Masala Box

So, the place is in Gladstone OR, not the culinary place for food, put this place is amazing. It is basically a take out restaurant, with a beer cooler as large as the place itself.
The resurant is a mom and pop operations that serves the real thing. The chicken curry we ordered was a large and it had all the spices you would want and smell in a Indian dish. The take out we had could easily serve 3 to 4 persons.
The food is great and if you want to you could eat I the restaurant but you will se a lot of people coming in. It only has about 4 table and 6 chair, along with a big screen tv, sorry there was no Bollywood movies on the telley.
The food is hot the propieter was very friendly and helpful. The menu is not extensive but give you a variety of items like shrip, and fish. Worth the money and I expect that they will move to have a bigger place. Definitely a place to go to.

The owners are the sweetest ever.. food was amazing. .if you don’t know what you want they will help you figure it out. …

This is an excelent restraunt. Amazing food; probably the best in Portland, great people, and your food is cooked extremely fast in large portions! The other great aspects are the prices, which is an amazing deal for all the food. My favorite is the saag, definitely the best in P-​Town

Great place to eat! The owner is very nice and accommodating. Came here during Christmas. The saag is super delicious and a great vegan option. The madras coffee is also delicious and is the original version of the «latte». The owner shared with us lots of history of the food and is a great person. He made us feel like we were at home. I’m definitely coming back and it’s worth trying!

Best experience in a long time. The owner makes great authentic food, is very kind, and has a fantastic knowledge of the food.

Best Saag I’ve ever had, and vegan too! I just make sure to order it with no rice, since I don’t eat white rice. The naan was also delicious too, made fresh to order so it does take a few minutes. This isn’t a sit-​down place, so just know before going into it that it’s take-​out.

Best Indian food in the SE suburbs. The owners sincerely care about their food and their customers. And the portions are huge. And there is beer on tap. The chicken paratha is a must. The Saag is dialed is so dialed in. How can you beat a huge Dish of food for $ 7-​$ 10 that turns into 3 meals? You can’t, and it is delicious fresh and as leftovers. You gotta check this place out. It’s a one of kind hole in the wall owned by some of the nicest people you’ll meet.

The food was tasty, the owners were very friendly, but the menu is very limited, and the naan was really hard (stale?)

Beautifully delicious establishment with a very genuine and passionate owner. It is literally like eating in someone’s house which is a little strange but totally worth the experience. Everything he cooks is locally sourced from either Oregon or India and I can’t say enough about the amazing taste.
There is naaaan other place to eat great Indian food!

Love the curry! I ordered the spicy and my wife had the regular. It was her first curry and now the standard is set high for her! The owners gave us a sample of their saag and it was off the hook! The owners made us feel like friends as soon as we walked in. Large portions for a reasonable price. Everything is made with a family recipe.

Living in Oregon City we were thrilled to find Masala Box. We have traveled extensively through India and fully appreciated the authentic flavors of the dishes. We had the delicious samosas, naan, chicken curry and the saag, and all were fantastic and, as others have stated, huge portions. Run by a delightful couple, we will definitely be back

This places is great! The owner is super friendly and he pleasantly and proudly explained to the culture, different areas of India and the various ways the food can be prepared. It was awesome! The food was awesome! Oh man! I just went in with a mild idea of what I wanted, and he prepared the best dish! :D
Will go back!!!

Unfortunately, I have to take away a star because there’s some ingredient or spice that’s not sitting well with the wife’s tummy. I have that old iron constitution so I’m not sure what’s up. But in addition, I also find the sauces a bit too runny to have the correct «mouthfeel» I understand that cream is omitted from the sauces but there are other thickeners that would work too. The Saag, I still believe is quite good and but having tried all the vindolo, the curry, the garlic shrimp and the chana masala, it’s just not quite there! I’ll be back eventually but Swagat in Beaverton is still the gold standard for us.

The food, the owners… amazing. A true hidden gem. The saag, samosa & chicken curry were spectacular. The service over the top excellent. I live in CT, so they literally offered to send me home with a packet of their curry spices & a recipe. Who does that?!?
For what you get, the prices are crazy-​cheap. It would’ve been double in Hartford.
If you’ve ever wanted to try Indian food but are worried about knowing what to order, THIS couple will show you the golden path to delicious & healthy food.
Go! GO NOW!

The food is amazing — go there! The owner is sweet and funny — asked if we were ‘feeding a village’ because we bought so many things to try. Haha. I want to buy them a sign for on the road, their marketing does;t do their food justice.
The only food change i’d like to see is more veggies in the Garbanzo Bean dish. First world problems with Indian Food.

