Masala Bistro

My wife and I were on the lookout for some authentic Indian food in our area. We travel the world due to our jobs and family living overseas. However, The food here is excellent. I’m an avid traveler and try to find Indian good restaurants when I travel. I’m always on the lookout for the real thing. I have to say… this is the best Indian restaurant in the Harrisburg area. They are in a strip mall across from Walmart and you could easily miss it if you weren’t looking for it. The staff is kind, courteous and wonderful and the food is delicious with diverse Indian dishes. The dining atmosphere is nice as well. If you’re not into too spicy you will want to get the Korma chicken but if you like really hot get the vindaloo chicken. They have everything in between as well.

Very good Indian food. I like how they put some unique touches. For instance, their green chutney is not like most you will find at Indian places. Unique taste to it. I can only speak to the Buffet for lunch at this point and that is never going to be as good as an actual order. Great service and clean, nice restaurant.
The chili chicken is very good, but uses store bought breaded chicken similar to a Chinese restaurant. Butter chicken is good. The tandoori chicken is excellent not dry, like many buffet tandoori chicken. Bread/​naan is homemade, but not sure they actually used a tandoori oven as it was soft, not crispy or baked like good naan.
Bottom line — probably the best true Indian buffet around the camp hill /​west shore and Harrisburg area. I think Lahori and Zaiqa offer better buffets, but these are Pakistani/​Indian and there is a difference. Definitely should be on your list of places to try if you like traditional Indian food!

Best Indian food I’ve ever had. I travel for work and have had the opportunity to eat at a lot of different indian restaurants. This is by far the best. It also helps that the family that runs it are so friendly pleasant. I will be dining here every time I’m in town no question

Attention ladies and gentlemen! If you’re living in Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg area) and you’ve never tried the superb, authentic Indian-​style cuisine, Masala Bistro, you are missing one of the few reasons to be proud of where you live.

I went. with my. brother to Marsala bistro for lunch. we order. some curies. they. were. so. spicy. and. salted. that. me. and. my. brother both didn’t enjoy. any. way. servise. was. better. but. food. was. not. to. our. taste. next. time. some. other place.

Masala Bistro hands down has the best Lamb Vindaloo I’ve ever eaten next to my own. Courteous staff. Lunch Buffet w/​specials. Evening hours also. Awesome rice!
I Love this place

Overview:
A nice Indian place located in a strip mall, with daily lunch buffet and menu ordering for dinner.
Food:
I’ve been here several times, usually for the buffet. The buffet is pretty standard and offers the usual Indian curry selections. They also have rice, naan, some sort of fried appetizer, sauces, fresh cut veggies, and desserts available. For dessert, they offer fruit salad, rice pudding, and gulab jamun.
I’ve always really enjoyed their buffet. The food has always been hot, fresh, and delicious. I really enjoy the gulab jamun for dessert as well.
From the menu, the chicken vindaloo is very tasty. It has a good spice level to it, but not to the point where you can’t taste the dish. The saag paneer is also very good. The best is the naan though. Piping hot and fresh, it both soft, chewy, and crispy all at once. It was the best naan I’ve had in a very long time.
Recommend:
The naan (particularly the garlic) and the Chicken Vindaloo (spicy).
Atmosphere:
Very nice interior, with plenty of seating. It has always been clean when I’ve been here.
Service: I have always had excellent service here, no matter how busy they are. Usually a nice middle aged woman has been my waitress and she has always been kind, courteous, and attentive.

