Nestled in cozy downtown Burlingame, Masala Desi Cafe offers delicious, authentic Indian food. I got the butter chicken with an order of white rice and garlic naan. The chicken was tender and the curry was absolutely delicious. It was buttery, hot, smooth and spiced perfectly. The naan was fluffy, garlicky, and paired well with everything else on the plate. Friendly service and a warm, inviting atmosphere, Masala Desi Cate is a fantastic spot for a chill bite to eat with big flavor. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Butter Chicken Curry - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

The portions were generous, and the food was satisfying. However, I wish the dishes had a little more flavor. The butter chicken and lamb biryani could use more seasoning and a richer taste. Overall, the portion sizes were great, but I was hoping for a bit more flavor. read more

I stopped by for lunch a little late on a Saturday. Still there was a wait. Goat biryani was my favorite item here. Goat meat was cooked soft. Kadai chicken and garlic naan was a good combination. Masala dosa was good as well. Overall everything was sligtly spicier than I expected. read more

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3.5/5. Mid food. Tried biryani and dosa. Both were just okay. Not bad but nothing to rave about. Service was quick. The place was kinda small. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

Came here a while back and liked the food a lot. We had naan, chhole, butter chicken, samosas, and lassi. The staff were very friendly and nice. It's kind of a small place so ambiance is ok. read more

For an authentic taste of the South, Masala desi cafe delivers high-quality food in a clean restaurant. The Dosa stands out on its own but the chutneys that come with are great too! If you have an appetite, then you must-order idles as well. Service was also prompt, we hardly had any wait time. We were seated promptly and order came within 15 min. All round great service. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - dosa - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

I ordered the rose falooda here and was amazed it cost $9 for a drink like this. Otherwise it tasted great. It had all the sabja, ice cream, and vermicelli like it should have. read more

Masala's price cutting efforts and lack of effort towards cleanliness and ambiance negatively impacts its otherwise descent Indian food. We ordered the Samosa chaat, Gobi Manchurian, garlic naan, chai and butter chicken. We were especially pleased with the Gobi Manchurian and though the flavor profile for the samosa chaat was well executed, we were disappointed by the small amount of samosa. The butter chicken was lacking in spices, giving it an overall muted flavor. My favorite part of sipping chai is holding the warm cup in my hands. Sadly the chai, though tasty, was served in a disposable coffee cup. The view of the poorly swept floors and sagging plastic "faux tile" table cloths used to cover the wall by the register didn't help. Unfortunately not enough strengths to make me a repeat customer. read more

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Love the food here. Their Standout Dishes are Masala Dosa Curries: Butter Chicken and Andhra Chicken Curry Samosa Chicken Malai Kabab Garlic Naan Falooda This place is small so would recommend taking ToGo orders read more

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Authentic Indian food with great service! We are regulars here since pre covid! Love everything they have on the menu! We love love love the goat curry!! Super tender and flavorful!! Everything is delicious! Can't wait to go back! read more

Our new favorite local restaurant that reminds my husband of Home. We love this place even my kids (11&12) love it. We had an order of samosas, goat biryani, lamb curry, masala dosa and chai. Delicious and we will be back! read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Goat biriyani - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

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Small outfit. Best for takeout. Not really setup for groups. Good food overall. Not fancy.

Came here for lunch and loved that they had their lunch plates with so many options. I got the lamb curry and my wife got the tikka masala. Both tasted great and reasonably priced. There are a good amount of indian places around of varying levels of upscaleness but what I like most about Masala desi is how accessible it is. There are places with massive menus that also come with massive prices but if I just want something casual and tasty, its nice to know I can pop by this place and have a satisfying meal read more

OUCH! Hidden GLUTEN!!! they are big advertising gluten free but their dosas all have gluten -- which is not labeled on the menu. At least my server warned me away from it and I left without eating anything because the whole experience was scary. Where else was gluten hiding? read more

3/5 Chicken biryani-- chicken tasted stale. Average food for the price. Channa curry-- average. I can make better channa curry at home. read more

Wanted to come here for a really long time and while it was a bit different than expected, I would go back. Their menu is simple, with all the staple dishes and lots of veg options. The space is very small with no ambiance - extremely casual. Definitely more of a place to go with friends than to take my parents, for example. The food was very good. We had a chaat appetizer (my favorite), the butter chicken, naan, and a dal dish (huge portion). Food came out fairly quick but we weren't checked on after that point and had to call out for anything else we needed (water refills, etc) and the check took a very long time. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Chaat - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

