude and impatient.
The food is worth 3 stars but everything else is worth 1. Only go there if it’s close by or that you are really carving for Indian food when wings express is too far.

Two things: no news is good news. People don’t often review stuff unless there’s an incentive to, either to build stats, get reward points and such, or because they had a sub-​par experience. There are a few social creatures, especially on a website like Unilocal,that might be the outliers to my award-​winning study listed above. I joined Unilocal several years ago for the reviews, mostly. I also like the color red.
Secondly, I grew up mostly in Africa. There were numerous Indian restaurants and stores, what with being a major trading port with the Indians in days of old. To pay $ 60 for 2 entrees, and 2 orders of bhajia and samosas is one thing. Its a totally different thing to not be given the time of day by the «staff» «working» on this night. It is average food at best, compared even to the Indian deli in Providence Place that has the best samosas this side of Mount Kilimanjaro.
I digress, to say the least. Poor service, average food, stellar (and not in a nice way) prices… you’d be crazy to NOT eat here. Maharaja, you are far from kingly, you are the parayar of Indian restaurants in New England. May the sun shine on people walking out of your restaurant with a dent in their wallet and a sour taste in the mouth.
Gourmet India, Providence Place Mall — 2 slammin salmons. uh, samosas, for $ 4.

There are a couple of things you should know about Maharaja. First, while my eating experience here was great, I’ve talked to plenty of people who really dislike it for a number of reasons (as fellow Unilocal Reviewer Ronald S. notes, you might want to check out the filtered reviews if you want a negative perspective on this restaurant). Secondly, the people who own this place are either the same people as (or relatives of) those who own Wings Express in Storrs. So, any talk of competition between the two eateries is moot.
I went to Maharaja back in late September one afternoon, just in time to catch the end of the lunch buffet. The food there was standard for what you would find in an Indian restaurant, but the price of $ 6.99 is truly unbeatable in this area of Connecticut. Not sure if the price has changed since I went.
Other reviewers are correct in saying that the service is a bit sub-​standard — at least given my expectations for service for buffets. There was certainly enough food at the buffet at all times, but they did seem a bit slow at taking our plates away and refilling our water glasses.
At the time that I went, it wasn’t crowded, and the way the sunlight streamed through the window blinds into the room was actually quite nice. So, I have nothing to complain about regarding eating atmosphere.
As I walked out, I had a chance to look at the made-​to-​order menu. SHEESH, those prices were expensive. In general, from what I’ve heard from other UConn students, the major complaint about this place is that if you order off the menu, the price you pay isn’t worth it for the food you get. But if you go for the buffet, I would beg to differ.

with all the weird filtered reviews it was hard to know what to expect and well. i was very happy that everything we ordered was great, the service was on top of things — keeping food coming and water glasses topped up. ambience was ok — one thing that irked me was the spotlight above the fan — it made a strobe effect that was somewhat hypnotic and nauseating at the same time, maybe seizure inducing in some.
vegetarian stuff was good. we had a samosa chat, veg biryani, and paneer tikka masala and the spice was nice, lots of flavor, not too hot.
good to know something like this is up here. (yah they own that wings place too)

Food was really good, they were busy but our server was very attentive and my water glass was never empty, a must for Indian food, price was average for the area sit down restaurants