Masala Bowl Indian Cafe

Happily, this place has closed. Sadly, there are 3 open spots in this shopping center and they need an Indian place STAT.

I discovered the one in Tustin a couple years ago and I loved it. It’s Indian food. Typically I don’t like very spicy food, so I was reluctant. However, they have a dish that is not spicy at all. The chicken tikka masala is good. The only thing I don’t like is that in the past, the bowl I would get would be in a big bowl with lots of rice and lots of chicken. It would be so much that I could make two meals out of it. Now, it seems the bowl is two thirds the size it used to be and only comes with 5 bite size pieces of chicken. The food is still really good, but the value is not as good as it used to be. The naan is also really good. It is fresh and it is not dry.

My mom and I ordered the chicken tikka masala, biryani chicken, naan, raita, and samosa starter. We are not well versed in Indian food but we found it to be delicious. I honestly didn’t feel like the quality was ‘fast food’ quality and the service was good as well.
We would have liked the dishes to have been a bit spicier but we still enjoyed it. The portions were moderate and the price was fair.
If you are new to Indian food, I found this place to be a perfect place to try it. We were not new to this cuisine and we still recommend it to anyone.

I came here after seeing all the good reviews. Last night I was craving Indian food and since this place is close to my house, I decided to give it a try. My husband ordered the anddhra curry bowl and I ordered the chicken tikka masala bowl. We also got an order of garlic naan.
The anddrha curry was spicy yet very watery and lacked other flavors. The tikka masala was a disappointment. There was no spice whatsoever and it was very watery and tasteless. Come on now, bring on the tomato cream flavor! The naan was burnt and tasteless as well. What can you expect from ‘fast-​food Indian cuisine?’ I’ve definitely had waaayyyy better and for those who gave this place a good review, you may not know what REAL Indian food is all about.
I give 2 stars only b/​c the price was decent for the amount served. Otherwise, not coming back.
One last thing, we were forced to eat outside at 5:30pm because they had already stacked the chairs on top of the tables (probably so they wouldn’t have to do it later on when they closed at 8:00pm).

First of all, I give them props for their online ordering system! Just go on their website, browse through the menu and click «add» for the dishes you want, check out with a credit card and go pick up your food at the time you designated! They also deliver.
For Indian Fast Food, this place isn’t bad at all. My friend and I got the Chicken Vindaloo and Chicken Tikka Masala curries (dry) and an order of garlic naan. What I meant by «dry» is that you can choose to have your curries «dry» and for an extra $ 1 they’ll give you more chunks of meat and less sauce. All curry orders also come with a side of basmati rice.
A brief description of the curries:
Tikka Masala — one of the most common and popular Indian curries! it’s a creamy tomato sauce. Not too spicy so it’s a good all around curry.
Vindaloo — a strong, bold spicy curry cooked with garlic, chilies, vinegar, and potatoes.
My Chicken Vindaloo was spicy just like it should be, any more spice and I probably wouldn’t have been able to eat it. The Tikka Masala was creamy and thick with tender chunks of chicken. By the way, you don’t have to get chicken — you can choose from garbanzo beans, lamb, tofu, mixed veggies, shrimp and others for your curry! Lots of options here.
This place exceeded expectations for an Indian Fast food place… it’s definitely a step or two above Natraj Tandoori!

First of all, the location was hard to find, and when we got there, there were hardly any other people inside even though it was dinner time. The price of their items are a bit over-​priced in my opinion, and the only thing that I actually liked was their samosa. I heard that they do sell gift certificates on
, so that might help out on how much you actually need to pay.

The food is medicore, but the prices are really unreasonable. The portions are really small for the price they are offered. I’d rather eat at Natraj than here.

I used to eat at Natraj all of the time until I experienced some particularly bad service from the manager.
My wife and I tried Masala Bowl and we loved it. The owner is a nice guy and the food is great. Their chicken tikka masala sauce is slightly sweet and goes great with their garlic naan (pricey, but worth it).

Yummy.
We eat here on a weekly basis: family value meal + 2 biryani bowls.
I love their andhra masala bowls… Their chips are pretty crispy!
Biryani rice was bad ONCE out of a hundred.
But other than that… super awesome.
We’ll always eat here on a weekly basis!

Ah.
They’re not too bad. In fact they’re pretty alright.
Not very authentic, but better than I expected.
I got the Vindaloo.
A flavorful and slightly spicy curry that originated in Goa. Cooked with, chilies, garlic, vinegar and potatoes. I ordered it with lamb and got it dry. Basically more meat and potatoes and less sauce. It was alright, but it could have been spicier. This apparently is their spicier dish.
There service was pretty good and fast.
And the cost is fairly low.

