Manna Grill — Restaurant in Riverside

I cannot tell you enough good things about Manna. The portions are massive, the flavors are balanced and among all the other things I could praise them on, the flavors, sizes, friendliness and smiles are CONSISTENT. The owner has been there 95% of the times I've been and is an absolute pleasure to speak to. It feels like you're in his home, sitting at his table and eating food he prepared for you as a member of the family. The whole staff smiles at you when look them in the eyes and you can tell the dynamic is fluid and cohesive. Every single dish in the menu is worth eating and every one that I've had has been full of flavor and you can tell the people making it are professionals. Look, I'm not Korean and I don't claim to be. But this is the closest thing to my mother's home cooking (even though I'm from Mississippi and just a white guy) that I've had in California. When I go in that restaurant, all my stresses go away and all of my worries melt and I just enjoy life for the little time I have there. I love this restaurant and as long as it's doors are open, I will be a patron.

Edit:

Five years later, and near 2000 miles away, I still dream of this place. I hope the same owner has it and I hope he (and the family!) are doing well. Thanks for all the amazing food and memories you didn’t even know you enabled. Still hoping to see...

At first I ordered the pork tonkatsu and It tasted pretty decent this place gives good portions and the taste of this dish was pretty good. The atmosphere of the restaurant is real nice for those who like Kpop and just wanna hangout. But the reason why I wont be coming back is because I got some food poisoning from the bulgogi fried rice. It tasted awful almost like something in it went bad. I tasted sesame oil that possibly went bad or some type of ingredient. The rice even tasted burnt and undesirable. My stomach started to rumble and I started to feel nauseous a few hours after eating. I didnt even finish the meal completely I had to throw it away. My main warning to anyone is that if you’re eating something here and it doesn’t taste right throw it away and dont finish it. I sure hope someone that works at Mana grill sees this review and fixes the problem because I really dont want anyone getting sick like I did. Thats all be...

I feel horrible writing this review but I was extremely disappointed in this place. I love Tteok-bokki so I decided to try this place because of the reviews. Well.... it was absolutely awful. I couldn't finish the Tteok-bokki or the Kimbap. If you like tomato sauce then you'll like it. That's exactly what it tasted like. I don't know if they had a ln off day but I won't be back unfortunately. The Kimbap was just off, and kept falling apart when I went to pick it up. The only thing was tasted absolutely amazing was the Gyoza. The Tteok-bokki and the Kimbap was thrown in the trash. $33 thrown away. Place was very very clean... but music was extremely inappropriate and vulgar. I had no interactions with the staff since you order on a kiosk and by the time they called my number they just walked away. Overall, I will not be returning. This was just my personal experience, but I hope their business does...