Service snags mar otherwise tasty dinner at India Masala

India Masala Bar & Grill at 1040 E. Flamingo Road serves tandoori chicken, from top left, samosas and dosa, among other items.

The decor at India Masala Bar & Grill transports patrons to an island of serenity.

India Masala Bar & Grill advertises that its lunch buffet ($10.99) is the largest in Las Vegas. I haven’t yet experienced it but I have no doubt that if nothing else it’s a big hit, considering the restaurant’s location just west of Flamingo Road and Maryland Parkway in the university district and not far from the tourism corridor. But here’s the thing: I couldn’t help feeling that vestiges of the lunch buffet bled over into the dinner hour.

Exhibit one would be the service. Upon entering we were greeted promptly and quickly seated. We were given menus and asked if we wanted water, and our water glasses promptly filled. And then the server disappeared and we didn’t see anyone until a bartender wandered over after a while and asked if we wanted cocktails or wine; it was a while longer before our beverages, and the server, reappeared.

That — the MIA server — was a recurring theme during dinner, almost as though he was used to seating people for the buffet and mostly disappearing until it was time to bring the check. While he was there he was pleasant, offered refills and filled requests promptly. But he waited too long to take our orders and didn’t come by, or at least appear in the vicinity of our table, as frequently as he should have.

There was one other thing that seemed to be a lunch-buffet leftover, but literally, in this case. The vegetable samosas ($4.99) were served piping hot and were well seasoned and nicely flavored. But the pastry that enveloped them was soggy instead of crisp, and the potato filling had gone starchy, both signs that they may have been held and reheated.

But, I’m happy to say, those were really the only pitfalls. The place is, first of all, gorgeous. It’s in a strip-center location that, if memory serves, formerly housed a Mongolian barbecue. The window tinting is heavy and there’s no hint from the outside, but upon entering we were immediately transported to an island of serenity. Indian music was soft, as was the lighting, and there was much to attract the eye, such as elaborate Eastern-style draperies at the windows, a decorative arch near the door and the rosewood-finished tables themselves.

The requisite pre-dinner pakoras, with the requisite cilantro-mint and tamarind chutneys, were better than most, the pakoras both more flavorful, crisper and more plentiful than the norm. (And, when our server stopped by after the bartender had brought our beverages he offered a pakora refill, which turned out to be a good thing as we sat waiting for our food to arrive.)

Our entrees also were quite good. Well, the tandoori chicken ($8.99 for the half-chicken we had, or $14.99 for a whole) was a little dry, but that seems to be an inherent hazard of tandoori chicken. One thing that we liked about it was that the spice mixture used to coat the exterior had brighter flavors than most, and it was served sizzling, atop onions and other vegetables.

We also were pleased with the Madras curry ($15.99 for the lamb we had, or $12.99 for chicken). The menu said it was in the style of the Tamil Nadu region, and indeed it was infused with the lovely warm-flavored spices implied by that, as well as a number of chunks of lean, tender lamb. And we always appreciate rice that’s shot through with cumin seeds, as this was.

But next time, maybe we’ll try it all at lunch.

Las Vegas Review-Journal Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.