Masala Grill

I think most of us would agree that the downtown area needs more non-​chain restaurants. One of the things the weekday lunch crowd could certainly use is a decent Indian/​Pakistani restaurant, especially since there are new Indian restaurants mushrooming all over the place. However, Masala Grill isn’t the answer to our prayers. Ordering kebabs and the daily specials off the menu is definitely the way to go because it was a lot better than the mediocre buffet fare. My first time here, I ordered a few kebabs, lamb curry and chicken biriyani. The kebabs were good but chicken biriyani and lamb curry were average. A few weeks later, I went with friends for the lunch buffet. The pakoras were soaked in oil, the lamb curry was mostly fat, gristle and bone… hardly any meat. The naan tasted like the frozen naan you get at Indian stores like Patel’s. I’m all about giving local mom and pop places a chance but this food is just not good enough to warrant walking several blocks for it.

This place isn’t bad. The food is really good. Its a mix of different cultures. I went with a friend of mine who has eaten this kind of food her whole life and she really approved.
My observations: cheap plastic plates and silverware, and white styrofoam cups. Not very appealing for the business crowd downtown. And there isn’t a whole lot of seating. There wasn’t any «elevator» music of anything so it felt really quiet and odd (maybe they have resolved that since). There isn’t anything on the tope-​colored walls. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but I just don’t find myself wanting to go back. Maybe there just wasn’t anything that really grabbed me and made me want to try it again. I’ll say this, I loved the dish I had. And my friend loved hers. So, go for the food but have low expectations about the ambiance/​appearance.