Taj Grocers

Flies and maggots circling and sitting on onions. This is a food store, take care of this. How does one feel like shopping at this place, those who probably don’t care or know anything about health. Stay away!

I can’t return here because I’m pretty sensitive to incense and got an immediate headache that lasted the rest of the day after being inside the store only about 10 minutes. That incense is Kryptonite for customers, or at least customers like me who would not have survived the 20^th century without modern-​day medical advances. But I purchased some great spices here! And the employees were nice!

I was on a quest. A quest for Palm sugar. After three Asian markets, whole foods, and an Indian market failed me, I finally decided to settle for some jaggery, and– my usual Indian market having just shut down– stopped by Taj grocers for the first time.
I really like Indian markets. Like… a lot. Basically, international food shopping is like porn to me. Taj market was fine– standard fare of beans and ghee and microwavable meals that kick the shit out of Chef Boyardee.
My jaggery search was not in vain. They stocked at least four varieties and after my long struggle, it was a welcome success.
One thing really did stand out which prompted me to eagerly write this review: THE TVP (Texured Vegetable Protein). I’m talking TVP heaven, here, folks. crazy variates and sizes I’ve never even seen for prices so far below what you’d pay at an organic market that I won’t mention them for fear of causing tears to well in your eyes.
I remember the day, many years ago, when I was craving vegetarian tacos and just couldn’t locate any TVP to cook them with. I Unilocal searched «TVP» and. sadly. found no solace. I never want YOU to feel that horrible, tacoless pain. You’re welcome.

This store has a decent selection of items. It also has a selection of Indian vegetables. However, some of their items seem to be a little old and should not be on their selves. Especially the store prepared food they sell from behind the counter. Also, their costumer service suck! I have had couple of bad experiences at this place, so now I avoid this store and try to take my business somewhere else.

I’ve bought packaged items (Horlicks) from them that turned out to have gone bad. After that I noticed that a lot of their stuff is not fresh. Can’t speak for freshness of vegetables because I never bought vegetables here– same stuff is available for cheaper across the street or cheaper still at MT Market.

They have a good selection but we found that most of the (Indian grocery) items are expensive with some exceptions. The salesgirl or maybe relative of the owner gave us much attitude and was unfriendly. High prices + attitude is certainly why we would NOT like to shop there again.
If you are going to visit Dallas or Houston make your bulk purchases there for a lot cheaper, that’s what I plan to do. Austin prices are ridiculous these days anyway!

If you live in Houston or Dallas, Taj may appear to be a regular, small grocery store. For Austin though, it’s the best stocked Indian grocery in town. Fresh vegetables, great selection of Indian spices, basmati rice and other Indian cooking needs. Prices are reasonable. The only downside is the stretch of Lamar requires you to bring your driving A game…;)

The owners of this shop give Indians everywhere a bad name. Indians in Austin should pressure them to do business with the same honesty and goodness that other Indian grocers/​marts demonstrate around Austin and Cedar Park. Gandhi Bazaar is a much better bet. Gandhi Bazaar has superior customer service. Better said: Taj Import has zero customer service.
Case in point: When you buy ginger paste from them, open the jar, and it has a black mold ring (botulism is colorless but wouldn’t have been surprised if it was there as well), you can return it, but the identical jars are now magically a dollar more.
Is it true that they remove expiration dates? Absolutely. If it’s not a dry good, such as dal or spices or rice, you take your health in your own hands.
Additionally, I purchased a Revel food processor from Taj Imports. Worked fine for about 10 days or less. When I went to return it, the woman at the counter handed me a cell phone. As soon as I say «hello,» a man starts his litany of «no returnable.» He kept asking, «was it working when you left the store?» Honestly, I don’t know. When I left the store, I didn’t try it out as soon as I got the receipt. It worked when I got home. But it «died» trying to chop canned chick peas (already softened/​cooked). And since the receipt says «no warranty,» the ever louder, say the same phrase over and over like some bad B Movie actor, kept insisting that it wasn’t his problem. I didn’t ask for a refund. I asked for it to be exchanged. He kept repeating that no warranty means he’s not responsible for anything once you walk out the door.
To make matters worse, when the product was returned with all packaging, inserts, and receipts, the woman at the counter, who called the less than reasonable man, told him, «here’s another one.»
So they know the products die after a short period of time. But who cares. He got his money. Screw the customer.
Want good karma? Don’t do business with people like this.

I am writing these people on their customer service and friendliness. I came in looking for a product they did not carry. Instead of dismissing me, they carefully wrote down the name Freekah, and said they would look into obtaining this grain for me. They explained the history of their market and how they’d come over from India 1 year ago. I then asked them whether they were familiar with Unilocal and they said no. I explained to them what Unilocal was about and promised to list. I am hoping, since many people followed my listing, will give this market a stop and a friendly shout out!

Ever since I moved here from CA, the Indo-​Fijian in me has been on a quest to find the right spices. Yes a spicy quest! Taj has been on my list of places to checkout for a long time so on a Saturday, we finally ventured out there.
We ended up getting some naan, and fresh vegetables. Customer service was better than expected. We were told that fresh veggies arrive every Wednesday and Sunday, which is always a welcome bit of information if you like things fresh.
Having read Michelle C’s review, I could not help but smile. I love Asian markets and Indian ones. Incase you were wondering Michelle, the tamarind paste is wonderful with fish :) But as she stated, there are aisles and aisles of things. Rice, flour, snacks, biscuits, masala’s, lentils, beans, sweets, god/​goddess pics, little craved temples, mango’s, fresh vegetables, paneer, kulfi… to sum it up… LOTSA STUFF!
I love cooking Indo-​Fijian Cuisine and though we use less spices than our ancestors from India… we all love to shop at the same places! I will definately be going back here.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE. They sell expired products. In fact, they erase the expiration date on the products and sell them even after they are expired. This i have experienced myself and when i questioned the folks they just said that «Indian products don’t have expiration date. «that is bull shit because I am from India and I know that every product has expiration date!!!
You can buy any fresh veggies from this place. but I wouldn’t recommend anything in a jar.

I’m *completely* unqualified to write a review of this place, except from the standpoint of it being a pretty cool cultural experience. Because I literally knew what about three things in this entire store were — rice, mangoes and samosas. That’s it. Now I know how my husband must feel when we go to Asia Market.
Aisles and aisles of… uh…stuff. Indian food stuff. Powders and snacks and frozen things that I wouldn’t know what to do with if confronted with a bag/​box of it. I know someone knows what to do with it, though, as evidenced by the wonder that is Swad next door. I did get some interesting-​looking date & tamarind sauce (OK, so that’s a fourth thing that happened to be labeled in English) for $ 1.99 that I have yet to try. I also got a box of mangoes that must be some kind of mutant mangoes, because they are practically football sized. One of my coworkers has been bringing me mangoes from here and they are the hugest, sweetest, most delicious mangoes I’ve ever had. The ones I bought yesterday are green and hard as rocks, but I can see their potential. I know it’s in there. It’s working its way out of the green exterior in a brown paper bag on my kitchen counter. Oh, and did I mention it was $ 7.99 for a box of seven of these footballs? In the words of the immortal Smoove B: Damn.
If you’re in the know about Indian food, I recommend that you shop at Taj Imports and then invite me over to sample what you’ve done with your purchases!