Mirch Masala

Loved loved the food!
Everything was just too amazing!
For $ 10.50, I think it’s one of the least expensive buffet I have ever had :)
Very impressed

We arrived promptly at 11:30. Our hostess/​waitress seated us and took our drink order. She was friendly in a quiet manner. We watched them bring dishes out to stock the buffet until @11:40 when our waitress told us we could help us ourselves. They continued to bring out new dishes until @ noon. We made several trips to the buffet so there were new dishes to try each time we went back.
It’s not the largest buffet but there were many choices and I really enjoyed most of the dishes. The chicken vindaloo was delicious; fairly mild curry w/​garlic. It made me think of butter. The goat dish was fantastic; spicy and I particularly liked that I didn’t find any bones in it. The naan was plentiful. I enjoyed the biryani, it was fluffy and tasty. The samasos were fragrant. The only dishes I was disappointed by were the chicken tikka and the rice pudding. The chicken was much saucier than I prefer. The pudding was thicker and not as sweet as I’m used to. That may be how they are supposed to be prepared, but I was not a fan.
We’ll definitely go back, but next time we’ll wait till at least 11:50 so they have time to prepare.

Extremely disappointed with the food here. The service was great and the atmosphere was nice, but it doesn’t make up for the terrible food. The biryani here was inexcusably terrible. Corners are cut here it seems. Not only was the food very overpriced, but the quality of was very disappointing. Anyone looking for decent Indian/​Nepalese food should look somewhere else. 14 $ wasted.

Not the very best Indian food I have had, but is delicious nonetheless (technically it’s Indian-​Nepali here). I have been for the lunch buffet only, which is a fantastic deal, especially with $ 1 off for showing a student ID. The naan is always delicious and the spread is very consistent. Usually multiple meat curries as well as multiple veggie dishes and a salad station.
You can’t miss the gulab jamun for dessert– moist, sweet balls of dough in a rose honey sauce.

I used to go to the Mirch Masala on the square very often for a good chicken tikka. They have moved to this location since then, located above the well known bubble tea shop on state street.
They have a pretty good generic Indian dining menu which is expected. From the popular tikka, tandoori, samosas, pakoras to any «curry» dishes that people like.
However, they do a $ 9.95 buffet supposedly 7 days a week. I went there for Sunday lunch and was offered that or a regular menu and decided to try the buffet. The buffet selection was decently sized with a number of good selections for both vegetarians and meat lovers. There were soup, samosas, pakoras, 3 vegetarian curry dishes, goat and chicken options, tandoori chicken, rice and nan. Bonus is the the selections of chutney and also papadum! Also if you are into Indian sweets, there are the classics as well! Very good value and tasty food at the same time, will definitely come back again!

The lunch buffet is soooo worth it. If you’re a college student looking for a decently priced, delicious meal, I definitely recommend going here! The curry selection is great and the tandoori chicken is made really well.
I wasn’t too impressed with the desserts. Overall, definitely worth going to!

I came here with high expectations but turned out feeling just ok with the meal.
Nothing special, and the food portions were very small.

The food was amazing! Went for dinner and probably best Indian/​Nepali food I have ever eaten. its very authentic, the cooks are Nepali and the service is great as well. It’s on a second floor so kind of hard to find.

Mirch has a great student lunch buffet with a pretty decent variety of foods (including the classics such as chicken tikka masala) at a good price (and student discount)!!! My main caveat with this place is that the food is toned down compared to other Indian food that I’ve eaten. I’m not sure if this is to cater to the diverse student body, but for more flavor and/​or spice, there are better Indian restaurants in the area.

Simply delicious. Stopped in for the lunch buffet and had the Tikka Masala, Spinach Chana and Chicken Biryani. Everything was fantastic.

So so good. Went with 3 people total and ordered 3 different dishes and a bowl of rice. Got the chicken masala, vegetable mango and one other dish. We also got garlic naan. The food was plenty for the 3 of us and we even had extra to go. Really you can’t go wrong, the waiter we had was awesome and gave great descriptions of everything. I would highly recommend Mirch Masala.

Very good food. Nice atmosphere. Very clean. Friendly. Sit inside or out side on a balcony. Smells as good as it taste. Good buffet fresh foods. I will be back.

