Masala Country

This place is now renamed Maharaja Wok.
The menu has changed a bit and now is more like a chinese food place. The food is not as spicy as it was before, but it has lost it’s indo chinese charm. Nothing too special about this place any more.

This is an ideal place for Indian-​Chinese fusion cuisine and quite close to the ‘Chinese’ food sold in the streets of Delhi or Calcutta.
I get nostalgic when I see Thumbs up (Indian cola) or Cassata (Indian Ice cream).
I love the spring roll dosa, manchurian idli and the simple egg/​chicken noodles!

Food’s pretty good though one of the servers (and theres only two of ‘em) just is not good .it just not worth eating there… I’m doing a take out next time.
Worse part they charge service charge for party of four or above… which is ridiculous as well.

I don’t know why the other Unilocalers are hating on this place, but I went today and I think its my new favorite place. I can only guess that the negative reviews are due to people not liking spicy food or simply not knowing what Indo-​Chinese cooking is all about.
I went in with 5 people for a Sunday lunch. The place is nondescript and in a strip mall. There is very little in terms of décor, but you aren’t going to a place like this for fancy service or decorations.
We ordered a couple of Limcas (lemon-​lime Indian soda) and chili paneer as an appetizer. We also got the red chili dosa, chili garlic chicken, vegetable manchurian, vegetable hakka noodles, and a kulfi falooda for dessert. The check came to the small sum of $ 15 per person. Pretty sweet considering we had leftovers.
We ordered everything medium or spicy and found the food to be excellent. The spiciness is more of a slowly building burn rather than an explosion. The best dishes were the dosa, the chili paneer, and the hakka noodles.
The manchurian was our least favorite dish, the balls were too bready and dense. The kulfi falooda was decent, but we probably should have stuck with the plain kulfi as the small amount of falooda noodles didn’t add much.
Masala Country is extremely affordable, deliciously spicy, and stays true to the flavors of Indo-​Chinese cooking. Highly recommended after a trip to SpaWorld.

I got a mango lassi drink that tasted more like a mango flavored cheese drink. I took half a sip and had to throw away the rest of my drink =(
I also got the veggie manchurian. The flavoring is good, however all I see and taste is breading. Where are the veggies at?
I most likely will not come back here again.

I didn’t really enjoy this place. It says Masala I was expecting Indian food. But all I saw in there were Chinese/​Thai food and some Indian… I mean most of the customers that came in were Indian, but I didn’t really enjoy the food. it was a decline in my taste buds.

bleh!!! I came here with so much anticipation and left with a bad taste in my mouth. sigh!
So firstly, they need to hire people who can actually wait at tables and know where to put the food and not just literally dump a plate in my hand and expect me to find place on the table!
And now for the food… Veggie spring rolls, well, they were undone on the inside and bland. Chilli Paneer was full of too much corn flour and had this weird flour flavor to it! :(
The veggie Manchurian felt the same, looked like they had used the same sauce for both. The most Tasteless Ice-​cream ever prize too goes to Masala Country! Hot and sour soup was half decent, and the Haka Noodles were ok, though a bit on the bland side.
Not happy with the place. Not willing to give it another try either!

This time the experience was even worse. Person at the counter was extremely unfriendly and the mango lassi tasted like mango pulp in water. Other than that I realized that there are places like Masala Wok, Biryani Pointe and other places in Herndon where you can get the better quality Indian Chinese food for almost 40% less price. To hell with the attitude and high price. Indian Chinese is everywhere now in DC tri state area.

More zero than 1! Worst food tasted ever. With Indian born or origin chefs raiding Food Network, this is a blot on the cuisine.
Every food is mixed with some heady sauce of a colour fit to add gore on the sets of Gladiator or 300. Baby corn was from the freezer and splattered with horrible tasting oil, cauliflower manchurian was buried in oodles of oozy mess, paneer dosa was as dry and tasteless like oak leaf and finally the chilli garlic noodles had the only flavour/​taste.
Even if you are starving, please drink some water and more and more. but never take this Country road.

