Wow let's just start with, how did we not know about this awesome little treasure. I mean the…read moreservice, the flavor and the transporting into another dimension of food excellence in Madera was mind blowing. Now. You aren't at an upscale restaurant. Give it the same grace you would any other place that shares a space with a market, but if you can get past that- surprises await you. Came on a date night with my one and only Mr. E and with an open mind, some grace and a tummy ready to go we jumped right in. First- the chilled bottle of water was so nice! Next, the young man brought us menus and brought out the cook to help us order- we truly were grateful for the help! After a few nods and some clarification & spice level negotiations we were ready to roll. They were so patient and nice. Ordered: Chicken tika masala Chicken pakora ( all Chicken ) Samosas (wish I had ordered more) An order of garlic naan which was 4 triangles. Then they brought us tamarind sauce and the wonderful green sauce! I'm sorry, im impressed I remembered this much ( also I wish I was hungrier but had a late lunch so we had to tame our ordering). Food rating: Chicken tika masala easily a 5! Creamy and rich! Chicken pakora ( all Chicken ) Mr. E loved these, I can see why the flavor and crispiness were great about 4.5. Samosas (wish I had ordered more) giving these a 6 out of 5! So good. An order of garlic naan 5!

I really enjoyed the food the times I have came here. Not the best but definitely not the worst…read moreIndian food I have tried. The chicken tikki masala was pretty good and so is the butter chicken.

We stopped in on a roadtrip for a little snack. Samosa lady was out sick this week so I opted for…read morean order of veggie pakoras, golub jamun (spelling?), & some Chana masala. Really tasty & fresh food. Obviously made with love. I'm only sorry we couldn't order some entrees to try also. While I waited on our food I was able to check out the market. Lots of goodies, spices, & great variety of daal. I was even able to find long pepper! Yay! Pricing was on point. The woman that helped me was also super nice & kind. Check this place out.

Great gem for Punjabi food to go. We live in the Bay Area and stopped here for food to go…read more Reasonable , clean and dishes were great. I would order from here again .

This place has great options in main course desserts & their lemon soda was delicious too…read more Good ambience, great sweets and dessert options, staff were great too & service too. The food came quick and tasted great. Next time wanna come back for the indo Chinese food.

Warm and friendly service. Simple home style ambiance. Yes the lime lemon soda was excellent!…read more They were short staffed so our food took some time to come out. I was a little nervous considering we had a flight to catch! But everything we ate was absolutely deciduous. We had the Chatore Chaat and the Amritsar Kulcha (served with Chole). I would 100% return!

Masala Express is easily my #1 Indian spot in Merced…read more I ordered the chicken tikka masala and man... this was next level. Super tender chicken and the sauce was rich, creamy, and packed with flavor perfectly spiced without being too heavy. With the fluffy rice and warm naan it was one of those meals you don't want to end. What really makes this place stand out though is the service. The owner is always there super welcoming and constantly checking in to make sure you're taken care of. You can tell he takes pride in the food and the experience. Great food top-tier service this place doesn't miss.

This is the fourth Indian buffet. I have eaten at here in Merced. This one was the best. Something…read moreweird though, they had fried chicken and no tandoori chicken. I would like to suggest labels on the trays. I enjoyed the naan and Chai.

First time trying and experience was nice. Customer service…read morewas good and their staff was sweet. Inside was really bright and upscale like. We shared all dishes and we were content. Butter chicken tasted real tomatoe-y 5/10 Chai was bomb and so was the rice pudding. 10/10 Samosas 10/10 Garlic naan 9/10 Fish 8/10 Mushroom massala 9/10 Need to come back for the lunch buffet. Open to trying more dishes next time.

So we came back a few months later because those black lentils were living rent-free in my head!…read moreThe food is still excellent, and the service is still warm and attentive. The folks who run this place seem to really care about the quality of the food and the experience the guests have. Unlike our first visit on Valentine's Day which was very busy, we came back on a weekend evening this fall, and there were only a couple other diners. It seems like "the new normal" is that most business for these mom-and-pop type restaurants appears to be by Doordash, Grubhub, UberEats -- even if they're making plenty of sales, very few people come in and sit down. It's odd. You can no longer judge how good a restaurant will be by how many people are seating having dinner on a Saturday night. But despite not very many people dining in, it's a comfortable, welcoming, clean space. Everything was still fresh, delicious, and very similar to last time, EXCEPT: The main update I wanted to give is that the little "glitches" I noticed when the place was brand new are all gone now. This is just as I expected, but I wanted to let Yelpers know this. So yes, this time the got everything we ordered, we got sauces with the appetizer, and we were given full-size dinner plates. Love those black lentils. Everyone: go eat them!

We stopped here on our way to the Sequoias--and it turned out to be a very solid restaurant stop…read more The place had a surprisingly wide selection of Indian dishes, snacks, and packaged goodies. Free chah was a nice touch (and honestly better than most paid ones elsewhere), and the samosas? Crisp, flavorful, no regrets. We liked it enough that we made a point to stop again on our way back. Picked up a bunch of Indian biscuits for the road-- you can see the selection in the photo. If you're passing through and craving good Indian food, this is definitely worth the quick detour.

10/09/25 Getting…read morelunch!! Arrived, greeted by multiply workers and ordered Tandoori Chicken, samosas, rice & Garlic Naan. She just told me it would take 25 min. No problem. Waited inside. Safe and clean. Many other restaurants. Received order from worker later with a smile. Lunchtime!! Order split. Tandoori Chicken was tender, seasoned & DELICIOUS! Samosa was Great! Even better dipped in samosa sauces included adding a nice spice! Rice was fresh & taffy! Garlic Naan was seasoned perfectly and DELICIOUS! More leftovers! Mother said the workers did a Really GREAT job making a GREAT lunch!! Good service & GREAT lunches with LOTS & lots of leftovers! Highly recommended!

Went with my family to eat Indian food because we've been craving it, we usually go to Masala…read moreexpress because it's closer but wow the food here was so much different in flavor. Especially the butter chicken and chicken tikka masala, if you're in Merced I'd definitely recommend this place. The staff was very kind and respectful to me and my family. Even though it doesn't matter the restaurant had beautiful cultural art and nice wall displays. If you're in Merced I'd recommend this place. Turmeric has won me as a life long customer.

The food was amazing and so was their service. the owner was very respectful and welcoming and the…read moreservers were very nice and heartwarming. It was a good stop as we were on our way back from Yosemite and it was worth the drive and stop. the atmosphere was very homelike and also welcoming. overall this restaurant is very good and I love it

I'm having lamb stuffed Naan for the first time and Samosas…read more It's amazing how much lamb they were able to stuff into the Naan. Delicious. The samosas are perfectly crispy in the outside, soft in the inside and very flavorful. The plum sauce and green mint sauce are the bomb, too.

Starting off with the good. Good service. The waitress was attentive; we didnt wait long to order…read moreor get our food. Going on with the good. The lamb tikka masala and the butter chicken was so tender and delicious. Great flavor. Garlic Naan was also excellent. Exactly what you would want. Okay the very bad. The coconut shrimp looked amazing but was salty. Surprisingly it wasnt boxed shrimp which was appreciated. Thought it was a one off and decided to eat it with the rice to balance, which my husband did and I only had one. I also ordered the saag also. It was like a plate of salt, adding rice did not help. I had one spoonful and left the entire dish. I let the waitress know but she just explained they add salt and sometimes people don't like it. Didn't offer to remake it or take it off. Wanted to really like this place but will not be returning. There are better places elsewhere.