Stopped by for the lunch buffet, the offerings were sparse. It wasn't too busy and it's possible we had just missed the lunch rush and that's why it was and had remained sparse. Food was okay, everything was on the sweeter side and could use some spice. Would be nice if there was a side of pepper or spice for those who would like some heat added to their food. Big parking lot out front. I do always try to avoid the bathroom here when I can, there's usually never any soap. It's not my favorite. read more

Indian Masala - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

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The Only weekday indian lunch buffet in the area... $12.99. Doesn't include drinks. Very deserving, loving the biryani rice n curry chicken. No goat curry today. But always a great treat coming here. Always recommended. read more

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I guess I didn't give up on this place cause I continued to go there cause there's not a lot of good, Indian restaurants on this side of town. I can say they have improved and I've always found soap in their bathrooms now. One of the few Indian restaurants that still offer a lunch buffet. I take back my previous reviews but *knock on wood* nope I don't jinx myself. Service was friendly, attentive and the place had fun, upbeat music playing. read more

I've only ever been here for the lunch buffet ($12.99) and I think the quality largely varies by day. The menu rotates so there have been different things on the buffet every time I've been; my favorites are the gobi manchurian and tandoori chicken. This was the first time I'd been that the buffet was a little lacking; only one of the dishes got refilled in the time I was there, and the naan and chicken trays were almost empty (even though there were a decent amount of people there). However, the food is always tasty! It's very much a hole in the wall place, nothing particularly fancy, but I don't mind that at all--in fact, when I'm just here for lunch after work and not with friends, I love to just sit in a corner booth with my headphones in and be able to not have to talk to anyone. That being said, the staff are all pleasant and very prompt with taking empty dishes away. read more

Indian Masala - Buffet selections (naan, tandoori chicken, saag paneer, chicken biryani, tamarind chutney, and pickle). - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

Our dinner this Saturday night was tasty. Started with the Chicken 555 appetizer. It had a nice chili pepper tomato style sauce with a good level of spice. Then ordered the Vegetable Korma. It had a unique blend of ingredients for a korma, I really liked the freshness of it! Garlic Naan was fantastic , should've ordered more! Also had the Butter Chicken, nice rich creamy sauce. Don't miss the Mango Lassi, OMG goodness!! The Indian style MTV music & videos entertained us while we dined. :) Service was good and friendly. read more

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Middle of the road Indian food. It's too bad because when they started they had someone in the kitchen who pushed the boundaries of Indian cuisine in very interesting ways. It's better than the pandemic era when the buffet was more like a dim sum service, but nothing like it was. The best thing I had today was the butter chicken. Particularly disappointing when compared to the past was the under spiced sambar and the kheer was devoid of pistachio and barely had any rose water flavor. The service is pretty much the same as it's always been-pretty hands off, which is fine with us because the Mister and I are very low maintenance diners. The ambience is also pretty much the same as it had been, although they repainted the space and the walls are way less busy than they used to be. That being said, although it's a little bit rundown, it's clean and organized. Nonetheless I'm always a fan of privately owned restaurants and we were happy to see the place busy. Hopefully they can continue to serve their community and maybe regain some of the magic they had when they first opened. read more

I wanted to love this place because it is hard to find an Indian buffet post COVID. It is just not clean here. Tops of the buffet areas (over your food!) have spider webs, dust and dead bugs. Floors are stickey and the bathrooms are a disaster. Whole place needs a cleaning top to bottom. Food is marginal rice was empty, Naan was basically empty everytime I went back (to check to see if I could have more than 1) Food was lukewarm probably because the warmers do not work properly. If you want to test your ability to fight food born viruses give it a try! read more

Indian Masala - attempting the buffet - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

Delicious, well spiced Indian food in a relaxed atmosphere. The menu is large but not overly so and the sauces are exquisite. You will not be disappointed. The prices are very reasonable and you will leave happily full with more than enough left over for another meal! Highly recommended. read more

Most importantly, food was delicious!! Buffet offered good variety. Different people who liked different spice levels all found something they liked. Place was busy from opening till we left but still had a couple tables open...come try it! read more

