Cafe Masala in Southend-on-Sea

The food was absolutely delicious! Couldn't have had a more perfect evening. The cocktails were amazing! Thank Ads taking care of us.

Food was amazing as always host was amazing very much enjoyed it

Warm welcome with impeccable service. We'll definitely be back.

Great restaurant friendly staff especially the owners son made us very welcome the food was very good definitely be back.

Fantastic food, friendly service. My favourite restaurant around!!

Cannot fault this place, absolutely delicious and well presented food, will definitely be returning

Dined in last night with my parents and boyfriend and we were all so pleased and impressed with the exceptional service and delicious food. We all agreed that the peshwarii and garlic naans, poppadoms, and chutneys were some of the best we’ve ever had. Would highly recommend the Pasanda curry! I’ve been to cafe masala a few times in the past couple of years—both for takeaway and have dined in. Every single time the food has been tasty and fresh, the waiters have been extremely polite and hospitable.

Went here last night and as usual had the best food. Very friendly service and nice atmosphere.

Another great dinner at Cafe Masala.

Good place to eat Nice atmosphere Nice staff And I got a punky desert witch was amazing All together 5 stars

Found this place by chance as we looked for some food after the fireworks. Convenient to get to by car, good ambience and great service. Felt looked after. Curries were rich in flavour. Halal.

The service is impeccable, they can't do enough for you. Well worth a visit

Always amazing food and service… our go to whenever we are in and around Southend. We have been visiting since it opened and having moved away, always make sure we have time to stop in when we’re back!

Great food and service. I would definitely recommend 👌

I visited this beautiful restaurant on Thursday evening with my husband and our two friends. We had a wonderful evening together and we really enjoyed our dinner. The food was so amazing. With there also being a mid week special on offer it was extremely good value. Staff were very attentive and kind. An all round great experience and a lovely friendly atmosphere.

Absolutely delightful, Firstly the food was incredible the set menu on a weekday is such good value for money, and portion sizes perfect, Ad the waiter is unbelievable really attentive kind ridiculously good at his job makes you feel super welcome doesnt rush and isnt over every two seconds asking if everything is okay gives you time hes a real great guy and is everything you need from a host! Food was beautiful again portion sizes percect not greasy just perfect! Not water curries perfect thickness, rice was amazing and naans were perfectly cooked no complaints at all and very good for price will def be going again! AD again keep it up mate you are so good at your job and you should be proud of your craft!

There was no rice, but the food was delicious

Never had a bad meal in this place and always well looked after by the members of staff and greeted with friendly faces

Arrived 15 minutes late and needed warming up. Food itself was good

The staff were amazing excellent customer service. Food was fantastic too.

Onion bhaji, duck naga, tikka naan - best curry for years. If you’re in the area don’t miss this place!

Came here Sunday night for dinner for 2, what a lovely experience they was due to close 30 minuets after arrival but did not feel rushed. The food was sensational bursting with flavours. We will be returning again soon!!! 😊😊

food was excellent, the staff were very polite and attentive.. the only negative was the price of the soft drinks. 4 half pints of soda water and lime came to over £13. would definitely return for the food and service.

The food, the service, the atmosphere and the waiters were absolutely lovely! Special shout out to Adnan for checking in on us and making us feel at home! Highly recommend if you haven’t been here yet!

The Best curry house 🍛 in Southend by a mile 👌 👏

Had an amazing night at cafe masala food was delicious and tasty service was faultless and adnan made us feel very welcome.as always

Really good food, impeccable and friendly service, modern decor and lighting, nice atmosphere. Highly recommended.

Had a lovely birthday meal on Sunday. Service is great

Great food, excellent service, wonderful atmosphere. Come here for a modern experience provided by a team that hasn't forgotten the traditions that makes Asian food very special. We were given plenty of time, but we're never waiting. Perfect. Thank you.

Worst Indian food I’ve had in a very long time. Don’t waste your time or money. Yak and yeti is much better. Disappointing meal

Nothing but good things to say about this restaurant. Was our first time in the area and even the Taxi driver on the way there expressed his delight that we had chosen this Indian restaurant over any other. So in a nutshell, the food was certainly excellent, as was the price, decor, and comfort. But the thing that impressed us the most about our night was our waiter Adnan. Truly, a very welcoming and kind, young man. Not to mention hard working. Managed the floor by himself on a Friday night (with a smile) and always had our drink orders on our table within 30 seconds. Absolute pro if I may say. Thus, thank you for a lively night. And thank you for the copious amounts of mango chutney with our poppadoms!

I've been to Cafe Masala a few years ago and they were helpful. Today, I asked for a dish not on the menu and they pushed the kitchen to serve it. My friend spilt his beer they served another straight away. I speak for 4 customers, excellent, thanks.

App is saying our order has been delivered but it’s still yet to arrive. Have called the restaurant 4 times and quite frankly they could not care less and keep saying it’s on its way and blaming the just eat app. Will not be ordering from here again as it’s the second time it’s happened. I’d like a refund please!

