Masalawala & Sons Brooklyn - Buy Reservations

I was blown away. From the moment I walked in, I was greeted with an awesome atmosphere and exquisite interiors that set the perfect tone for the evening. The attention to detail in the decor and ambiance was truly impressive.

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I recently had the pleasure of dining at this restaurant, and I must say, it was an incredible experience. From the moment I stepped through the door, I was greeted with a warm and inviting atmosphere. The layout of the dining area was well thought out, providing both comfort and intimacy. The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the food. The menu boasted a wide variety of options, each one more appetizing than the last. I opted for a mouthwatering steak, cooked to perfection and accompanied by delectable sides. The flavors were bold and the presentation was impeccable. Not only was the food exceptional, but the drink selection was equally impressive. The restaurant offered an extensive list of beverages, ranging from classic cocktails to artisanal creations. The attentive and knowledgeable staff guided me through the menu, ensuring I found the perfect pairing for my meal. When it comes to pricing, this restaurant offers great value for the quality of food and service provided. While not the cheapest option in town, the overall experience justifies the cost. I left the restaurant feeling satisfied in every way. The combination of delicious food, remarkable drinks, comfortable ambiance, and attentive staff made for an unforgettable dining experience. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in search of a truly outstanding culinary adventure.

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👍🏻

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The service and decor were great, and some of the flavors in these meals knocked me out in the best way. I've been to all of their restaurants, and the daab chingri and kosha mangsho were among my favorite dishes I've eaten at any of their spots. I would order these again and again. I also loved the sabudana vada as an awesome first bite to the meal, as well as the keema kaleji. The only let downs for me were the macher dim and bhetki paturi. I consider myself a mustard fan, but these were not for me.

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Our party of two had the Dahi Vada, Bhetki Paturi, Keema Kaleji, Kosha Mangso, Luchi, and Bhapa Doi (dessert). Every dish was delectable and savory. The Dahi Vada reminded me of a cake but not like a dessert cake. Tried this on the recommendation of other Yelpers & so glad we got this - the flavor profiles, like the other dishes, were unique and tasty. I loved the Bhetki Paturi - the fish was so, so tender and soft and I really enjoyed the mustard seasoning. The Keema Kaleji packed a punch and was spicy. Think anyone loving spicy food would enjoy this dish. Was afraid the dish would be gamey or overwhelming because of the liver but wasn't the case. The Kosha Mangso we tried a few bites of with the side of Luchi and packed to take home because we were getting full. The lamb was soft and cooked perfectly, and the Luchi was great to wrap the lamb in & dip into the sauce the lamb is braised in. The dessert tasted like cheesecake and was a nice way to end out the meal. We also enjoyed the cocktails - one tasted like a slightly elevated margarita (Tagore's Lyric) & the other was a perfect smoky Mezcal cocktail (El Viaje a Darjeeling). Tried to order the Macher Dim but was sold out by the time we sat for our dinner (6:15 resy). Service was fantastic - waitress checked in various times throughout the dinner and water was promptly refilled multiple times throughout our dining. Highly recommend this place for dinner.

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Ehh. For the price and the hype, I was disappointed. The service was good and nothing we ate was bad- it just also wasn't amazing. It felt so heavily seasoned that it was overwhelming and not pleasant. Compounded by the fact that the dishes don't come with rice or bread, so you have tons of rich sauce with nothing to soak up (or you pay $5 for each tiny cup of rice). Cocktails were fine, but not very flavorful and don't really go with the food. The place is packed and you end up feeling like you're being shuffled along a very profitable conveyor belt- you get your 90 min slot at the table, swipe your card for $200, then get up to make room for the next table. All in all we won't be back.

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This is an amazing place to eat especially if you can't handle spicy Indian food. The vibe, people and food are excellent.