Indian Masala - Buffet - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

Have not been to this location in a while and was driving near it so decided to order some pickup. Looks like there might have been new ownership, or they are rebranding themselves as the signage and the flying chef over the restaurant was new. One thing was same old tho... the dang potholes in the parking lot. Those seem to have been there for years and years now. The place inside (dining area) seemed to have been revamped also but again one thing they did not touch are the bathrooms. They look as rough as I remember from 3-4 years ago. The food itself is always great. No complaints there. The portions are generous. It is always seasoned perfectly. When I went in, saw that they have the daily buffet back so will try that out one of these days and update the review. Pros: Great Food. ok customer service. Cons: pothole ridden parking lot. Dingy bathrooms. read more

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Okay, I gotta tell you guys about my lunch order today. Got some sort of discount on GrubHub because I'm an Amazon Prime subscriber. I was craving South Asian food, and folks have been telling me about Indian Masala in Maplewood. So I pulled up GrubHub and looked at their menu. Instead of my regular go-tos (curry or biryani) I tried out their Chicken Chettinadu (there are various spellings). Holy crap. What an incredibly flavorful and surprising dish! It's not a plain curry, or masala, but it's packed with aromatics like cardamom, coriander seeds, cumin, cloves, LOTS of onions, along with raisins. Gorkha Palace has similar seasonings in their biryani, but it was the first time I'd had them in a gravy. I don't remember the last time I tried a new dish and been blown away like this. I also asked for their hottest preparation, which was very hot (but nowhere approaching endorphin explosion). Now I want to go and have a sit-down meal there. Very good food, very well prepared. read more

We stopped in the other evening after getting a recommendation from a family friend who's family is originally from southern India. They specialize in southern Indian dishes which more heavily rely on breads than rice. However they have a great selection of your standard curry's and kormas. We tried the chicken 555, chicken saag, parrota chicken salna and the chili cheese naan. Everything was excellent! Really complex flavors and spice profiles done almost perfectly in my opinion. Beware we were only asked for a spice level on the chicken saag and we went with medium which was by far the least spicy dish we ordered besides the naan. We both like spice so we really enjoyed it but thought I should caution those who are sensitive. Service was excellent and due to it being slow we got to interact with our waiter a bit more. If you've followed many of my reviews you know ambiance is always a distant second to great food and this place is no exception. Let's just say it lacks ambiance and windows. We will definitely be back most likely for the buffet which runs from 11:30 to 2:30 for lunch and Weds and Thursdays for dinner. The food is the star at this place! read more

We visited them over a weekend for lunch. They do a Vazhai Ilai Virundhu (Banana Leaf Feast) over the weekends during lunch. This is nothing but a proper South Indian Thali (Tamilnadu style). They serve 3 different curries (veggies) and 3 different gravies (Indian gravy) with white rice. The also give you some Appalam (Papad) and a Roti. The 3 gravies are Fish, Mutton (Goat) and Chicken. If I were to rate them I would put Mutton first, Fish next and Chicken after that. The Chicken gravy was very oily, so couldn't take much. The Mutton was cooked perfectly with the right amount of spices. We did not try the Veggie meal though. My guess is they would have Sambar and Rasam. The serve water in bottles (probably from Costco) which is nice. They also have buttermilk (usually had with rice) and Payasam for dessert. Overall the Thali is amazing and very authentic. We also ordered some sides - Mutton Varuval, Vanjaram Fry. Both of them were good. I have listed a picture of the Vanjaram Fry (fish). Will attach more pictures from our future visits. If you are looking for authentic tamilnadu style full meals, then this is the place to try. read more

Indian Masala - Vanjaram Fry - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

How do you put one start because they won't let me do a negative one star. Well, this place is pretty much a joke !! I stood in line for over five minutes where the guy was on the phone and as he hangs up some other guy comes in behind me and he goes right to the customer even though I've been standing there for over five minutes!!! Bring my food home and I have had burnt toast taste better Please, everyone don't waste your money and do not go to this restaurant read more

