Monsoon Masala

I am sad to report that Monsoon Masala is scheduled to close on Monday.
Luckily, I was able to enjoy a delicious tiffin lunch of chicken tikka masala and mixed vegetables today. I also got double salad instead of rice. Along with the food, I will miss their willingness to customize my meal, no questions asked.
Another one bites the dust. Boo.

Quiet honestly, not the best Indian food I’ve had. I took my 9 year old as we were sans rest of the family, and she has been craving Indian food, as have I.
I’ve been here before, and it was fine. We had the same average experience this time as well. The pakoras were actually quite good, but the mains were average. My daughter had the chicken tiki masala, and that was good, but I had the lamb vindaloo and was disappointed. The lamb was on the tough side, and the sauce was overly vinegary. The rice and naan were adequate, but it is hard to blow those.
I will admit, the service was friendly and attentive. Unfortunately for them, the location is probably the worst in the mall.
I will probably check out Naan and Curry in Concord next time — been to an SF location and it was good…

I really wasn’t that impressed with the offerings here. For a substantially higher cost than other local Indian places, you get food that has a decidedly odd taste.
Common dishes such as the Chicken Tikka, the Alou Palak (forgive my atrocious spelling), and other such dishes seemed to have a strange taste. I’ve been to many Indian places, both local and throughout the Bay Area, and have never really experienced these tastes. I’d call them unpleasant, sadly.
I would recommend another destination for your Indian desires. There are plenty of other options in the area.

Chicken tikki masala and lamb tippin lunch special were delicious! Bf had the spinach with potato, and garbanzo beans, both came with fresh naan, salad, basmati rice and yogurt. I think the chicken masala needs couple pieces more of meat as well as the lamb.
Great service, a little warm inside– our waiter turned on the air, so nice! Will come back again!

VERY GOOD FOOD. Lots of favor try the curry prawn squid and seadbass dish!!! I was surprised when i came, they were fairly slow but quickly picked up.

Stopped in here for a late lunch around 3:30pm. They are open all afternoon – which is very accommodating to my erratic, unpredictable schedule– so I am automatically a fan.
I ordered the lunch special which was two sides, a salad, saffron rice and a naan. This may sound like a lot of food, but it’s smaller portions of each, so really it’s not too much. My friend and I shared the Rosemary Naan. it was seriously the highlight of my meal. Never had that before this point, and I would have to say it’s the best Naan I’ve had in a while… They had Vegan and vegetarian options available, so I picked one of each.
The restaurant is very clean and the waitress was friendly and prompt. I give this place 4 stars for being a pretty well put-​together casual dining experience. ;-)

My friend and I went back to Monsoon Masala today, and I am happy to report that we had a pleasant experience. For $ 21.54 (incl. tax), you can get lots of food if you order 2 tiffin lunches (includes two entrees, basmati rice, salad, naan and raita). The chicken tikka and rohan josh (chunks of lamb in a maroon soup-​like sauce) were lovely.
Last time, the chef made a goat xacuti at my request (a plus that they allow substitutions like that), and I found it to be very salty. I tried my friend’s chicken xacuti today, and the sauce was the same saltiness that wasn’t to my taste on the last visit. That’s just a personal taste preference on one of many dishes offered by Monsoon Masala.
However, I still LOVE the rice and naan here. I could eat it forever. I had naan the other day at a different restaurant, and it was very thick and chewy compared to the one at Monsoon Masala, which is always fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.
This is a great lunch spot, and, I forgot to mention before, in a great location in downtown Pleasant Hill by the movie theatre. Thanks to Abhay and his staff for a wonderful meal!

