Masala — Restaurant in Somerville

The place is laid out well and is clean. I went to eat buffet on a Sunday. As for the food, being a north Indian, it doesn't compare to what I expected. The spice in food and the cooking level seems to be toned down for the American palette. I'll start with Nepalese cuisine: momos are supposed to be flavorful with a spicy hot sauce. I didn't get that. The noodles were cold and dry. The Nepalese sauteed spinach was good. Potato and mushrooms were interesting in a good way. Tofu in some lemon sauce- it was sweet and tangy; just ok Chutney and sauce section was good. I wish they put the Gol Gappas separately. They were put together in the sauce area, where it was hard to assemble those. They tasted good though. Indian Food: Butter Chicken was good, but with very little spice. I still liked it. Tandoori Chicken was good. They should've put the same chicken in the butter chicken gravy. It would've been much better. Not sure why they cook butter chicken with boneless pieces here. It's much better with boned chicken. Mutter Paneer: Bland, not even cooked well enough with spices. Matter Paneer should have creamy pureed spinach with big cubes of Paneer that melt in your mouth. Daal: Not sure if it was supposed to be a Makhani Daal. It was just a very basic daal cooked with minimal spices. Rice: Basmati rice was cooked well. Dessert: Rasmalai- watered down. The store bought Rasmali from Nanak or Brar is so much better. Tea: Not an authentic masala tea. Very strong with less milk. Overall, it's an ok place if you just want to eat something less spicy and still want to try a few things. However, if I'm craving some good Indian food, this isn't the place I'll go to. I can cook better than...

Ordered online for delivery. It came about an hour later. That's fine; I don't mind the wait. However, if I am waiting for something worth it, I don't mind that part. But if I am waiting for something that ultimately is a disappointment?.....that's just a shame! And the food was. There were ONLY two items I thought worth eating one the Dhaba Chicken the other was the Onion Kulcha. The other items we ordered which were very, very bad were the chili panir (too full of chunks of onion and bell peppers in which I included in instructions to go light on them), veggie samosas (no flavor), non-veggie platter (ugh!), Khasi Ko Sekuwa (burned from the grill and beaten rice?....what WAS that?). There was something like a potato salad within the Khasi Ko Sekuwa plate but it was very cold...like out of the fridge cold! Now...if you think I might not know what I'm talking about? Let's just say, my name is not Jaswal by chance. I cook Indian food! This was horrible. And the delivery person almost pitched the bag of food to my son. Whadaheck was that all about? I never ever include tips when I order my food online, I always wait until it's delivered. When our son walked up to the delivery guy, the guy just says...HERE! Turns around and leaves. Yeah, that in itself did it for us...not to mention their bad...

Updated on 01/27/2024 second time here, ordered Vegetarian Platter again and worth it. Ordered Chicken Curry with middle hot. But not so hot as we expected. The service is still good and love the atmosphere there. Need to order Chicken Masala instead of chicken curry. Did not know there is difference. Will come again if need to have Indian food with good atmosphere. Only thing need to mention and notice next time is to confirm whether they have rice with it. We ordered 2 garlic nangs because we thought it had no rice with it. So 1 garlic nang, 1 dish and 1 vegetarian Platter, it would be perfect for 2 people. 5 ⭐️ still.

The service is pretty good. And the environment looks new and nice as well. They provide some appetizer by default with 3 different sauces which is awesome and you could ask more for free. Awesome! Ordered Vegetarian Platter which is hot and fresh, good to have to start. The black one is Lamb Palak with mild, it is okay, a little to plain for me. I ordered Rogan Josh with middle hot and the spicy level is perfect. But still prefer with Chicken masala with middle hot, Classic and could not be wrong. Garlic Naan is okay. Ordered another sweet naan Peshawari, more like snack. If you want something new, it is worth to try. But i might not try again. Still not get used to sweet...