Masala Art

So many reasons to wax rhapsodical about Masala Art!
— The space is, well, spacious; high ceilings, clean design, plenty of room between tables and booths; great for groups.
— The service is attentive and well-​timed.
— The menu is extremely varied, with something for everyone.
— The food? Absolutely delicious. The shrimp pakora is amazingly fresh, the lamb rogan josh is perfectly spiced, the garlic naan is super fluffy and the baigan bhartha (eggplant) has a fantastic smoky flavor.
— Leftovers come in perfectly separated little containers. It doesn’t sound like much, but it leaves a great lingering impression of the resturant.
If you have more than a couple people, I highly recommend getting the vegetarian and non-​vegetarian platter so you can try a wide range of appetizers. I’d also suggest exploring the cocktail list — it has a great mix of classic drinks and new takes.

Alright first review of year 2016
We went to masala art with my cuz who. said it was a good place to. go as we were visiting him. The place is located downtown deedham and has street parking only. It was full house and waiting even though it is a big place. Never seen indian rest. so packed and waiting on top of that.
So.we waited 15 min before we. were sat down. Apparently their dinks has to be good since every single person was holding a drink and they were no beer. We glanced at the menu and there were quite a few new items that we have not seen at other rest.
So we ordered vada pav and tandoori veggies for apps and the the tandoori veggies were relly nice. Great flavors and nicely burnt edges. Vada pav was ok. Vada were preety good but the pav were not that good. Chutneys were really. good
For entrée we got paneer pasanda and veg. manchurian which came with fried rice. For bread we got garlic naan and i got tabaahi naan which is spicy filled with green chillies. Everything was good and we liked the food. We also got lassi’s which were made from ready bought yogurt. That was a let down even though they were pretty decent. Paneer pasanda was made with cashew white gravy and was milder and sweeter and nutier while veg manchurian was as indo chinese as it can get and was good. Fried rice tasted good but still tasted lil different but cannot pinpoint what was wrong.
Did not order any non veg items this time but they were some really good looking stuff in menu and not to mention glass kitchen with tandoor overlooking main dinning room those kebobs looks really good and hence 4 stars. (one extra based on forward looking non veg deliciousness.)
Def great place to go. One thing i did not like (not a problem for me or any deal killer) was there was a wall with 3 ganesha (indian god) carvings and right underneath it was all bottle and top shelf liquors. For people who dont know we indians usually dont put all those kind of stuff near god and even the table next to us were talking about it how that was not that appropriate. So i guess lots of ppl notice it.
But go for food and for. drinks and have a good.time.

I am disappointed in this restaurant. The food is very spicy. Despite the fact that I asked if it was spicy before I ordered and told three different waiters it was too spicy when asked, I was not offered any other options or even a conversation about the meal. Prices and ambience are ok but customer satisfaction should come first.

Everything was very good except for the desserts. I loved the green gimlet with cardamom. It was so refreshing.

My favorite Indian food place. Great for groups and families. The menu is so versatile. If you are not into spicy food you can still find a lot to eat with tons of flavor but not burning hot. We eat there regularly and love the atmosphere and the staff which is really friendly.

Good fusion indian food !! Their small plates and appetizers are to die for. They have a great bar and have some good choice of cocktails but stay as far away as you can from the indo-​chinese! Service is good, but could be a little better!

Get off the phone, Waiter.
Well, that sums it up about their service. The tandoori chicken is hard, raw and feels like it is two day sold. They have rice pudding (kheer) out there but the label says — Gulab Jamun. The waiter was on his phone non-​stop playing games. I had to grab his attention twice — once to refill the water and second to get us more naan. What a poor reason for existence.
Sad to see this place go down the gutter.

We went to Masala Art based on recommendation from a few of our friends. I am sorry to say that we were extremely disappointed by the service and taste of the food. First the service, it was extremely slow and sporadic. The waiter did not attend to us until after 10 minutes of being seated. The hostess was not friendly at all and did not greet us as we came in. Once we ordered the food, it took quite a long time until it came to our table. The quantity and quality of dishes left us very disappointed. All the dishes pretty much tasted the same and were not spicy at all. We ordered Achari chicken tikka and Karahi chicken, which almost tasted the same as if same spices were used to prepare both the dishes. Achari chicken had no Achari spices. Overall, we did not have a good experience at Masala Art and would not recommend it, unless you want to waste your money.

Lunch buffet has very few choices and all the food is bland. Had to wait forever for my naan bread from the kitchen when the restaurant wasn’t really crowded.

We ordered chole bhature, chilli garlic noodles and chili paneer.
The staff that took order was very rude. Chole bhature costs $ 14.50 but the size of Bhature was so small. Definitely not an entrée. It was more like a starter for us. Chili garlic noodles were great and the serving size was fine too. Chili paneer was actually sweet. It had too much sweet or ketchup sauce in it. Paneer was not at all soft, as if overcooked or stale. Worst chilli paneer eaten ever.
Overall we paid $ 48 but the food was not worth it.

