Cafe Masala By Miah Bishop’s Stortford in East Hertfordshire

It was full of big groups celebrating Christmas parties and the food and service was still up to the usual really high standard

Delivery was 50 minutes late & was cold. The order was wrong. Very disappointed

it was cold and quite tasteless

Took 2 hours from ordering. Could have driven & collected had we known. When it eventually arrived it was cold & we had to reheat it

Getting regularly more and more popular, with reason. Miah has stepped up to The challenges thrown at the retail businesses over the past few years. Excellent selection of dishes.

Tried a few different Indian restaurants recently after falling out of love with our local and had a fantastic experience at Cafe Masala with friends last night. Best curry I've had in a long time, great service from all the staff and nothing to fault, will definitely be returning. Keep it up!

I have eaten at 4 other Indian restaurants in stortford which are very nice but Cafe Masala is by far my favourite. First time ordering tonight and we was not disappointed at all. Food was absolutely delicious. Highly recommended

Excellent food as always. Delivery right on the latest time range but probably worth the wait

Just a little late but the food waa amazing my new favourite Indian

The best Indian food in Stortford! Staff are so kind and service is great.

Ok so we didn’t get off to the best of starts…. They forgot my popadoms, however when they arrived not only did they add extra but they also included a beer to say sorry. Fantastic customer service. The curry was brilliant also, I think this is the best take away you can get in bishops stortford. This place is going to be our new go to curry house from now on. Well done gents.

I am going to write a fair review here. . The food was great. Very good. We really enjoyed it. However, had a really bizarre experience which I am not quite over.. we ordered a chicken tikka dansak vindaloo hot, but was served a chicken tikka masala vindaloo hot which does not really work. We told the staff that it was incorrect and one of them basically as good as said no it wasn't, we ordered that and kept saying "just try just try". We argued it but was not really being heard. He then offered to replace the meal but would take 15 - 20 mins so this was declined as our friend did not want to eat alone and wait. We would have been nearly finished. He did not enjoy the curry and left most of it. One staff member tried to make a joke and say " oh couldn't handle the chillies " in which we responded, no, the curry was wrong, we don't like it. We were ignored. The bill then came and we decided that due to the good food we would just pay for the wrong curry and not cause a fuss. The bill included service charge. We changed our mind when the staff member tried to get us to round our bill up to a "round number" despite already adding service charge. This is when I snapped. The attitude about the wrong curry was so so poor. As a response to me saying actually no, service is included and you've served the wrong curry etc etc he became very rude and aggressive. Told us we were wrong, it was what we ordered. We then asked to remove the service due to the shocking attitude and aggression. He even began to argue this. Other staff just watched. He was not happy at all and aggressively shoved me the card machine and receipt. Such a shame..great food. I anticipate a rude response given the other responses I can see on the comments....

really sorry. I normally love your food. not sure if you have a new chef or whether it's because it's a Tuesday but the madras is like water and not spicy. the tarka deal is really vinegary tonight. really disappointed. normally your a 5 * restaurant.

The food is always delicious at Café Masala 😋 this is a treat that the whole family enjoys and looks forward to!

My wife and I have been going to this restaurant for around 20 years now and whilst we do also go to other fantastic Indian restaurants locally, Miah and his team never fail to impress. Their menu has some similarities but is quite different and even the food that looks the same tastes certainly different to a lot of the other Indian restaurants. We absolutely adore their food and even though the restaurant is further away from our house than many others, it’s a real treat to go there. Thank you, Miah for the lovely food over the years, we look forward to coming back very soon!

Great food couldn’t wish for more 😃

I would highly recommend. The food was perfect. The staff are so friendly and very helpful.

Really good food and great service definitely would go back again.

The team do amazing work! Very friendly, very quick service. Food is extremely good ❤️❤️❤️ The best Tikka masala ever. Really enjoyed our dinner after long flight and trip from Airport. Thank you!

Food is always superb. Cant fault them tbh

Love Cafe Masala. Best Indian restaurant in Bishops Stortford. Food is fantastic, staff are great. Always a pleasure to visit here.

I have rarely eaten better Indian food. Highly recommended.

The curry and naan we ordered was far too sweet. nxt time we will try another dish but I would recommend that they make the dish much less sweet as we couldn't eat it.

