Masala Bistro

Reviews 4

A

A Private User

I I know Indian food being Irish/East-Indian my father is Irish and my mother is East-Indian but ultimately I am American and I am a Mamma’s Boy so I grew up on Indian cooking all my life growing up in NYC I know real ethnic food .the parents of my fiancée live in camp hill PA and she was the one who told me to try the only Indian restaurant in her neck of the woods, though reluctant I was up for a decent meal, and I liked the restaurant it was clean . However the communication with the servers was not great two of three could not speak English but the hostess/owner spoke some English and tried to make things comfortable she assured me that all the food was fresh and made to order. Until I found a roach in my chicken vindaloo . i did not eat it and she replaced it for me with a new vindaloo. I was trying to contain myself being from NYC. 10 mins later the old lady next to our table found a hair in her vegetable curry. Unfortunately she was not as tolerant as me and she confronted one of the two servers about it. He did not understand so he then told her to talk to the hostess/owners-wife. She tried hard to calm the lady by giving her a complimentary dinner check. I was so baffled because the lady was ok!!! since she was a local. I guess she would go there again. But as for me I asked to speak to the hostess/owner of the restaurant. I told her I wish to speak to her without making a scene in the restaurant, so she took me to the back of the restaurant as I glanced at the kitchen I was convinced. The place looked like a war zone the floor was partially clean and the chef/owner had no chef coat, kitchen hair-net but he was SIKH/turban wearing individuals. Nothing against him since I am part Indian ,but None of the people in the kitchen had any professional kitchen clothing neither did they look like a staff of a sanitized Fine-dine facility. Basically Masala Bistro is a shabby low class restaurant. and yet they are trying to put forth a fine dine image without even making an attempt to work above from their garbage standards. BOTTOM LINE they are fooling the NAÏVE AMERICAN COUSTMER. All we want is the real deal without BULLISHIT especially when paying for it and TIPPING . I will never go back to this place. I hope the best of luck to all that like or wish to try Indian food cause. It taste ok but it is not what it seems like. NOT FRESHLY MADE, NOT MADE TO ORDER, NOT HYGENIC and a bad image for INDIAN FOOD

A

A Private User

My first impression of this place was great. The staff was very friendly and was managing everything very efficiently. The food didnt take long to arrive. Here is a list of the stuff i ordered and my thoughts on it: 1. Pakoras: These were fresh and nicely flavored, but the batter coating was too thick for my liking. but these were nice. 2. Papri Chaat: Was nice taste wise although there was WAYYYY too much Papri in proportion to the Chaat. 3. Biryani: It didnt taste very fresh to begin with. It did however taste authentic(i-e it was more than colored rice sprinkled with seasoning) BUT the flavor was very bland. It was missing the kick that a Biryani usually gets from tomatoes/ dried Allo Bokhara (plums?). I also think, while making the biryani, the chicken masala portion was less in comparison to the rice, sometimes when i do that, my Biryani tastes bland as well. On the plus side, it wasnt oily. 4. Mutton Karahi: This was the biggest dissapointment EVER. I literally felt like crying when this came up. Seriously this is NOT how a karahi is supposed to be. Karahi is the easiest dish in the world. It was the first thing i ever made when I started cooking. Karahi is basically meat cooked in tomatoes. To make a Karachi, all you need is meat, ginger, garlic, Salt,Chilli, Coriander powder, turmeric and tomatoes (and green chillies and fresh Coriander for garnish). You CANT get it wrong, it doesnt have a gravy coz you never add water to it. (The karahi I got was a dark sweet gravy with tomatoes floating around with meat). 5. Chicken Tandoori: It was nicely cooked but for some reason there was season sprinkled on top, which tasted weird and crunchy in the mouth. It was okay otherwise.

C

C Johnson

I started visiting this place in 2011 while on assignment at the local base. This was my first introduction to Indian food as one of my co-workers took me for the lunch buffet one day. I was reluctant, but upon tasting the food here all of the reluctance to try new food went away. There are so many great dishes here, with the chili chicken being my favorite. I also really enjoy the butter chicken here as well as a number of the vegetarian dishes. The naan is also great. After leaving assignment in Mechanicsburg in late 2011 I missed this place so much and often tried other Indian restaurants back in Washington DC but I didnt find any that compared. The couple that owns the restaurant have always been great to me and my guest. They are both really nice and always greet me upon arrival as well as my guest. The husband is usually busy in the back cooking but he usually stops by our table to say hello. The lady always brings us fresh naan to our table even though there may be some on the buffet already. Since returning to the area this year Ive had the same experience- great great food and great service. This time I introduced my new co-workers to this place, and Ive had nothing but positive responses. Actually one of them, called me for dinner and weve been there twice already in one week!!! Needless to say its a great place with great food. Makes sure to try the: chili chicken, butter chicken, vegetable samosas, lam chops (dinner, not on buffet), Aloo Mutter, Lamb Briyani (dinner), and the list goes on and on. Latest visit was Thursday May 22nd of this year Visited May 2014

JI

Jimmy Duran

The food is always good. I have read the other reviews and I go to this place regularly. I have eaten at all the Indian places, and in most of the restaurants in Harrisburg and surrounding areas. One of the posts described how some of the food is re-used. Not sure what planet this person is on because most of the chefs figure out ways not to waste. Old bread is turned into croutons, meat is turned to broth, and vegetables are turned to various pastes. Others have whined about the owners being pushy when they came at the end of the buffet around 3pm. They have a life as well, for those of you that have never operated a business before it is a lot of work. It is not like many of the wimps that are supposed to leave work at 5pm and leave early every day at 3pm. That is their break time and then they return to run it at night again. The folks that run the business are kind, honorable, and honest. They are the kind of people that make this area a better place to live. It needs diversity, I mean how many pizza places and burgers joints can you stomach? If you dont like it please take it to McDonalds down the street so the 16 year olds can spit in your coke. They will be more than happy to take your money for over refrigerated food (one of the posts cried about the food being in the refrigerator too long, please), that is heated in the microwave. Cheers,