Masao’s Kitchen

Really good vegan food! The owner was really nice as well. Highly recommended spot. My boyfriend who is very much a carnivore loved the food too!

Great vibe and a very satisfying, healthy meal. Vegan vanilla custard was a nice end to the meal.

I would give Masao the full 5 stars except for two reasons:
1.) The food just is just not hot enough coming from the steam table.
2.) The tab is pricier than the 2 dollar signs listed. Lunch, two plates of food, ample, yes, but not loaded, with only filtered water to drink and no bread came to $ 36.00. This is with no table service and no ambience.
Even so, I will return now and then because the food is hard to get and the healthiest food available from a restaurant and it is delicious! It would be worth it if I felt I could spend $ 18.00 on lunch more often.

After my usual experience at regular restaurants to desperately search for vegetarian options, I was finally excited about an all vegan asian place so close to home. We tried the much talked about full buffet experience and also order a dish from the regular menu, to get the full experience. Unfortunately, none of these lived up to our expectations. EVERYTHING was bland and tasteless! I am not talking «Indian-​level-​spice-​it-​all-​up» flavors, but «have-​you-​heard-​of-​salt-​n-​pepper» kind of bland. The buffet items were lukewarm at their best. The place offers no ambiance or atmosphere as already pointed out by my fellow reviewers, and for those standards the food ends up being super expensive. The only pros of the place were that the owner seems like a nice guy during our limited interaction, and that I got to have a bite of blueberry cake samples, which really helped revive my palette again. But that is not sufficient to get us back in there again.

I’m not a vegan but my sis is one and she loves this place so she eventually dragged me in here. Now I think I come in more often than her. It’s that good. BBQ
.a.must.try.

Went there for the first time to try their famous lunch buffet. I wanted a full experience, so I got a little bit of everything in my box. As much as I’d like to give a better review because the service was so good, I honestly found the food pretty bland and based on that, quite overpriced.
I appreciate every attempt to maintain the integrity of awesome produce, but I really don’t think the tofu, green beans, cauilflower, lotus, broccoli, kale or sweet potatoes I had were elevated enough for me to buy their food again. Three stars for cleanliness and a sort of homecooked flavor, but there really wasn’t enough of it for my taste. I’m quite confident that I could’ve prepared a better meal in my own kitchen. The quinoa salad was decent though.

Now open again for dinner. If you are macro, vegetarian, vegan or just want some clean food, this is a really good place. Prices increased again, but Masao is legendary.

This is the best. Ate macrobiotic back in college — but fell from the path. Just got onto a healthy diet and Mr Masao makes the best. His simple brown rice is better than any other. Always tofu recipe, seitan or tempeh. Always happy to be there — and he has a kind welcoming gracious presence

The food tastes good, and it is always a joy to find a vegan restaurant east of Los Angeles, but there is a major problem. The food is ordered & «served» buffet style. While this seems like a great idea, in practice it means that the food is either not warm enough or flat out cold. Luckily the food tastes good or it would be a total wash.

Really yummy BBQ tofu. Also the oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies are really yummy! So happy that waltham has a vegan restaurant :)

Awesome, old school, macro vegan food!
No Daiya, Chao, cashew cheese, or jackfruit anything. Masao’s does the basics, and does them well!
I had plate of bbq tofu (not quite bbq in my book, but really, really good tofu), cabbage and tempeh, seitan cutlet (more of a sauced nugget, but soo good), steamed greens, and my favorite — cauliflower in coconut cream! So good. On the blander side as some other Unilocalers noted, but in a really good way. This food is full of good clean flavor (plus a bit of tamari and hot sauce never hurts!)
Some kraut, pickles, or kombucha would have been great, but I was very happy with what I had! i will have to try something sweet next time.
I was so glad and surprised to find vegan food in Waltham!

The BBQ tofu and the Tempeh with Cabbage are two awesome dishes that week bet me to keep coming back. Now, I am not vegan, although I eat at many vegetarian and began restaurants. The quality of the food and the interesting flavors are worth the visit.
It is important to set the stage. This is a small «hole in the wall» restaurant that is next to a pizza parlor and Chinese restaurant that come right out of the 1960‘s. It is in the wrong side of Moody Street (in the direction of Burger King, not the train station).
When you walk in, there is a small buffet in the middle and about 10 formica-​topped tables. You are not here for the romantic atmosphere. Seat yourself. Grab a plate. Go to the buffet and pay by the pound.
It is like some of those Brazilian meat places, but you don’t have any meat.
So, that is the atmosphere. Now, go enjoy the food. It is all vegan and gluten-​free items are clearly marked. My favorite remains the BBQ tofu. I have had things called BBQ tofu before, but none tasted this good.
This is a place where lots of people are known by name. They seem to come in regularly, sit, and spend a while. A lot of folk were reading magazines. (The woman behind the counter writes down the weight of what you order, so you can pay once when you leave. Lots of people had names. We were «new couple».
The owner is there and answered our questions. We felt very welcome.
So, come to the other side of Newton Street, and enjoy.

