Masala House Indian Bistro — Restaurant in Bridgeville

Mar 2025 -- Had another chance to come here with three people. While the staff was much better, the beginning was not auspicious! We asked for water, sweet Lassi' and Chicken 65. The Lassis were not good. They were very watery and just not right. One of our party asked for a Mango Lassi and was served Mango syrup. The Chicken 65 came out in a very alarming red color (see photograph). Now, we've had Chicken 65 in many restaurants and it's never been this color - also, it's always crunchy - this one was not. By now, we are getting quite nervous about where this meal is going!!!

At this point, we asked our waitress for our waters. She had apparently forgot our request. She brought it out promptly.

Our three main dishes came out soon thereafter and all our doubts were erased. We got the Chef special fish, chicken Gujarat, and Dal. All at a medium spice level. The chicken was he spiciest and the Dal the least spicy. All were gloriously spiced and flavorful. The aromas were exquisite and each was saucy enough that lots of Basmati rice was needed to absorb all the goodness. We also got a couple of Naans to help in the meal.

The meals were so filling that we only did justice to less than half the food provided and took most of it home to enjoy on another day.

Jun 2024 While open for over a year now, and with us loving Indian food, we’ve not been able to find another couple (or more) to come out and try them out, until now. This was our loss as we found out on our recent visit as the food is probably the most flavorful in the South Hills! Speaking with the owner/chef, he stated that he grinds his own spices daily and that accounts for the profusion of flavors. I think there is more than that involved – like his obvious skill in pulling the dishes together, but I will not argue with him.

The four of us tried a couple of their appetizers and three of the entrees. The absolute standout was the Lamb Karahi which was incredibly tender and flavorful. That is not to say that the eggplant dish and the Saag Paneer were poor – far from it – they were both good. It’s just that the lamb was exceptionally good! The appetizers and the breads were also good and the dipping sauce that came with them appeared to be a mixture of the standard Tamarind and Mint chutneys which made for a more interesting take on them – especially as it was a thinner mix than we’ve had at most other Indian restaurants. We also tried the sweet Lassi and it was also superb – thick, sweet and indulgent.

There is an area that needs improvement though: the waitress. She seemed completely disinterested or distracted. We had barely sat down before she wanted to know what our order was. We had not even opened the menu, for heaven’s sake! The place was not busy - there were only two or three other parties throughout our meal, so we were able to observe operations – especially since the kitchen is off the side of the bar. We could see the cook working away and food was being prepared quickly and efficiently. Once we got our appetizers, we told the waitress we were ready to order our entrees and she said OK and walked away. We thought she was going to get her ordering device. However, she did not come back but instead went behind the bar and started wrapping cutlery in napkins and packaged food for takeout orders, answered the phones, and did other things. Once we finished our appetizers, we tried flagging her down but she never came our way, or even looked our way. It took some time until we got her attention. We finally managed, gave her our order, and watched as the cook prepared it (quickly and efficiently). We really enjoyed the food and then waited again to capture her attention to get our bill.

Signs on the restaurant tell you that they have an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Our bill was not very expensive and we saw many other dishes that we wanted to try. Aside from the lackadaisical waitress, this gem of a restaurant definitely deserves to be visited again, and we will...

Good food, terribly dishonest service. We visited Saturday, October 12th for lunch. Our bill for a party of two adults and two children (2 and 4) had a 20% surcharge hidden. Two employees lied and said the fee is taxes, until finally admitting it was a mistake and saying they would refund it. They stated they didn't know how to refund and would talk to their boss. It is now 3 days later and I have not received a refund.

Story When it was time to leave, the waitress brought over a credit card terminal and said "please tap your card here." I asked how much the total was and she said $44. When I asked to see the receipt, she turned it around and it showed a total of $44 including taxes which was correct given what we ordered, she turned it back around and I tapped my card. Next, she turned it back around to me and said "please choose tip and sign". It was on the tip & signature screen when I noticed the total was off. It was now 20% higher, $52 and asking for an additional tip. I checked my phone and saw the authorization went through for $52, not $44. When I asked what the 20% was the waitress said it was taxes. When I stated tax rate is 7% and asked whether a 20% tip was already included, the waitress said "I don't know, please sign" in a very dismissive tone. When I asked to see a copy of the receipt showing the fee, she brought over someone else who also tried to claim the 20% is taxes. It was not until a third person was involved that they actually printed out a receipt and showed me that the total included a "Large Party Fee" of 20% and admitted that the fee was a mistake. The three workers spent some time talking to each other and said they will refund the card later but could not do it until the boss is there. As stated above, I never received the refund.

I ultimately did not receive a copy of the receipt -- they took it back. I also did not sign the tablet, yet the full charge posted to my card today so I suspect one of the workers fraudulently signed the card terminal screen for me.

This was the second time visiting the restaurant. The first time we actually had a pretty good experience and the woman who helped us that time was very nice. This time the food was actually great, better than the first visit, but service was lacking the entire time and ended with this terrible experience. I'm not sure I'd go back after this. It's not about the money -- had all gone normally, I would have tipped 18-20% and the total spent would be the same. It's the dishonesty and trying to trick customers into double tipping that will turn me off from patronizing this...

Incident on 2/8/2025

Lunch special was from 11-3 PM. We arrived at 2:15 PM. We were the only ones there. They served us one round of food for the buffet (6 teeny tiny dish portions) with one scoop of rice and 1 naan per person. We finished our food and then we waited about 10 more minutes for our server to approach our table again. We were told that we needed to hurry up and order, they were closing. It was 2:40 PM at that point. We ordered two more small portions and assumed they would bring more rice and naan out because we had finished but those never came. We ended up asking for rice but that also did not come. They shut all the lights off in the kitchen. We were given one napkin and one glass of water. We found a metal SCREW in the food (not pictured because im stupid and thought "what else could go wrong, it's one little thing) along with huge chunks of bones (it was chicken so understandable but really bones in chicken tikka masala? Totally unexpected.) Then at the bottom of one of the little bowls, there was a STICKER that was starting to peel up from ththe food soaking on top of it / the fork grazing over it. Shreds of sticker were in our food. My friend found it at the end of her eating but luckily I saw that before I could eat my cold helpings (we were waiting for the rice that never came) The server apologized when we showed her everything and then read that our bill was $55... WHAT?!?! $55? We barely ate anything. Not to mention the other nasty things we found in our food. She shrugged and offered to turn back on the stove and give us rice "To-Go" I asked, "For what? We wanted it with our meals???"

At this point, I let my friend pay and excused myself from the situation before I got mean. Sticker pictured below.

I emailed one of the managers and they seemed to care. It's been a week without a reply after they said that they would refund us. Very disappointed. $65...