I’ve been meaning to try this place for years, but never had until today. It has been here in DTPH for close to 5 years.
We came at an off time, 2:00pm, so after the lunch crowd had left. It is a fairly large place, with many tables, but there were only 3 people eating here when we stepped in, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The décor was very pleasing, clean, in modern style and tones, but with Indian music being piped gently over the sound system.
The great thing is, there is no buffet line that is ubiquitous at so many Indian restaurants these days! Hoorah! I don’t know why so many Indian places do this, because if that curry and other dishes has been sitting in the chafing trays all day, the food is going to be not very good, semi-​warm, bland, and in the worst cases, potential for food poisoning! (Especially if there are a lot of buffet leftovers and the restaurant doesn’t throw the excess away, but instead saves it to reheat tomorrow! Ugh!)
Monsoon Masala (which reminds me of two good movies, «Mississippi Masala», and «Monsoon Wedding») serves everything to order, not buffet style, at least for lunch.
We had the lunch combo special, or «Tiffins», which is popular in southern India, but they offer northern options for lunch here at Monsoon Masala. This is a fantastic value, because you get your main dish, plus a chicken masala dish, plus a small salad, large amount of rice, small yogurt Raita and a huge fresh and hot piece of Naan bread, all for $ 9.95!
I had the Goan Chicken Curry (Goan Murgh Xcautti) main for my lunch special, and my lunch partner had the Rogan Josh (lamb). We also asked for mango chutney ($ 2.50) which they brought out.
We were both impressed with the quantity and quality of the food for the price. The service was also excellent.
My lunch partner loves Indian food and knows how to cook it, and goes to great places like Ajanta in Berkeley/​Albany often. I used to eat a lot of Indian food back when I volunteered at an Ashram, and eat it occasionally now. So Indian food is not new or strange to either of us.
I don’t know how the dinners are, but my lunch partner and I agreed that we will both be coming back here for the lunch special, we enjoyed it so much!

Clean, fresh food! I ordered the vegetable samosa, which was freshly prepared and very flavorful. The chicken kabob was also very good! Served sliced on a bed of lettuce with a delicious mint chutney and a spicy onion chop. My lovely girlfriend ordered the chicken tikka masala, which wasn’t too rich but still hearty. We split the buttered naan which was an excellent companion to both of our dishes. I would eat here again for sure!
Only complaint… They don’t get CSN Bay Area! Step your game up, Monsoon!

Once again, I was there yesterday, Wednesday, August 17^th for dinner, some friends talked me into giving this place a second shot after my last visit a couple of years ago.
1.) The rice is WAY salty.
2.) I’ve still never been to a place where they have salt shakers on the table at an Indian restaurant.
3.) The Lamb Saag, which they CONTINUALLY «corrected» me by calling «Saag Lamb», I’ve never heard it called «Saag Lamb» in my life!, was just not right. It’s tangy and like … SOUR here! It tastes nothing like saag I’ve EVER had! And I’ve eaten Indian food from the east coast all the way to the west coast in America, hundreds of times. It tasted like tomatoes, and was actually quite red, rather than a deep green from the spinach it’s supposed to be made from. They failed to ask me how spicy I’d like it, so I assumed it’d come out medium, like any normal place. Instead it was SO mild I could barely taste any heat at all. It was also lukewarm, bordering on cold.
4.) Did I mention we were the ONLY table in there and my companions got «Paneer Tika» assuming it was paneer tika masala, but instead just got a bunch of strips of paneer that they had no idea how to properly eat (no rice came with their dish, it was just REALLY ODD).
5.) It was too expensive for me to eat less than half of my gross dish and then I just had them toss the rest because I knew I’d never finish it, it was all around yucky. Of the 7 people at my table NOBODY took their leftovers to go. NOBODY! And there was a substantial amount of food left.
6.) I have mentioned WE WERE THE ONLY TABLE THERE, when our waiter cleared we clearly what we’d barely eaten, he never asked if we were satisfied, was anything wrong, etc? And after clearing and telling him WE JUST WANTED THE CHECK, it must have been 15 minutes of us all being uncomfortable and sitting around trying to make eye contact before I caught his eye (he was doing SOMETHING at the bar, ignoring us) to come back over, at which point we had to ASK for the check again (even though we’d clearly said that we were COMPLETELY finished, wanted NOTHING else, and were READY TO GO!).
I’m a former waitress, and I ALWAYS give a 15% tip, I should have given him zero, but I just felt too bad (I shouldn’t have). But, honestly, how do you neglect the ONE table in the ENTIRE establishment when there are CLEARLY at least 3 waiters on duty?!
I’m DONE! 2 tries is all you’ll EVER get from me. Your restaurant is AWFUL!!! And I STILL cannot believe it has over 3 stars here on Unilocal!Perhaps you’ve made some kind of deal with the devil???

