Chennai Masala

This is an expensive place for the food they serve.
If you want to eat dosa for $ 20 which you can make at home for 50 cents. Yes please. go here! I didn’t like any dish here however sambar is okayish. Service is terrible as well.
What is with the Tamil weirdo songs (not regular songs) playing in this restaurant!
Please be considerate and play Hindi songs which most of the people can understand.

The food was very good — much lighter than you get at most Indian restaurants, which I appreciated.
The service was incredibly fast — TOO fast even. We ordered samosas as appetizers which came within two minutes. Great. But then the rest of the food came out within another 3 – 4 minutes (well before we had finished our samosas) and then the bus staff was incredibly active in soliciting our empty plates (which we really weren’t finished using.)
If this place could make the atmosphere just a little more relaxed, I think it would be a five-​star restaurant.

Terrible Terrible service. So slow. So disorganized. One waiter for the whole place. Everyone else on the floor is just there to bus tables. Took over an hour to get our dinner. Seriously sad. Never again. The food is not worth the wait.

We love this place. The food is always delicious and the staff are friendly. They have plenty of vegetarian options; we usually get the saag paneer, some naan, and the curry with peas and mushrooms and cheese (I can’t recall its name). All good. And a reasonable price for dinner with leftovers.

I’ve been going to the lunch buffet here off and on for 9 years. It’s been remarkably consistent throughout that time. Their Indian food is without a doubt the best in the entire Portland area. No one else tastes nearly as authentic, and I’m speaking as someone who has been all over southern India including Chennai.
I’m giving four stars because the quality hasn’t been quite as stellar since their expansion helped propel them to incredible popularity a few years ago. The space itself is more inviting, larger (obviously), and has very entertaining Bollywood videos playing throughout lunchtime, a definite plus! However, I do feel like the taste of the food isn’t quite what it once was when it was half the size, far less inviting, and less popular. This is pretty inevitable with restaurants as with other things in life that as quantity goes up often quality goes down.
I still have never found anywhere better around Portland, and I try pretty regularly. It’s definitely worth a pilgrimage from whatever part of town you live in to experience truly delicious Indian food. Their naan, dosas, pakoras, tikka masala, sambar, korma, and biryani are all delicious, which if you know anything about Indian food means it’s not just southern Indian food. Also, if you happen to catch them for any of their holiday celebrations, it’s absolutely awesome.

Tanasbourne shopping center seems to be cursed with very average dining choices. Phở is average here, Chipotle is Chipotle, and even the Indian food leaves much to be desired. Beaverton has two other places close by; India Flavors and Abhiruchi. Both of these are equally as good with slight variants in the menu. Chennai Masala misses the mark. Their food was very watery and bland, and dessert was not that great. My favorite, the chicken makhani, was diced into very small bits and was also lacking the flavors the other two restaurants provided. This place gets PACKED and the buffet is one-​sided so the line wraps along the entire restaurant. I did like the décor and the Bollywood dancing videos playing, but the food quality sent me running back to the other choices in the area.

I love this places buffet. They have many chicken dishes and they are all delicious especially the tandoori chicken and chicken masala. Their naans are very good too. Definitely try our their buffet. It’s worth it

$ 16 for a small portion of curry lamb and rice is kinda pricey. I think if you want to eat curry thing just go for lunch buffet it’s way cheaper and the price is more reasonable.

Close to 5. maybe feeling a little self-​conscious about my easy grading. Most importantly – the food is very good. Not that i’m that experience with Indian cuisine, but the variety of spicings and flavors in what I ate is marvelous and engaging, trying to figure out what all’s in there. A yellow rice was very lemon-​citrus-​y, with occasional bits of spice flavor. the tandoori chicken almost too smooth but irresistible. Great flavors in the mushroom dish, and the curry was spicy as noted (just the proper heat for me, close to my edge.) On the negative, though minor, the nan more like white pocket bread. Maybe 1 dish with a meat other than chicken?
Good eats, lots of spices, friendly folks working there.

It’s very rare that I have a meal that seriously impresses me. I made my first trip to Chennai Masala a couple nights ago. The vegetarian selections are fantastic and well-​marked on the menu, but I had a little difficulty communicating regarding my vegan needs. I ordered the chole dosa, which was the best dosa I have ever eaten in my life. I love chole (a chickpea dish) and I love dosas. The combination sent me into the stratosphere! The dosa was served with tomato and coconut chutneys. It also came with sambar. Although I had asked for no ghee and no milk, the waiter told me that the sambar had ghee as he set my platter down in front of me. This part of the service was disappointing, but not enough to knock down my 5 star review. My dining companion also loved her dosa. I cleared my plate and was pretty sure I was going to die from fullness as I rolled my body out of the restaurant. I will definitely be back to try more things, though it will be hard to not order the chole dosa every time. It’s a little on the pricier side but the portions were large (at least the dosas were large) and the quality was well worth the cost.

My absolute favorite place to go for Indian Buffet. I’ve been going here so many times in the last three years. This place includes a variety of luxurious flavors of entrees, nothing here is bland, and the quality is excellent. Buffet comes with warm delicious Chai and I love their use of seasoning and herbs. I have been here for an a la cart dinner and the atmosphere is very lively and elegant. Good place to have dinner with friends. Bollywood video music, authentic elegant décor, I can’t find a better place on this side of town.
Swagat in Orenco Station would be my second favorite place to go for Indian Buffet.

Always the same taste, predictability and ambience
Sambar idly are hits
Utappam is fab
Rava dosa is great
Biryani is the top rice dish
A bit pricey but you will walk out satisfied

I came for a lunch buffet. $ 10/​person. There wasn’t that many options. There are two dishes that has meat — chicken. No desert.
It is interesting to tried the dishes though. I love the coconut rice and chicken masala! That’s why I gave it 4 instead of 3.
I will be back for dinner to try other indian dishes.

