Mandolin Kitchen & Shisha Bar — Restaurant in Sandy Springs

The food here is delicious, but know going in that you'll need to open your wallet very wide. For my twins' recent birthday, I treated them and their significant others to lunch here on a recent Sunday.

The waiter was very gracious. We got babaganoush (sp?) for the table and I ordered lentil soup. I ordered the iskender, which is served over home-made pita chunks and with two large dollops of house-made yogurt. The meat, which is like gyro meat, is covered with a savory tomato-y sauce. One of my sons ordered the charbroiled ribeye kabob and his girlfriend ordered the grilled chicken kabob. My other son ordered a lamb and beef kabob, and his wife ordered what amounted to a cold vegetable salad (she loved it, although she thought it would be a traditional salad). Each dish, except for the salad, also came with a spicy roasted green Turkish pepper.

We didn't order dessert, but we all ordered Turkish coffee. The waiter, however, brought a Turkish flan for the table. I don't know if that's what it's called, but that's what he called it.

All I can say is, wow! We all attacked the flan, which was presented on a salad plate and dusted with delicious cinnamon that wasn't your typical grocery store cinnamon. I could've eaten the whole thing by myself; it was that delicious. It wasn't a little Mexican or Puerto Rican flan. This was huge! It pretty much filled the salad plate it was presented upon

The coffee was piping hot, dark, delicious, potent (my hair felt like it was dancing) - and surprisingly expensive @ $4 per traditionally-sized Turkish coffee cup.

As I said, everyone loved their dish and the restaurant. The waiter deserved every bit of the generous tip I left.

Getting back to the prices, they're somewhat steep. Lunch for 5 with one shared appetizer and bowl of soup for me, 5 entrees, and 5 Turkish coffees lightened my wallet by $170 including the tip. This did not include the flan, which was gratis.

Yelp says Mandolin Kitchen is moderately priced, at least that's what I interpreted two dollar signs to mean. I have to disagree; in my mind, that price rating should be a strong three dollar signs.

Be that as it may, the meals were fantastic and we could tell the quality of the meats - or maybe just the cooking skills and spices - was much higher than those at an everyday, mid-priced Mediterranean restaurant. Just know going in, as I did not, that the pleasure...

I had reservations for 6. I was excited about trying a new restaurant. I was seated at my table. I'm looking around and the atmosphere was nice. I sat for over 10 minutes with two wait staff coming back and forth 5 feet from my table. They both were checking the computer and keeping up with their tables. Neither one of the wait staff acknowledged my presence. They didn't offer me water or anything. Then I was thinking maybe neither one of them was my server. I got up and walked to the bar to get a drink. The bartender looked so confused. He asked did I have a table ? He nicely said your waiter should be taking your order. I responded with saying. I have been sitting at my table waiting patiently. I'm not sure what's going on but no one has acknowledged me just sitting at my table. He spoke to the manager in another language. I can only assume he said. The lady just said no one has come to her table. The manager asked the hostess who was the server in my area. The male waiter that was over looking me the entire time was my server. The manger said something to him in another language. The turns back around to me to say. We will get you a new server. The manager tells me. I'm so sorry and I answer back me too. The male server never apologized for not coming over to my table. Which my table was literally 4 steps from the waitstaff area. I Did Not want to stay. In my opinion he didn't want to serve African Americans. You can't have a price on your food and drinks and don't expect people to expect fair service. I really wish I had gotten his name. The sad part is we gave this establishment money. I wanted to leave but unfortunately it's hard to get a table for 6 in Atlanta without reservations. To the manager that apology that you offered is probably the reason your waiter didn't want to serve me. He basically was saying I'm not waiting on them and you basically said. It's ok! Maybe you both should take some cultural sensitivity...

It was a rainy saturday evening. Called Madolin for a reservation and they said they can accommodate for 3 on the inside. We drive upto to Mandolin and they have ONLY valet, entered and instead got seated outside which has a canopy kind of nice structure. The music was a little loud, all the tables were full and that's it we don't get served till 15mins until we asked for a waiter. Waitress comes up she was nice to us takes our order and the waiting starts. Party of 4 people gets seated next to us at the time we place the order. It starts down pouring and from one of the corner the water starts creeping up the whole outdoor area, it's not like a puddle but still they weren't prepared for the rain. Some guy comes up and tries to dim the lights so that customers won't notice making it even dangerous for people walking around. 20mins later of witnessing this mess in hanger the table next to ours get their food served. Still trying to understand the situation they might be understaffed and staring at our next table if they would give their left over salad another 20mins passes by and we reach the saturation point. Its the first time I walked out of a restaurant after ordering food without even caring to let the staff know. Now the waitress walks upto us outside and wanted to make sure if we were leaving without even apologizing (seems like it happens often here for small parties)

After sitting there an hour waiting in hope for our food to arrive which never did and after observing a few small parties like us didn't even have water on the table I came to a conclusion that they provide good service to only whom they expect to make more bill at the table. Definitely wouldn't try this on a rainy or busy evening.

The place and food looked nice but...