Taste of India

Super awesome Indian food!
My favorite types of food have strong flavors that don’t beat around the bush. This place satisfies that need to the T.
Every dish I’ve tried has a strong and unique flavor. The meats are always tender and have a great smokey taste, the daals are super tasty and not heavy, naan is fresh and soft, raita is creamy and provides a good balance to the heavily spiced dishes.
This place also has an awesome lunch buffet that they keep fresh and stocked for the duration.
Nice waitstaff and management, the price and portions are always on point.
I need to eat here a lot more :)

Normally do take out with these guys. You get good portions for a reasonable price. I never grew up in a big city where there were multiple indian options. There’s always been just one and this place by far is the best for a small town indian joint. I’ve tried almost everything on the menu and it’s all good. Spicing heats never fluctuate and you can guarantee the same food each time. Eating there instead of takeout can be spotty and they will sometimes forget food items. In particular teas, so you may have to remind them. But if you’re looking for a good meal that you can count on being the same each time, Taste of India is the place to go.

Saturday night dinner buffet
What’s included: tandoori chicken, aloo curry, chicken tikka masala, spinach, lamb curry, mixed veggie fritter with chickpea tempura, basmati fragrant rice, naan, dessert

Absolutely love this place. It’s such a delicious restaurant with really nice staff. I would recommend Taste of India to anyone who loves Indian cuisine.

I was passing through Middlebury and stopped here for take out. Some of the BEST Indian food I’ve ever had!

Excellent Indian food if taken into consideration that you are in the middle of Vermont: they’re doing the best they can, and it’s pretty awesome at that.

Starting with the best part of my experience and working downward.
Food: We ordered two vegetarian thali combination plates, a chai, and a mango lassi. While I only received one thali and the lassi, both were pretty B+. We ordered the curries medium on the thali plate. I enjoyed the flavors and my wife loved the chana masala.
Prices were generally fair.
The lassi was a lassi.
Location: Middlebury is a beautiful town, and this restaurant is located in a picturesque alley off of the main street.
Service: The service was pretty much crap. I’m not quite sure who of the two women working was our waitress, but whoever they were, they were inattentive.
For example:
As mentioned above in the food portion of this review, they didn’t understand our order. I never received my chai, we only received one thali plate. The Lassi came long after our one thali. While I did not receive my chai, I did receive a tea with no masala. .. que? In their defense, they didn’t charge me for the non existent chai or thali plate.
we never had our waters refilled.
the food was not fast.
Would I return? probably not, though I have no strong emotion either way.

I grew up in London and love a good curry — we had a perfectly reasonable dinner here. Wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the mixed reviews — it was nothing to rave about for sure, but, nothing terrible. Would come again if I wanted Indian in this area.
Atmosphere wasn’t great as it was fairly empty (on a Saturday night there were only 3 other groups), but, wait staff were friendly and they had entertaining music.
Food was good — papadums didn’t seem super fresh but were tasty (have to order them from the menu not free), garlic and peshwari naan large and hot (and lots of garlic). Dahl makhani reasonable although not exactly what I was expecting — bit more runny than usual but flavor perfectly fine. We also had an eggplant curry that was good.
We had medium-​hot spice (usually would go for medium but sounded from reviews like the food would be on the mild side) and it was very edible — not too hot but enough spice.

5 stars all the way. Just discovered this place. Just a little hole in the wall down an alley in downtown Middlebury. But don’t be quick to judge! Once inside it is impeccably clean. Very friendly owners/​staff. You can even sit by the window for one of the best views overlooking the river. The food is phenomenal and comes out in a very timely manner. (I just wish the portions were a bit bigger) This place ranges from a great place to take a date, to a quick stop for lunch type of place. I can’t wait to try their lunch Buffett on Sunday’s!

Exceeded expectations and then some! Best misplaced indian rrstaurant ive been to. Better than most indian spots in NYC. Spiced well and cheap. If i lived in middlebury id definitely be a regular.
Note: i just found this review draft written from August 2012 but didn’t post it until April 2015.

College alumns returning for a quick weekend stay in town, was quite surprised to find an Indian place just off Main St. A very nice departure from all the American-​food places around, and just what Midd needs after Panda House closed down (nooooo!). Also, shows you how long it’s been for us if we’re referencing Panda House!
I’ll get the good stuff out of the way: The staff here were very nice. Just the right amount of friendly and accommodating without being overbearing. Our water glasses were constantly being refilled, a necessity since that onion chutney packs quite the delightful wallop!!! Our orders came out in record time. Perhaps a bit too quick, as my date was still trying to finish off her samosa and didn’t even get to the pakoras yet. But no big deal. The lamb vindaloo had great flavor, if lacking fire. And the biryani was good, too, although not excellent. Still, a very serviceable meal and worth the price.
In addition to the vindaloo being disturbingly kick-​less, the big detraction came in the form of the naan, which was strangely dry, brittle, and lacking any taste whatsoever. I’m used to softer, more «garlicky» garlic naan, I suppose.
Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t so bad as to destroy our dining experience. I still like this place overall, and would actually go back again. I just might try a different bread option next time, and perhaps slather a lot more of that «hellfire» chutney (my name for it) onto my meal as taste prescribes. Welcome addition to the Midd dining scene! I sincerely hope they stay in business and don’t go the way of our beloved Panda House!

