Tiffin Udupi Palace Takoma Park

Address

Tiffin

1341 University Boulevard East
Takoma Park, MD 20912

Other Maryland Indian Restaurants

Tiffin Takoma Park: Disappointing Indian Food, Poor Service

A few years back we had a nice meal at Udupi vegetarian restaurant in Takoma Park, MD.

We wanted a repeat of that experience but, alas, Udupi which was primarily a South Indian Vegetarian restaurant has been demolished.

And Udupi is now part of its sister restaurant Tiffin which used to serve both non-vegetarian and vegetarian food.

What a Shame.

Although our hopes were high as we entered, our meal at Tiffin/Udupi was mostly a disappointment (with a few exceptions) and we left vowing never to return.

Horrible Chicken Biryani, Burnt Tandoori Chicken, Oily Chicken Curry

Folks, rarely has such awful tasting Chicken Biryani as placed by Tiffin on its buffet table touched our lips.

There were multiples issues with Tiffin's Chicken Biryani.

First, the chicken Biryani was a weird, pure white color with brown color chicken pieces thrown into it.
Second, the Biryani masala had not seeped into the rice and Chicken.
Third, it tasted as if Chicken was mixed with cooked Plain Basmati rice and rushed out of the kitchen rather cooking the Biryani spices, rice and Chicken together.

The end result for the paying diner was an inedible disaster of epic proportions.

While Chicken Biryani lacked any flavor, Tiffin's Tandoori Chicken was a burnt mess. The Tandoori Chicken looked yuck with its ugly red color and black burnt patches. And to make matters worse, Tandoori Chicken was not sufficiently marinated and was dry rather than juicy.

Chicken Curry set in a thin watery sauce was a red colored oily mess. The red color oily texture of the sauce robbed us the pleasure of enjoying the tender Chicken pieces in Chicken Curry.

Watery Bhindi Masala, Awful Alu Lima Beans

Bhindi Masala and Alu, Lima Beans with Mushroom were total disasters.

Bhindi was not tender, way too watery and lacked the nice flavor of a good Bhindi Masala. Alu with Lima Beans and Mushroom had an awful smell and taste and we just could not muster the courage to eat even a second spoon of this repulsive mess.

Mixed Vegetable Curry with Cauliflower, Alu and Beans tasted more like Vegetable Kurma with strong garam masala smell and taste.

Yellow Dal was medium thick with a strong flavor of garlic and we enjoyed it by drinking it like soup as well as with plain rice.

Palak Paneer was leafy unlike in most Indian restaurants. Spinach in Palak Paneer in most Indian restaurants is ground to a fine paste. Tiffin's Palak Paneer was leafy and we enjoyed it with bread as well as plain rice

Tiffin Takoma Park - Chewy Batura, Good Channa

The Batura that accompanied the Channa was rubberry, hard and chewy, It was so rubbery that we had a hard time cutting it even with the steel knife.

The medium thick Channa Masaala was flavorful but we really could not enjoy it as the Batura was bad.

Crispy Vada, Soft Idli, Good Masala Dosa, Awful Sambar

Vada was crisp, hot and tasty with green chilli and black pepper seeds seasoning. It was so good that we took a second helping.

Idli was hot, soft and fluffy and gave no room for complaint. But the accompanying carrot, yellow pumpkin, squash sambar ruined our Idli experience at Tiffin. You see Tiffin's Sambar was watery without any evidence of toor dal being added.

As if the watery texture was not enough, the thick layer of red chilli powder floating on top, with near absence of tamarind and sambar spices made it yuck.

Mercifully, the other accompaniement cold Coconut Chutney was flavorful. Coconut Chutney was thick, spicy and amply compensated for the horrid sambar. Ditto with cold, watery Green/Mint Chutney which was again flavorful.

The medium size Masala Dosa was crisp with tasty potato filling and we enjoyed it with Coconut Chutney and Green Chutney.

Mango Mousse or Mango Juice?

For desserts, we tried Mango Mousse. The texture of Tiffin's Mango Moose was so thin that we wondered whether it was Mango Juice or Mango Moose.

It was bland and had no taste absolutely. Another disappointment.

Excellent Madras Coffee

To rid our palate of the bad taste in our mouth after eating the horrible Chicken Biryani and Burnt Tandoori Chicken, we ordered a cup of Madras Coffee. In retrospect we made a mistake in not ordering two cups instead of one.

The foamy, fresh Madras Coffe came piping hot to the table. Coffee was strong and had nice flavor.

Horrible Service

Our table had no table cloth or table mat. There was a paper napkin and a knife placed directly on the table by the side of napkin.

Though there were around eight waiters moving around hither and thither they never cared to provide silverware to everyone in our group until we asked them about the missing forks and knives.

Water glasses were placed upside down. Leaving the silverware directly on the table and keeping the water glasses upside down are not good hygiene practices as chemicals are used to clean the tables.

The waiters were all busy moving around with empty trays in hand but never cared to remove the used plates nor fill the water glasses. In fact, at one point we got sick of the big pile of used plates that we just dumped them to a clean table next to us.