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Great service and delicious food. The space is small so maybe great for a group of only 1-4. Anything larger might be hard to squeeze into the tables. I think this is a hidden gem and will definitely return for more. I would just caution on the side of spice. If you're not into spicy food maybe ask for a lower level. i loved the spice level but my friend said medium was still a lot for them. So make sure to ask what is best. read more

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Great Indian food .. great atmosphere you should try once , you will go back . Staff welcome you with warm smile

I have never been to this restaurant before. I will definitely come back. The aromas of curry and other spices once it tickles your nose you will want to keep coming back here. Clean, friendly atmosphere a little on the small side. Seating might be hard hostess was great. I will definitely come back. read more

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Been craving for chai and paper dosa. So we decided to try this place for the first time. It's cozy and nice inside. They also have really good outdoor seating as well. Next time we can bring our dogs. That's a big bonus. The food is spectacular and authentic. Even though I did spend enough time in Indian to be able to tell the difference, don't just take my word. My Indian friend said the same thing. I'm really happy with my order of the paper dosa and the paneer kabob. The dosa is super crispy and soooooo good! And the masala chai just really took me back to those Indian memories. My friend loved the samosa and his order too. Tons of veggie options. The service is excellent. Will definitely come back soon. read more

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There's probably not too many Indian restaurants in Burlingame so Masala might be popular because there isn't too much competition. They have a cute little parklet for outdoor seating but with no breeze on a hot day, you better get some napkins ready to wipe your sweat. The food itself though is not very spicy and I'm used to going to Indian restaurants that ask you how spicy do you prefer your food to be. With a Yelp check-in, you get a free masala chai tea which is basically your standard Indian tea. I would like to have an iced version of this. Their menu is pretty standard with your typical Indian entrees. I wanted to try different types of naan so I ordered: onion kulcha $4.95 garlic cheese $5.95 Both disappointed me in their flavor. The onion kulcha was a little too thick and even though you can clearly see the onion, it lacked depth in flavor. I also expected the garlic cheese naan to be stuffed but it had absolutely ZERO CHEESE PULL -- maybe I've been eating too many Korean dogs! The goat rogan josh $17.95 had tender pieces of goat but I wish there was more and I definitely disagree with the other reviewer who said the portions are big here. Goat meat was maybe half a pound at best with a lot of bone. The sauce itself had strong hints of fennel, saffron, cumin and cardamom. Rohan josh is one of my favorite curries. Spice level was 2 out of 5. Lastly there was the lunch combo , normally $$16.95 served until 3pm but with the addition of lamb curry, it's $3 more so for $19.95, you get a combo of rice, naan, soup, salad and 3 pieces of lamb curry, served to you on a tray that resembles something from a cafeteria. If you like a variety of things but don't expect a lot of meat, this might be your go to entree. The curry flavor here was excellent and probably the tastiest out of everything. Serving size was average but carb heavy. Service was excellent -- very attentive and I love the "call" button at the table. Wait time for food was approximately 10+ minutes. Overall a pleasant meal if you're in the area and this fits the Burlingame Avenue vibe but pretty standard compared to other Indian restaurants I've tried. Total bill $50.21 read more

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Ordered on a Wednesday night for delivery was pretty good in a about 30 minutes and in sealed containers. The food was not as good though. While the butter chicken was pretty tasty; the chicken 65 was a bad version of Chinese chicken and Lamb Pepper Fry was too spicy on the verge of unbeatable. Besides that the portion size in this place is pretty small, I think it is 1/5th of size of other places that we used too. They do not provide any bread or rice, so I guess the expectation is for you to order them separately. Overall I was pretty disappointed, and will not order again. If I do, I will only order Butter Chicken, perhaps 10 of them read more

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Amazing food Best service and very friendly people Specially I love coconut chutney. read more

