India Masala House — Restaurant in Brattleboro

This place has a ton of potential, and the make of the food is good. There's talent there, and the dishes are well thought out. The naan was delicious!

First problem was the mango lassi. It was way too sweet and there were dry lumps in there, likely from the rim of whatever open container the lassi sat in for a few days.

The server asked if we want mild, moderate or hot. Two of us asked for hot, one for mild. The dishes were completely inedible due to being too hot. We were able to at least 'taste' two of them to the point of being able to tell that they were 'good' in principle - if it weren't for the extreme hotness. The third dish (mushroom... something) was literally unsafe for human comsumption.

All three of us are from the middle east. We LOVE spicy food. I've had and enjoyed some of the spiciest food you can imagine in Thailand and South Korea. This was not even on the same scale.I can't stress this enough: I KNOW what hot food is. This was way beyond whatever you must be imagining while reading this.

The server asked us how was the food. We said "Listen, it's way too hot". So he says "oh but you asked for it to be hot". So we say "Listen we know what hot food is. This is inedible". He says "But it's good, right?". Out of sheer politeness, we acknowledge it is 'good',. but we can't eat it. The server, in a state of pure denial, says something like "oh I'm glad you like it!" and leaves the table. We didn't touch the food. Only the rice and and Naan. But the server doesn't seem to understand what's happening in front of him - an entire table is not touching the food. I was the only person that somehow managed to eat part of the buttered chicken, with a lot of rice and naan, crying all the way.

He comes back again - same exact dialog takes place. We try to be a little more aggressive this time, but he doesn't take the hint. Doesn't offer to replace anything. Doesn't apologize for failing to warn us. The 'argument' ends with 'but it's good right?'. Apologetically, in defeat, in order to end the dialog, we say 'yea it's good but it's inedible". "I'm glad you like it!". Walks away.

Table next to us is having the exact same experience. We start laughing together about how stupid this entire experience is. Their story is exactly the same, with an added twist! They asked that same server, of Indian origin: "Do you eat this food, this spicy?". "Oh no this is way too spicy I don't enjoy it".

In other words, the Indian server, in the Indian restaurant, is serving food that he would never eat.

When the check arrived I made one more attempt to make the server understand the severity. I tell him that we hardly touched the food. I tell him that this is bad for their business. I tell them they should not be service food this spicy, period. I told him we only ate the rice and naan. "But it was good, right?" "It was good but it's impossible to eat". "Glad you liked it!". Walks away.

It is completely possible that if you ask for the food to not be spicy at all, you will have a nice experience. But in my eyes the problem is also the service, because the server completely ignored the distress of both us and the table next to us - who didn't touch any of the food. Due to this inconsiderate service, I'm giving...

My wife and I went here for a dinner date on a Monday evening. We were one of only two tables seated (that I could see). The food was decent, although I ordered a goat dish and some of the meat seemed really fatty. There were a lot of bones, but I honestly don't know if that's typical of the dish or not.

However, the big issue was the service. I don't know how else to say this, but the server forgot my wife's dinner. It just never materialized. This was after he forgot to bring me a drink after I ordered it.

My wife and I ordered together, he wrote our orders down, and then later he brought mine out and an we were left waiting for my wife's. We were very hungry, but I didn't want to eat as a courtesy to her. She didn't want to try mine because it was too spicy for her.

The waiter disappeared and we were left there for about 20 minutes not knowing if her food was coming or not.

It wasn't until a different server came by and asked how we were doing that we were able to tell her that the other waiter seemed to have forgotten about her meal. She apologized on behalf of him, went back into the kitchen, and immediately brought out my wife's meal, which I guess was just sitting back there.

She said the previous waiter told her that we only ordered one dish, which was just strange, especially since he clearly put in an order for another one.

I do want to thank the second server because she seemed to be doing her best. She also seemed a bit frustrated with the other server, which is understandable.

I can understand how a server could forget both a drink order and a dinner order during a very busy night or on a very bad day, but there were only two tables seated at the time. The place was very sleepy.

My wife and I laughed about it, but it was bit frustrating.

I'm not entirely ready to give up on this place from that experience alone. I've eaten here before and had a good experience, even if the portion sizes sometimes leave something to be desired.

Also, there's not a lot of options for Indian around here.

I think the only thing I can ask of the restaurant is to make sure your staff are paying attention to details when they are working. This gentlemen seemed a bit...

Food: we had amazing butter chicken, lamb saag, naan, and ras malai. Everything was fresh, beautifully plated, plenty large portions, and flavorful. We met the chef who said he tries to source as much as possible local. They even have spices you can buy to take home that are ridiculously pungent and delicious!

Service: even without the great food, I would give this place five stars for service. They were technically closed when me and my friend (visibly pregnant) showed up. They opened a table despite being closed and then were SO HOSPITABLE. Our waiter Sonny was friendly and told us stories about his family (he was working home from college). Food came out fast and chef came to meet us!

Atmosphere: beautiful inside, calm, nice attention to details and lovely decor. All around great experience

EDIT: after reading others’ reviews I want to add a comment about price. We ordered: chai, vegetable pakora, butter chicken, lamb saag, naan, ras malai, AND two full take-home containers of fresh spices and it was less then $100. We have gotten two additional meals from it. We know that we have some skewed price perceptions (from living in assorted places including NY and CA) but it was very reasonable for the quality and size...