Masala Wok - (512) 251-9696

My fiance has lived in Austin for 2 years and ever since he discovered Masala Wok, he's been eating from there at least once a week. Now that I moved here, I'm craving it as much as he does! Half the time we eat in, and the owner is extremely nice (he knows my fiance by now because of how often he comes in.) He always says hello and offers new suggestions for us to try. He even changes the channel on the flat screen TV for us if there is a football game on. The other half the time we get our food to go and I'm happy to announce that they have never gotten our order wrong. (Which is saying a lot because so many of the restaurants we order to-go, mess up so frequently.) I always have a hard time deciding between the Samosas (puffed pastries filled with potatoes and peas) and the Samosa Chaat (samosas with a whipped yogurt/chutney topping) for my appetizer. Both are very good. I often get the Spinach Masala with potatoes which is served with rice and has such great flavor. I like that you can choose mild, medium, or hot for each dish. I always get mine medium which is not too spicy but has great flavor. My fiance gets his hot, but sometimes it's not hot enough for him. If you like garbanzo beans, I recommend the Chole Masala, which is spiced just right with curry sauce.

I was excited about this place from all the good reviews, but I was horribly disappointed. The service was great, and the manager was nice and very solicitous. But the food was not good. The samosas were okay but nothing special. The brown sauce that came with the samosas, which is normally the best part, was so vinegary I had trouble swallowing it. The chicken tikka masala was edible, but that's about it. It was so tomato-y you could have put pasta underneath it and called it tomato basil penne. I hardly tasted any curry at all. My friend ordered the vindaloo curry with chicken, and that was better than the tikka masala. Maybe I'm spoiled by the indian food in Philadelphia, but I'm not sure what the reviewer was thinking when she said the chicken tikka masala was the best she'd ever had. I will not be going back.

My husband and I first tried Indian food overseas and fell in love with it. When we got back, we tried to find good Indian food in Austin and we found a couple of places that were okay, but they were lacking something undefinable. My husband found Masala Wok online, and I have to admit I was sceptical, but from the second we walked in the door, we knew we'd found it - it smelled amazing! We live in far south Austin and they are located far north Austin. We now drive up there once a week to get our fix. We're trying to talk them into putting in a location down south so we don't have to go so far for real Indian food. BTW - if you tried this place more than about 6 or 7 months ago, you should give it another shot. The current owners/managers are fantastic! They're friendly and attentive and the food is so good it's addictive!