We had the buffet here on a Thursday shortly after opening (11:30 ish), and we thought it was great! (Saag paneer, butter chicken, onion pakora, curry chicken, broccoli potato dal, chicken biryani, etc) We will return. But agree the building & interior is tired, but clean. The food is good- only Indian buffet we know of still operating. The owner said it was even larger on the weekends. Two thumbs up for curing our Indian craving! read more

Had really great food the naan was fantastic. They are super polite in terms of service. It's fun looking around and trying to figure out what kind of restaurant it used to be read more

There are some truly exceptional items here They are the butter chicken and the gulabjamun(it's a dessert that looks like munchkin donuts swimming in syrup). The gulubjamon will blow your senses. The center of this one melts in your mouth like Lindtnor truffles. Coming close to exceptional but didn't make it was the rice pudding. I really like the sweetness of the suace. The pistachio here makes a difference. Some of the rice however was a little hard . I can taste the quality in the paneer tikka masala and the shrimp vindaloo. The shrimps in these case was cooked to perfection. It's just not my thing. The chicken lollipop was just OK for me. So why only 4 stars. The service was OK. Our water ran out and was not refilled until the main course was served. Also the finished dishes from previous customers was not put away and it just looks unappetizing. It's not like they were packed at best they were half full. read more

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Went back finally to try their lunch buffet and the options weren't that great. Food was in the saltier side compared to the first time I went. I would still go back to order off the menu but not buffet. read more

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This restaurant is in the middle of nowhere and has labeled vegan options, which is cool. The vegetable samosa ($5) was fine but nothing special. We did like the masala dosa ($11) which is vegan by default and tasted good. The Punjabi daal tadka ($11) was great: vegan, savory and complex. I was less impressed with the gongura subz ($13), a South Indian dish you don't see often; it was oily and had a sharp citrus flavor. The alu matter ($12) is vegan by default and was just middling. Nothing special. I did like the parotta ($10) which comes with a "salna" curry that tasted great all around. Parotta is a flaky South Indian and Sri Lankan bread that you don't see often, so I'm glad they had it here. Lastly, the tandoori roti ($2) and the rarer methi (fenugreek) roti ($3) were both good. Come to Indian Masala for something out of the ordinary in an area you'd never expect. read more

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It's harder to find Indian buffets than it used to be before covid, so when I see one I'd like to try it. I was not disappointed in the flavors at Indian masala. The restaurant was very chilly which is a bummer but it also is 0° outside so I'm sure it's harder to keep a restaurant warm but I had to put my jacket on because it was so cold for me Also the food dropped in temperature quickly once I sat down at the table which was a bit disappointing The nann bread was not fantastic I thought the butter chicken was well. Flavored and I also thought the tandari chicken was moist and well cooked. I would eat here again but I would come back during a busy time because I feel like the buffet will keep turning and the food will stay hot. I felt like the food I ate was a mild temperature. I did eat a piece of cauliflower that was extremely red in color and ended up being too spicy for me. I am a boring American girl who needs things mild so I think next time I will ask before I pick food off the buffet. Again, I would come here in the future read more

Great food, not great service. Would come back! Would like to try the buffet at some point. Liked all the food. Wish I remembered the name of everything we opened read more

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I usually give restaurants the benefit of the doubt. I follow a personal three strikes rule unless it was pretty egregious. So I ordered takeout two times within the month of February. The first time, everything went okay but they forgot one of my items. I asked for a refund and they would not give it to me. Fair enough, they said mention it next time I order. I agreed to it and they promised a "treat" whatever that means which I'm not going to hold them to. The second time I ordered online, I specifically mentioned that they forgot my item and I would like to have it included. Well, when I went to pick up the item, they claimed they were not informed by me even though it was put in the order. I walked away again with meal but missing my item. They tried to substitute it for an entirely different item which I refused because it was a specific item not on their buffet. Also, I tried their lunch special platter and the tandoori chicken they gave me were just pieces of bone with barely any meat. How does a restaurant serve only chicken bones to their paying customers? On top of that, my work colleague ordered the same platter and he also got chicken bones with barely any meat on there. Sadly, I really want to like this place. I really do! Food is good and they are courteous. I will give this place one more try and if they cannot get my order correct and serve just chicken bones again to me, then I am not going back a fourth time. I'll come back and update my review at this restaurant one more time when I decide to eat in-person or do takeout again. read more