FYI: Really a 3.5 (not a 4 just yet…)
Came here with a large group on a Sunday afternoon for lunch and I was suprised at how empty it was… maybe because it was along the later lunch time (1:45) but do my fellow Indians not do late lunches?
Various dishes were ordered, here’s what I tried:
*“Drums of Heaven” (Chicken drumsticks) — thick gravy, order was a little smaller than expected (drumsticks themselves were really tiny) but it was yummy
*Chilli Paneer — pretty much like most I’ve tasted, good
*Hakka Chilli Chicken — Good amount of spice level however it tasted a little powdery on my tongue…
*Hot and Sour Soup — Excellent, I finished the whole bowl! Plenty of veggies and plenty of flavor!
*Thai Red Curry — the color was a little deeper orange than I’ve seen, overall it was okay, good amount of veggies, but better at Thai restaurants!
Service was just okay — they didn’t refill the water much, and didn’t come much until asked… surprising considering not many people were in the restaurant!
Minus 1 star for two things: Décor… please do not tell me you can’t spend a couple more bucks and print the photos you have on actual photo paper v. what looks like they had been printed at home on regular paper! Also — if you are trying to show off your food… don’t take a picture of it in a dixie brand paper plate! so tacky!!! Also — I hate the idea of giving cans of soda instead of fountain soda… it’s a very CHEAP attitude.
It was pretty good overall, not AWESOME, but good, I would go back!

Yummy! Went here last week for a carry out order.
We ordered the chicken panang and chilly chicken dishes. We feared getting something too spicy so we stuck with the medium which was perfect and added a good amount of spiciness (unless you eat a chili). Each dish was yummy and $ 10 but the portions given are huge and gave leftovers for the next two days. My only complaint is the amount of rice given with the dishes is very little.
On this Thursday evening, the place had only one small family dining in so our food was quickly prepared and we were out the door in about 10 mins. The service was decent and nothing to complain about.
I’d definitely come back again.

It was an interesting experience to eat here. Lot of their dishes are fusion (indian-​chinese) dishes, apparently this is type of cuisine is really popular in India now. It was spicy and I didn’t enjoy the flavors all that much. I like the Rava Masala Dhosa, which isn’t on the menu but they will make it for you if you ask. I guess if you want Dhosa check this place out, otherwise… ahhh.

Okay, my favorite part of this restaurant (I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned it yet): the Indian ice cream shop by the cashier. About a dozen choices of Indian flavors (from kulfi’s, sitafel, and tutti frutti), I would come here on a summer day just to get a scoop (definitely a fresh alternative to any scoop or softserve ice cream in the area)!
Admittedly, the most frustrating and uncomfortable aspect of the restaurant is the service – I have no problem with the atmosphere; it’s like a burger joint kind of deal, but I wasn’t sure if someone was going to get my order at the table or if I had to go up to the cashier; were they going to bring my food or did I have to pick it up; do I pay at the beginning or at the end and do I have to go up to them or will they give me the check? The first time I went I think there was a combination of service just because of my confusion and their realization of it (although you have to explicitly ask about the dishes since it’s hard to figure our what you’re getting – I decided what to get based on previous reviews).
Their dishes are reasonably priced ($ 8 – 11 for a portion that would well feed 2) and quite tasty. The dosa was the most fun (a huge crêpe filled with a spiced potato mixture and comes with 2 sauces – not to mention the few sauces on a rack on each table, a nice detail). The uthappam was not as delectable (I don’t dig the texture, and it was a bit oily) but still flavorable. I also got the Thai Panang Curry and it seemed so simple (peppers, chicken, spices, coconut milk) but it was sooo delicious and tender and just irresistible over rice. The mango lassi was something to be savoured.
I definitely suggest it for a casual quencher for a taste for Indian (I’ve brought my sister and my friends there)… don’t forget the ice cream!!!

I’ve eaten here a dozen times, at least, and I think the food is very, very good. Also, it’s a GREAT deal. First, try one of their 3 soups… they’re all GREAT! Their hot and sour is among the very best I’ve ever had, and the others are just as good. Everyone I’ve brought here has really liked it also.
I highly recommend for those with a taste for strongly flavored food.

