MasalaCraft Indian Cuisine

I like this restaurant for the some of the chicken dishes. It seats a small crowd as it is not a large size restaurant but I like going here with my daughter. The employees here are kind and courteous as well. If you want a spicy dish they will make it authentically spicy. Good food.

Came here for the first time. Friendly staff and the food was really good. The only problem was the wait time for the food. It’s probably because they want their food to be served fresh, which I can understand. So, if you come here, just be prepared for a longer than usual wait time.

I visit masalcraft once a week. Everything is fantastic! I only wish it was open later.

This small indian restaurant serves some of the best indian food i have had! Chicken Korma is my favorite and the garlic naan is very good, too. The staff are very friendly! We were going to try the sushi restaurant next door, but once we smelled their food as we walked by, we turned around and there the 3 rd night in a row!

I’ve stopped by Masala craft 2 – 3 times while working in the area (several months apart each time), food is okay, but it was WAY better when the original chef worked there. It’s obvious that they copied their entire business model from natraj’s tandoori down the freeway, I certainly prefer natraj due to location and consistency.

Thank you Unilocal!Found this place bc it was walking distance from the hotel, and had great reviews. Based on Unilocalers suggestions, I got the chicken tiki masala, and spinach fritters. Delicious! 100% recommend to anyone in the area. I knew based on Unilocal,and how crazy busy they were, that it would be delicious, and I’m definitely still impressed. And the service was perfect! The nicest woman was checking us out. 5

Tonight was the first time I tried the chicken vindaloo at MasalaCraft. It was OUTSTANDING! the taste was excellent, the portion size more than generous, and it was freshly cooked. I got an order of garlic naan with the chicken. It was great. I highly recommmend this restaurant for anyone who loves Indian food.
Rick G.

This was great indian food on the go! I can’t have any dairy, and they have a Goan fish curry that is awesome! My husband loves the Chicken Tikka Masala too. Reasonable prices. Whenever we are on the go and passing through, we always stop by!

Think bad Indian Panda Express! I must say after a few unsuccessful attempts here I have to write this review. The naan is always being cooked fresh but it comes out doughy. Doughy naan? How could something so simple get messed up. Next my two item combo today literally had chicken bones in every other bite. I live close by and will not be coming here again. Also I’ll be telling everyone I know to steer clear of this place.

I have to order foods for my team of 15 people that totaled approx $ 300. The website offered delivery. When I put in the address (1 block away from MasalaCraft), it says it can’t deliver. Called up the business, the gentlemen confirmed that sometime they deliver and sometime not. When I asked how do I know which time is which, he hung up. Great customer service!!!
I’ve asked one of my team to call back multiple times to find out if they deliver, the gentlemen answering call spoke so fast and was so impatient that we finally gave up after several attemps.
My team just told me that he had to throw his lunch away because one of the MasalaCraft staff used his bare hands to grab the foods and threw them in the fryer. This occurred at lunch today. There were 5 people managing this place at lunch time and they looked so disorganize and dysfunctional, they made good foods become undesirable.
We wanted to talk to mgr or owner, but no one was around so we had to put our frustrations through this forum.
BTW, the foods are pretty decent if you go order and pick up. Unilocal should not have ‘delivery’ as the option.

Definitely not recommended for large group, it’s a small restaurant that seats about 20 – 25 people, there’s outside seating available thou .
Menu is limited but it’s fine looking at there per item model as you still get enough choices to order 2 or 3 dishes bowls or different curries along with Naan & Rice !!
Kitchen is live so you get to see how & when you food is prepared. Food is fresh and service is fast & definitely addictive, known friends who are regular here, even myself goes here at-​least once a month .
Definitely not one of my personal favorite but far better than Natraj Chain who kind of have same model.

Fabulous, freshly made food! In front of you ! Our expectations weren’t too high walking into this cute little place in Santa Ana. We have tried many Indian places and never found any one outstanding. The more we were surprised when we got our dishes. Palak paneer, vindaloo, dal makhani, butter naan, roti, chole, radjma, papardam. All… made in front of us!

Excellent food! Ambiance is casual, indoor seating is for approximately 20 people, large groups will have to opt to sit outside. Kitchen is live, and you can see your dishes being made. There is a lot to choose from. Meats: Chicken, Mutton and Fish. More vegetarian options vailable.
We had Biriyani, some Parathas and Curries. They all tasted good. Management was apologetic about space crunch even though it was our fault that we did not plan ahead.
We sat outside on a bright sunlit Sunday mid morning and had our amazing food.
So far the best Indian fare I have come across in SoCal area.
Would recommend, would go again.

