Mandi House مطعم بيت المندي اليمني لوس انجلس — Restaurant in Los Angeles

| Rating: 5/5 |

Parking: Very limited parking. You will have to hunt for parking around the block, but that is pretty common in Westwood.

Restaurant: There is a lot to say about the restaurant. The atmosphere is beautiful, authentic, and original to Yemen. It makes you feel as if you are enjoying their beautiful dishes in their own country. Yemen is rich in it's culture, and Maandi has expressed that very well. With their hospitality, customer service, and food. There are normal table seating but also seating that you can sit on the ground, with much comfort of their cushions, very nice ambiance and vibe to it, fun for family and friends to enjoy. Now, about customer service and hospitality. Faaris, the owner or manager of Maandi, was absolutely SO warming and nice. He put his utmost efforts of making sure we had a great time, enjoyed the food, and experienced Maandi and Yemen for what it is. Faaris was very kind to our family, and to all the customers around. He was very welcoming as I was saying, it felt like we were part of his house, and family. Faaris is the guy, definitely I would go there just to be around the guy. We learned a lot about Yemen, the food, and his humor was great. The main reason why I am giving the restaurant 5, is because it didn't only fulfill our needs of food, but the experience overall. They allowed us to pray in the back, covered our food to keep it warm, always checked up on us. The other waiters were very nice as well, trying their best to accommodate to our needs. You will surely not be disappointed.

Food: Beautiful. We were a table of 7 people, and we ordered 2 #1's, and it was MORE than we expected. The meat was REALLY tender, the rice was really flavorful, the desserts were smooth, slightly sweet with it's perfect balance of fragrance. I thoroughly enjoyed it, my whole family loved it as well. The food was fresh, warm and did not have any smell. Usually you have that with lamb, but it was nice.

Price: Reasonable honestly. The quality was really top tier, so with that being said, price matched their quality and quantity of food. We had to take 5 boxes of food home...

I can confidently say that this was the most disappointing dining experience I have ever endured. From start to finish, the service and overall atmosphere of this establishment left much to be desired. Not only was the food grossly overpriced, but the lack of professionalism and care from the staff was nothing short of shocking.

One incident, in particular, highlighted the incompetence and disregard for customer satisfaction and safety. A member of our group has a severe nut allergy, a fact we made explicitly clear to the waiter when placing our order. Despite this, our $300 dish was served with nuts, directly ignoring our request. When we pointed out the mistake and asked for the dish to be replaced, the waiter blatantly ignored us. To make matters worse, he pretended to have a language barrier, despite the fact that we are fluent in both Arabic and English. This dismissive and irresponsible behavior created an incredibly uncomfortable and frustrating situation. It was evident that the staff was neither interested in resolving the issue nor ensuring our satisfaction.

The atmosphere was equally unwelcoming, lacking the warmth and hospitality one might expect when dining out, especially at a restaurant that claims to represent Yemeni cuisine. Instead of showcasing the rich flavors and traditions of Yemen, this establishment offers a distorted and lackluster representation that does a disservice to the culture it purports to celebrate.

I cannot overstate how dissatisfied I was with this experience. It was not only a waste of money but also an unpleasant and frustrating ordeal. I strongly advise anyone considering dining here to think twice, as this restaurant utterly fails to meet even the most basic standards of service, safety, and...

Please remove the name and photo of kunefe from the menu because people order kunefe, but you bring another dessert that looks like kunefe. It's the first time in the world that I've seen cream inside kunefe. I ordered kunefe because I believed it was kunefe. When I said it wasn't kunefe, they just said "we're sorry". kunefe = cheese. There's no kunefe without cheese.

I feel nauseous, the strangest and most disturbing dessert you've ever eaten in your life. Please don't fool people. It's a sin.

I told the waiter 4 times that this is not kunefe and that it was very bad. You didn't change it, my dear. Don't fool people. I don't want your money for kunefe. You wrote that you will refund the money for the kunefe, this is disrespectful. And you come and I will give you money and go eat real kunefe at another restaurant. Arabic kunefe or Turkish kunefe is the same. I have eaten kunefe in Kuwait, Dubai, Türkiye and many countries. The one on your menu is not kunefe. There can't be such a bad dessert. My stomach still hurts. I am not afraid to tell the truth. I didn't criticize the other dishes on your menu because I don't criticize a dish I haven't eaten. But I have to tell the truth about kunefe. I ate the worst kunefe that I have ever eaten in my life, which was not kunefe but was written as kunefe, at your restaurant. Is it haram to tell these truths? If you are making an effort, you should make the right effort. I came 12 miles to eat kunefe. I can make a suggestion to you, you can try writing "no cheese, just cream kunefe" ​​on the menu. It is not haram to tell the truth. People will understand me again with this...