Meh. I ate lunch here last Saturday and ordered the Masala Tiffin which came with a lamb dish and Chicken Tikka Masala. They also throw in a large Naan, some Raita and a salad.
The Naan was beautifully prepared and probably the highlight of my meal. I thought that the Chicken Tikka Masala was too watery. I prefer when the sauce is rich and creamy. The chicken was fairly well prepared but I yearned for juiciness. The lamb dish was pretty tragic, in my humble opinion.
I’m starting to think maybe the problem isn’t the chicken tikka masala, it’s me. Maybe what I yearn for isn’t the classic Chicken Tikka Masala but another dish. And yet, I’ve had Chicken Tikka Masala at Shalimar in San Francisco and it was un-​fucking-​believable… So what gives?
Service was impeccable. I just don’t think I’d come back for this style of Indian food.

Me: What’s a tiffin?
Charlotte: Oh, it’s like the bento box of Indian food.
HA! :)
The Rogan Josh lamb masala tiffin was absolutely delicious, especially with a basil chai on a rainy day.
What a great «last supper». Thanks for the treat!

After coming here once, this place became a regularly (read: weekly) visited restaurant with my lunch crew.
ambiance: the place is clean and well designed. I don’t really understand why there are tables outside since the road is loud, but I never see people sit outside anyways. The dishes are displayed nicely and uniquely.
food: I like the food. The extra spicy isn’t spicy enough for me, but my coworkers like it. I was told by one of the servers that I could sign a waiver for their ultra spicy sauce — but I’m imagining it being smothered by dave’s insanity sauce or something. That’s the equivalent of the heat difference between a 40 watt lightbulb and a blacksmithing forge. I haven’t actually tried the waiver-​required spicy, but at least that’s how it plays out in my head. It definitely beats out our old Indian place (Saroor’s buffet). I do still prefer Saroor’s naan though. I don’t recommend the frozen chai and I think their hot chai is good but over priced. The food itself though I think it is a good deal.
service: service has always been friendly. Once we came here and it smelled bad b/​c of cleaning fluids and incense burning, but we still stayed.

A couple of weeks ago, my Dad took a class in Pleasant Hill and I met up with him for lunch. We used the power of Unilocal and ended up agreeing on this place and I am glad we did.
Service was friendly and attentive. We both ordered plain tea since neither of us like Chai (we leave that to Toni and Ilana), and decided to share some veggie Samosas to start. I ordered the lamb biryani and he ordered a shrimp wrap.
The Samosas arrived first and were unlike any either of us had before. The wrapping was light and crisp and the filling really took center stage. They were a bit spicier than either of us like but we were easily able to squelch that with some mango chutney and some mint sauce. My lamb biryani was probably the best I have ever had albeit spicy (even though I ordered it mild). I used a bit of yummy raita and naan to offset the heat. The lamb was tender and the rice cooked perfectly. Dad’s shrimp wrap was super messy and he really enjoyed it.
We had a lovely lunch together and agreed we would both come back. Winner winner Indian dinner!

I ate here with a friend a few days ago. The service was fine. The waitstaff are friendly and very on top of everything. My only complaint was the food. Definitely not good indian food. :(kind of sad about that. I expected better food.
I have had a lot of Indian food including home made indian food cooked by authentic indian people, so I like to think I know what indian food is like. This food wasn’t spiced right, and it just didn’t taste the same.
other than that, the restaurant is fine, but if you want authentic tasting indian food, probably better to eat somewhere else.

Let me start by saying I really like this place-​great parking on Friday night. I am giving only a 4 out of 5 only because I kept thinking it felt a little too cafeteria-​like in the décor. I want to see some hints of wood and dark velvet, table candles and a green plant or two. I love them for keeping it swanky with the mood music! We had great service tonight.
I ordered the special which was spicy Biryani with goat, and a spicy Lamb Curry, a side of plain Naan and a side of the basmati rice. To wash it down, I had the Taj Mahal beer. Overall opinion: it satisfied my hearts desire. However, I am used to getting some more accoutrements with the meal, dipping sauces & such. We did get the yogurt sauce but no chutney. For the price, I was impressed. I have gone to other Indian restaurants in San Francisco and closed out with a $ 200(+) tab; but that is okay, I believe that food is about the flavor and taste, not the price.
So for the price point, Monsoon Masala get two thumbs up; in my opinion it is a good choice if you are looking for some good food that is in a clean, classy venue.

