Tanjore

I was treating a friend of mine and this was the place he suggested in Boston. I’ve heard from a couple of others about this place, and we thought of trying it out.
Firstly, I grossly overpaid for parking in the building right next to the restaurant (or it was the same building, I’m not really sure now.:P).
We went for the lunch buffet. I felt like the food was kinda bland, except for certain dishes, which were decent. In general, the food could’ve been a lot better.
Would probably end up going here again at some point though. :P

I’m solely reviewing the lunch buffet, which is really, really good and well worth the mere $ 10 you’ll spend per person.
The all you can eat lunch buffet includes both normal and garlic naan bread, samosas, chicken curry, goat curry, chicken tandoori, loads of sauces, some vegetarian options, and many other things that don’t come to mind right now or that I can’t spell. All of the items in the buffet are delicious with my favorite being the chicken curry with moist, succulent chicken in an exquisitely flavored sauce (I usually eat the curry atop the naan bread since the bread soaks up the flavor). The samosas in the buffet are very good as well as the chicken tandoori. There is desert available with the buffet and unlimited chai. The service is also very friendly.
Overall, I highly recommend the lunch buffet at this place and I will definitely return!

Very good food, both for dinner and at their lunch buffet, and lots of things from both the north and the south. They have really good idli, vada, and sambar as well as some other really interesting dishes as well. Very friendly staff, though the service can be a little slow when it’s busy so you can enjoy your food slowly, which makes it taste better.

I wouldn’t eat here again, even with a Groupon (usually the tell). The food was bland. The portion size was small. The Naan and the Samosa tasted good but the Chicken Khorma and Shrimp Curry didn’t have much flavor. Also, I felt the meat could have been better (less dry and overcooked — the shrimp was tough). Anybody who eats here and thinks it is good has never had good Indian food before. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

We ordered lamb korma and the lentils, with paneer naan. The naan was fresh out of the oven. Everything was good, although the lamb was a little tough.

The south Indian combo was not good enough. The medu vacation was small and looked like processed and out of the box. The idli was dry and chutney was cold. Very disappointed. Maybe their other dishes are good but I just had south Indian and it was not authentic.

By far the best garlic nan I’ve ever had! The food overall was fantastic — the palak paneer being my favorite (besides the nan). Cute atmosphere tables are a little close which made our party of 4 very aware of how loud we were being. They are often on groupon — check them out! We will be back!

My girlfriend and I ordered the vegetarian combo with an extra order of naan.
The lentil crackers and sauces (one was mint based and another was a semi-​spicy onion and pepper) that the server gave were quite delicious.
The naan was good and the main dishes were decent but lacked the complex flavor profile that I’ve come to love with wonderfully spiced Indian food.
We received our food within 5 minutes after ordering, which suggests the food had been made a while ago and was just quickly reheated. This is great if you want quick food and don’t have a terribly discerning palate.
The servers did a great job of refilling water and promptly taking our order as soon as we were ready. The servers were not unfriendly, but they did not smile at all either

Cambridge is pretty must a wasteland of Panera Bread. But this place is solid. Good food, good service, affordable prices. No nonsense atmosphere in the front room, though a large flatscreen in the back broadcasting all the guilty pleasure TV you can handle.
I did delivery once, it came super fast.

Delicious Indian food. Being an Indian myself, I can be a little picky sometimes. Not here. The papad was a great complimentary starter. I got the Chicken Tikka, which was delicious with the basmati rice. My friend got the chicken dosa and I was impressed. I LOVE Dosa, but it seemed a little expensive on the menu for what I thought you’d get. Nope, the dosa is huge and stuffed to a brim with chicken, will definitely try next time.
Best of all, it was a great deal because of the Groupon, I didn’t feel as if we were being shorted because we were using a Groupon, and I left a big tip at the end, like all grouponers should do.

Really liked their food! I had bhel for starters and then a South Indian combo with mango lassi– all pretty great. The waiter informed us in advance that the chutney would be spicy so that was a nice heads-​up. Overall, I’d recommend the place.

Great food. Great price. Best halwa in town.

Excellent food and service, and the portions were very generous. I went with friends with a Groupon coupon, and I will definitely go there again.

Best Indian lunch buffet ! Their goat curry is amazing! Rice pudding is great !
Great location, pretty spacious, Cheap and have lots of options.

Great food and service. Got a Groupon so was even better value. Ordered the Chicken Korma, Lamb Vindaloo and naan basket. Lamb Vindaloo was a bit spicy for us but otherwise everything was rich with flavors.

Great atmosphere. Attentive Service. Wide selection of foods. Outstanding

Tanjore is an ancient, culturally significant town in South India. I know this as I am from the area and I grew up with the aroma of some of the most delicious dishes from there. As I write this review, my taste buds tingle and my mind reminds if those dishes .
The namesake restaurant however could not be more far off from relating their cuisine to Tanjore. I went in there with the hope of bringing that nostalgia back but I was disappointed .
The buffet is more North Indian with just a Dosa as the pop riot from the South. The sambar, which is the most common side dish with the South Indian food made of lentils, was more like curry which so watery, like the Charles river was flowing through. It lacked the compassion and the sincerity with which a dish is made. The rest of ether items in the buffet were dull at best .
The price however is very reasonable and the Suji halwa was good .
I really feel they should consider changing their name from Tanjore restaurant and stop destroying the tiny hope that it creates amongst us.