This place changed how I feel about curry. I used to hate the texture. I gave it a chance and I absolutely love it now. The food here is always spicy, delicious and fast. The service is always friendly and helpful. I don’t eat meat and they’re always willing to make a dish vegetarian for me. I love the chicken tikka masala and the lamb vindaloo but substitute the chicken/​lamb for potatoes.
Tip: They also deliver!

I’ll be honest — I didn’t have super high expectations for a fast food Indian restaurant but I was very impressed. I ordered the spicy paneer makhani and it was delicious. Perfect amount of spice — not too overpowering (warning I tend to like things on the spicier side). I also had a few bites of my friend’s garlic naan and the samosas and everything tasted great!
Another thing I was pleasantly surprised by was the great customer service. Because it’s more fast food style, I expected them to kind of leave the table alone after we got our food but they were very attentive and made sure we had everything we needed and brought us boxes when we were done (enough food for lunch tomorrow!). The employees were all very friendly. I will definitely be coming back!

Where to begin…
service: the restaurant had staff handling money, then turning around and handling food with their bare hands. I should’ve said something but I thought to myself this place is probably super authentic.
food: my first bite into the sambose sprayed oil all over my hands, face & shirt. I don’t recall making the request, but maybe the person who took my order heard me ask for extra grease. This place is stingy on the rice and meat. I’d never come here again.

I’m pretty sure we have consistently ordered here on a weekly basis (if not more) for the last 5 months:
They’re extremely fast and always accurate… even more importantly is the deliciousness of the food and what I regard as high quality Indian food.
Now I’m not from India or an expert on this but can’t imagine being contested on this issue.

My search for the perfect Sunday-​night-​recovering-​from-​a-​hangover-​food is FINALLY over!!!
Chicken tikka masala– so so creamy. A++ Cannot. accurately. describe. the. delicious — the chicken was perfectly cooked and even if it were dry that heavenly sauce would’ve made it decadent anyway. I almost ordered spicy because that’s generally the level I most enjoy but on a whim ordered medium and oooo I’m glad I did because the medium was the perfect amount of kick. I guess I’m still a white girl down there somewhere I doubt I could have handled the spicy or extra spicy variety.
Dal Makhani– a very nice flavor with a bit of butteriness too. Not so excessive. It still feels healthy (which is not usually my bag babay) but since the other dish I ordered was so fatty and scrumptious this was a nice balance.
Raita– actually had something in it besides just yogurt! Everywhere I’ve ordered in Cali so far hasn’t had any cucumbers or carrots in their raita and I didn’t realize I missed that until I ordered from here. Admittedly– I don’t know which way is more authentic — but I like the crunch in there :)
I did delivery through doordash and everything came tightly covered with cellophane and with double tops on the aluminum containers. A couple bucks more expensive than the competition– but worth it!
I will be back. Oh yes, i will be back.

This is a casual restaurant in a plaza with a couple other restaurants, but as you walk by the smell is undeniable and draws you in.
MUST ORDER:
Spinach Pakora– it was lightly battered and fried to perfection and the sauces that came with it are excellent compliments. I have tried pakoras many times but never have had any done as well as this place. SO good.
Also delicious:
We also ordered (all medium spicy-​ness):
— chicken tikka masala: deliciously creamy sauce, all white-​meat chicken (although I prefer dark)
— lamb pasanda: a creamy nut sauce that may seem a bit strange but was delicious, although the lamb was a bit dry
— saag paneer: the paneer (cheese) pieces tasted very fresh and had a great texture that complemented the spinach very well.
Came here for dinner so got everything A La Carte and also ordered two garlic naan. For 4 people, the total was around $ 40 and we even had left overs. They definitely have a good portion size for the price, the food came out quite quickly, and the service was friendly. I give this place 4.5 stars (½ star off because both meats we ordered were dry).
Next time, I want to try the Egg curry and butter chicken!

I was staying at a hotel nearby for business and needed a quick and easy dinner after a long weekend.
Masala Craft Indian Cuisine is a small Indian Kitchen with a few tables. It is an ‘order at the counter’ type of a place. After ordering, you sit and wait a few minutes and when it’s ready, you grab it from the guy at the counter and take it back to your table. Doesn’t really seem like a restaurant. Because of how small it is, it almost discourages you from eating there. It seems like more of a take out place, although there are some tables inside and out. I tried the online ordering out of the Unilocal site and it worked great! They got the order and it was ready for pick up when I got there!
The food was delicious. The Chicken Tikka Masala was bursting with Indian flavors. The chicken was slightly overcooked and dry, but because the Masala sauce was so good, it was hard not to enjoy the dish as a whole. Rice and Naan was what you would expect. All in all, this place really hit the spot and I was happily satisfied. Would definitely go back.