I’m aware that I’ve eaten at two Masala Bowls within the same week. However, despite being the «same,» there are distinct differences between the two.
I stuck with my order of the the roti and the chicken tikka masala bowl. My boyfriend ordered the kabob (mostly because I forgot to tell him that Unilocalers were not big fans of it). However, he actually liked the kabobs and found them home-​y (not that he’s Indian, which is confusing). They do not look appetizing, however, as they are gray. Food should not be gray. Personally, I thought they tasted gray (if color has taste). His rice (not regular white rice) was meh. He didn’t touch that. His salad was baby spinach greens covered with a mango chutney of some sort. That was interesting and bordered on tropical. He also got the samosa bites, which were not samosa wrappers in the traditional sense. It was wonton skins, which rendered the samosa bites like triangular egg rolls. Tasty, yes. Traditional, no.
This place serves more rice and less curry sauce than the Tustin location. Since we were eating here (instead of taking it off), our naan and roti was served in a paper boat. That caused it to cool down too quickly and rendered the naan rather crispy.
The server here wasn’t very bright. She served my boyfriend’s kabobs and samosa bites first and then said she was going to be back with the bowl. Since I was refilling his drink, I went inside. I was waiting for the bowl, which was prepared and cooling on the inside counter. She was packing a giant to-​go order and totally ignoring my cooling bowl. So finally, she noticed me and said, «Can I help you with something?» I said, «I came in for the bowl.» She gave me a blank stare. «You know, my tikka masala bowl?» She said, «Huh? Oh.» If I didn’t go it, I would’ve have had to wait even longer (if she even remembered at all). There were only two other tables, so it’s not like she had to remember my face out of 30 diners or something.
That’s why they lost a star. Because the server was… slow (in more ways than one).
I guess this one is better because they give you more rice, but don’t eat at this one because she’ll take forever.

chicken tikka masala was runny like soup. even when ordered spicy it was still fairly bland. naan was crispy for the most part, with some doughy uncooked edges.
honestly, for the price you could enjoy one of the many lunch buffets in the area and probably get better food. seems fitting for the weekday office lunch crowd, i wouldn’t bother otherwise.

I’m kind of torn in terms of star rating of this place. For one, I didn’t order the chicken tikka masala because I usually don’t like that dish due to its use of cream. Most places are really heavy handed with the cream and it tastes pretty nauseating to me when that happens. I ended up opting for the chicken biryani which comes with a side salad (doused with thousand island dressing — GROSS) and raita. I also ordered a side of samosas from the 99 cent menu.
Samosas weren’t your usual samosas. These were wrapped with spring roll wrappers and teenie — hence the 99 cent price tag. The accompanying mint sauce was vile. It was sweet like syrup with no hint of real mint flavor.
I asked for my chicken biryani to be super spicy, but unfortunately it didn’t arrive that way. The heat level was really low, toned down for the masses no doubt. I thought the flavor of the rice was pretty good, chicken pieces were okay — not many chicken pieces to be found though — but the thing which did impress me was the fact that it wasn’t oily. I liked the raita, but it wasn’t anything hard to make — just yogurt with some chopped cucumbers. I wish the basmati rice had remained intact. The grains of rice were broken and sort of wet. Otherwise it wasn’t bad. I’d come and eat it again.
Like Rick said you can go to a buffet for around the same price but then again, buffets don’t usually include biryani. I’m giving them 3 stars because I didn’t get indigestion after eating it.

Well as a disclaimer: I am a total wuss when it comes to spicy food, so I do not mind when a place is less spicy with their Indian food. I’m not kidding; my friend’s 2 yo daughter has more tolerance for spices than I do. ;)
The food @ Masala Bowl is pretty darn tasty. I got a chicken tikka masala bowl on the recommendation of the guy working there. He said it’s their most popular menu item. The bowl with accompanying basmati rice is PLENTY of food. I’m currently sitting with my keyboard tray scooted in a little bit to accomodate my tummy after this meal! :) With a drink and naan the whole meal was under $ 7. I took my food to go, but the atmosphere is clean and casual with Bollywood dvds playing on the wall.
I can’t wait to go back and try a mango lasse!!!

For a quick take-​out lunch place, I think Masala Bowl is pretty good. Met up a friend for lunch at this plaza and he wanted to try this place, so we got a combo order of the Chicken Tikka Masala with naan and a drink to share. The price for that was about 6 – 7 dollars. Not too bad, but it’s not super cheap either, especially for people that eat out everyday for lunch.
I thought that one combo would be enough for the both of us because I was a little skeptical of this place since I’ve never been and wasn’t expecting to like the food, so I figured I wouldn’t eat much. But I DID! Haha, my friend and I both liked the naan and chicken tikka masala so we ordered a second helping of naan to go with it. The dish comes with rice but we didn’t eat too much of the rice and wished that they had put it on the side because it was soaking up all the yummy sauce that we wanted. After eating the combo, we got ANOTHER order, not the combo, just an order of the chicken and naan. Oh, and did I mention we also got the mango lassi, the drink was a little too thick and not all that great either, could’ve saved the money and gotten more naan, hehe. So FINALLY after all that food, we were stuffed. I wouldn’t come here for a real meal or anything, but I’m glad it’s super close to my work if ever I get the craving for it at lunch.