Masala Zone Piccadilly Circus — Restaurant in London

Beautiful decor & stunning pieces of furniture. Staff were mostly friendly but the waiter who took our order wrote nothing down, when we asked why, he said he didn’t need to. As a result we did not receive our starters. So our mains arrived & when we asked for our starters, we were told they were not on our order. When we explained they were indeed ordered & it was a mistake of the waiter, there was no apology, we were only asked if we still wanted the starters. So our starters subsequently arrived as we were more than half way through our mains so we ended up not really eating much of them. Eating starters on a full stomach & the total lack of response by the staff definitely marred the experience. The food was very tasty but not sure I would visit again.

30/04/24 response:

The date & approximate time of your meal? Tuesday 16th April, our table was booked for 7pm.

The number of people at your table: The location where you were seated in the restaurant: if facing, the restaurant on the left towards the rear.

The dishes you ordered:  From memory;  Starters:  Bombay Pao Bhaji, Lamb Sliders.  Mains: Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Tikka (dry no sauce) and think the third main was either the Chettinad Chicken Casserole or the Chicken Mangalore.  With drinks our bill came to £57.57 each between the 3 of us.

A description of the waiter/ress who served you? We were served by at least 3 different members of staff, the person who took our order was a young Asian gent.

Incidentally, did you speak to the manager? We told 1 member of your team that our starters had not arrived. He went away to check and then returned to advise that our starters were not on our order. We clearly explained to him that we did indeed order starters and that our waiter wrote nothing down. At this point there was no apology, we were only asked if we wanted to reorder our starters and we said yes because we were initially excited to try them. I think a second person came to retake our order, this time entering everything into a tablet. A third gent then eventually brought our starters & he could clearly see that we were halfway through eating our mains also because there was hardly any space on our table. So, at this at this point at least 3 members of your team were aware of the error to our order and in my opinion as a seasoned diner, if any of them had deemed or been trained that an error such as this was important enough they would & should have mentioned it to your management. So the handling of it just gave the impression that this was not a big deal to your team which did put me off from pursuing it any further. At this point we were just keen to finish what was a very tasty but haphazard meal and leave. I should reiterate that we had no other complaints, the staff were friendly and at the start of our meal when ordering my fellow diners and I loved the touch of being offered a small sample of a couple of dishes to help us to decide which one to order. The handling of our incorrect order is the...

We were on a 10 day trip to UK and visited Masala zone as we were in the Picadilly Circus area. After a wonderful 9 days in UK, I really wished I had not ruined it by going to this restaurant.

The decor and the ambience is quite nice and when we walked in we were quite excited to enjoy the cuisine. This was high point, everything else from there on spiraled downward.

1. The wait staff was highly unprofessional. They love talking down to their customers and ensure that we felt like what we were ordering was not up to their standards.

2. They have a "Sharing Grazing selection" which involves ordering 5 or 7 small plates of appetizers. We wanted to get 1-2 of these as we were a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids). The wait staff insisted that each person has to get one plate otherwise they wouldn't take the order. This is the dumbest thing I have heard in any restaurant. Why would I want to order 4X quantity of an appetizer? So we ended up skipping it all together and went directly to the main course.

3. If you are a vegetarian stay away from this place because they literally have 3 choices for entrees and no daal (it's provided as only a small side). Which Indian resturant doesnt have daal for an entree? We ordered the Delhi curry, Unripe banana kofta curry and paneer tikka. We also ordered a veg biryani for a rice dish along with Naan and Chapathi

4. Here in came the next issue. The waiter categorically refused to alter spice level of the food even though we had 2 kids with us. The unripe banana kofta curry was ok but the Delhi curry was so subpar in flavor and taste. The paneer lacked any flavor and it was not well grilled at all.

5. Portions were terrible. The Delhi curry was literally 4-5 tablespoons and the Paneer tikka had 4 triangles of 1 inch paneer.

The biryani was the only saving grace with respect to flavor (portion was still small).

At the end of it all we spent nearly $150 USD, left half full and really didn't appreciate the ridiculous attitude from the wait staff. I had half the mind to take out the 12.5% service fee for this reason but didnt want to be a jerk so left it on there).

After living in US for 20+ years and traveling all around the world having eaten at hundreds of Indian restaurants at international locations and some very nice ones, this one ranks at the very bottom. We really felt like we should walk out after the first 10 minutes with the wait staff but stayed only because the kids were extremely tired and hungry after a long day.

Save your money. Plenty of amazing restaurants in London to eat at and these places actually treat you nice, want your business and give you a...

What an Experience!! Generally when I go to a restaurant I am almost never fully satisfied. There is something or the other which I can nitpick and say it can be improved. But I believe it's the first time ever, that I cannot pick anything and say that it was not good. Forget good, everything was excellent. It's going to be a long review so prepare yourselves. As soon as you enter, you are in awe of the size and grandeur of the place. A humble opening at the main Piccadilly square leads to a beautiful decorated, elegant yet Indianized interiors. None of those gaudy colors that Indian restaurants reserve to, but a very royal look with cozy tables and lighting. Talking about the staff, every single person was very humble and attentive. They were keeping a watchful eye on every table while not bothering too much. Very sweet and efficient staff. Service was very quick and accurate. From the professionalism, the staff looks like graduates from a good hospitality school. Now talking about the star of the show... The Food! We ordered Samosa Chaat and Lamb sliders for starters, Tandoori Chicken Chops with Garlic naan for mains, Mango Lassi and Chaas to drink and finally, Gulab Jamun and Gajar Hawa for dessert. Oh yes, and Masala Chai to finish the night. Every single thing was phenomenal. How can a chef pull this off. The Samosa was soft but crunchy, with perfectly spiced chutneys. The lamb was juicy and the sliders toasted amazingly. The chicken was grilled immaculately but the showstopper was the garlic naan. Have never had such soft and airy naan. Devoured the whole thing while still wondering how the chef did this. If someone wants to taste authentic Mango lassi and Chaas, without going to India, this is the place. And finally the desserts... Gulab Jamun that melts in your mouth, with a strange but beautiful combination with Ginger Ice cream. Gajar Hawa was 'muaah' (in the exact words of my wife). If someone is coming to London, this place has to be on top of your list. You can miss seeing the big Ben or London eye, but cannot miss eating...