Since returning from Atlanta, GA and being introduced to Veal Chop Masala, I have had a need to get me some more! After laboring for (what seemed like) hours trying to find an Indian Restaurant in the Harrisburg area that was well recommended/​reviewed, we decided on Masala. Additionally, I had recently received a coupon from them via the Clipper Magazine, so I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to try the place out.
Food: Yep, on ⁹⁄₂₂ I ordered the Veal Chop Masala, priced at $ 17.95 (price relevance explained in a later section). My wife and daughter ordered the Tandoori Mixed Grill for $ 16.95 and we ordered a side of Naan for 1.95. Lastly, my daughter had a glass of milk for $ 2.19. The flavor of our food was EXCELLENT. Mind you, I have only had Indian food 4 times in my life. Yes, 4 times. The first two times were terrible experiences. The last one that I had in Atlanta was AMAZING, so now I am reassessing my disposition on the matter.
The Lamb Chop Masala was slightly different than the one I loved in Atlanta from Café Bombay. This was made with yellow curry (I think) instead of red, and there was an abundance of peppers and onions. Now, I do not really like chunks of peppers and onions in my food, but I sincerely enjoyed this dish. It was served with basmati rice, and essentially, you just spoon the masala sauce over the rice, and grab a lamb chop to gnaw on. This lamb chop was noticeably tougher than I like, but the flavor was on point. Additionally, I would have like to see a little bit more char on the lamb chop as it develops some nice flavor when it is; but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal (⁴⁄₅)
My wife’s mixed grill was a generous portion and combination of Seekh kabab, Chicken Tikka & Jumbo shrimp barbecued in the «Tandoor.» The Seekh kabab was spicy as eff; but it was delicious. The Chicken Tikka was my wife’s favorite by far. It was moist, flavorful, fresh, and hot! (⁴⁄₅) Lastly, our side order of Naan was the best I have had. I know … of all things … Naan. It was soft, hot, charred to perfection. Great, great naan! (⁵⁄₅)
Overall Food: A solid ⁴⁄₅
Service: The service was mediocre. Maybe it is a cultural difference; but the hostess/​waitress was not very welcoming. I like to feel special, invited, and valued when I choose to spend my money at an establishment — after all, I could dine in one of the 609 580 324 435 other restaurants in the city; but I chose this one. I wish we were treated a little more friendly. I am more concerned with a great EXPERIENCE when I go out to dine. That is why my reviews are formatted as such. For me, the service fell short.
Service: ²⁄₅
Atmosphere: I did not find any problems with cleanliness, but the restaurant was DEAD. As in, one other person in the entire place. When that person left, two more came in. That was it. Mind you, Tuesday nights are probably not exactly the most ‘hopping’ night of the week, but it was strangely quiet. The space was tastefully and culturally decorated, and it had a nice feel to it. The smell was a little bit different. Now, like I said, I have been to 4 Indian restaurants in my life, so maybe I am not used to the different smells of this cuisine; but I never noted this at any of the other places that I visited… so I am leaning toward concluding that the smell is strange here. Not bad … but overpowering — which kind of makes it bad. My daughter (4) even mentioned how it smelled weird.
Atmosphere: ³⁄₅
Price: Alright, so this is where this is going to hurt. As noted by the prices above, note that my subtotal should have been 39.04. I had a 20% of Dinner coupon that stated I would receive 20% off the meal so long as I spent $ 30.00. Well, I did. So how did my bill become 38.32 (after tax)? I requested an itemized receipt… and was not given one. Even if the coupon was only applied to the entrees (which is fine) the subtotal should have been $ 32.06 + Tax. So, roughly, $ 35.00. Now, I know that I am quibbling over 3 – 4 bucks, but the whole exchange /​experience with the price left me with a bad feeling. I feel like I was taken advantage of. Couple that with the ‘less than friendly’ service, and I am displeased on a few different levels. Lastly, $ 2.19 for a kid’s milk? Eff that, I can buy a gallon for about the price. This really disappoints me.
Price: ²⁄₅
Final Thoughts: It is a real shame that the service and the pricing issue were such negative experiences for me because I really enjoyed my food. In the future, I will definitely order this food to-​go so I can avoid the entire sit-​down service experience. Hopefully, they can handle smiling once or twice when I pick up my food? Maybe even throw-​in a genuine ‘thank you’? Guess we will see… anyway, I think that in terms of food, Masala delivers. Though, I would like to try some other Indian restaurants in the area to see if I can find one where I am fully satisfied with the ENTIRE experience.