Sunday buffet was not appetizing. The rice dishes were very dry. The chicken appetizer had bones. Will not be visiting this place again. read more

Bad service. I literally watched the worker ignore a customer who was a person of color. He never went to her table to remove the dirty dishes or interact at all. I also noticed he did the complete opposite for the other customers who were white and even chatted with them. When she left, he cleared off the table and was even left a tip. Place is grungy looking, dirty windows and ceiling, ugly color scheme. This place is not worth the effort it takes to get there. Disappointed to see what happened to that girl. read more

I usually only go here for their buffet lunch because it's close to work. However, I came here for dinner once and it still didn't disappoint. Their tikka masala is not the best I've had, in fact, I've had many others that were way better in comparison but it was a solid 3.5/5. I got the shrimp one. Their Bombay khorma is freaking amazing though. It's a yellow curry (not the yellow curry flavor you'd expect). It was so amazing. I eat it when it's on the buffet line too (vegetable). I would highly recommend it. Their friend paneer is really good too. I really liked the green sauce (chutney) that it came with. Definitely shareable, 8 per order. I also think their garlic naan is good but also not the best naan ever. Either way, this place has a great variety of options, even during their lunch buffet. Value is incredible here for the buffet options. read more

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The cuisine was excellent. The waitress's statement that we should tip with cash at the table and that they won't receive it if we tip with a card at the register caught us off guard. read more

Very good food. i love the manchurian cauliflower, so flavorful. Crave it frequently!

I only put 5 because Yelp won't show the 1 stars , this place is weird , went there 3 times and each time the "owner" was petty. If I got some rice , he would watch me while knowing there is hardly any left because it's all crispy. When I went in another time he tried to do the old " I don't have the right amount of change " deal until we stood firm and got our change back. Yesterday I go in and he's working on wiring while people are eating , when I get done I go to pay and he tells me , your wife yelled at me last time when you weren't looking ?!? I laughed and told him that he was weird, he shakes his head and points his hands left and right telling me that he didn't like the way she talked to him . This is not currystan clam down. My wife never yelled , she came back in to get the money you shorted us. I told you I was never worried about 2.00 bucks , idk why you waited a whole month and visits after that day you supposedly got yelled at to tell me something. And you waited until we got done to say something . Odd. read more

Indian Masala - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

This is one of my partner's favorite place for Indian food in the area! The chicken dum biriyani is our favorite! It's consistently delicious and the portion is generous! The chicken 555 appetizer is also super good with a little kick and honestly perfect just by itself or just a side of white rice. Sometimes the service is a little slow but they are usually honest about the wait time and a couple times we got free desserts because our order took longer than estimated. My main reason for 4/5 instead of 5/5 is because most of the other dishes are not consistency the same and a little too oily for my taste. During COVID, this place is open for pick up and delivery via apps only. read more

Decent food. Buffet didn't have many veggies. No saag the day I went. Lentils were great. read more

Amazing food. Just amazing. I loved everything I got and for such a great price Service was quick and the foot was hot read more

I have been here a few times over the years for both their lunch buffet and dinner. Food is consistently good. One of the few Indian places in MN you could get South Indian food. As soon as I found out about their meals on banana leaves (only on weekends) I had to give it a try. So happy I did. Took me back home. They come over to you with the food and serve it on the banana leaves. You can ask for more if you like more. You have the option of getting non-veg or veg. Both hubby and I opted for non-veg. Would like to go back some day and try the veg option. Definitely recommend giving this place a try if you haven't already. read more

Indian Masala - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

I often go here for the weekday lunch buffet or order dinner via UberEats. We went on Sunday for their banana leaf lunch, and it is correctly advertised as a traditional South Indian meal, reminiscent of what I've had in rural villages in Chennai. Servers regularly circulate offering servings of rice, sambar, vada, rasam, bengain, and other dishes, all placed right on your banana leaf. Only drawback is that it can be a little slow to get additional servings, and for some reason people kept offering us meat even though we ordered the vegetarian meal. Still definitely worth the $13 we paid. read more

Indian Masala - Banana leaf meal menu - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

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Great Service! Very helpful with choosing accompaniments and flavors.Will return to try more dishes.

