Tikka Masalaa Indian Cuisine

I wouldn't listen to the negative reviews, this is a great little Indian spot in Tampa. The onion bhaji and chili shrimp were fantastic, and the biryani meat was extremely tender. If you ask for spicy, they'll make it spicy! However, we were the only people in the restaurant and our food took some time, but it wasn't a big concern. Good restaurant, highly recommend.

The quality of this place went downhill after they changed ownership years ago and somehow got worse after that. We used to love this place. We decided to give it another try and the food was so unbelievably bad. Chicken vindaloo was okay, mostly tasted like a slightly spiced chicken in flavorless tomato sauce. The naan breads were the same gummy texture you could find with frozen naan from the grocery store. Rice was okay but had like 1 or 2 cloves to the whole container. No interesting aromas like Indian rices typically are. The butter chicken was the worst. It was sweeter than American dessert. The tandoori chicken in the butter sauce tasted like sweet barbecue. I was taken aback by how a dish like that could make it past the chefs. I ordered takeout so I can't speak for the restaurant service. There is no way the staff genuinely believes that the food they're serving is at all palatable. I open up the Google reviews to this place, and all I see is the business fighting people who leave them bad reviews. Trust me, I'm rooting for you guys to improve.

Walked in around 8 to an empty restaurant. Glasses were dirty and smudged with food. No alcohol served. Canned soft drinks. Prices were a bit high. We decided to just order garlic naan. Didn’t really have any flavor. Tasted burnt and and lacked the buttery garlic flavor. I wouldn’t come here again based on the previous reviews I’ve read about cleanliness and portion size.

This was a nice place to have dinner with my friend! There was no wait and the service was decent. The menu was large and I had a hard time choosing what I wanted because so much looked good. My favorite thing I ordered was the chili paneer. In fact I’ve been craving it ever since I went. I wish I lived closer to this restaurant. I would get that dish at least once a week if I did. The mango drink was also soooo yummy! Like a dessert really. The naan was so so. A little burnt and not as fluffy as my usual Indian place. But my friend really enjoyed hers! I also got egg fried rice. Not my fave. But not because it was bad… It just wasn’t for me. There was something, maybe the celery, that I wasn’t into. My friend loved everything she got. I would go again! Definitely for the paneer and I would like to try some of their other menu items.

It's not bad, but it's not great; I've definitely had much better, much more flavorful Indian cuisine before. *BUT*, given the primarily white, older demographic of the area, it makes sense that the food is more appealing to the masses on a basic level, rather than catering to those in the United States with more adventurous palates. I definitely do not agree with the review that says the Tikka Masala tastes like tomato soup. Sure it could use more flavor, but it is far from being tomato soup. I did order off of Doordash, so I'm not sure if there is an option to increase the spice/flavor level in the actual restaurant. If there is, I would recommend the business include that as an option on delivery apps. I also can't speak to the service or atmosphere. Was hoping for more flavor, but this place does in a pinch.