Naan N Masala — Restaurant in Milpitas

Yelp is a big innovation for folks in big cities or visiting one of those. It gives you a tremendous amount of reviews for each place to help make a decision to go somewhere for lunch or dinner. Where it fails is in giving you the right kind of recommendations for restaurants in the suburbs and more importantly, a qualitative one. We have had the occasional Yelp fail and this past weekend, got one more in the form of Naan N Masala. At the time of writing this post, there are 691 Yelp reviews for the place, averaging 4 stars. That would indicate to me that the place is above average for a sizable number of patient reviewers. Let me explain how that worked out for us this past weekend.

Naan N Masala is literally a hole in the wall. It was a challenge to find in the dark, to say the least. It is a pretty small place in an obscure corner of a deserted strip mall. We were thankfully not the only people in the restaurant on a cold Saturday night. Upon entrance, my wife remarked that the place was not what she expected based on the reviews. We sat down on a pretty worn down table and I went up to the counter to place my order. Food was relatively cheap and the menu offered a good amount of vegetarian choices. We chose one curry- the Kadai Paneer to go with onion kulcha, Pachauri naan and raita. For the little guy, we ordered his favorite dish, the channa bhatura.

The channa bhatura arrived relatively quickly. It was disappointing. The bhatura was very thick as though they had a glut of dough to use up before the night. The channa was decent. The little guy was more than a little disappointed that his favorite channa bhatura was not what he really got. With the aid of some yoghurt, we managed to get him to eat one of the two bhaturas. For us, the kadai paneer arrived alongside the kulcha and the naan. The breads were pretty good. The kadai paneer was very greasy. The spice was a tad on the high side but given the weather, was welcome. The restaurant also offered complimentary chai which was welcome.

Overall, the restaurant is as bare bones as they could be with minimum frills and absolutely no fancy. That would work if the food was great. Unfortunately, the food left some to be desired and the place left some more to be desired. Overall, should work for takeout lovers who are in an absolute hurry with no other choices. Otherwise, better food can be had.

Rating:

Ambiance: 7/10. Barebones and needs an overhaul. Not the best of locations either.

Service: 7.5/10. Nothing to complain about. Food arrived quickly.

Food: 7.5/10. Average. Nothing bad but really nothing great either.

Price: 8/10. Price was reasonable.

Restroom: 6.5/10. Left a lot to be desired.

Overall: 7/10. Targets the takeout crowd looking for cheap and acceptably tasty food. Otherwise, better options abound in...

Naan n Masala is one of the best Indian restaurants that we have been to in the Bay Area. It is a small, tidy restaurant tucked away in the busy streets of Milpitas; not a fancy one though. I found this restaurant by chance while reading the reviews for a different Indian restaurant on Yelp.

As this restaurant had garnered good reviews, we decided to give it a shot on a Friday evening for dinner. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we looked at the menu and placed an order for Cholay Bhature, Garlic naan and Butter Chicken Masala. The restaurant was not crowded, hence we took a seat near the window.

There is a TV playing Bollywood songs, so that gave us a chance to catch up with Bollywood gossips while waiting for the food. The service was pretty quick and soon we were served with a huge plate of Cholay Bhature. As we were not served water, plates and cutlery, we looked around and realized that it was self-service. There were plates, cutlery, paper napkins and cups stacked on a table. While picking them, I noticed that they had free tea on the table. I delightfully brought some tea for myself and my husband.

While we were devouring the Cholay Bhature, we were served Garlic naan and Butter Chicken Masala. One must not judge a book by its cover, but this is one restaurant where you will be right even when you judge the taste by its appearance. Everything was scrumptious and the food portion was so large that we had to pack them up in to-go boxes and that served my lunch for the next day.

After a fulfilling dinner and feeling of accomplishment that we had found a good Indian restaurant in the bay area, we paid the bill, which to our pleasant surprise was less than $20. Delicious and reasonable food? Hard to find this combo.

Since then, we have been frequenting this restaurant and have tried several dishes by far and would keep coming back over and over again.

The restaurant owner remembers us now, and we exchange pleasantries every time we visit this place and we have never left this place without praising to him how good...

I found this place on Google maps. Went there because it was closest to me.

When I arrived the front desk was struggling with the computer ordering software. He told me to choose a seat and handed me a trifold paper menu.

The guy kept struggling for 20 minutes. Finally, I went back up to the desk, he finished about 5 minutes later. I gave him my order and sat down.

I noticed the paint was chipped on the walls. The table was varnished dark wood and it looked old. The surface felt sticky.

The utensils and water were self serve. (Not sure this is Covid-19 safe.) The napkin dispenser was full but the napkins were one ply.

The first dish, Chaat Papri, was delivered after 10 more minutes ( see picture.) It was very runny. I was unable to finish it because it didn't taste good to me.

The other two dishes were delivered ( Baingan Bharta and Paneer Tikka Masala.)

Finally, the Makki Di Roti was served.

All dishes were very oily. The Biangan Bharta was ok...not the best I've ever had. The Paneer Tikki Masala was not edible. The Paneer was chewey and tasted oily and old. The cream sauce was horribly flavored.

The Roti was cold and oil pooled on the top.

I was polite and didn't say anything to the man at the counter. I felt I wasted my money. The bill was 28.93. Smh

I don’t recommend this Indian food establishment and I won't be going back. I'll keep looking for a better restaurant and will continue to review...