Mandala Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Austin

This was the worst dining experience I’ve had in Austin and I’m from here. Went last night at 8pm before a movie at 9:55. We walked in and there wasn’t a host, server, or a bartender so we waited until a server came from the back and told us to take a seat at a clean booth. The booth next to ours was dirty and a couple was on the other side. There were 3 couples at the bar and a few tables outside. Our server didn’t come for about 10-15 minutes and only came to give us menus and waters. It took him another 15-20 minutes to come back and take out order. We decided to order our drinks and food at the same time since the servers seemed busy even though it wasn’t busy…I did notice the 2 servers were making their own drinks, bussing, and hosting. Another woman from the kitchen went behind the bar as more people started coming in. He said they didn’t have a few things we wanted on the menu, so we settled for things we thought would be quick and easy. We ordered chicken wings, spicy surf clam and shrimp noodle salad, tofu egg rolls, coconut curry mussels and two iced teas. He told us there was no tea so he had to brew some, no problem! The food came out at 9:20, all together. The chicken was old and tasted like it was boiled/fried in dirty sink water….it left a terrible taste in our mouths…it came with 3 wings, we finished 1. (My partner did, I couldn’t do it) The seafood salad must have been sitting in the window the whole time bc the lettuce was soggy from sitting in the sauce. It looked awful and had a total of 3 boiled shrimp, 2 surf clams, lots of soggy iceberg lettuce, and noodles in a bowl of sauce that tasted funny…we couldn’t eat it. This salad was $20…The clams also tasted a little strange and most of them were completely closed….so we couldn’t finish this either. The egg rolls were bland. It took another 30 minutes to get the check printed and back to us. We never got a refill or an apology for only seeing our server a few times…the place seemed to be seating more tables as we left…I had a stomach ache all night and woke up throwing up. I should’ve read the reviews…someone said the chicken tasted old, and yes it did. Tasted rotten! My bull came out to $76 with a 20% tip. Oh and the server forgot our order and came back to make sure it was correct and it wasn’t. I’ve worked in the service industry and I get being busy, but this is managements fault for making them wear so many hats at once and not having the food ready. The table next to us came in after us as a bachelorette party…I felt bad for them…they were getting 14 alcoholic & non alcoholic drinks out one by one! I will say many people got their food before us and that party got a few appetizers out before their drinks. Anyway, long rant to say, be careful eating this food! I’m the 2nd person to say that...

Rating: 4.2/5 [Postmates delivery]

Mini Rice Pancakes ($12): Turmeric rice batter, ground pork, shrimp, and mung bean, served with two sauces: coconut cream and house special sauce. I’ve never had this dish with coconut cream as a sauce—it had a thinner consistency and was salted, which made it really interesting. The house special sauce is similar to fish sauce. The pancakes stayed crispy, and you can taste the turmeric. The shrimp was slightly overcooked, but it’s not a big deal when you’re dunking the pancakes into the sauces. The coconut cream sauce is especially unique—the sweet and savory combination kept me coming back for more.

Crispy Rice Pie ($12): Crispy rice crust, egg, dried shrimp, dried shredded pork, honey green onions, white truffle, and house special sauce. The rice crust was crunchy and made a great base for all the toppings. I poured the house special sauce over the pie, which brought all the flavors together. I’m usually not a fan of dried shrimp, but this one didn’t have a strong smell or taste, so it was fine. My husband loved the honey green onions. This appetizer is on the heavier side because of the rice—I was pretty full after just a quarter slice.

Cajun Fried Rice ($20): Crawfish tails, hickory-smoked pork and beef sausage, egg, sweet corn, sweet onion, scallion, and Cajun spices. I’d never had crawfish fried rice before, and it wasn’t bad. I’m not a huge crawfish fan, so it’s more of a try-once dish for me, but my husband really enjoyed it. You definitely get hits of Cajun spice, while everything else is more subtle and...

We didn't feel enough to cook for Christmas so looked around to see what happened to be open and this resutruant was one of a few options. Placed a take out order through the app that is linked on thier site while knowing that the wait time will be long considering it was the holiday.

Arrived a little later than the estimated puck up time and discovered that our order was never put into the que to be cooked! Apparently they don't receive notifications when an order is placed in the app and they never check! Basically it was up to us to call in and tell them that we placed the order on the app, and how where we supposed to know that!? So it ended up taking an extra 45 minutes to get our order ready. Staff was indifferent to the situation and we were not the only ones that had their orders delayed. I get the staffing shortage issues can cause bumps in service, but there was no contingency plan put in place by the owner about the issues with the app and the super busy holiday rush.

Now on to the food... Sub Par. Ordered the PAD KEE MAO and on the menu it did not indicate what the spice level was so we just assumed it will be mild at most. BOY THAT WAS NOT THE CASE. The flavor of the dish is SPICY and nothing else! Now I love me some spice, but if all I can taste is spice and nothing else and feels like torture to eat then no thank you. I like complex flavors in my food, and did not find it here.

To sum it up, bad...