Masala Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Well, I must say, it saddens me to write this review. I've enjoyed many meals here since about 1994. Having visited and eaten at other local Indian cuisine restaurants in Jacksonville, Masala has always been the most flavorful. For your average person not accustomed to heavy spices and a strong heat, a good guideline would be to consider the mild as medium and medium as HOT, hot is burn off your taste-buds to the extent that the flavors pale to your suffering. However, if you are accustomed to spicy foods, this place will hit the spot for you. The buffet is your best bet as far as variety and price point. Most every item I have ever ate is absolutely delicious and decadent. Unfortunately, I will shy away from Masala and branch out to try a new place the next time I get the hankering for some good Indian food. Here's why.. Firstly, I visited for the buffet AND dinner service in the span of a month. The buffet was excellent, as you are waved into a table and essentially serve yourself. Their chai is delicious and you can have as much as you can handle. The booth seating is kinda tight, but, no biggie. I had a good, not excellent experience with the mid day buffet. However, dinner service is a different story all together. The female server is quite short, not even a glimmer of pleasure to serve. Having worked in the service industry, I know we all have bad days, but, there was something off about her. She truly makes one feel unwelcome. We had to order our apps and entrees and ask for to go boxes all at once because we were on a time crunch. Made the mistake of eating the poppadom and chutney. Don't get me wrong, it was spicy and tasty. Then we went pretty classic with the app of samosas. Was very hot (not spicy hot, but freshly prepared hot) which seemed a good thing. We also had chicken biryani, a spicy chicken and rice. The serving is honestly enough for three or four people. We also ordered the lamb korma which was creamy and delicious. Unfortunately, we became quite sick. we though, "Oh, it was just more spice than we are used to.'. We had a lot of Biryani left over (the meal was nearly $60!!) so, we weren’t going to throw our money away, especially since we thought the spices were just wiping the slate clean ~_^.. Well, that wasn’t the case and we suffered again after eating the left over of Biryani. I haven’t had this problem before, but, I know we hadn’t eaten anything that could have caused us to have any issues, this meal was the only potential culprit to three days of gastro upset. Now, don't get me wrong... It was almost worth the suffering it was so delicious. But, I am used to very spicy foods and think something was just off with this evenings Biryani. Definitely avoid having to use their toilets.. And, in my personal opinion a restaurant should have an inviting atmosphere, from the comfort of seating to decor to hospitality of the service, to cleanliness of the loo's. Masala is really dropping the ball, falling into disrepair, lacking inviting service and frighteningly lacking in sanitation in the bathrooms. To me, this is all a reflection on what might be going on in the kitchen and with safe food storage. If front of the house, where you can clearly see everything is a hot mess, imagine what you can't see!! Proceed with caution and a gut of steel. I honestly wonder who is inspecting...

Went today at noon the place is small only had a small section were the food was placed. The food looked good I got my first plate went to eat it noticed the food was ok but it was cold. Got a second plate I decided to try the curry goat and it was chewy and that's when I decided to stop eating because I almost spit it out it was definitely a day or two old I started thinking to myself wow what if what if the leftovers get thrown back in the new food so I called the waiter to take her tip cause I felt like the owner likes to keep the tip I shouted to the waitress when I went to pay the bill it was 38.68 so I gave him 40 dollars he said thanks and it looked like he didn't want to give me my change so I said can I have change and he replied oh oh ok so he gave 32 cents and he thought that what's all I was getting back until I told him you still owe me 1 dollar and he was oh ok. Got all my change back the only waitress was next to me and I gave her the rest of my change and I told her that's yours put it in your pocket she scared almost as the owner definitely likes to take the waitress tips. Another thing I noticed when someone grabbed a second plate when you go for buffet time the owner likes to sit close by and he watches TV and at the same time he tries to look at people while eating which it was pretty creepy. Before I left i made sure I told him that the food was cold and he looked worried when I said that as 6 people were walking in he right away started heading to the food station to raise the heat. If you like cold food that is a few days old well you can try this place out its only 17 dollars plus tax. This was the worst indian restaurant I've...

Great Indian cuisine. We will definitely be back. We were craving Indian cuisine and so thankful we found this place. So if you are in the area, definitely try them out.

We like spicy food and they did not disappoint. One of our favorite appetizers to order is the Gobi Manchurian, we ordered it with medium heat, and it was perfect for the appetizer. Not to hot, and it was delicious. My go-to meal I usually try first at a new restaurant is the Vindaloo, I went with chicken this time and medium heat as well. I was not disappointed, it was fantastic. My husband ordered Lamb Curry and spice level hot. He said it was perfect. And of course, we shared, and we both agreed that the place deserves a 5 star. And of course we ordered Naan bread, Garlic is our favorite and we ordered a side of Raitha which was delicious as well. We love the Raitha dip as it seems to clean your palate when going from dish to dish. I almost forgot to take pictures so the food pics are partially eaten. It was that good.

Service was great, we went at an odd hour of the day so it wasn't too busy. Service was quick, and the waitress offered suggestions, which I like. Our food came out hot and fresh, and she kept our drinks full. We were very pleased with the service we received.

The atmosphere was very nice and had a coziness to it. I loved how they had their tables set up along the sides of the restaurant. There was a wall separating each table area. Which made it feel a little more intimate. The place was very clean and great lighting.

If we are in the area again, we will...