Don't understand the good reviews. We had horrible experience. Skip! Ambience: horrible & gross. The place is tiny. The glass behind my head was filthy. The bathroom was tiny and we had to walk through kitchen, not nice. The waiter put Indian rap on TV pretty loud and started singing with it - while kind of entertaining but very much disturbing. Service: the guy was nice but nothing about the place was good. Plus we ordered butter chicken & chicken tikka masala and they're were the same sauce. Why didn't he tell us?!!! Food: overall not good. Lack of flavor and not exiting. Also left a bad after taste. Fries: just skip this. We ordered by mistake and did not enjoy it at all. Garlic naan: the only good item we had. Butter chicken & chicken masala: had much much better. The color was off, the flavor wasn't good. And both were same dish. I even asked him which is what and what's better. Tell your customer next time! Lamb biryani: lamb had good flavor & was spicy but the rest of the dish & rice was plain, no spice no flavor, very un-creative and not exciting. read more

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Food, service and place, Everything was amazing. I only went with my husband. Next time we would like to take some friends and try more other food read more

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I ordered here online for takeout and had the butter chicken, roti, dal makhani curry and tandoori chicken with a side of raita and rice. Everything was easy to order online. The butter chicken had only one tiny piece of chicken. The tandoori chicken was overcooked with too much char and almost burned. The dal and the roti were pretty good. The most disappointing thing was the butter chicken dish had almost no chicken. The flavors were ok but overall it was an unsatisfying meal. I felt sick later too. Never going back. read more

It's not often that a restaurant actually gets better over time. This one did! Ambiance (3/5) was about average for this kind of a place. We sat in the parklet as weather outside was good. Service (3.5/5) was polite and quick Food - this is where Masala Desi really shone. My wife and I had been here about year or year and a half ago, but came away after the meal thinking, meh! , at the time. Fast forward to now and it's a different story. We ordered: Chana Bhature (4/5) : I might have given this a 3.75, but that was splitting hairs do I'll give it a 4. Now the interesting thing that has while the Chana was not bad , it wasn't the best I've had, but the Bhatura, while being oddly non-oily, was still tasty even if a tad bit thick. It's almost like they air fried the bhature! Not sure how they did it, but to have a non-greasy bhatura is a miracle! Masala Dosa (3.5/5): another improvement over our last visit - the dosa was a bit thick but went well with the amazing chutney and tasty sambhar. Falooda (3.5/5) : they were kind enough to accommodate my request to make it vegan ( oat milk instead of dairy while holding the ice cream) and while that didn't taste the way I did used to like it, it still was good enough Tea (4/5) : slightly milkier than my mom would have liked but she did like the taste of the Masala. All in all, we'll likely come back - and don't you disappoint Masala Desi Cafe! read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Masala Dosa - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

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After a long cross country flight, we were incredibly nibbly and made this our first stop after landing into SFO. Sajin gave us the warmest welcome as we dragged our bags with us and truly made our visit exceptional. Michelin level service. The dosa and Chaat really hit the spot. Love an airy light dish but the potatoes also makes it very filling. The outdoor dining is also a big plus with the great weather we're having! read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Chaat and Masala Dosa - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

Quick take: dine-in is the best option I've ordered takeout and did dine in at Masala. The food taste way better ordered fresh out of the kitchen. Also I like mild spicy Indian food. They do a really good job with the spice levels when we dine in. Takeout is always too spicy. The service is good and this spot is in a great location. I also tried their dosa and it's very good. Definitely recommend Masala in Burlingame. read more

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they finally have mysore masala dosa. so delicious. spicy, but not too spicy for americans that like spicy. you can ask for spicier. i have been wanting them to have this dish since they opened. i'm so happy. the plain masala dosa is delicious, but mysore dosa is my favorite. i also recommend the idli and the uttapam. also i like the masala chaas. it is a great drink in the masala chai family. oh yeah the goat biryani is great. the goat curry, too. prices are great for what you get. service here is great. attentive and friendly. read more

Placed my order for pickup on Yelp. When I arrived, the individual behind the counter stated they never received my order. After some back and forth, showing my yelp and email confirmations, they made the food. Time waste/miscommunication aside, the quantity of food I received was not comparable to what I paid. For this reason mainly, I will satisfy my cravings for Indian food elsewhere. read more

I should have checked Yelp before I bought my chai tea. Honestly, it was one of the worst chai teas I've had. Reminded me of Starbucks. A lot of water. Super nice staff. Super friendly and attentive, but the portions are small and for $20 I found it to be lacking. I was literally still hungry after this small Lunchbox meal with basically a scoop of sauce and some meat, a thin layer of rice, and a watery salad. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

