Masala Hut — Restaurant in Parksville

After reviewing the menu online, I placed a take out order online and received a call from the restaurant asking if I could cancel the order because they don't receive any revenue for online orders? I was confused by the call, already paid online and did not have a way to cancel the order as asked. Quite an odd exchange and the person on the other end acted like it was my fault that I placed the order online. When I arrived to pick it up the owner or staff acted again like it was my fault for placing the order online and gave no mention for the appreciation of the extra tip I included on the order as a courtesy. Once I returned to my hotel I found that there were no napkins or utensils packed in the bag for use and the lamb coconut curry didn't come with rice? I have never had to order rice as an extra cost when ordering from every other Indian restaurant I have ever eaten at, which is a lot and covers a few countries. The lamb was good, but overpriced without including rice and to charge a small side of rice for $6 is crazy. So be aware that you shouldn't place an online order and that rice doesn't come with your meal and needs to be purchased separately. Personally, I...

We visited Masala Hut on June 17, 2025, after finding it on Google and reading some decent reviews. We decided to try the chicken biryani and lamb biryani, but honestly, we were quite disappointed with the food. It didn’t have much flavor, and overall it just didn’t meet our expectations ,though we understand it’s a new place for us, so we didn’t want to be too harsh about the food.

What really pushed us to leave a review, though, was the service. When the biryani was brought out, it was served in a serving bowl, but we weren’t given any plates to eat from. We had to ask for them, and even then, the plates we got were really small, not ideal for eating biryani at all.

We also ordered chai at the end, and the way it was served felt pretty unprofessional. The server brought both cups in one hand,holding cups on two fingers and had sugar packets and spoons in the other , no tray, no presentation. It just gave off an untrained vibe.

Overall, the experience left us a bit disappointed. If the service and small details like this could be improved, it would definitely make a big difference. Hoping the team takes this as constructive...

I thought I'd leave a review for balance, as we genuinely can't understand why other reviews are so positive. We've eaten a great deal of Indian food, mostly in the UK where there are many Indian (or Indian subcontinent) restaurants and we can afford to be fussy. Other than a decent samosa, the food we were served at Masala Hut was really sub-par. Mango lamb was an anonymous brown gravy and the mango component literally seemed to be a drizzle of mango chutney on the top - certainly no fruit in it. Shahi paneer was a few chunks of cheese floating in a similarly under-spiced sauce, this time orange - it looked basically like tomato sauce and didn't taste too much different. The naan bread was just OK.

I won't say too much about the service, as I don't want to be unkind to our server, who was clearly inexperienced and needs a bit more training.

Overall, this was a meal that felt like it was made without much effort. A shame, as we really wanted to like the place. The one upside is that it was...