Upon entering I was greeted by dirty tiled floors, cafeteria like tables, and a single cashier in the back to take orders. Most people would be turned off by such an atmosphere but I was excited as these are the characteristics of some of my FAVORITE hole in the wall, mom & pop owned shops. I decided I’d let the food do the speaking and unfortunately, I was let down.
The staff and menu are not so friendly to Indian cuisine novices. After a few minutes of looking at a menu I realized I had no idea what anything would taste like. I ended up going with the Hot Garlic Lamb and was disappointed. The food was not horrible, but definitely not great. I received a pool of red hellish looking sauce with sparse chunks of lamb meat and very VERY few vegetables. The servings are large but I had no desire to finish my meal.
I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone, but I won’t swear this place off until I try some more of the menu. (If I ever go back that is.) Maybe I just made a bad choice?

Masala Country is a self-​proclaimed South Indian Fusion Fast Food Joint (pioneering the brand new cuisine of SIFFFJ). It’s actually a chain, go figure. This ain’t no palace kids — there are few chairs and fewer tables (appropriately. Can you imagine a place where there were more tables than chairs? So awkward.) In a symbol of shrugging off Indian restaurant traditions left and right, they’ve abolished the known-​and-​loved horrible service, and replaced it with no service at all. That’s right kids, you’re on your own to order at the counter. They will bring it out to your table though.
While I’ve said before that fusion is a blend of Asian and Pretense, this place frankly has no business being pretentious. At the same time, you know the Indians wouldn’t take any of that attitude, and they’d lose their voting bloc base. Or their clients. Something like that.
So how is fusion achieved without a dash of arrogance? Replace with a shake of Chinese. The menu covers everything from Idli (rice and lentils, mixed to a batter, formed into a cake and then steamed) to Thai fried rice to Kung Pao chicken. All this ground to cover on a tiny menu means that there are no explanations as to what anything is. At all. You probably don’t need help with «Black Pepper Steak» but if you limit yourself to what you understand, you won’t get to the good stuff. At the same time, nobody would order a «mysore masala dosa» unless they knew what they were getting into (a dosa filled with potatoes and onions, served with an onion and a coconut chutney).
Fortunately, the guy at the counter is uncharacteristically helpful — feel free to ask him what the hell is going on. Enjoy the dosas and the idli, but stay away from the mango lassi — it tasted, frankly, like mango and yogurt. Not even blended or anything. Frankly, just way too thick to drink with spicy food.
The deal behind SIFFFJ is that nothing on the menu is over $ 10. It’s the best deal than any Indian businessman will ever give you.

We visited this place on a Friday night and were lucky enough to get there before a huge swarm of people entered into the restaurant. Once we were able to decide what we wanted to get, the wait for the food wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.
The food itself was pretty decent. The idli was pretty good; one of the dishes we got wasn’t too spicy. The noodles that we got were really good when they were hot; once they got colder, they were okay.
Overall, we’ll go back. That’s for sure.

We’ve been to this place a few times — for the food. However, I never eat there over the weekends as they are cramped and the staff doesnt work well under pressure. The soups are good but ridiculuously expensive. If you are looking for good indo/​chinese food, try Masala Wok in Herndon… at least you will have space to breathe there.

Hungry for something that wasn’t Korean, we roamed around Centreville until we stumbled across this new Indian restaurant. Actually, scratch that — Indian Fusion restaurant. I’d never heard of Indian Fusion — there was no menu on the door, but there were a bunch of Indian people inside, so figured, «why not?».
To the newbie at Indian Fusion, the menu is non-​descriptive, to say the least. They simply list all the products available, but don’t actually describe what they are. Some things are vaguely familiar: «Oriental Indian Thai» includes Thai Red Curry and Thai Panang Curry ($ 8). «Oriental Indian Chinese» includes ‘Schezwan’, ‘Sweet and Sour’, ‘Honkong Chicken’ etc ($ 9). Other things weren’t slightly familiar to me: Harabhara, Mysore, Paneer Oriental Delight.
Okay, so if most of that sounded vaguely familiar, but still not very descriptive, you may understand why I was standing there looking kinda dumb and indecisive.
The result?
I asked the cashier what his favorite was :-).
We ended up with Harabhara Masala and Chicken Oriental Delight.
OMG — YUM!!!
I was so shocked at how yummy the food was, how cheap it was, and how big the portions were.
I’ll definitely be going back here :-).