Had a takeaway tonight normally the only Indian i use but tonight had to wait 2 hrs for a delivery and when we did finally get it unfortunately it was Luke warm and didn't really enjoy as much as usual naan bread was under cooked and soggy my partners bread and onion bhaji was stone cold so wasn't worth £46 disappointing ☹️

Beautiful place to enjoy the most memorable and delicious indian meal. The staff were really helpful and friendly, and made the experience at Cafe Masala really special for our group. The food was excellent and presented to a high standard. My favorite was the Chicken Tikka masala, once eaten never forgotten and one of the best I have ever tasted. There are are a great selection of foods and drinks from the food and drinks menus. Pleasant music played in the background and the restaurant's decore gave it lovely warm feeling and atmosphere. When you entry there is a wonderful smell of food spices which makes you feel hungary. It was a great night out. Big thank you to all the staff at Cafe Masala for a fantastic evening.

What a fantastically well run restaurant with some first class staff! We visited last night , the food was first class though my partner felt hers was a little too spicy for her taste. Well our waiter couldn’t have been more helpful and insisted that they replaced the said item, which they did with absolutely no drama whatsoever. Couldn’t fault our service at all. A really good service experience from a great Front of House Team.

Have eaten here several times and will definitely be back again. Excellent food and service as always.

The best Indian Restaurant in not on Thorpe Bay but Southend on Sea. Fabulous venue, fabulous staff, fantastic food. Cannot recommend highly enough. Excels every single time. 5*s

I placed an order and thought that I had added naan bread but it didn’t arrive. However when I phoned to question it Cafe Masala could not see that it had been added I had added naan but not stated which type and as I don’t have rice I had nothing to put with my Tikka masala. They sent me a naan at no extra cost. They were very helpful and accommodating and understanding even though the mistake was mine. Great service thank you

Fantastic meal as always, for 5 years i have always had the same Chicken Dhansak but last night i switched it up and order different starter and main, Really really good food, so tasty , service great and friendly. The best place to eat in Thorpe Bay

Great food & staff remembered us from a previous visit. Very Attentive

Always a pleasure to visit and the takeaway service fast and the staff are amazing.

Very enjoyable meal with excellent service throughout. The midweek special offer (Mon-Thurs) makes it extremely good value too.

we pre-ordered and it turned up early. also, we ordered and paid for more poppadoms than we received

Love coming here, food is great, staff are really friendly would highly recommend I think this is the best curry in Southend

Love coming here, amazing food, taste amazing,staff are great and friendly, highly recommended,best curry in Southend

Awesome tandoori seabass! Great local curry with healthy options. Staff are friendly. Would highly recommend a visit!

I've been to Cafe Masala on several occasions and every time we've had a lovely meal. The waiters are all welcoming and friendly. I would definitely recommend a visit. Updated 2023 - Still as awesome as ever, great place! Best local Indian, period!

amazing food as ever. thankyou 👍🏻

We used to use this restraunt all the time. Portions have generally gone down in size over the years. I don't think I have ever seen such small portions of salad. The samosas were over seasoned perhaps to hide the lack of meat in them. Bhajis were flat like a very small rostis. All food was cold. We don't usually use cafe masala anymore I was tempted by the deal. Never again.

Shocking set menu. Total waste of money and I feel I have been completely exploited. Food was unbelievably cold and that was after I sent the food back twice!!! No substance in the food and had to ask for bread and rice, which was part of the set menu. Cannot believe how disappointed we are, as this was are go to Indian restaurant and after two poor takeaways in recent months, we will not be going back. Shame, as I never felt I would ever need to write such a review.

Visited here on Friday last week. Amazing food, atmosphere, and staff were spot on. Food came out hot and within reasonable time.

Waited longer than estimated time. Status updated to say delivered but had not been. Chased with restaurant who said they had tried to deliver and that the driver had called us (no one had rung our doorbell or tried to call us). Was delivered 15 minutes later and everything was stone cold. Having spent around £80 on the takeaway we were really disappointed.

Amazing food as ever. Thankyou

Great atmosphere, food and the service 👌. The waiters are kind, friendly and attentive.

Just arrived home from a beautiful meal at The Cafe Masala. So refreshing to enjoy a chicken dish that was sliced and succulent, not the usual chunky cubed offering. Couldn't fault the service, everything was great. I would highly recommend this restaurant.

bland taste, poppadoms bendy, mint sauce tastes of alcohol. Overall a waste of money. Lovely to eat in, but poor takeaway.

Had korma, bhuna and madras with with pilau rice, garlic naan and chipati. They all tasted great and the portions were generous.

Fabulous meal last night at Cafe Masala. Serving a dozen people in one go is no trouble for them and every meal was spot on! Great friendly staff. Will be returning soon!

I went to Cafe Masala as part of my work Christmas celebrations. The food and service was fantastic. Everything was incredibly tasty and the staff were so friendly and helpful! Thank you so much for a great Christmas Indian :)

Amazing food as always. Lovely staff too.

