Mirch Masala

I have eaten here many times and is always something I look forward to when coming to San Jose. Everything I have had the butter chicken chicken tikka masala all great. Would recommend to anyone.

I came here on a Friday night and was surprised to find that there weren’t really any people inside! We had the paneer tikka masala, the lamb curry vandalo (sp?), and the butter chicken served up in cool antique looking metallic bowls.
The tikka masala and the butter chicken are thick and creamy and rich — more so than I’m used to. The paneer pieces are more cubey and denser and the chickens are very tender as if they use thigh meat instead of breast meat. The curry tasted like there’s salsa in it which is interesting but it still tasted good and the lamb pieces were very tender.
With the three food orders, we had enough leftovers to take home as sides for two lunches! While the food and the ambience were nice, I think the prices here are higher than other Indian food places in the area … Therefore I will not be found here often

Good place for lunch.4/5 as a lunch place…
When it comes to dinner, things are bit different… Food is still ok. but its way too costly for the price you pay. same goes for pickup of online orders.

³⁄₅ stars
Service: Not enough staff – we waited for a while for our check to arrive to our table enough though we asked politely twice.
Eh, the food was good, but for Indian food, I thought it was pricey for the amount of food you get. I will explain more in each dish.
Ordered:
1) Tika malasa: 3/​5, great gravy sauce, but BARELY any chicken
2) Butter chicken: ³⁄₅ great gravy, but again… where is the chicken?
3) Tandori Sizzler: ⁴⁄₅ This was really good. However, there were 4 pieces of chicken, and I am uncertain if each piece valued $ 3.50/piece.
4) Vegetarian samosa: ³⁄₅ eh, just OK
5) Garlic naan: ²⁄₅ a bit disappointed. It did not come out hot – it was just luke warm/​a little warmer than room temperature. That was the first item i grabbed when our dishes came out too.
6) Gobi Aloo: 3.5÷5 good, but not enough cauliflower
7) Mango Lassi: ²⁄₅ eh, way TOOO sweet

Liked it based on one visit. Lamb curry was little salty but butter chicken was pretty much nailed it !!! I had to order seconds since it was too good. Nuttiness, creaminess and spice was well balanced. They served fresh naan which was good. Veg dishes were good as well. Will visit again.

Everything we ordered was very tasty and in good quantity. We got the vegeterian sizzler which comes with Naan. It was very yummy. The food in general was more on the spicy side. Overall good food and good ambience.

I loved their malai kofta and garlic naan (very moist yummy naan but the price is twice compared to other places).
The chicken tikka masala had hardly any pieces of chicken and was mostly gravy.
The quantity they give was small but they charged me dinner price yesterday.
I would have given them 3.5 stars if there was a way to do it.
Would I go back, ya for their malai kofta and naan

Good taste, simple and cozy place, looks neat too. Been there twice and like the taste here. They can make the food mild/​medium/​spicy! What I like about this place is the food is not oily.
Best thing to try is the Dal makhani here. Like the naans (breads) and other curries too (tried kofta and navratna kurma)! Gonna be back :)

Food wise it was fine. good food. couple of points — waiter was new or whatever. brought his ipad to charge the money but didn’t give us the receipt.

This place has some very yummy Indian food. My husband and I meet here often for lunch, and we always enjoy it. You can order off of the menu or choose from their lunch buffet. When we order from the menu, they even ask us what spice level we like and they always tailor the food to the spice level we request (mild!). The owner is often there and she is very friendly. Bring a sweater because it can be chilly in here. Wish they served the water in glass pitchers and that it didn’t taste like tap water. Other than that, two thumbs up!

