Urban Masala

Our first time– tasty food buffet, but nothing special. No soups, simple lettuce salad, only two deserts and like 6 different curry chicken that taste pretty much same.

The ambience is so-​so. The food is yummy.
Malai kofta melts in the mouth. Gulab jamuns are just perfect! :)
The naans are freshly made.
Tried the baingan Bharta but found it more oily than we like.
But overall 4 stars for the great tasting food :)

Urban Masala has been on my list of places to try since shortly after it opened. I finally had the opportunity to call in an order for pickup. The man who answered the phone and that I interacted with when picking up my food was very friendly. It looked like they have a lunch buffet open even on the weekends. Lunch buffets at Indian restaurants are pretty common but I think most only operate during the week. I ordered the chicken tikka masala, a side of naan, and gulab jamun for dessert. The tikka masala came with a side of basmati rice. It has excellent flavor, ample chicken, and plenty of extra sauce. It made for two very filling servings. I will not hesitate to go back. 4 stars.

This was our first time here — Saturday Buffett. We chose this place over many other Indian restaurants in the area.
Nothing special — just average Indian food.
The extra star is that they bring «fresh» naan to the table when you are seated. I think it was already made and brought from the back so not super fresh.

This is the best Indian food I’ve had in a while; my meal tonight wasn’t perfect, but it was actually really close (which is saying a lot, as I’m very picky about Indian food, after having traveled in India a few years back). First, the setting: I was here for dinner with my parents, and when we arrived around 6:30pm, the restaurant was completely empty — literally no one else was there, aside from the host and manager. At first, we worried that this meant the place wouldn’t live up to its rating… but rest assured, it did! Actually, it was kind of nice to have dinner in a very quiet restaurant; service was extra-​attentive as a result, too (and people did filter in slowly as we sat there for our meal).
The restaurant itself is decent: the tables, chairs and carpeting are all quite clean, and our glassware and dining utensils were all spotless. This may seem like a fairly trivial observation for me to be making, but you’d be surprised by how many restaurants seem to be ok with serving food on filthy plates… anyway, this isn’t such a place, and I really appreciate that!
Now, the most important part: the food. Our food came out a little slowly after we ordered, but this is generally expected in Indian restaurants; this is a style of cuisine that tends to take some time to prepare. We were given a complimentary platter of papadum served with mint and tamarind (I think that’s correct, based on taste) chutneys. For food, we ordered a garlic naan to share and three main courses: murgh tikka masala with chicken, aloo mattar, and chana masala, each of which came with a huge bowl of white rice.
Dish-​by-​dish breakdown:
–The garlic naan was absolutely amazing — seriously one of the best naans I’ve ever had. If it were up to me, it could maybe have done with a little more garlic, but it was scrumptious as it was, and also huge! It was easily shared between the three of us, as it was cut into four generous pieces.
–The murgh tikka masala was pretty good. The flavors were pretty on the nose, and the creaminess of the sauce was excellent with rice. My one gripe here is that the chicken was pretty dry due to the use of breast meat, which made its texture less than ideal. A possible solution to this would be to get the murgh makhni instead, as it’s made with dark meat. Additionally, I think we made a mistake in asking for the dish to be medium spicy; I usually get my protein-​based curries extra spicy, and I think that would have been the move here (we held off because I’m battling a bit of a sore throat to begin with right now), so that’s something to consider.
–Personally, I liked the aloo mattar. I thought that it was delicious, and the potatoes had a slight charry taste that I love to see in my aloo mattar. My mom was a little put off by the fact that the peas in it were clearly frozen veggies, but that’s pretty standard for peas, and I don’t think it detracts from the dish at all.
–The chana masala was hands-​down the favorite entrée of the evening for me. The spices were perfect in this dish. I wouldn’t change a thing about this one!
After our main courses were cleared away, we were given a complimentary dessert of gulab jamun (one per person). These were made perfectly, and were dense, sugary and delicious — a great way to end the meal!
For three people, this meal came out to just over $ 30 before tip after using the 10% off coupon offered with a Unilocal check-​in; that’s such a great deal, especially when you consider that we had enough food left over at the end of the meal to fill a decent-​sized to go box, too. Based on price, quality of service, and overall experience, I can’t recommend Urban Masala enough for Indian food in the Hillsboro area.

