Mantralayam Mami Mess — Restaurant in Andhra Pradesh

I was in Mantralayam for two days with my mother and we ate here. The option below somewhat stupid and does not let me select it, but I had breakfast, lunch, AND dinner one whole day and breakfast a second day.

First, this is not a full-scale restaurant with a fancy menu. You cannot expect that in a small what you might call temple town. It is all vegetarian (no eggs either) and they will tell you what they have for a particular meal time.

Second, it is a small dining hall with limited seating and a potential to encounter other customers who sometimes just not act right (which is probably my only real complaint, but this isn't a huge concern). Third, there is no air conditioner. Bear this last point in mind especially if you are coming during an extremely hot time of the year.

Having said all this, the food was just fantastic. I am of south Indian origin (Tamilian) and this seemed like a good blend of Andhra-Tamil Nadu style food. I loved it. It was fresh, hot, and spicy and there was a good / right selection of veggies - just the way I like it. The pongal is out of this world, as was the saambaar, rasam, the eggplant / brinjal, etc.

Although the food options are limited, if you are south-Indian, you will love the food here and will have no issues. If you are a northerner, all I can say is do not expect much more than puri and related sabji as you folks say. If you are adventurous and are willing to try some south Indian food, I can tell you will not be disappointed.

The service is great. These are ordinary folks working there and they were extremely respectful and courteous without overdoing any artificial gestures. I cannot ask for anything more.

If you are coming by car, be prepared to find a parking spot somewhere and walk. This is in a very narrow one-lane road. You can't park your car here.

As a last point, you are reading about this from a guy who has lived 20 out of the last 25 years outside India (US / Canada). If it this exceeded my expectations, it should...

We group of Friends went to Mantralayam on 08/09/2025.After Early morning darshan while searching for breakfast i suggested my friends to have tiffin here in mami mess and we went there around 8:20AM(Before I watched a reel about this mess in Instagram and felt that to have good dine here like exciting combo tiffin with Friends ).We ordered Idli,Vada,Poori and Pongal.But The food is not hot and fresh and even the taste is not good.Especially when it comes to point of hygiene that's worst part.We found small insects in idli ,the chutney is not good,and sambar is filled with asafoetida,the pongal served is like rubbery texture and poori felt like made with maida.Every dish served here with the same chutney and sambar.Just waste of money.We felt like having Roadside food is better than visiting here.I Don't recommend this place.Even there is no proper service offered and tables were not cleaned after every batch and even the plates and tumblers were not washed properly we could find traces of other food items in plates.This is just an Instagram hyped place that's it..If anyone planned to visit this place during Mantralayam trip,Please lookout for other...

Just returned from Manthralayam. For the first time I visited Mami mess and the experience was quite extraordinary. Started with lunch yesterday and it was an unlimited meal and the food was quite delicious. We visited again for dinner, breakfast for the next day. Out of curiosity we asked them if they could pack our lunch and to our surprise they had lemon rice and curd rice packed for our lunch. And though it is summer the food stayed quite intact and the curd rice did not even turn sour. They also had a lot of items like pappad, pickle, special items like Thalir vardam, Veppalaikatti etc. We bought almost every unique item available in their restaurant. To summarise, Food was delicious Service was just outstanding. Mami was so courteous and friendly. I felt as if I visited a relative in Manthralayam. Best part was her son in law and daughter (both Chartered accountants) were at the service of all the guests. Ever smiling too. Overall, Mami's mess is a home away from home for south...