We have eaten here one other time and the food was good; however this evening in particular the food was just okay. The problem we had and the true cause of the 2 stars were the bugs. I took a picture of 2 of the 7 little critters we killed throughout our dinner. Again the food and service was okay.
Next time we will go back to Passage To India in Harrisburg.

The place has a good environment. Food is is good but not so much of customer service.

Well. I wanted to give it a 4 star but our friends were so disappointed with their food, I have to deduct a star looking of their sad faces. We were happy with our vegetarian portions but its the lamb curry that our friends swore was the worst they have had. The appetizers were good and cooked to perfection. We tried their spicy mirchi pakoda which is one of the better things on the menu. Our vegetarian dishes– mushroom saag and paneer kadhai was aptly spicy and tasted just fine. But our friends ordered lamb kadhai and chicken curry which lacked taste and they didnt even bother to touch it after few spoons. On the positive side, we ordered a bread basket and the nans were very soft and fresh.
P. S. Its BYOB so load your beer/​wine before you hit the restaurant.

called to make sure they were open, she said yes. get there and she says sorry, we close at 3 and open again at 5. UGH.
i see i am not the only person who was told the same thing based on another review. why lie and say you are open when you know you will not be open. wasted a 20 minute trip to be told sorry, closed. wish I could rate the food but they would not serve us.

I was visiting York PA for work and wanted to grab quick lunch on my way to BWI airport. Great place for buffet, especially non veg. Had some soft delicious tandoori chicken and nice ras malai to finish.

Best Indian place in the area. I’d put their butter chicken and chili chicken, as well as their korma and paneer, up against any other place in the Harrisburg/​Lancaster area. The owners are super friendly, the lunch buffet has a great variety and stays fresh all the way until it closes. It’s also very clean with a huge menu for dinner. I highly recommend the Rogan Josh and any variety of Korma you like. Simply the best.

This place was good and had very large portions. Neither my girlfriend or I could finish our meals. I was a little confused though because it was hard to understand what our waitress was saying at times. It is definitely a place worth trying out but I would recommend getting your food to go.

Horrible service and bad food
The lady who served us was extremely rude. We asked for kulfi and she said that we don’t have it. We then asked can you tell us what desserts you have she was extremely impolite and said look at the menu everything is written there. We said the reason we asked was because you said kulfi wasn’t there and she didn’t care. Food was also below average. We even called the owner/​manager a Sikh guy who was even ruder than the server. NEVER EVER GOING BACK AGAIN

Punjabi kadi is a must try. Good vegetarian options. Go for the ala carte. I am not too thrilled with their lunch buffet but then I am comparing it with their menu items which are awesome. The chef is really friendly as well. Ambience is decent. Way to go bhraji!!!

‘Happy’-the owner, made us quite happy with a delicious meal! This was our first time here, but it surely won’t be the last. Having tried many Indian restaurants and buffets, I feel confident in saying that this is one of the best ones we’ve tried. The buffet was extensive, the food was fresh and delicious, and the service was great! No complaints here!

Bland.
Indian food is supposed to be interesting and exciting and this buffet is anything but. 8 – 9 choices of Americanized, «watered-​down» indian food were on the lunch buffet the several times I have visited, and each time the menu was the same. Severe lack of spice and seasoning in most of the dishes.
Staff is friendly, room is comfortable, and the price is cheap, $ 9.50 after tax. Visit Bombay Junction for the real Indian buffet experience.

This place is in a non descript shopping center across from the mall. I went for dinner and it was very quiet. This is a family run place and the quality and preparation of the food showed tremendous pride.
I started with samosa. The appetizer included two very large samosa. They had great texture and flavor. I was pretty full after eating these!
I then had Tandoor Chicken. I order a half portion. It was huge. The chicken was perfectly cooked. I could not finish it but I tried!
They mentioned that their lunch buffets are very popular. This could explain why it was so quiet for dinner.
My bill was under $ 20 for a very good meal.