Well hello there! Tucked away in an upstairs balcony just off State Street is a nice little Indian treat. I hadn’t heard of Mirch Masala before but have had various Indian places in town and around the country so I am always game for adding another to the list.
The fact that they are not directly on State (albeit mostly on State) is nice because it kept the environment relaxed and allowed us to snag some seats outside for a comfortable lunch on a beautiful sunny day. Both my wife and I had the lunch buffet, which along with a couple of sodas was only $ 25 for the two of us. Good price for a weekend buffet, and the food was great. While not the best in Madison by any means, I would definitely eat here again, as they had a fairly solid variety and the signature dishes were tasty. Tikka Masala, Paneer, Pakora, Samosa, Biryani, Goat and Tandori, etc.
The hostess (and owner I believe) was a nice friendly lady who served us, but there was a bit of a service lag and some confusion. She was walking around randomly a bit, and we had ordered some sodas that I had to go remind her about after they didn’t come for a while. Even after this they didn’t get there until we were halfway through our meal, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. The other knock was that when we got there around mid lunch time they were running out of food, but they eventually restocked and the new stuff was fresh and extra delicious. I’m thinking they had probably just finished with the lunch rush and since there weren’t a lot of people there they may have just not been rushing to get stuff out. I wish I had seen the tin full of naan, as both my wife and I missed it yet others on Unilocal had mentioned it is very good.
The patio is worth a visit alone, great place to people watch and take in Downtown Madison. Combine it with the good food and friendly staff and you have a Unilocal sleeper in the works

This was my first real Indian food experience, and now I’m addicted. The food is fantastic, definitely recommend the chicken tandoori! It’s got a great location, great staff, and I think it’s family owned. We’ll definitely be back again!

This place needs more love from other Unilocalers. Really. It’s been a while and they only have 7 reviews.
After learning that Mirch Masala was closed down, I was sad. This place has left some good impression in me. The food is good and the lady owner is nice too. So, I was ecstatic when they finally re-​opened on State street. Yay. It is even closer to my apartment.
State street needs some Indian restaurant and woohhoo: Mirch Masala is here. If you are craving for some Indian food in the middle of the day, come to MM for their lunch buffet. They have a quite selection of menu. Not the best, but it is pretty decent.

Excellent service, delicious food, happy customers. Came here on a Sunday for the lunch buffet around 2pm, an hour before the buffet closed. The owners were so nice, and they cooked more food when they saw us come in. Everything here is absolutely delicious, especially the naan. I’ve never enjoyed a buffet as much as Mirch Masala.
The samosas are amazing when hot, and make sure to mix the sweet chutney with the cilantro chutney together to make a sweet and savory sauce for the samosas. And the tikka masala? Amazing! I can’t have dairy, but I couldn’t stop eating it after I had some. Mixed on top of the white rice and eaten with naan… Worth it so much. I need to find a lactose pill that’ll work for me so I can enjoy this every day.
Servers refill water often, and they didn’t turn people away coming in for the buffet close to when it was closing. Space is very large, and the décor is very calm and neat. Parking is everywhere (street and a parking lot a block away). Just rememeber to pay at the front when you’re done!
Love it here, and I plan on coming back when I feel like eating like a king.

Really enjoyed this restaurant. It has an awkward open layout, but I’m slowly discovering that most restaurants on state street do. I guess it’s just dat college vibe! Food was good, satisfying and at a decent price. Went for dinner and what I really wanna do is go back for the lunch buffet to try EVERYTHING!

What this place lacks in ambiance it makes up for in food. Tasty, savory, exotic and free-​flowing food.
We stopped in here for the lunch buffet and were pleasantly surprised. It’s tucked into a nondescript location on the second floor of a strip mall. There are simple tables and not much going on, other than a nice little buffet. The food is great here, and the value is incredible. Two of us ate like kings for $ 20, and were very satisfied.

I wanted to love Mirch Masala. I really did. I tend to hate buffets as I love my food prepared to order. In this case, the food actually had pretty good taste and flavor. The problem? Most of it was cold. Not luke warm, but actually cold. There were four of us and we all had the same complaint.
This was the real downer of MM. We were also well into their lunch service at about 12:30, so it wasn’t like we marched in as they opened. The service was pretty mediocre too. If I go back, I’ll order off the menu and skip the buffet.

This is a fantastic addition to the neighborhood! We’ve been to the new location twice for dinner and once for lunch and couldn’t have been more pleased. The food is lovingly prepared with high quality ingredients and served by some of the most genuinely kind and professional waiters in Madison.
I especially recommend the lunch buffet (11 – 3). At ten dollars it’s really a steal.