Wow-​keep forgetting to review this place but here it is.
Went there on chilly, rainy January night. It’s a little separated as far as the walk from the parking lot goes in that Pleasant Hill shopping center, but no big deal.
Very nice atmosphere and décor. Cozy and one of the more nicely decorated Indian restaurants I’ve been in. A combination of traditional and modern flairs. Considering the abundance of restaurants in the Pleasant Hill center, there were quite a few people dining.
I ordered the veggie masala with rice which was very flavorful and satisfying. As appetizers we ordered the Samosas-​which were amazing. My boyfiend was very pleased with his Tandoori Chicken. The servers were friendly and attentive and I can’t wait to go back.

After working a full day on MLK, had to head out to Sun Valley to pick up some stuff. Once shopping errands were done… hunger suddenly hit like a ton of bricks. Since I had heard good things about Memo’s Mexican, headed over there… CLOSED. Okay, stomach now seriously starting to rumble. Change of plans immediately made and headed to Korea House… CLOSED! 2 strikes and my blood sugar is now about to be seriously out. Rapid-​fire itinerary change made. Booked it over to Monsoon Masala… Hallelujah…OPEN.
Ordered the paneer naan (cheesy version of naan), chicken samosas, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer (spinach w/​cheese) and basmati rice. Dishes thankfully came out without delay. Everything was authentic and delish… the paneer naan paired with the tikka masala sauce was especially satisfying. Only criticism was that the saag paneer was a bit on the dry side.
Overall great Indian spot in the Pleasant Hill area. Will definitely be back again.

Gayle was still feeling a bit down yesterday about her dearly departed dog. We hung out at home for awhile and then agreed that she needed to get out of the house. And that Indian food sounded good. We had been to Monsoon Masala once before for dinner and thought that it was very good.
The restaurant itself is handsomely appointed, albeit a little hard to find on the far corner of Downtown Pleasant Hill (across the street from the solder memorial). Monsoon Masala also has a catering business and a takeout menu.
The service was excellent and the Boont Amber (and Garlic Naan) did a good job of moderating the spiciness of my very tasty Chicken Vindaloo. Gayle had a nice glass of light Pinot Grigio, that went well with her equally good Saag Chicken. And along with the Basmati rice, we filled up, even though we couldn’t finish it all. Please note that if you fill out the evaluation form and provide your email address, you get 10% off your next meal.
During the meal, we had a nice chat and it was a great time together to catch up. We both left the restaurant in better spirits, with a «doggie bag» in our hands and the memory of Tyrone in our hearts.

My mom and I tried out this place today since we were starving after painting class all morning long and it sounded interesting with «eclectic» in the title. I was really surprised to have such good Indian food in this shopping center.
We both ordered off the lunch menu where you can mix and match any two items along with rice, raita, naan, and salad. You have a choice to order your food mild, medium, or hot. We ordered the chicken tikka masala, lamb masala, channa masala, and dal and decided to share everything. The naan came out first and was warm, chewy and a little buttery– delicious! The portions were really large and served on fun white dishes the connect together and came out very quick.
Everything was excellent. The dal was super flavorful and is now something I will order more often. The channa masala had the perfect amount of spice to it and the chicken tikka was perfect without feeling too rich.
I really liked this food because it had all the flavor but didn’t leave me with that greasy, full feeling like after eating at Naan N Curry in the city (still eat there all the time though!). The food seemed fresh and a little bit lighter. The waitress was very friendly and happy to bring me over some mint chutney and she even gave me extra sauces to pack up with my left– overs.
For $ 9.99 this was a really generous lunch meal and I like having the option of ordering more than one menu item and being able to mix and match. I’m happy to know I don’t have to go back to the city to get my Indian food fix. I will definitely be going back here.