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Hidden gem when you're craving some South Indian food, their quick and efficient only issue I had recently was when I asked her to go order the potatoes just tasted very bland and old. read more

Wow! So glad to have a solid Dosa restaurant closer to SF. This means we may not have to drive all the way to Sunnyvale (Madras Cafe) to get our Dosa fix. We got the masala dosa with potatoes on the side (getting them on the side rather than in the middle helps preserve the crispiness of the Dosa). Also got the chicken tikka kebab which was cooked perfectly (it's rare for a restaurant to do both Punjabi and South Indian dishes well so we were very impressed). Will definitely be coming back here soon! Oh and don't forget to grab your free masala chai by checking in on Yelp! read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Dosa with masala potatoes on the side - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

Nice to find a reasonably priced Indian place! The owners of Koriander in Belmont have set up shop in Burlingame with this easy in easy out spot. Everything was delicious and we can't wait to come back. Portions were big and The lamb was nice and tender which isn't always the case. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

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This review is based on take out. Very easy to order through GrubHub. Pick up was on time and service was friendly. Looks like a nice dine in area and also outdoor. We ordered the masala dosa, gobi Manchurian, and the veg samosa. I appreciate the tidy packaging for take out. I appreciate the chutney and sauces already in the take out. The gobi Manchurian was packed with spicy flavor for my taste buds but others enjoyed it. The veg samosa had a very nice filling and crisp pastry. The masala dosa was slightly dry but the chutney sauces helped overall. We hope to have an opportunity to dine in the future. read more

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Solid place for "fancier" Indian (ie not a takeout vibe) with a nice outdoor seating area off of the main downtown Burlingame area. * gobi manchurian - fun Chindian dish. Like sweet and sour battered fried cauliflower with a kick. Eat the onion and peppers chunks and pretend you're being healthy. * masala dosa - solid dosa, crispy edges and good portion * lamb rogan josh - lots of lamb chunks. We ordered it spicy (one step down from indian spicy) and it was what we'd consider barely medium. Definitely going for Indian spicy next time! Delicious lamby flavor * naan: garlic naan has lots of chopped garlic and cilantro. Garlic cheese naan had cheddar folded into the dough and was filling and tasty on its own. Naan is a bit doughier than other places but still solid. * vegan chai - loved that they had a nondairy option. The ordering system said it would be soy or oat or almond and didn't let me pick but I was fine with any. Their chai is a bit heavier on green cardamom and not as clove/cinnamon heavy. Tasty. I liked the QR menu with integrated ordering AND payment option. I feel like it reduces the pressure of making sure the order and options are right, and made it super fast to pay and leave. The table service was efficient, friendly, and helpful (bringing dishes, clearing plates, bringing water). A bit pricier overall than many Indian places but I felt the quality was solid and presentation of everything was really nice. Will return! read more

Dosa is decent. Mango lassi is tasty! A small place in the downtown. Service is good. read more

Masala Desi Cafe - Burlingame - Plain Dosa - Indian Near Me - Burlingame, California

I wanted to try this place since it opened during the pandemic and had a chance to for lunch today. We got the butter chicken curry with rice, masala dosa, garlic nan and chili paneer (medium spicy), mango lassi and masala chai tea. All the dishes were flavorful and was satisfying. The portions are big so we had some left over (will save for dinner)! The chicken in the butter chicken was tender and juicy, just the way I like it! I would come back to try other dishes next time. There's outdoor seatings and QR code option to pay and order which was very convenient. read more

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We felt like Dosas again and came here because they have outside dining and our dog was with us. We ordered our usual Masala Dosa and Veggie Manchurian. The dosas weren't crispy as we had them before. Was there a new cook? We told our waiter (didn't get his name) about it and he apologized, offered to delete our dosas from our bill. We said that wasn't necessary, we just wanted them to know the change in their dosas. He insisted and bought us a new bill which consisted of the Veggie Manchurian, beer, and a coke. My husband gave a 20% tip. I told him he should give our waiter at least a $10 tip so he handed it to him and thanked us. He was the most nicest waiter from start to finish. Even though the dosas weren't to our expectations, we left happy due to this waiter's exceptional service. I wonder if he was the owner? read more

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