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I am a huge fan of Roni Mazumdar & Chintan Pandya, and this is the latest of their varied, always interesting, and universally great restaurants. It's an annoyingly difficult reservation to score, but does not disappoint once you arrive. The decor is festive and fun, and the service is friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable. If you are lucky, Roni's father (the guy on the picture on the menu) will be there, and regale you with stories about the food. The dishes are heavy on mustard oil, which causes a slow burn in your mouth, so I advise ordering the rose milk beverage to quench the fire. All the food is great, but here's what we had this time. I recommend ordering family-style-Bhetki Paturi- fish wrapped in banana leaf w/ mustard-poppy pasteDahi Vada- fermented lentil dumpling, yogurt, cuminSabudana Vada- tapioca pearls, peanuts, and potato fritter with yogurt chutneyPiyebarir Fish Fry with cilantro-chili, and kasundi mustard sauceBeguner Khagina- roasted eggplant, cumin and egg, served with Pao breadKeema Kaleji- minced goat and liver, cardamom, cloves, egg, served with Pao breadMacher Pulao- Bengali fish, basmati rice, and ghana masalaDaab Chingri- tiger prawns cooked in young coconut shell, coconut malai- This is a fun one since they take the prawns out of the coconut shell at the table.Bhapa Doi dessert- housemade sweet yogurt and jaggery sugar. Great for cooling off your mouth after a fantastic meal.

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I read the reviews for Masalawala & Sons with interest as someone who is half-Bengali. On one hand, I think my experience was greatly enhanced by my knowledge of Bengali food, which allowed me to see what a feat Masalawala had pulled off with food that was at once so faithful to traditional Bengali flavors but updated in ways that I had not yet seen in the US. On the other hand, people are allowed to like what they like, cultural knowledge or not. I respect that someone may not like a cold fritter in yogurt ("dahi vada") but hope that my review allows people to make choices at a place like Masalawala that allows them to maximize their enjoyment and to understand the appeal of Bengali cuisine, which uses spices and preparations that are unlike in any other South Asian cuisine.Our server was fantastic. She was so warm and attentive. I like places where the staff will make recommendations and I love that she offered some favorites right off the bat. We ordered the dahi vada (gram fritter served in yogurt and topped in chutneys), the sabudana vada (tapioca and potato fritters), biyebarir fish fry (fish fry in a butter batter with chili and mustard and poppy seed sauce), and the daab chingri (head-on prawns in a coconut curry with kalonji, or nigella seeds).We had a cocktail apiece. I wish I remembered what either of them were but they were both very good. Mixology is doing just fine here. While I enjoyed my drink, I'd be curious to try wine with these dishes the next time I come here.I was balking at the dahi vada because I've had so many dahi vadas in my life in restaurants and in people's houses. I wondered how good a dahi vada could be. Just get the dahi vada. It was the best dahi vada that I've ever had in my life. I'd say sorry to my mom but I think she'd agree with me if she tried these dahi vadas.The sabudana vada was also the best version of this dish that I've ever tried. I had a couple of horrible versions of these when visiting India, of all places, but these were actually very good. If you have an aversion to sabudana vada or know how insipid to gross they can be in many other hands, this would seem more impressive. The biyebarir fish fry was very good as well. I loved the mustard dipping sauce. The batter was also fantastic if you're a fish-and-chips fan. I don't know though...I was craving regular fish and chips halfway through. I think the spices combined with such a batter-forward preparation of fish gave me some palate fatigue. My boyfriend said that this tasted pretty much exactly the same as the signature fish fingers from the iconic International Coffee House in Kolkata though. This was his favorite dish.Ah, now we get to the daab chingri. The presentation is beautiful. The curry comes in a hollowed coconut filled with baby coconut, which is extracted by the server as they spoon the curry out for you. They add shrimp heads along with the shrimp. The spicing here was exquisite and the baby coconut in the curry was delightful. This was the best Indian restaurant curry I've had in ages. We had to get dessert so we got the mishti doi. It was great as far as this dessert goes and great overall! Think of the flavor of creme caramel but in yogurt. Some issues...the daab chingri had very few shrimp. The amount of shrimp would have been fine had we paid half as much for this dish. I salute those who ate the prawn heads but that's not a lot of people. More shrimp would have been nice. We were full but this was also after eating their ghee rice and luchi (fried puffed flatbreads). As the bf said, "we were filled up...by butter." Fair.I counter that with how Masalawala is as masterful a rendition of Bengali cuisine as you're likely to find anywhere. I want to come back immediately, which is unusual in a city with the best food options in America, if not the world. Masalawala is a triumph. If you don't like Bengali food here, you're not going to like it anywhere.