Went here to see how different it was from India Palace, which was my go-​to Indian food restaurant. They have completely changed the décor for the better. However, they had the large green tray of glasses standing at the check out counter, which made it difficult to pay them for my food. I have to say, their food is different from India Palace and it’s just okay. Even though we asked for mild, some of it was too hot for our palates. Beyond the heat though, the flavors just weren’t there. The curry flavoring was just blah, without any REAL flavor. The lamb dish we had was just hot without any real flavor other than the lamb taste. The chicken dish was good, but again too hot. Over all this is an okay place, but I’m afraid I’ll continue looking.
The service was great, although this was take out; they the two people who waited on me were cordial and friendly.

This place is really good. Both the hosts are polite and very courteous. The food served has always been above my expectations in both quality and quantity. The restaurant itself is really close to Intel and offers really great value for money.
If you’re thinking of eating Indian next time I’d certainly recommend giving Urban Masala a go !!

Im not a fan of Indian food. It was very spicy and sloppy. Typical Indian fare. If you like Indian food, this was fairly tasty. Drank a lot of water.

LOve the freshly made naans & rotis.

MUST TRY! Amazing grilled and curry dishes and those naans are to die for, Fresh out of the oven. Most of Pakistani and Indian folks will appreciate this place.

4.75 stars. Could be a 5 with a couple of easy fixes.
This place is located in Cornell Square shopping plaza next door to the airport.
It shares the plaza with Little Caesars Pizza. So you will know you are in the right place and know where to turn when looking for Urban Masala.
This review is from our first time there.
We did a lunch buffet to sample some of their offerings.
They offer their lunch buffet 7 days a week!
Both vegetarian and non-​vegitarian offering.
Yep this place is legit! Excellent use of spices/​seasonings.
One thing that most Indian or Pakistani places do is to add too much salt or sugar to their food to make up for their lack of knowledge on what to do to please the american pallet. This place doesn’t do that. They know how to spice and season things at expert levels. High praise to them for knowing how to prepare their cuisine. Don’t ever change how you prep and spice things.
I didn’t have to say anything. My husband, who is picky was very impressed too. He says this lunch buffet is 100x better than that other Indian/​Pakistani place in the Hillsboro area on NW Stucki Ave that gets media attention.
When you enter they ask you what kind of hot nan you would like. We enjoyed our garlic nan very much. It was very buttery and garlicky. Yum!
Everything was correctly labeled. You could read what was vegetarian and what was not. We appreciate this because my husband is vegetarian and I am not. The owners and family were very friendly and attentive.
A few little fixes will jet them into a full 5 star.
The curtain that covers the front door. I would like to politely suggest that either be moved or removed during business hours. I makes your business look like it is closed and kind of gets in the way of people entering and exiting.
Keep a watch on the temperature of the food on the buffet. Not all but some of the temperatures were noticeably below level of what they should have been. The curry gravy sauces was fantastic! I could eat that all day. It would be better with a little more chicken in it. I think patrons scoop most of the chicken out and leave the sauce. I would keep an eye out for that. To restock the chicken.
The biryani rice. One of my most favorite things and I am well aware how much effort and time it take to make a good one. We appreciate that there was a chicken one with :) no bones :) which was awesome and a vegetarian one. I would like to nicely suggest that ½ way though the baking process that you take it out and vigorously stir it away from the sides of the pan and the top. Maybe even spritz it with a light mist of water before returning to the oven. The rice that sticks to the sides and the top gets dehydrated and overly crunchy to chew.
We picked up many business cards on our way out and will pass them on to friends. If they want to know what properly seasoned Indian Pakistani food should taste like, we will send them in the way of Urban Masala. With friendly staff and unique cuisine offerings that are expertly seasoned, we can see us returning here very soon. After our visit my husband and I just kept saying all evening long… that Urban Masala was soooo good! We are dreaming about our return.

This place is clean, new, and small. The food is good and the fresh naan (regular/​garlic) they bring out to your table is delicious. Waiter/​host is very friendly and attentive. Just wish they had a larger selection. This is a good buffet for if you live in this area or are conveniently nearby. Located near the Hillsboro Airport.

This place used to be India Palace before.
This has revamped with the new owner and décor.
With all the 5 star reviews I decided to try this place for lunch. I am usually not very keen on Indian buffets knowing food is with lot of grease and not very fresh.
Here is my rating for this place–
Service ⁴⁄₅
Buffet variety ⁴⁄₅
Taste 3.5÷5
Ambience ³⁄₅
Price ⁴⁄₅
This place is definitely better than India Palace now. Buffet wise I prefer Maharaja due to its freshness of food. May be I will give it a try for dinner. I have heard they give complimentary dessert and poppadum!