Ok, here’s the deal. I don’t want to dis this place. The food was meh but the owner seemed nice.
Look, I’m not a vegan, but I eat at a lot of vegan and vegetarian places, and I’m in town from California, where there are LOTS of vegans, and lots of choices for vegans and vegetarians. Amazing ones. I live in a town a third the size of Waltham, and we’ve got a raw vegan place that kicks butt.
I’m guessing by the reviews that by Waltham standards, this is a good place for vegans to go. By SF Bay Area standards, this place wouldn’t rate more than a star. No ambiance at all, terrible look and feel to the place. Food was a low-​rent, unattractive and very meager buffet. The food was, frankly, poor and uninspired. Even the salad was sad.
I’m sorry to be negative compared to all of these glowing reviews, but it’s just really unfortunate if this is what local vegans have to look forward to.
That being said, I can clearly see that this is a place where the local crowd knows each other and knows the owner (presumably due to lack of other vegan restaurants nearby). So that’ll count for something.
And the food wasn’t awful. It just wasn’t in any way good. And way, way, way overpriced for the quality and the experience.

Masao’s is one of those places where everyone seems to know each other. Masao is always there working the register, he is always friendly and says hello to everyone.
This place serves macrobiotic vegan food. I don’t particularly love the buffet (it’s definitely healthy tasting), but the BBQ tofu sandwich is the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I frequent here just for that sandwich. I’ve also grabbed some yummy treats here.
The décor is tired and its pretty small — it’s not the best place for dates or groups. But it’s a welcome veg lunch spot for Waltham.

Good news for people who Masao’s Kitchen! Extended hours! Tuesday — Saturday, 11:30am — 3:30pm & 4:30pm — 8:00pm.
A few weeks ago I went in to purchase tempeh, and that’s when we noticed his new hours.
Masao has a monthly menu which shows what’s offered for each day. Still has buffet style (+/​-​10 scrumptious choices) and as well, you can also place special orders — soups, sandwiches on Iggy’s Ciabatta, noodle dishes, etc.
Moody Street in Waltham is known for a wide range of restaurants. Sadly, none are vegan EXCEPT for Masao’s Kitchen.
If you aren’t vegan, you really owe it to yourself to check this place out. The food is delicious, fresh & organic. Masao is a gracious, friendly and delightful host.

I have been going to Masao’s for years and have never had a bad meal. The food is always so good, fresh, and filling and I never leave feeling gross no matter how much I eat. The tempeh with red cabbage has always been my favorite but I can’t think of anything I haven’t liked. Masao is great.

This place is amazing. New favorite. Wonderful, relaxing atmosphere, delicious food, and so much variety. I just wish it were open for dinner.
It’s crazy to find a place like this in Waltham, where you totally wouldn’t expect it. But once you walk in it’s so quiet and the owner is so welcoming, you can’t help but love this place. The good is ridiculously good! The BBQ tofu is mind blowing! The curry veggies are scrumptious!
On another note, some complained about the price but considering that all the food is vegan and macrobiotic, I’d say it’s worth it. It’s not like the delicious veggies served are heavily subsidized like most fast food fare #justsaying.

Loved every bite of my meal here. Definitely try the chocolate chip oat cookies. Friendly service and delicious food

What a pleasant surprise on multicultural Moody Street. I was transported back to my younger years visiting food cooperatives and natural foods hot bars in northern New England.
The food was tasty — really enjoyed the BBQ tofu. Some of the sides, however, were bland. It’s priced by weight, so big eaters could pay a lot. I ate a vegan oatmeal cookie for dessert and it had an unexpectedly crunchy consistency, almost like a granola bar.
Masao’s is very small and the décor is somewhat tired. He does the most with the limited space he has, but more seating would be nice. We went on a casual business lunch and thankfully caught an open table.

Vegan buffet in Waltham = win. Despite the fact that Brandeis was voted «best vegan options.» Those options are still of the nasty tasteless/​soulless Aramark variety. Interestingly enough, this place offers several similar dishes that are actually done right, but at a high markup.
$ 10 a pound was enough for a decent sized lunch, but I think that salad should be priced and weighed separately. (You can afford to skip it here, anyway. The ginger dressing was only OK.) I also don’t like that the plate was weighed with my to-​go box, possibly a rip-​off? Among the hot plates, I tried the BBQ Tofu, the rice, and the vegetable curry. All were very good, and decently filling considering I ended up getting just over a pound of food.
Their hours make it perfect for lunch, but I wish they would stay open a little later on weekends.