Great food and very friendly staff

I have had two very good orders from Café Masala so having guests I treated us to a delivery. I pre-ordered the food so they had 4 hours notice before delivery time. The food wasn't at all good and my guests didn't eat most of their orders. Each pot had lots of oil, and the Kalyan lamb special turned out to be chicken, the Tikka Masala was the colour and consistency of tomato puree with coconut bits in it, and the special rice just tasted bitty with no real taste or textures. Add to

great food, allergies catered for! Happy family take out 😁

Lovely meal, definitely recommend!

Absolutely delicious hot food, arrived on time delivered by a very nice person, will definitely order again, loved everything, thank you :)

The food quality was excellent. on top of that it came early! honestly one of the best takeaways I've had. the fish curry and Dahl were the highlights, and the prawns were delicious too. we were having an awful day, and you were the highlight and made my wife and I feel a bit better. Thank you!

Great service. Delivered in time.

Called in on spec on my way home from France travelling to N Yorks What a lovely restaurant. Great decor , fabulous food and great service from everybody at this restaurant One of the , if not the best Indian restaurants I have visited. Great work.

Really late delivery! 30mins late

Recently moved here and have tried a fee Indian restaurants this is by far the best 👌 full of flavor meat perfect 🥰 me and my family ate every mouthful was superb 😊 u have our vote,complements to the chef 👨‍🍳 😊 ❤️

2nd delivery from these guys, did not disappoint!

Really really really good Indian takeaway!!

This was a regular curry night with friends but was our first time at Cafe Masala. We were all very impressed with the food and attentive, friendly service. I had a lamb madras, which was properly hot and tasty. The restaurant feels very spacious, light and airy and there's a public carpark accessible from the rear entrance, making parking a doddle.

We had a gorgeous meal last night. Staff were all friendly and attentive and offered brilliant fuss-free advice for one of our party who is gluten & dairy free. The food was exceptional and just as tasty the next day (we bought leftovers home). We would highly recommend this place and can’t wait to return! Just sort your social links on the website guys as I tried to tag you & couldn’t find you! 😂

really lovely food, would absolutely order from here again.

Definitely one of the better Indian take aways locally, will be our go to for sure. delivery was slow but worth the wait.

The restaurant needs to update the restaurant opening times on goggle as it’s misleading and it was a waste of journey thinking they’re open.

Amazing as always! The driver could not have been more polite and the food was so delicious Thank you

Perfect timing, lovely naan bread frat curry’s thankyou

Great food. Friendly staff. Perfect atmosphere.

tasty food and delivery driver polite

First time trying this restaurant and very happy with our choice. Delicious food can't fault it. Will be back!

Full of flavour, plenty of meat and veg, lovely food

Second visit and again was impressed

Tried some new dishes, all were fantastic, super flavours and love the taster choices with the multiple small naans and the selection of sides. Great idea!

Really tasty just had to microwave it, as it wasn't very warm.

Lovely restaurant, great food. Best curry in Bishop's Stortford. A couple of feedback points: we had a fairly large group, and a couple of things ordered didn't show up. No problem though, they corrected it. Also, when the main dishes arrived, there were three waiters trying to share out the orders. This got a little confusing with dishes coming from all directions. It would be better to slow down a little and not try to deliver everything all at once with so many waiters.

Curry was like water , tasteless food , King prawns was as tough as a chicken

Very impressed with this order - food came on time,was hot and all dishes were tasty.will be back soon!

After eating in all Indian restaurants in Bishop’s Stortford I have to say that Cafe Masala is the clear winner by far. The service is top notch, the restaurant is always spotlessly clean, but most importantly the food is consistently gorgeous. You won’t be disappointed!

Went to cafe masala yesterday, not been for a long time with 10 freinds and the food and service was spot on.

Very unhappy that order showed as delivered on app at 7.05pm when it wasn’t. We ordered a large delivery at 6pm with a delivery time of 45 mins. After several phone calls the delivery arrived at 7.32pm. Very disappointed as been to cafe masala several times and enjoyed the food but delivery is a very different experience. If can’t do in time say!!

amazing food we wont go anywhere else now

not what I expected for the price.

Very fast delivery, awesome food, friendly courier. Piping hot. Awesome thanks. Free popadom and sauce was a real nice touch.

Well what can I say, the food was so lovely everything had its own flavours unlike some Indians where everything tastes the same , this will defo be our new place to order from , we live in Mole Hill Green and it wasn't a problem for these guys to deliver to us and I must say our food was early. Thank you Café Masala you have new customers now loved it all

We had a great date night on Thursday the 4th of Jan. The service was impeccable and the food was excellent. Atmosphere was a little flat as there weren’t many people in (understandable in early January) but we still really enjoyed it.

