Mantra — Restaurant in Jersey City

I don't like to give bad reviews but this could be a reality check for the owner/management.

The place looks good and quite so 1 star for the ambience but I will explain in details why the rest of them(stars) are deducted.

Food (-3 stars) because that what we were there for so chunk of the stars goes into that. We first ordered starter as chili paneer and the quantity was not worth sharing between the 3 of us. It was more absurd by the fact that it came in a gigantic plate with small amount of chili paneer in the middle. We ordered Malai Kofta and Paneer Kohlapuri/Lababdar (Will explain later) for main course. Malai Kofta was really good but I guess the Lababdar/Kohlapuri did not do justice to any of that name. It was a confusion between the two and not worth eating.

Owner's philosophy towards service staff (-1 star). The waiter was actually really good and helpful. But when tried to place our order she told us not to order veg biryani because it's not good. So we tried to think on the spot and change our order and asked her what she suggest and she said Malai Kofta (which was actually very good) and paneer Lababdar. After we gave our main course order, within I minute we decided that we no longer wants the Paneer Lababdar and would like it to change with Veg Kolhapuri. The waiter told us that it's already in the system and she cannot change and she will speak with the chef. And thus between the confusion we got served Paneer Kolhapuri(which it didn't tasted like). When I tried tipping the waiter for her help in the order at the end she stopped me from tipping her because she mentioned that they(owner/management) don't give the tips to waiter and just keep it to themselves.

Conclusion: 1. Improve the food. 2. Give tips to people for whom the customers have left them. 3. Buy smaller plates for starter (giving small quantity of starter in gigantic plate doesn't make the small quantity sting less, it just does the opposite). 4. Show a little flexibility for the customers so that if they want they can change the...

This review is for their buffet specifically. I have been to Mantra for a few birthday parties and food has been excellent. So decided to try their buffet on 3rd June 2017. There is one simple reason to go for Indian buffet - pay more then usual meal price to try lot of variety. However, variety is just missing from their buffet. Their snack category is just 3 snacks. Out of which bhaji in 'pav bhaji' was many many days old and smelled like rotten food! In dessert category they similarly had only 2 items - gulab jamun fruit custard both below average in taste. Again among main course many vegetables smelled as if they are days old and smelled like rotten food. Also very limited options. This is the only Indian buffet where there was no South Indian food at all! I had a very bad headache for the rest of the day after eating their rotten food. I am probably going to complain to authorities about it as well as this business is just playing with health of customers by serving old rotten food! I have been to many Indian buffets in Manhattan, Jersey City and Edison, and this out of all is worst by all standards! Another pet peeve of mine is they included 18% tip in the bill. Why I am forced to pay such a high tip for bad rotten food. It should by my decision to pay the tip. If you are forcing me then its hidden cost. And as one of the servers told me at another restaurant owners don't give the tip money to the servers when its part of the bill. I never go back to a place which includes tip in the bill and definitely going back to Mantra for reasons more than one. If you want to enjoy Indian buffet on Jersey City riverfront Amya located a short walk away is excellent with quantity and quality of food. Never going back again and telling everyone I know to...

Wouldn't even give them a star. One of the worst dining experiences I ever had!! I highly advise not to go. We were seated outside of the restaurant for our 7:30 reservation. They did not take our order for apps until an hour later. We had to go inside the restaurant to remind the waiter to take the order. After they took the order, we waitied an additional hour for the apps to come (only half of the apps made it to the table). Took them 20 minutes to bring a Sprite to the table. Absolutely ridiculous. By now its close to 9:30 and we still haven't received half of the apps and they refuse to come outside to talk to us or apologize. They had not even taken our order for the main course at this point. Each one of us (7 individuals) went inside to speak to the manager but we were met with no courtesy, no explanation, no apology for this pathetic service. They said they were busy with online orders but we did not see more than 1 delievery leave the restaurant. At 9:30 we decided to leave and go to Amiya instead. No apology, no reduction in bill cost. Moreover, they charged us for the apps that we were never received. Never going again and highly advise others to do the same. Spend your money somewhere else where you will be treated...