Indian restaurant with an excellent and affordable lunch buffet.
We often go here for the lunch buffet, which is probably the best deal around — especially if you are a current undergraduate or graduate student. The buffet offers delicious appetizers like pakora, samosas, and dahi vada; great vegetarian options like saag paneer, masala dosas, and dal bukhara; and tasty desserts like kheer. There are also great options for meat-​eaters, though I’m less familiar with those. And they include unlimited amounts of chai tea in the buffet, which is wonderful after a bountiful feast.
The atmosphere is pretty casual, and it’s usually busy around lunchtime, but the service is friendly and attentive. I have yet to visit for dinner or order off the menu, but given how delicious the buffet food is, I’m sure it’s worth trying.

Reasonable pricing. Reasonable taste.
This is my first restaurant in the area. Able to find very easily.
Naan and paratha are good.
Biryani didn’t satisfy my taste buds.
Choose wisely

I stopped by Tanjore in Harvard Square for a Mango Lassi $ 3.95 ($ 4.23 after tax) to go. They poured it for me at the bar right away, but my initial silent reaction was, gee, that’s a small cup!
Yes, by the supersize American standards, it was a small cup. But it tasted fine and the smooth creaminess was plenty for me. Not the best Mango Lassi I’ve had, but it did the job and I found it quite acceptable.

Came here for brunch with my family and we all left extremely pleased! The samosas are part of the buffet, as is the Naan and chicken tikka massala. Most Indian places charge the naan and samosas at an additional price, but not the case here!
The food was a good amount of spicy and portions are very generous. The staff is quick to accommodate too.
Ambiance: small, family style restaurant. Very appropriate for the college population that surrounds it.
Located by Harvard square, so red line accessible, and every bus linked to that station.

I really can’t believe it’s taken me this long to try out Tanjore, but ever since Maharaja closed I needed to find another place in the square to get my Indian food fix. Tanjore is a bit tucked away in the back of Brattle Square, and the interior decorating is pretty plain. The tables and chairs are arranged very very close to each other, which makes for some cramped eating quarters, especially when everyone has their winter coats in tow.
I’ve only come here for the lunch buffet, but I have to say I was pretty impressed, especially for the price. For the ballpark of $ 10 you get a pretty good spread — there’s a good number of vegetarian options, and quite a few other goodies like samosas and dessert. There’s also a thermos of tea that you can get in itty bitty cups. Probably the best part is that the plain naan is a part of the buffet, so you don’t have to constantly flag down the waiter for more naan and out yourself as a gluten glutton.
Service was adequately attentive, especially for a buffet. It seems like everyone else in the area already knew about Tanjore because there was quite a crowd at the door when we entered.

Tucked away in a basement in prime Harvard Square territory lies Tanjore Regional Indian Cooking (TRIC). In keeping with the trendy tastes of those who tend to dine in the area, the décor is minimalist and modern, including custom track lighting and an excellent paint job. However, the decorations were not free of quirks, as one of the centerpieces was a «Last Supper”-type painting featuring an Indian lady-​Jesus figure with conical, Madonna-​like enhancements. Any heat generated by intense physical or religious thought was kept in check by the extremely aggressive fans overhead; and while we witnessed nothing, we can only presume that the chain-​mail curtain separating the kitchen from the dining area was strategically placed to defend against extreme behavior of every type.
Our culinary experience was a bit rocky at the outset, with hit or miss appetizers:
The samosas ($ 4) were good, albeit with a strangely uniform filling, like from-​the-​box mashed potato. But the chai ($ 2.5) was not free… and not good. The sambar was excellent, and was almost sweet. But the mango lassi ($ 4), while viscous, was too sweet and not tart enough. Things were a bit extreme on the bread end as well, unfortunately: the peshawari naan ($ 4) was virtually uncooked; the standard naan ($ 3.5) was burned; and the papad (not free, $ 3) was tasty, but not well cooked.
We fared better with the mains, however, which we painstakingly selected from the extensive, nearly NYC-​Greek-​owned-​diner-​length menu. The lamb korma was creamy, and the chicken dosa ($ 10.5) was appropriately soft, with excellent flavor. The chicken Xacuti ($ 14) was a savory mystery, with notes of coconut, nuts, and perhaps raisins. The eigendish (aloo gobi, a.k.a. gobi char chari, $ 12.5) had good cookitude and acceptable flavor; the Madras curry ($ 13) had good cookitude as well, and was even spicy!
Despite the numerous small-​scale missteps, we deem TRIC to be worthy of a four-​samosa rating at two-​rupee rates, surprisingly reasonable considering the location. One need not venture all the way to the city of Tanjore, a cultural center of South India, to sample the region’s culinary delicacies — TRIC brings a just sampling to the heart of Harvard Square.

Missing the still-​closed Maharaja, we ordered from Tanjore using mixmenu. Pow! Great stuff, as good as we’ve had locally. Chicken Saag was spicy without trying to prove something, without us having to say «make it good, by the way». Naan bread was good if not great. The samosas were also flavorful and pretty nice in texture even after delivery.
Tanjore has certainly unseated the other places we’ve tried to use in lieu of Maharaja. We will be ordering again soon enough.