I came here twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. I would rate my lunch experience 3 stars, while my dinner experience as 4.5 stars. Averaging it out to 4 stars. This might change depending on what my experiences are like when I come back.
Lunch: I came in on a weekday lunch for the first time. I was using Unilocal to find a place to grab a quick lunch, and the free naan for checking in enticed me to come here and give it a shot. When I first walked in, I tried looking for a menu, which apparently doesn’t exist. There was a piece of paper taped up on the counter window that advertised their «Lunch Specials», but no actual menu. I asked the guy working the counter if they had one, they said no. Weird, but okay. It’s one of those places that have trays of food laid out behind the counter, so I figured it should be pretty self explanatory. I saw a lunch special that was one item + rice for $ 5. Add in a free naan for checking in, this will work great, I thought. My go-​to Indian dish is paneer tika masala, I always get it if it’s available. There was a paneer dish that looked similar, but had a different name, so I asked the guy behind the counter if he could explain to me what it was. It seemed like he didn’t speak English very well, so he walked into the kitchen and had a lady who spoke perfect English come out and explain it to me. She explains, and then goes back into the kitchen. I pointed to the «1 item + rice» on their lunch special, and indicated to the guy behind the counter that I wanted the paneer dish. He pulled out one of those take out trays with a main entrée section and 2 smaller entrees, filled the main entrée area with rice, and started putting the paneer into one of the small entrée area. He then asked me what I wanted for the other small entrée area. I told him I wanted the 1 item entrée + rice for $ 5. So he filled the second entrée area with paneer as well. I then pull out my phone with the free naan offer on it and showed it to him. He takes my tray and just walks into the kitchen without saying anything. After 5 minutes, someone else comes out and tells me they’re making my naan. It took 15 minutes to make my naan. And then when I got rung up, I was told my meal was $ 8 something. I tried asking why it cost $ 8, when the lunch special I wanted was advertised as $ 5. The guy couldn’t speak english, he just shrugged at me and pointed to the other guy who spoke slightly better English. The other guy told me I got naan too, that’s why. I told him I had the free naan from the Unilocal check in. He shrugged at me too. After another awkward 5 minutes, a third guy who did speak English came out from the kitchen, and refunded me $ 2 from the register. What should’ve taken 5 – 10 ended up taking closer to half an hour because it took them 15 min to make naan and another 10 minutes fixing how much my order should have cost.
Although the lunch experience was bad, the food was delicious. I brought my husband back for dinner later that week. Everything went surprisingly smoothly. For dinner, everything is sit-​down and is pretty nice, and they actually have a real menu. We got a paneer tika masala and saag prawn, both of which were delicious. It was so good I accidentally burned the roof of my mouth from trying to eat too fast. I would compare the quality and taste to be almost as good as Aasna, which is another Indian place on the Asian plaza side. Aasna is pricier but they use fresh ingredients, so the quality is amazing. Mirch Masala isn’t quite as good nor is it quite as pricey, but it’s pretty damn close in comparison!

Been here multiple times. It’s a good place for Indian cuisine. Love the paneer kabab and Hakka noodles. I would recommend this place for anyone wanting a good Indian meal.

First thing I noticed when I walked in is: wow it’s cold in here! They keep it quite chilly, so bring a cardigan or something.
Next thing I noticed… are those fleur de lis stickers on tiles on the wall? despite the wall, the music and the rest of the ambiance was semi-​classy feeling.
The food was so good! We got a chole bhature and paneer tikka masala with garlic naans. The paneer tikka was really good compared to a lot of other places! We also had a paneer tikka sizzler and that was really good! :D
The chole bhature looked really good so the people next to us asked us what it was so they could order it (they weren’t Indian obvoiusly).

The pros: We went in for the lunch buffet and they had a healthy selection of vegetarian and non-​veg options. I chose the eggplant dish and the shahi paneer dish paired with veg biriyani. All the options were tasty and excellent!
The cons: My only complaint is the man at the counter who doesn’t understand the portions he should be doling out. I had to ask twice to get more food.
Once you get past the tiny portions you’ll get from that «one guy» you’ll love this place!

One of the best Indian restaurants I’ve been too. We usually order the butter chicken and the okra dish. So yummy and creamy. It tastes fresh and not overly salty.
My only complaint is that the portions are a bit small and it’s a little expensive but the food is so good so that won’t stop us from going back again and and again!

I love Indian food, so when I came to the San Jose area I had to check out this place.
Service was mediocre. Barely attentive. The food came out really great at a reasonable time. I’m just a little unhappy that no rice was served with any of the dishes that I ordered. You have to order it as an a la carte.
3.5 stars.

We go to this place at least every other week for lunch and it’s awesome. Really nice employees — the lady always gives me a taste of what they’re specials are. The meat is always cooked perfectly and never dry like some other Indian places in the area. Out of the 5 we have tried in this are this one is the best!
Lunch special you get 2 or 3 entrees, rice, and naan for about $ 12. I’ve tried chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala, chili chicken, paneer, and others and I’ve liked them all.

Paaner Wrap is to die for. Aloo tikki is also great. Definitely coming back for more.
Alu puri curry is reddish brown not the bright yellow, thin curry is what I was hoping for. And Oh the awesome Chole Bhature… take you back to the streets of Old Delhi.

The reviews for this place confuse me… actually, the place itself was a confusing dining experience. From the outside, Mirch Masala looks like a fast casual Indian restaurant. Upon entering, however, the décor looks nicer than average… that is, until they place plastic plates in front of you!
I didn’t see much of the «zen-​like ambiance» that another Unilocaler mentioned, nor did I notice any exceptional customer service. In fact, we had to flag someone down to place our order and also to pay the bill.
As far as the food goes, I ordered the papri chaat, and was served precisely 7 pieces of papri chaat. Yup. They were so few that I could count! That, and the price was higher than that of many superior Indian chaat houses around the Bay Area that don’t rip you off. We also ordered the chole battura, which was a good dish. The prices overall are steep for what this place is, and the quantity of food they are serving. Pretty disappointing!

This place is so delicious
The food is very tasty and authentic. Visited today with a close friend of mine. The Tikka Masala is good level of spicy. The chicken biryani was soooo good. For beverage I picked the mango lassi it was delicious you can taste the real mango, unlike at other places.
I have been to a lot of Indian restaurants in Silicon Valley, but I can definitely see this becoming one of my top picks.
Also the owner and staff are very welcoming, and friendly. Most definitely will be back! :)