I’ve been here twice, once for their lunch buffet and once for dinner.
Lunch buffet:
Pretty good deal, you get a lot of things on their menu so you get to try out a variety of things. I really liked the chicken tikka masala, that was my personal favorite. All the chutneys, the other curries, and this small pancake thing were all pretty good, but the chicken tikka masala was the bomb! There’s also chai tea, so yummy, but don’t fill up too much of that or else you’ll miss out on the food items! The only downside is that there really isn’t a dessert, there’s only one sweet item and I’m not even sure what it is and I wasn’t too impressed with it. The lunch buffet is $ 12.
Dinner:
WAY more expensive than what you are going to pay for lunch. I got a lamb dosa, tandoori chicken and chicken tikka masala. The lamb dosa was SO BIG, so delicious and also $ 16. I think that’s probably the dish that’s worth it the most, given the portion size and the taste. The tandoori chicken was also SO GOOD! It was really moist, not like most other tandoori’s I’ve had that can be kind of dry. I really liked it but it was also just 3 pieces of chicken for $ 9…so again, pricey. The chicken tikka masala was SUPER SUPER DELICIOUS! LOVED IT! But it was also very pricey, I think it was $ 16? and it came in a really small cup. So if chicken tikki masala is what you want to eat, GO TO THE LUNCH buffet for that, it’s way more worth it! You can eat endless amounts at the lunch buffet!
The restaurant is new, kept very clean and nice looking. Very tasteful décor. The service is decent.
Overall:
Lunch buffet is more bang for your buck but doesn’t have all the food options like dosas, which is only offered during dinner. My advice is if you only want curries and chicken tikki masala, come for lunch. If you only want dosas (which they are pretty good), come for dinner and avoid ordering any curries because they are expensive and you get small portions!

We go there maybe once a month and are fans l of certain items like their veg manchurian, veg noodles, paneer Bhutto dosa to name a few.
The one annoying thing here is the sometimes very explicit videos that they play on their TV. We have a 4 yr old and it is very uncomfortable.
I am hoping the owners look at this review and consider changing the videos. They run the risk of loosing me and maybe others like me as their customers

REALLY good Indian food that isn’t too heavy. Two caveats: a little expensive for the ambiance, and not spicy enough (but I know this might turn people who are not used to ethnic foods off)!

Six of us enjoyed dinner here tonight. It was great.
Two of us ordered lamb Vindaloo. The lamb was tender. Good, hot spice. full flavored. One of the best I have had in awhile.
Phil ordered the chicken curry. It was also very good. Good flavor, but not hot.
Two others ordered a dosa. This was something new to me. It starts with what looks like a large crêpe. Filling is added. Those who ordered it said it was good.
Generally good service. Good meal. I wish this place was located on the east side so we could go more often. I will want to come back.

Stopped by after hitting the gym and skipping breakfast. I filled the plate to the brim and tried out every dish from the buffet. Usually I’m wary about buffet’s typical low quality, but it seem to work well with Indian food which does not dry out or utilize cheap pre-​frozen ingredients.
Nan was little flat and flavorless compared to another location I frequent, and most dishes were much spicier. But I figured this was more «authentic» as I hear genuine Indian food tends to be very spicy. Wish there was more dessert to choose from, no donuts or rice pudding. Many customers returned for second and thirds, and it was spacious Indian themed decoration and Bollywood music video playing on TV.
Customer service was good, as waitress quickly took empty plates away and refilled water. Price is reasonable, but kids over certain age (10 or older?) seem to be deemed adult. Would come back when we get cravings again.

Feeling the blues from not having moms cooked South Indian meal? Then I definitely recommend Chennai Masala!
The ambience is cozy and if weather is cold outside then a hot meal like this works out perfect. Have to say not a typical buffet fan but the choices are not your standard. The veggie items can range from mini uthhapams to beet root poriyal to even onion sambar.
Flavors are delicious and even spicy at times so don’t have to settle with mild taste. The service is as expected as within any Indian restaurant — not sure who to ask for additional service but when you do find the guy, service response is impeccable.
I also got a mass order for a work potluck party — a bit pricy but their vegetable biryani is very tasty. Since I found this place — been to it like 5 times already — my go to spot for lunch in Hillsboro!

The décor is modern and clean, unlike the usual run-​down Indian buffet, and the one physical issue I have with the place is their buffet is only accessible from one side, which can cause an unnecessarily long line and pressure to hurriedly scoop your food.
The food itself was good, but I was slightly disappointed in the lack of variety of options. I wouldn’t characterize this as a South Indian buffet, but rather a general Indian buffet that offers a few South Indian dishes.
The only South Indian options they seemed to have were uttapam, sambar and upma. The latter, while good, was much wetter, like a paste or porridge, than any upma I’ve ever had.
The lemon pickle, on the other hand was terrible. It was like they just mixed some oil and chili and threw whole lemons in it. There was no pickling involved and the lemons were still hard and bitter. There were 2 chutneys, red and green, and neither were particularly flavorful. I would have liked to see a spicy South Indian coconut chutney.
The rest was standard fare: chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken, chicken biryani, and goat curry as well as some items I never see: szechuan noodles, a creamy tiny potato curry, and a mushroom curry. The only dessert they had looked like carrot halwa, but was actually orange vermicelli noodles.
Overall, it was good, but if you’re going to claim to specialize in South Indian, the food should be spicier, and there should be several items containing coconut.
I’m still waiting for a South Indian restaurant that servers Goan food, particularly beef curry, but I know that’s a taboo that most indian restaurants would have trouble tackling.