Tantra - Modern Indian Bistro — Restaurant in McKinney

SNAPSHOT: An over-hyped restaurant with average food and horrendous service; the place is literally over-rated with their yelp rating being 3.1 from 61 reviews but somehow their google rating being 4.1 with 1,061 reviews.

FULL REVIEW: I usually don't review a place until I've been there at least twice. However, I genuinely don't want to drive two hours round-trip for this place again, and I think my first experience was bad enough that I can go ahead and review it.

Context: I was there with my white wife (I'm Indian) and her parents for Mother's Day 2025, our reservation was for 6 PM and when we arrived the restaurant felt half-empty, we were seated at a four-top in the middle of restaurant. By the time we left around 8 the place was bustling.

Service: They initially seated us at two different tables because my in-laws got there a little before us and were seated under our name, but the concierge didn't make that connection. The time it took our server to greet us was average, she had our drinks entered and brought out in an average amount of time. Her return to take our initial order was a little delayed. After waiting for quite a while (but not yet frustratingly long) they brought out my MIL's entree (tandoori chicken) and the table's appetizer (gobi 65). We then thought the food was coming out...it was not. Her entree's arrival was also when we discovered our utensils were mismatched. Almost 20 minutes later my wife's entree (dal makhani) and the naan/roti came out, though no explanation was given as to which bread was which (they all kind of looked the same). By then my FIL had already gotten up and complained, and he is a patient man. Ten minutes more and my entree (butter chicken) and my FIL's entree ("authentic" fried rice) came out. My MIL had almost finished her food by the time we started eating as we had asked her to start so that her food wouldn't get cold. My FIL's entree was brought out in small and wobbly but ornate bowl that he didn't understand (and the server didn't explain) needed to be scooped out and put into his plate, partially because she put the rice bowl ON his plate making him think that's how it is eaten (and I didn't want to get involved because by then he and I were both frustrated). Then they brought us another order of rice for no reason, at that point we just didn't question it

Suggestions for better service would be better trained staff, in some cases much better trained, and slightly bigger tables. When my father-in-law complained someone (the manager) apologized and said they were expecting 600 people that day, which is when we looked around at the half-empty restaurant, and that they had just moved...neither of which really is an excuse. This place's target audience appears to be upper-middle class locals, which in Dallas is mostly white people, but right now their service says "We have the standards that immigrants in the 1990s would expect". With all this being said, service is almost ALWAYS a problem at 95% or more of the Indian restaurants I've been to in my life, and being Indian, I've been to a LOT.

Food: I found the menu a bit hard to follow as they have gone for somewhat novel takes with some dishes as well as silly names that are not at all helpful. Was there chicken tikka masala on the menu? I don't know, but there was definitely a dish called "Tikka Journey", which kind of sounds like CTM but I wasn't sure and the server seemed overwhelmed by the question so I dropped it and went for the BC. My wife's dal was bland (and cold), my butter chicken was meh, the gobi 65 was flavorful but it was almost soggy when it feels like it should be crispy (could be wrong about that).

Suggestions for better food are to bring in some more classics, and maybe change a recipe or two, as well as update the menu.

Ambience: Nice but this is less important than the first two so it barely counts, in fact it may even hurt it because your expectations are elevated.

Price: I paid about $50 more than I felt I should have, I then tipped though I really...

For my birthday, my wife took me to Tantra, an Indian restaurant in McKinney. Based on its location and upscale-sounding name, we were expecting a high-end dining experience. Unfortunately, what we encountered was far from it.

From the moment we entered, it became clear this restaurant lacked attention to detail. The decor and ambiance had potential, but the first thing we noticed was an open closet filled with clutter that looked like it was ready to tumble out. A group of 6-7 staff members at the bar stared at us like we didn’t belong, which felt uncomfortable.

Our server was pleasant enough but rushed and inattentive. She walked us to our table with little explanation, leaving us confused about where we were supposed to sit. Meanwhile, loud Spanish music and singing cooks filled the air from the kitchen, disrupting the atmosphere. For a Thursday night with only two occupied tables, they had a surprising number of staff—10-15 people—but no sense of organization.

The service left much to be desired. Water was served in a Moscow mule cup, with no ice and a straw that wasn’t even wrapped—basic hygiene was clearly overlooked. The appetizer plates were slammed on the table by a staff member with long fingernails, which is a clear violation of food service standards. Adding to this, we were handed torn menus, which didn’t inspire confidence.

The food was even worse. We ordered “Drums of Heaven,” expecting drumsticks, but received five small chicken wings for $20. The butter chicken, a staple of Indian cuisine, was incredibly disappointing. It consisted of tough, boiled chicken in a green-tinted sauce that was more spicy than flavorful. Served with a single thin piece of naan for $6 and a small cup of rice, the dish was bland, overly spicy, and seemed poorly prepared. When we voiced our concerns, the server simply said it was “Nawabi Butter Chicken” and shrugged off our complaints, adding there was no manager available to assist us.

The experience cost us $61, and we left dissatisfied and frustrated, eventually salvaging the evening by going to a nearby Italian restaurant.

As an Indian myself, I couldn’t help but feel disheartened. This experience reflects poorly on Indian cuisine and the service industry. Tantra had the potential to showcase the richness and sophistication of Indian food, but instead, it perpetuated stereotypes of poor service and lack of professionalism. For anyone considering visiting, I would recommend steering clear unless serious...

We group of friends decided to dine in at tantra after having the glimpse of their modern flair to Indian cuisine on Instagram we drove all the way from grapevine to McKinney upon arrival first impression very negative waited about 10 minutes no one up there to greet and no courtesy then the server arrives and escorted us to the table we were offered water after seeing a very well crafted food menu and limited items our expectations were beyond but it was just a misconceptions that the food will be phenomenal but it was pathetic of so we ordered the signature kebab platter and paneer tikka she just took in the order and fired it no suggestions or no upselling from server end to get good appetizers as soon as it arrived on the kebab platter was kind of ok but the paneer tikka was pathetic very strechy and no flavour at all just bland from within and again same thing from server no checking on table and getting the feedback about it about 10-15 later she come backs and are you ready for main course so we did order " the unexpected authentic butter chicken"and kofta curry for vegetarian and couple of garlic naan and 2 authentic fried rice as soon as soon as we got butter chicken our first reaction was tht is nothing close to butter chicken we didn't even tried and shared a feedback to server snd she was like its different from other restaurants because which they serve is authentic and rest doesn't the chicken was regular chicken not one cooked in tandoor and very bland taste and kofta was same in taste too pathetic the server got the manager and we shared the feedback and he was like there are different type of sauce red,brown. So i asked him whats the difference between the other restaurants butter chicken and yours so he said the above statement thts all ohh cmon seriously you guyzz are just fooling people very unprofessional behaviour from his end try to get along on tables and have courtsey to see how guest are doing on their meals and is the food upto the mark and for dessert we ordered the tantra temptation which was ok too seriously no recommendations to try this just disappointed Still far better place to try good and authentic food and top notch service like Sanjh,Sheesh, Chandigarh Wale etc. and other part for party of 5+,6+ i do expect for auto gratuity but the service should be upto the mark from server to deserve that gratuity so at the end not a...