I recently ordered 5 servings of biryani, and I must say, it was a delightful experience. The biryani was flavorful and aromatic, with tender, well-cooked meat and perfectly seasoned rice. The blend of spices was just right, creating a rich and satisfying taste. Each bite was a burst of authentic flavors that left me craving for more. The portion sizes were generous, ensuring that everyone was fully satisfied. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the biryani and would definitely order it again.

Didnt have much flavour! Penner cubes were so small and tested bland.. that is my fav dish and i usually get that so i know the different flavours.

Really nice food ,pathia here is amazing! Kids loved the korma!,jalfrezi always very good also!

Fantastic Indian takeaway, arrived hot and was full of flavour. 10/10 would recommend.

Food was delivered promptly, fairly priced, and very tasty.

Went here last night with my wife and 2 friends. Firstly we had to wait over 45 minutes to be seated due to no space as there was a large party in there of well over 20 people. We were finally seated and dumped right by the front door which was cold and uncomfortable as we were also squeezed in with the large party. The starters came relatively quick but the podi prawn and pakora chicken came cold. We brought this to the waiters attention and the only response we got was it’s due to being understaffed due to this big group who have turned up with more people than they booked for. Anyway. The starters were half eaten and taken away. We then waited over 90 minutes for our mains to come out. Again, they blamed the big group for taking all of their staff up. Again, the mains were just Luke warm and quite bland. We were still here when this large groups started to disperse and leave only a few people behind to settle their bill. This then ended in quite a rude altercation on the staff side of things from what we heard, they complained about service and were asking for the service charge be removed. The manager then started shouting at them demanding the service charge. This arguement went on for a while and ended up with the manager screaming at the guy trying to pay, basically telling them to Fxxx off and pay nothing then. The guys walked outside to get away from this altercation and what members of staff they did have ran out and confronted them getting in their faces threatening them to which one of the ladies in the group called the police who came and calmed the situation down. Not one member of staff came to us to appologise for any of this and just dumped our bill on the table, this also included a service charge of 20% which is way too much to demand without question. We also had this removed but left a small tip to what we always do. This may have been due to them not being able to cope with large groups but this doesn’t excuse the issues. We will not be returning. I have added this edit as the restaurant actually gives fake replies! We did not try to get any free food, we did not ask for any money off, we paid the full bill minus the service charge. The booking was not under my name and I didn’t mention any name in my original review either so there is no way the restaurant would even know who we were unless they actually pay attention to their customers and remember who they did what to. To the restaurant manager, just one bit of advice, instead of lying in your responses and making up stories to make your issues sound like the customers are at fault, own it and just apologise, doesn’t take much to give customer service. Also, on this point, if you actually read my review properly, you will see that I put the main issue down to the large party you clearly couldn’t handle as an establishment.

Cold tasteless food. Terrible service. I won’t recommend.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Food poisoning, rude and aggressive staff, scammers. Never experienced anything like this in my life! EDIT: the unapologetically rude and obnoxious manager tried to say that we wanted to leave without paying, WHILE WE STOOD THERE WITH OUR CARDS IN HAND, READY TO PAY THE BILL WITHOUT THE SERVICE CHARGE. THANK GOD THE POLICE CAME AND WE FOUND OUT THAT EVEN OUR DEPOSIT WASN’T TAKEN OFF OF THE MAIN BILL We booked tables for 25 people for a staff night out, PAID £100 DEPOSIT, 27 people showed up (those two extra people left straight after the starters due to childcare, which can be seen on restaurant’s cctv). The food was disgusting to say the least. Hair in a FEW starters, cold food, coke tasted like curry (no joke), had to ask to replace the drinks. Paneer cheese was tasteless, other dishes tasted like yesterday’s leftovers. The waiters asked us to SERVE OUR OWN FOOD, which we did, because they were understaffed. When the bill came (just over £1100), we asked POLITELY to remove £100 service charge which is optional, and considering we HAD TO SERVE OUR OWN FOOD, we weren’t comfortable paying that charge. We were more than happy to pay the rest of the bill, even though the food was atrocious and most of us left hungry. The manager of the restaurant got rude and aggressive, demanding we still pay the service charge, then he told us not to pay at all, to F off and never come back, the altercation can be seen on restaurant’s cctv. We stepped outside, shocked at the treatment, and three waiters came barraging at us, coming right into our face, demanding we pay. After this aggressive attack, we called the police. The police mediated, the restaurant removed the service charge and we found out that the deposit WHICH WE ALREADY PAID, was never removed from the original bill in the first place. WHAT A SCAM! Thanks to police we got our deposit and the service charge removed from the bill. Now we’re finding out that a few people from our group are throwing up after eating the food we were served. The police advised we take this matter to a small claims court, which we will be doing and we are reporting the place to the food standard agency. THE WORST EXPERIENCE I’VE EVER HAD IN A RESTAURANT, AVOID!