Best service ever! Sweet little family run business where they always remember your face. And great Indian food considering this is in Middlebury vt! Honestly every time I go to nyc I look for a new Indian food it always disappoints or its far over priced and I always end up thinking to myself ‘please let me go back to vt our food kicks butt’! A couple of these reviews are shitty but take my word it’s worth it especially if you live in the area!

The fact that this is the only choice for Indian between Rutland and Burlington has apparently been taken by the people who run this place as a license to be mediocre.
I love Indian food. Really, truly love it. If this place were actually good, I’d be a once-​a-​week regular. But it just isn’t. And that gives me a big sad.
Results of a recent dinner:
— Chutneys — quite excellent, actually. The onion chutney had real fire. But no papadams?!?
— Samosas. Quite good. The dough was a bit too thick, but the filling was well-​spiced, and it was not at all greasy.
— Rice: came out cold, and clumpy, and very plain. Throw some frozen peas and cumin seed into the mix, people!
— Chicken vindaloo: Zero, and I mean ZERO, heat. Just a thin, vaguely vinegary sauce, with dry chunks of chicken breast. An insult to Goa.
— Saag paneer: Good texture, but unbalanced flavor, completely dominated by an overabundance of cardamom.
— Malai kofta: The sauce was very good! Lots of cashew and big chunks of plump raisin, really well done. The koftas themselves were poor. Just lumps of breading, as far as I could tell, and way, way salty.
— Shrimp mango curry: I should have known better than to try. This was not even Indian food. A scant quarter pound of tiny shrimp, in a sweet-​and-​sour sauce that they may have taken from Panda Express. Oy.
— Aloo paratha: Umm. did they forget to tell the chef that this is a bread stuffed with spiced potato? I think they may have put a plain naan on top of a bowl of boiled potatoes for half an hour, and served that — there was a hint of potato, like there’s a hint of vermouth in a dry martini.
I’ll eventually come back for another try, but it won’t be any time soon.

I’ve certainly had worse. Portion is shy of filling, but quality is adequate and service friendly. I enjoy the ambiance. They do make excellent naan, all varieties $ 3 and under.

This place serves seriously average indian food. I honestly think Sabai Sabai has better curries. All of the dishes basically taste the same. That being said, if you want Indian food in Middlebury, VT, you don’t really have an option.

Taste Of India is a bastion of the exotic in rural New England. I have dined here numerous times and the food is consistently delicious. My favorites are the Paneer Pakora, light and tasty without being soggy or saturated in oil. The lamb Shaii Korma is perfectly spiced and melts in the mouth. The breads are made to order and arrive at the table piping hot. The Aloo Paratha bread filled with potatoes and peas is not heavy at all. Other favorites include the lamb sagg and the many vegetarian selections to choose from. The owners are always friendly with good service.

Love this place great food and great service. One of the best restaurants in Middlebury

I heard this place was leaps and bounds better than other Indian restaurants around these parts, but I can’t really agree with that. It’s just different, but the quality is about the same. Things I didn’t like about my meal were super greasy poori and the curries were too heavy with creaminess and had no heat. They did, however, have the best mango lassi hands down.

Went on a rainy day as a group. Had a mild chicken curry, a spicy chicken vindaloo and a spicy lamb special, naan bread and sweet lassi. All dishes were spiced as ordered, rice was delicious, the common condiments seemed homemade (?), either way: way better than in most places, especially tamarind sauce and raita. Lassi was good, not too sweet. Everything we had was very good and not overwhelming. Naan bread not what I expected, because not fluffy but more cripsy and flatter, not bad though, and they offer a whole range of breads, which we did not try (that would be interesting next time!).
Can’t relate to the Japanese kid who’s food wasn’t spicy enough, ours was pretty spicy, and we eat vindaloo in UK (have you tried to live through that?) but who knows what he is used to, possibly he runs around with a scotch bonnet in his pocket to nibble on occasionally during the day. I only wish someone would tell him that China is not India, and they cook really different dishes, maybe next trip abroad should be culinary research in India?
One thing seems rather obvious: whoever wiggles the spoons in the kitchen went actually to school for that, this is not simply «my mama taught me», (although that too can be great!)
Prices are not low, but average (never seen an Indian restaurant in US that was actually REAL CHEAP, unless it is buffet style). Service was polite and fast, got complimentary appetizer, which was excellent (hey, did they notice we were first time customers? 5 stars alone for paying attention!)
Decoration is nice, interesting paintings, several of them depicting voluptuous ladies kneeling in front some dashing guys in the desert. I lack the Indian art history/​mythology to know whom they actually depict, but that too would be an interesting question for the next visit.

3 ½ STARS
This is the only Indian restaurant in this small college town & it has managed to survive for several years. The service has greatly improved from what it used to be and the food is just fine.
We had the Chicken Tikka Marsala, Tandoori Chicken & Naan to go and we were quite happy with everything.
Downers? The ambiance has the feeling you are dining in your cellar, so it is best to get your dinner to go, and the parking situation is about as bad as it can get in Middlebury.