Love this place.
VJ is super nice and funny. You will love him! :)
AND They have beer on tap.

This is a recently opened, very nice little Convenience store/​Indian food shop tucked away a bit off the street in the Beautiful Downtown Gladstone, the place that time forgot. They have a small but select menu of quite delicious Indian food to go, or you can eat there. They have four tables inside and one outside. The owner is a delightfully friendly chap from India who will gladly explain the menu, the history of Indian food, why things are called what they are, the cuisines of different geographic areas in India, where he is from, why he came here, etc etc etc.
They do not have dairy or gluten in their shop and all dishes are Vegan except the Chicken Curry and Shrimp Vindaloo.
They have micro brews on tap, and a wide selection of beer and wine in their small cooler.
This is a great spot for lunch and I’m sure since I live close by I will be picking up food to go often here.

I live a few blocks away from this place and tried it because my neighbors went here and spoke highly of it. I tried to go to one of my favorite food carts, but they were closed so I went here. The owner seemed nice. I was disappointed though in the end. The main reason being is that most of it was white rice. The actual food part… the shrimp and the masala was tasty but there was an overwhelming amount of rice and I don’t eat white rice at all. So, as nice as the owners were… I’m not sure how frequently I’d go to this place. I might try the Saag Paneer though and just simply ask for no rice… hopefully that can be possible.

The Masala Box is a very small mart with some simple homemade food. We entered with various others coming and going to pick up cold drinks and be on their way. The gentleman who recently took over the building explained the food carefully, gave us a history on the businesses there before him and was very obliging. We were excited to stop in and try the food. His kitchen was newly repaired from the previous tenants. Everything behind the door was shining and clean.
As most locals know, Indian food is hard to find in this area. We were crossing our fingers that the Masala Box would be a place we could get our frequent Indian food fix. Crossing our fingers paid off. We will be regulars for pick up dining from now on. Do not be deceived by the mini mart exterior in a not so pretty area of Gladstone. This is a homemade family kitchen. I felt rather honored to be there (trust me when you taste this food, you will agree). No false pretenses. Simple, pure, honest Indian food. There is not a Sysco food truck in sight and thank the universe for that.
The menu is small and staple. We tried two very common dishes. The Chicken Curry, the Saag, a Vegetable Samosa and some Naan. The Chicken Curry was good. It was very traditional and the chicken was not dry. I would put it up as a solid contender. Now the Saag was simply a winner. It was perfectly seasoned. The spiced spinach, tomato and zucchini melted into the fluffy basmati rice. It was rich and creamy without the presence of dairy. No cream and no butter, it did not disappoint. It exceeded all of my expectations. I will be eating this dish from Masala Box from now on. Everything about this Saag was brilliant. I can see why he has been making his Saag this way for forty years.
The Naan was pillowy and crispy with fine flavor. The Samosa was delicious. He let us sample his special for the day, Paratha Bread, which he did not charge us for. If he has it in the future, get it. It is like a thin, flaky, buttery biscuit. Ridiculously good.
There is nothing on the menu over ten dollars (and those that meet the ten dollar mark are family sized seafood portions such as shrimp and salmon). You can walk out with a stomach full of good food, and most likely some leftovers for less than five dollars. Twelve dollars fed two grown adults and a child with enough leftover to take home in a box. Quality and quantity fit in here at Masala Box. Certainly try this Indian kitchen for local, delicious Indian food and a very sincere gentlemanly owner.

Came here to buy some drinks and started talking to the very nice Indian owners. Saw that they had a small kitchen and asked about food, ended up with samosa and chicken curry for lunch.
They are from Chennai, which I’ve been. It was really cool talking to the owners and they are super nice.
I ate the samosa there while waiting for my food. They cook to order so it takes a bit. They aren’t setup for eating there but did have a table so I used it. The masala that came with the samosa was so good I drank the rest of it after I was done.
The chicken curry was what I expected — not all creaming and buttery like the norther Indian food. Southern Indian tends to focus solely on the spice and use less fatty ingredients that mask flavor.
Suffice to say it was great surprise visit for me. Great food, good company. I also found out from my brother in law that this is a very loved local shop. If someone is short on change they let them go with an IOU. When the landlord wanted their own family to take over the place local people petitioned to keep them around.
In Portland, you can’t ask for a more community place than this.
Oh and that bike guy who someone else said was mocking these Indian owners in their accent — their English is just fine. Take your entitled prissy attitude and go away. This is what we need more of in the Northwest — a community builder.
Only 1 star away because it’s not a sit down dining because as much as I like the owners and the food, it is truly not quite a restaurant.