128 W 3rd has had a checkered history as far as cuisine goes. Two Bombay Palaces, one awful diner, and now back to an Indian place again. Taaj, luckily, is not shabby at all.
Not that it's overly exciting either; this is another North India style restaurant, which doesn't make it that different from Spokane's other Indian spots, limited as that amount might be. At lunch they have a $10 buffet, while their dinner menu is large, with a good selection of vegetarian dishes.
The food is good, though not quite outstanding. Better than Top of India, not quite up there with Taste of India. Think a fairly standard menu for the most parts: You get your masalas and currys and all lovely they were. The lamb meatballs were excellent as was the saag. Heck, everything was good, it just wasn't that different from the norm. The naan was a bit more dense, certainly, but we're not talking huge surprises here for most of the main dishes. That's not a bad thing when the food is good, however.
With that said, the dessert might be Taaj's ace up the sleeve. Both the rice and mango pudding were fresh tasting and very refreshing. Seeing how most desserts just weigh you down, this was a welcomed ending.
Taaj has been open for about a week and is already showing great promise. Hopefully it will break the streak of it's predecessors -- I know we will be back at least.