Really exceptional. Best curry, best service, best atmosphere, even the best toilets ! Lovely thank you 🤩

Lovely place to go for a meal especially with work mates. Delicious food. A lot of varied choice. Lovely staff. Highly recommend 😊

Me & my wife who has a walking disability were overwhelmed with the excellent service. Staff assisted us to our table. The food was absolutely amazing 👏 The restaurant looked beautiful I would highly recommend this amazing restaurant to anyone

Pleasant meal, arrived early; instructions followed, would use again.

Good service and good food, nothing special but still a satisfied belly. The one thing I was shocked by however is the price of a double pink gin and lemonade £15.45???? Honestly stunned! How can your meal be cheaper than one drink when it’s not a cocktail?

Delicious food delivered on time and hot (even in this cold weather). 10/10, will order again. Thank you!

Very tasty and arrived hot! Brilliant and speedy service!

the korma was absolutely lovely the pilau rice was beautiful the same as always these are our go to Indian never had a bad meal from these guys

Always delicious hot food from this restaurant.

Food amazing as Per normal the lateness doesn’t matter when the food is that good!

Great quality and taste. Always delivered on time. 5* recommended

Wow!! Thank you for the best food we've had in a very long time. Fabulous service from your wonderful staff. Everything was so freshly cooked and the flavours were so good. Thank you Mia and staff.

Small portions but the food was gorgeous.. more rice and chicken in korma please xx

We have found our new go to place to eat Indian food. Delicious

Really nice food, will definitely order again 😀

First the good thing. Good and prompt service and the wait time is very appropriate. However the food is well below par. I ordered a starter platter and some of its item were actually stale. The butter chicken was certainly the worst I have ever tried. Understand this dish is mild but never sweet enough to cause diabetes, This one sure did. Biryani was well below par for an Indian restaurant. Restaurant has nice ambience and could be much more but it falls terribly short at the quality of the food especially for the price they charge.

Friendly and efficient staff, restaurant is beautiful and home delivery so simple The food is amazing and I’m starting to try new dishes and loving it 😊

Lovely food, delivered still hot and on time. Will definitely order again.

5 hygiene stars so a good start. Lovely vibrant green sauce with our poppadoms. It’s apparently coriander, ginger, garlic and green chilli. Delish. We ordered Thali and all the dishes were so tasty and fresh and light. It lives up to its high rating.

Had a meal in the restaurant last week, really enjoyed it so ordered a take away for delivery. Good portions. Definitely recommend.

Very good vegan thali with a nice variety of dishes, staff were attentive and friendly - will definitely come back!

Superb food. Remains my favourite asian restaurant in Stortford, despite some strong competition. All kinds of subtle flavours coming through. Love the biryani and channa masala in particular. Everything well presented and served.

Picking up the wife from the station, dudent want to cook, so, while she was coming in to Bishops stortford station, I sent her this photo.. Where are you she said?.. in cafe masala I said!! I did feel like Billy no mates, but said I was surprising my wife.. the water smiled 😃.. good food, I would highly recommend 👌

Worst food we ever had.. Pls avoid this restaurant.. Very very disappointed..

Ridiculously late. Yet App says its been delivered. Got a text saying it will be another 30mins of waiting.. I'm still waiting for the food! More than an hour now..

The food was delicious and so fresh, cooked to perfection 👌

Food fantastic delivery time poor! You could’ve also thrown in a couple extra Poppadoms £1 per Poppadom is a bit extravagant

Food was good, maybe the korma Sauce should have been thicker but was still nice. A bit late but they let me know so not a problem, all in all would use again.

Hasn’t arrived, still waiting past the latest delivery time.

Over 2and half hours late really annoyed and disappointed

Hasn’t arrived and it says it’s been delivered

So late and blamed the weather pathetic!! I’ve ordered from here a lot given good reviews and now I’m going elsewhere British rail restaurant 🤣