Tasted great - first time ordering - will defo order again

Lovely food & good service, the air con was a bit strong

Fantastic! Amazing! Don’t need to say anything else. Just fab.

Had a very nice meal at Cafe Massala. Tried a tofu dish which was excellent as was all the dishes. Service really friendly and nice atmosphere. Would definitely return and recommend.

As always looked after well .food was presented well and taste was good my friends and i were impressed will eat at cafe masala again 😋 😉

Gristle in the chicken tikka starter and food leaked in bag, disappointed as it was meant to be a birthday treat.

Great level of service and arrived at the time promised by staff. Food was top quality and the peshwari nanns were perfect. Without doubt ill be ordering again. Thank you!

Arrived cold and missing an item

TOO LOUD. TURN THE MUSIC DOWN SO PEOPLE CAN TALK Great service and food though

Good curry house - conveniently close to home. Liked it a lot. Good atmosphere

Didn’t taste of anything, overpriced as well.

Delivered to my doorstep as it would be in the restaurant, it was delicious… I will never order from anywhere else, it’s hard to find one like this!

Just finished a cafe masala take away, collected it, was ready when I got there, so no delay at all, warm welcome when I arrived, got it home dished it up, and I can honestly say that was the best take away curry I have ever had, spicy/flavoursome/loads of it. Thank you chef and front of house! Loved it.

Excellent restaurant, really nicely done out and fabulous service, the food was great too, Nan breads just how they should be, best we have eaten in years to be honest. So much interesting choice on the menu and all cooked fresh, so this place needs a few visits to try all the different offerings, but we certainly don't mind going back again!

One of the best restaurants I have been in this year.

Fabulous food decor & music Lovely chicken masala & tarka dal Exquisite friendly & stylish restaurant with excellent customer service and good value for money

Really really great food. Highly recommended one of the best Indian restaurants we have been to.

Food was nothing special, very plain not flavourful as it used to be. Food was overpriced for what it was. Service was good, nice decor but wouldn’t go there again.

Really disappointed this used to be my favourite Indian!. But what they’ve done is uped the prices, and also reduced the container sizes to tiny ones. So you end up paying £14! Just for a curry (this doesn’t include rice!) and the container is stupidly small compared to there normal sizes. Will have to find a new Indian to order from. So if you want an action man curry without rice for £14 this is the place. If not I would recommend ordering from somewhere else.

Super fast delivery food was amazing hot and ready to eat 💯 going bk

The food is an absolute 10/10 and did not take long to arrive, coming right on time. The service was also very friendly as well as the atmosphere was very peaceful.

Not up to usual standards.. the hot lamb bhuna, was not hot or very tasty ... shame because normally the food here is superb..

We have been here a number of times and always great food , great service and we think the best in essex .highly recommended .

Great food, really nice staff and great service. We've been to many Indian restaurants and this has been the best experience so far.

Whilst delivery was quick, the chicken pasanda was disappointing tasteless and watery. First time of ordering from here will not order again.

Unreal food as always. Best Indian by a mile. Eating in or takeaway

I don’t usually bothered writing reviews but this place definitely deserves a great one the food was genuinely absolutely delicious I will a 1000% be a regular customer now I’ve found a decent Indian delivery

Had a Chicken Dansak and a Lamb Balti tonight. The Dansak was fantastic as was the Balti. Great service as usual and a good wine list. Recommend the Pinot Grigio blush which was excellent. The price was not over the top so really good value. Thanks to everyone for a brilliant meal. Jeff and Sue Cardy

The best indian family restaurant in Southend. Tasty, fresh homemade food. Extraordinary kindness and service of the entire staff.

Very quick delivery for a Saturday night, food was hot and delicious, at the usual excellent standard we have come to expect. Will continue to order from here again.

Great food, friendly staff, nice atmosphere highly recommend.

Food was cold, meet was very hard

We had an absolutely amazing meal here the other day.... From the atmosphere in the restaurant and the beautiful decor, to the outstanding food and the wonderful service, it was some of the best Indian food we've had in a very long time. Our servers were super friendly and helpful with the menu and they helped us with a few suggestions. We also loved each of the dishes ordered... I was really craving butter chicken and they did a version that was sooooo delicious (easily one of the best I've had in the UK). The samosas, bhajis, naan, rice and lamb rogan josh were all wonderful as well. The desserts too, classic lemon and coconut surprise, were a fab finish. I would definitely recommend coming here as it's a wonderful option for great food and service. :)

Great food good delivery really enjoyed it

Great food great service and friendly delivery man

Fabulous Indian cuisine, really friendly staff with great knowledge of the menu. Highly recommended.

Absolutely fantastic great tasting food. Service is excellent, friendly, courteous staff. Would definitely recommend and will return.

Went to Cafe Masala with friends from work. The restaurant was busy but nothing was too much trouble. The staff are great The food was plentiful , well presented and very tasty, I’d definitely go again . They have a good midweek deal too .

Consistently good. The Cafe Masala deserves greater recognition for their fine food. The dishes include several individual touches that set them apart from the average curry house offerings.