Today was my tenth time ordering from here. I usually order through UberEATS but they take forever. Today I called in my order and picked it up myself. It was an hour round trip but the food is so worth it. The price is mid-range for local Indian food. The booths, tables and chairs are not in the best shape. The colors scream "paint sale" but the food makes up for it all. If I could I'd eat here everyday. read more

Indian Masala - Vegetable Pakoras. - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

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I wished we had the foresight to snap a photo, but we were so excited and then subsequently incredulous that we forgot. We've been to this place a couple times before and thought the food was good, and when we saw that they had a buffet, we were very excited to try it. they only have it on a weekday (Thursday) , so we we hustled in after work, which was 45 minutes before buffet close but more than 2 hours before restaurant closing time. The food on the buffet was nearly gone , 90 percent empty. So we thought that it would be refilled since there was almost an hour left, it was not. When we asked if they would, they looked very confused asked us what we would like to be refilled? In the end, they refilled one entree and white rice and the naan. It was frustrating since they did not warn us about the food nor other people who came in after us for the buffet. This might be just the way they do it here, but it would've been nice to know before we paid, it was not worth the price for almost 20 bucks. we would not be back, but as an fyi, i would only come to the first hour or so of the buffet since they do no replace any of the food besides maybe white rice and naan (regular, no flavor naan). Customer service is also pretty much non-existent, while food is good, it's not good enough to balance out other factors. read more

We came here for dinner with Groupon and service was fine. The dishes we got were the SHRIMP CHETTINADU and the LAMB TIKKA MASALA. There was a draft of cold air but just left our coats on. Once the food came, we were warmed up by the spices. I really liked my shrimp dish but we thought that the lamb was a little chewy to tough. Before, we have come here and it has been better. We still come here to support local business. However, it might be best to come here when it is busier during lunch buffet. I have come here as well as India Palace for buffet and thought this place had more selection. read more

Indian Masala - Shrimp Chettinau (left) and Lamb Tikka Masala (right) - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

Great food, would love to see them in Stillwater, this would be my weekly go to! Thanks

It was good food. I have celiac disease and there was so much that I could eat! My family liked the naan. Overall a good experience. The ambiance was fine. Nothing special about the location but the restrooms could be a bit cleaner. read more

Indian Masala - Chicken Biryani, Saag Paneer, Chicken Curry, and Tandoori Chicken. - Indian Near Me - Maplewood, Minnesota

Got a group on for this location and decided to try it out. I came for their lunch buffet one time and came again for their dinner. Lunch Buffet: I was really impressed by their selection. There's a lot of different options plus the desserts are more abundant than at other Indian lunch buffet locations I have been at. The display for the food itself was good but personally I would recommend finding another way than hand writing what each item is on notebook paper. It helps with the presentation but other than that things tasted really good and the variety was awesome. When we first arrived for the Lunch Buffet I wasn't too impressed. I believe the front door said 10 AM they opened and when we came in they said they weren't open yet but we could find somewhere to sit down. It didn't leave a good first impression but other than that I was impressed. Dinner: Food wise, this place has very delicious food. I do like eating curry and like Indian food but I am definitely not familiar with the food. I would like to have a better description or maybe even pictures of food in the menus to help describe what certain items are. Our actual food we got was amazing. I really enjoyed our meals and the fresh bread was incredible. The service was really good too. Decor wise, the place is very dark feeling which is workable. I wouldn't mind coming back to this place to eat again. I did enjoy the food and that is one of the most important things to enjoy when you are finding a place to eat. read more

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