Masala Indian Restaurant TODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Restaurants Masala Indian Restaurant Date: July 7th, 2023 27 Century Ave N Maplewood, MN 55119 Phone: (651) 501-7824 indianmasalamn.com

Masala Indian Restaurant St Paul
We go to a lot of restaurants and other places in a year. Finding new places is not always easy.
Recently on one of the Facebook Metro Foodie Groups someone asked who has the best Butter Chicken in the metro? Curious I followed the posting. I was curious about which restaurants were suggested and what Butter Chicken WAS!
Well, the agreed restaurant from the posting was Masala Indian Restaurant just south of 3M at 27 Century Ave N in St Paul. More exactly at that point I am sure it is Maplewood. We are in. We do not specialize in Indian food, we are Midwesterners, but our readers enjoy our daring and diversity.
From the get-go E is a South Dakota lady. So, like most from the Midwest, to her catchup is a spice. She does not like her food excessively spiced. I on the other hand, also from the Midwest, like to try spicey things. Over the past 5-6 years only a Tibetan place on Grand was able to turn me away from the spice in their food. We HAVE a second. We ordered medium… I can't do medium.
Let me digress. We start evaluating the places we blog about long before we get there. If a place is good typically, they take reservations for Friday Nights.  Masala did. We always have reservations if possible and we don't wait in lines beyond perhaps one drink at the bar. We saw a place yesterday that had a sign that said order online and wait in your car for your table… Yea --- NO.
After arriving we always look at how many cars are in the parking lot Friday at 7:30 PM. That too is a good sign of how popular & good it is. With two cars in the parking lot, E's comment: "Are they even open, made us wary." They were. We commented, it must be a popular lunch place because two cars on a Friday night a business does not make. But we were there to try the cities best Butter Chicken whatever that was.
So, we got to the Anti-chamber, the entrance to keep the cold out, and saw a sign that took us back. We own The MN Wine Club. Ten years ago, if someone would have brought us Apothic Red we would have raised our glass to have some. With time our tastes have moved to $30 Noirs. $3 wines just don't do it for us anymore. And to that to FEATURE a $3 bottle of Apothic Red on a banner on the door, again spoke volumes. So, we had not entered the restaurant proper yet and already we were questioning it.
We walked. Did we have to push the crowds away like Matts or Martina… Nope there was two tables of their 20 being occupied. But WE were there for the Twin Cities BEST Buttered Chicken. The place looked very clean though empty. They had a buffet which I'm sure they used for their big lunch crowd. The bar prep area had a row of wine bottles ready to serve and the kitchen looked clean. Things were looking up as I turned to E and said place looks clean. She said yes it was and other then our shoes sticking to the floor, it probably was.
It looked like our 7 PM reservations were not needed, but one never knows. We were allowed to sit where-ever we desired. We chose a booth in the back. We were given water, napkins, utensils, and menus by a nice young man.
We looked at the wine list. They had four whites: Cupcake Muscato (of COURSE), A Gri Ecco Domani, Murphy Goode a Sav Blanc, all three of which I believe we have had in the past and a Le Grand Chard.
 
For reds they had: The Apothic red Blend, A sparkling Prosecco, and the two we chose a Ravenswood Shiraz and Le Grand Cab Sav. Both of which were drinkable with HUGE pours for $7 a-piece. We suspect the 5-10 minutes to get the wine in an empty place meant perhaps though they had few wines, not all bottles were on display. It was fine.
I have a simple question. Why do restaurants feel they need to offer us 50 options on the menu? I would be happy with ten… but 50 there was. But WE were here for Butter Chicken, the hunt was on. I found it $13.99 one of the most reasonable entrees in the metro. The menu read Butter Chicken: Chicken cooked with Bombay Style Creamy Sauce… Bingo.
We typical will order two entrees in a place with new food to us to get a greater chance to find something we like. E also chose Shrimp Vindaloo: Shrimp and potato cooked in Goan Style sauce. Even though our Keto diet forbade potatoes we would splurge.
For each entrée we were given the option of mild, medium or hot sauce. We chose mild for the butter chicken which came with a yellow sauce and medium with the shrimp which came in a red sauce. In addition, we ordered some Naan white bread baked in a clay oven, which was good. Plus, each entrée came with a plate of white rice, which was appreciated.
E & I both had a helping of each. After that E was done. It was beyond her midwestern spice meter. I finished the Butter chicken but found nothing to write home about. The shrimp I had one shrimp and one potato and determined medium Indian at Masala was out of my league. Thank god, for the bread and rice to lower the spice content.
We were done eating and drinking and paid the $50 bill in less than thirty minutes. And we had no that-night or the next morning issues following us home. Will we be back… can't say we will. But if you are looking for the best Butter Chicken in the metro you know the place other think are the best and you will know what to expect. Everyone at Masala were very nice

Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com