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The service is incredible - everyone is so warm and kind and efficient. Ambiance is delightful as well - vibrant, not too loud, buzzy. The food was good too, but I found the experience of eating to be difficult - for example, we got the bone marrow dish and it was tasty but a pain to try and scoop with a tiny TINY tiny wooden spoon out of a screaming hot dish onto a piece of bread. There were a couple of other things about the eating experience that were just annoying and distracted from the food. A great spot, though.

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As a Bengali, I was incredibly excited to finally land a resy here. I'll start but saying all the food here is really flavorful and the service is top notch. I came with a friend right when they opened and were seated right away. They were explicit about us only having our table for 90 minutes but even when we exceeded that they never rushed us out. Given that, the decor and atmosphere is super welcoming and vibrant.As far as spice levels go, I think their sister restaurant, Dhamaka is spicier and this felt a lot more manageable. In total, we shared the biyebarir fish fry, sabudana vana, kosha mangsho and the macher pulao. The fish fry came with a dipping sauce and that was delicious. A standout for sure. The vada was good but it was another fried item and in reality we probably just ordered poorly. The lamb was really tender and I was hoping to use the pulao to combine the rice and flavors, but the pulao had a lot of fish bones and I think it made it difficult to eat.The biggest draw for me was the menu and it's really exciting to see more upscale Bengali restaurants out there. I'd be willing to come back to try a few other dishes.

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Each and every dish. I asked about spice and they offered me a little yogurt (which they of course charged me for). If you go, make sure you have the taste buds and pocketbook

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5 stars ***Bengali food what? Yes, sign me up. Don't expect to find any dishes that you recognize here but expect everything to be outstanding. Definitely on the pricey side ($100 all in excluding the price of cocktails, that run $17 each) but each dish is what I would call an explosion of flavors. Just trust me.I had consulted the NY Times review before going to the restaurant, so pretty much everything we ordered came off their recommended list.Food:Dahi Vada - fermented lentil dumpling, sweet & savory yogurt, roasted cuminBiyebarir Butter Fish Fry - bhetki (fish), cilantro-chili, butter batter, kasundiRipon Street Majja - bone marrow, paya, smoked chili, shaved egg, paoKosha Mangsho - braised lamb, ginger, coriander, green cardamomDaab Chingri - tiger prawns in young coconut shell, coconut malai, black carawayGhee Bhat - kalajeera rice & gawa gheeThe bone marrow here is a stand-out, for the quality, quantity, flavor and presentation but as I write this review I find it hard to particularly highlight anything else as everything was so different and so outstanding. I can honestly recommend everything. Cocktail:The World of Satyajit Ray - Bourbon, Tamarind, Amchur, Lime Zest, Aquafaba A lovely cocktail with a bit of a flair; I highly enjoyed this is an alternative to my usual old fashioned (also a bit lighter). My friend had the Bengali Renaissance that was TINY (like two sips) so don't order that one if you are looking for more than just a taste.Dessert:Bhapa Doi - housemade sweet yogurt, jaggeryWe were stuffed but couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the dessert, and I'm glad that we did. It's small and a great way to end the meal.Also, service was very friendly from start to end. Loved it all!

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The restaurant is not for people who cook this type of food at home (like me!). Please be warned that the spice level is high. Best dish: Bhetki fry. Worst dish: Kosha Mangsho. The bhapa doi is anything but.

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