This place is the real deal. I was very impressed.
Lamb saag was tender and super flavorful. The spice level was on point.
Lamb vindaloo was the same way. I have never had this dish and was in love.
You must try the wings. They were the crunchiest wings I’ve ever ever had. A must when you eat here.
We will be back for sure.

Got to try this new place for dinner tonight. We ordered the Mirchi pakora for appetizers which was good and quite spicy. For Entrée we had the Malai Kofta, Garlic Naan and Tandoori Roti. The Kofta and the gravy both were good and the Naan and Roti were very fresh and hot and went well with the gravy. Service was pretty attentive but the ambiance was a little dull with red paint on the walls as well as the ceilings. A lighter color paint would have brightened up this place.
Also, they give Paapad with Chutney as a complimentary appetizer.

I have FINALLY found good Indian food in Oregon!!! And it’s not just good it’s EXCELLENT!
This little gem is tucked away in an unassuming little strip mall at the corner of 25^th Ave and Cornell Rd. Usually when you walk into restaurant’s in these strip mall situations it tends to feel a bit stuffy and cramped, but UM manages to keep the floor open and feeling cozy rather than claustrophobic.
We walked in on a Friday night with 4 young children and received a warm friendly welcome and were quickly seated. The staff (I believe it was the manager/​owners) were on point with drinks for everyone and ready to answer any questions we had about the dishes.
We started with Aloo (Potato) Samosa, Lamb Samosa and Nariyal Jhinga (Coconut Shrimp).
Both Samosas were a superb blending of spices, gently cooked potato/​sauteed ground lamb and crunchy savory pastry dough. And the Shrimp was fried to perfection and left a subtle note of fresh sea salt on the pallet that paired nicely with the sweet pomegranate chutney that was served with it.
For entrees we had Murgh Makhni (Butter Chicken), Gosht Vindaloo (Lamb), Tandoori Chicken, Til Gobi (Cauliflower), Navratan Korma (Vegetable) and Naan. I personally only ate the Makhni, Vindaloo and Naan but everyone at our table gave good reviews of their dishes. The Makhni was creamy decadence with a beautiful solid tomato finish. The chicken cooked to buttery excellence. The Vindaloo was the perfect blend of heady spices and earthy lamb cooked to edge of falling apart perfection (my only strike against the evening was that the Vindaloo just wasn’t hot enough for my preference, but that is a very small price to pay for an otherwise spotless meal)
And to crown the evening off we were presented with delicious Gulab Jamun, Rasmali and Carrot Halwa. All delicious and a perfect way to end an outstanding meal!
Thank you Urban Masala, we will definitely be seeing you again :-)

2 words to describe — amazing food. Chicken kadhai is one of the best I’ve had ever. Some of Indian restaurants need to learn it. Onion kulcha too was awesome. Not a fan of their biryani though. Must try — any North Indian chicken/​lamb based gravy. Service is swift, and sumptuous amount per serving. Music could be done better.
Edit # 1 — And by the time I finished writing this post, we were served complimentary gulab jamun for desert.

Really good food and excellent service. The man who seated us actually pulled out my chair for me. That is a rare and appreciated thing. :-) The food was so good, especially the chili chicken. And the garlic naan was excellent — they brushed it with melted butter! Best naan I’ve had.
We will be back for sure.
They will have a full bar soon, too. :-)

Hold up, wait a minute. Let me put some Masala in it. I was visiting the greater Portland area for a nice summer vacay and needed some flavor and spice in my life and I stumbled upon this gem. These guys just opened shop, but the food is on point. Its traditional yet suits the modern palette.
On to the menu, I tried the garlic naan (perfectly fluffy and flavorful), daal (whoa, seriously delicious), and the spinach chicken curry (yes!). I was really skeptical at first, but I felt compelled to write a review, because there aren’t really any Indian food options in the Portland area, and these guys nailed it. Urban Masala you rock.
Quick and attentive service, great food. Five Stars, A+, Encore please.

Amazing restaurant. Although this hidden gem is in a strip mall, it’s yummy. I had butter chicken and gulabjaman and highly recommend. I am eager to go again to try some of the other dishes!