We love Masala Art! The lunch buffet office a huge variety it’s fresh and hot. The dinner entrées a large with some creative delicious choices. All the classics he was a whole lot more. They have a full bar with the TV and serve strong flavorful drinks. The servers are all friendly and attentive. We highly recommend.

We went to Masala Art early on a Saturday night after wanting to go for months. It was fairly empty, but again — it was early.
The décor, which looks so nice from outside, is definitely a bit shabby. The banquette fabric was ripped and coming off and the tabletops were a bit «peeled.»
The service was quite good and the staff was very friendly.
The food was decent — nothing that sticks in your memory. We enjoyed it, but we wouldn’t necessarily rush back. This is unfortunate, as we live nearby. My mom’s chicken dish was tasty, but she thought the chicken was undercooked.
I don’t remember how much the bill was, as I didn’t see it, but I think it was fairly expensive.
Overall, a disappointing visit for a place I’d been looking forward to trying. It fell short of my expectations, but wasn’t awful…

My friend had her wedding rehearsal dinner catered from here. The service was great as was all the food. I liked the dahi vada the best of all. Everything was solid.

Stopped by for a very late bite to eat with an old friend. We sat at the bar. The drinks were excellent. I had Moscato with mango juice which was delicious. My friend had a ginger martini which wasn’t on the menu and that too was made very well. By the caliber of the drinks I knew this wasn’t an average homey Indian restaurant, but more upscale. There is more attention to detail in all the plates that come out of that kitchen. We got the chicken tikka satay as an app. It was average sized but not over cooked which was nice. For dinner we got the chicken vindaloo, the saag paneer, rice and garlic naan. I thought that the vindaloo was only ok but being a Goan girl I’m opinionated on the subject. The saag was excellent. I also loved the fact that they gave us a really healthy portion of rice. The garlic naan was pretty typical which is to say — very good. The bartender checked on is a few times and was very friendly. You can tell that there is a good effort here and I’d be happy to return to try other dishes and cocktails.

The waits at Sweet Basil and Farmhouse were too long, so Masala Art was our third stop to try to get seated for dinner on a Saturday night in Needham. We were seated immediately, which maybe should have been a warning sign.
We were seated by the window on a circular booth seat that had a lot of markings on it. The decorative poofs on the seat had many tears and clearly need to be replaced. Our menus were tattered and falling apart (see photo). And our water glasses were filthy. I had to ask for new ones immediately. I felt very put off by the lack of care put into the furnishings and table setting.
The menu is a monstrosity featuring way too many options. A huge red flag — I mean, seriously, it’s 4 – 5 pages and includes a section labeled «Indian Chinese». …
My husband tried to ask for menu recommendations, but the waiter was not very helpful. He seemed in a rush to take our orders. My aunt asked for medium rare lamb kebabs, and the waiter said that was fine. However, when they came, they were well done and terribly chewy and tough. I’m a huge fan of dosas, but mine were a disappointment… utterly bland. Only my husband had a pleasant meal — the tandoori chicken was adequate, though certainly not the best we’ve eaten.
The waiter was the friendliest to us right before he offered the check. Go figure. I’d never return.

Can’t stress enough how terrible this place is. Had to walk out because of the terrible food and horrible service. Asked to return the horrendous «Hakka noodles» and got lip from the manager saying this is how it is. When we asked to get it changed he threw down the menu and said don’t ever ask for the Chinese food again. He didn’t care that we didn’t like the food. Had a verbal argument and walked out. Go here if you want to have terrible food and worse service.

Great food, good atmosphere and friendly staff.
Been there a few times this past month, grab the chicken tikka masala, I asked for it extra spicy and they nailed it.
Naan is always great
The place is pretty kid friendly also, our go-​to Indian place in the area.

Awful service, way too pricy, bad drinks!
Went here for a friends birthday for the third time, I would have thought the awful service (missing orders, watered down drinks, rude waiter, and slow) was because we were a group of 7, but I have been here on two prior occasions which were not much better.
The prices must keep them open.

My friends who I went with wanted to have Indian food and they chose to go to this restaurant. The food is good and the service is very quick and attentive.
We got chicken chettinad, gobi guldastan and dal fry. I felt the chicken could have been a little more spicy. Also, the portion size could have been a little better. But its new england and only the chinese restaurants can afford to have huge portions for a decent price. But food wise, it was okish experience.

Loved it! I went to the lunch buffet. First, they had mali kofta, YES! It was good and had a nice spice to it instead of only being creamy without the spice. Classic rice pudding for dessert – delicious. I loved all the dishes I had – a great variety. They had a lentil spicy dish and mahri something (tomato based) which was also good. I also appreciated the five vegetarian dishes including a cabbage slaw dish (cooked). I was worried because of the reviews but I thought it was a great buffet at a great price ($ 12.00). I thought the food was flavorful although it was missing the subtleties of some Indian food I have had but that did not impact my experience.
A lot of the reviews talked about bad service which I did not see at all. It was the lunch buffet so we did not need a lot of service but out servers were friendly and filled our water glasses a lot.