Has anyone tried Ali Baba next to the Swenson’s on Nanjing and (I think) ShinSheng b[/b]?
AliBabas
Run by the same crowd who have the stall at Shilin Nightmarket- nice kebabs.
The restaurant is really quite nice and the indian food was as good as I’ve ever eaten anywhere else and more. So I’d recommend it anyday.
The last Indian place I visited (with my girlfriend) was Ali Baba’s on Nanjing E Road. Climbed the stairs to a restaurant that was dark, dank and smelled of mould. Greeted at a counter by a skanky-looking Taiwanese girl who didn’t even bother to smile, just grunted and handed us typewritten menus to look at. All of a sudden, some creepy-looking guy from the subcontinent appears by our side, and sticks his face about 6 inches from my girlfriend’s, and just stares at her. Suddenly the whole vicinity just reeked of BO. Yuk! Anyway, we quickly lost all appetite and high-tailed it out of there, vowing never to go back. :shock: A gross-out that won’t be forgotten quickly!
Monkey,
Thanks for the information. You mean that the restaurant did not live up to the glowing review in the Taipei Times? Imagine that.
Here’s the link to that review:
taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar … /11/201711
I like your review better, Monkey. Now I know a place to avoid.
Come to think of it, Curria was also praised in the Taipei Times. And Kunming has also been reviewed positively there. Wait a second-- had the TT ever run a negative restaurant review???
Well I think Ali Baba advertises (or used to) in the TT. I must admit, there is somewhat a difference of opinion 
between my impressions and those of Mr. Phipps.
[quote=“Quirky”]Has anyone tried Ali Baba next to the Swenson’s on Nanjing and (I think) ShinSheng b[/b]?[/quote]It’s on Ji-Lin and Nan-jing, right next to the ‘Pai-gu Fan’ place (formerly Swenson’s), across from the First Bank. I thought the NT$399 buffet was good… lot’s of tasty variety. Even my Indian friends liked it… saw other Indian folks there too. If they like it… it must be good. 
I’ll quote myself on this. And I swear I still smell the BO every time I walk past that place. 
I’ll quote myself on this. And I swear I still smell the BO every time I walk past that place. [/quote]Sorry to hear you had that experience. I may have been lucky… we were with Indian friends. Maybe that helped.
But I saw other groups there… Taiwanese families… white dude with his TW gf… etc. They seemed alright.
The food was delish… really.
[quote=“tiffany”]There seems to be more and more Indian restaurants opening up but they are about as authentic as the Irish pubs in Taiwan.
The Oberoi was appaling give it a miss!
Anybody know which is the best Indian
(in Taipei)?[/quote]
The only ones mentionable are the Tandoor and Alibaba . Alibaba is not exactly Indian (pakistani) but the food is closest to the North indian crusine…
Fools:
Messing with blueface on statistics. Hah! Eat your crow tikka masala.
Ate at Ali Baba’s today. Yuck. NT$700 per person no drinks. Food was very one dimensional. Chicken was on the bone and mostly bone.
This goes to No. 5 on the list.
No. 1 Tandoor
No. 2 Hindustan
No. 3 Himalaya
No. 4 Spice Store
No. 5 Alis
And there ain’t much else is there.
Ali Baba’s gets the 1.5 thumbs down.
Still too oily. AND the chicken was mostly bone. AND what is the bone doing in the dish anyway?
The vegetables tasted a bit fermented giving the dish a sour silage flavor. How long were they in the fridge I wonder.
All the curries are the same. Only the main ingredients are different. Doesn’t make for exciting eating. The naan and kulcha are pretty good but the kulcha is a bit doughy.
Pricewise, more expensive than Tandoor and Hindustan for less quality.
Overall somewhat disappointing.
Worst service I’ve encountered in a long time.
Arrived at about 5:30pm.
We were the first to arrive at the restuarant.
Only 1 waiter working. At around 6:00pm we noticed the waiter starting to take orders from people who arrived 10 - 20 minutes later than us. The guy completly ignored us.
We called the waiter over to take our order. He grabbed our menus and told us we could not order from the menu. He told us to order from the ‘set menu’
Our food came at about 6:15pm.
Food was very unexceptional.
Ordered rice. Did not come.
Table clearing girls/cashiers were arguing with each other when we went to pay the bill.
They charged us for the rice LOL!!!
I DO NOT recommend this restaurant !
Cannot say that we enjoyed Ali Baba’s either and it was 30 percent more expensive for what we ordered than similar venues. I think that if I were to go back I would stick to the tikka and tandoori (hot plate dishes) and avoid all curries. Then, I believe they might actually be pretty good. But I have to say the curries were all terrible.
fred
I tend to go to their stall infront of the shilihn nightmarket movie theatre… awsome food for cheap price…! 
[it dus not upset ur stomach]
I would keep away from this restaurant. I am Indian, went to this place with my Taiwanese girl friend. She and I thought waiter’s attitude was not right, food was really bad. We waited for 15 minutes for waiter to come and take the bill, finally we went to counter to pay. We saw middle-aged manager was scratching his crotch with great sense of satisfaction. He continued to do so when he took card from me.
As someone mentioned earlier waiter is really creepy.
This has got to be one of the shittiest restaurants we’ve been to in Taiwan.
WARNING: Avoid!
I went Ali Baba for dinner with my girlfriend. Felt the people serving us were not very polite; might even say rude & impatient. Food is expensive on the menu. My gf ordered a salad, 80 dollars. Guess what they bring: slices of tomato on a big plate, covered with lettuce. That’s it, 80 dollars. My dish has good Indian taste but didn’t seem much (a chicken curry). A very big part, one piece, was just bone! Finally they forget to bring our dessert. And the waitress does NOT say “sorry, I’ll bring it asap”. No, it’s more like, sorry, period. No desert for us. Then we decide to leave, and ask for the bill. Guess what, they counted the desert AND there was something we didn’t even order. I took a look at the bar: completely filled with dirty plates waiting to be washed; a big mess.
So… I’ve never encountered a restaurant like this and I will NEVER go back to Ali Baba again. I do not recommend it to other people to go there.
Forgot to mention something…
at Ali Baba total we paid 1200+ dollar. That is 600 dollar per person which is quite a lot in Taipei. An incredible screw up.
Also I want to add, those newspaper reviews have no value at all (Ali Baba in Taipei Times). They always praise here in the east, especially when there are “friendships” involved.
Was considering trying that that place out. Now I know not to go there.
I went once to that place, and it was enough. I won’t relate my experience as other posters have summed it up. I think the food at Tandoor is o.k. but it’s a rip off. For really good, reasonably priced Indian food try Cafe India in Tienmu instead.