Mantra Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Temecula

Summary: Great quality. Excellent flavors. Attentive service. Reasonable prices for quantity of food. Plenty of parking. Lots of variety. AND...they made it spicy when we asked for it :)

My wife and I came here on a Sunday afternoon with a couple of Vegan friends after a full day of wine tasting. We arrived just before the restaurant opened at 5pm, so we had no problem being seated. Funny enough, though, there were two other groups already at the restaurant when we went inside. The restaurant is pretty large and has the usual style and decorations that one would expect. After the other two groups were seated, a host came to greet us and escort us to a table.

We were handed the menus and began to peruse. As an FYI, they have a number of very reasonably priced wines by the glass and the pours are very full. Surprisingly full. Very generous. They also have a larger than normal Indian beer list, including the infamous 8% ABV Old Monk (fantastic)! So naturally, after a long day of consuming large quantities of wine, we ordered more wine and beer :) We also figured out which dishes we were going to order and when asked how hot my wife and I wanted ours we replied "hot", to which the server replied "on a scale from 1 to 10...?", and we instantly replied "10!" At that point, the usual reaction we get is a facial expression that reads "these crazy people clearly have no idea what their doing". But our friends quickly chimed in with a very confident "they can handle it" and the server seemed satisfied (though we were still skeptical of what would actually be given to us).

Some papadams were brought out to start with, along with our drinks. We sat and talked for about 20 minutes, then our food was delivered and the table was filled with 7 dishes, rice, and naan. My wife and I will attest, they gave us a heat level 10. The spiciness was strong and enjoyable. The flavors were a little chili powder heavy, but still very good. The dishes are smaller than our usual place in Torrance, but they are also cheaper, so the balance is still maintained.

My wife and I got the chicken tikka masala, shrimp curry, aloo gobi, rice and garlic naan. Everything was well prepared with excellent sauces and quality ingredients. The textures were all spot on and we really enjoyed the food. The total bill came to $96 for everything, which is pretty amazing, and we even had a little left for leftovers the next night. Throughout the meal, we were attended to with water refills, inquiries about the food meeting our expectations, etc. It was a great experience and the reviews definitely do the...

Went to Mantra 8/10/15 for dinner with my wife. We were seated immediately in the mostly empty dining area, in low-sunk booths with a glass-covered table, and given menus.

We were then ignored for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, the couple at the table next to us -- an Indian man and his non-Indian girlfriend or wife -- were being constantly attended to by one, two, sometimes three fawning waiters/staffers. They joked and laughed; brought drinks, desserts, and doggy bags; conversed back and forth about the different kinds of food.

Finally I caught the attention of one of them and said we were ready to order. He looked surprised and a little annoyed, then walked away for another minute before returning with a yellow legal pad. We placed our orders.

Our appetizer arrived fast enough, along with my drink. A few minutes later our entrees -- lamb vindaloo for me, chicken curry for my wife -- arrived, but not our naan. We sat staring at our cooling food for another five minutes before the naan arrived and we were able to begin eating.

I finished my bottle of beer shortly after the entrees arrived. Not once thereafter, though, did a waiter stop by our table: not to ask if I wanted another drink or anything else to eat, not to check on how we were doing generally. We sat and ate and continued to watch the wait staff chit-chat with the couple at the next table. Eventually we were done, and sat ignored for another couple of minutes.

Finally a busboy arrived, silently took our plates, then returned a minute later to plop down the bill, again without a word.

My wife and I agreed that the food was good. Decent portions, moderately priced, nice balance of spices. Not the deal of the century, but passable for Temecula Indian food. However, the appallingly indifferent service guaranteed I will never come back. In fact, it inspired my first-ever Google...

We went there for dinner yesterday. I would have given 5 stars because food is really delicious… one of the best we had in California. But the waiter was awfully rude! It took us a little longer to wait for our order but we knew it takes a while & it’s freshly prepared. Tandoori chicken came first, even before the Naan but it was fine. We were starving so when he brought us the chicken, I politely asked for the rice. He almost ate me alive! So defensive & I could hardly understand why. Was he assuming I was complaining? I actually could have but I didn’t. Same thing happened the last time we went, the server kept coming to us. This is not our first time coming to this place, I have never been treated the way he did. He never came to us again. He sent somebody else to give the rest of our orders, never came to ask if things were ok, like the others always do. He tried to be away when it was time for us to go. Another guy came to the counter when we paid. I even asked his name but the guy politely said “it’s ok”. I almost didn’t tip because he didn’t deserve it, but I gave a few $ for the heck of it. We are going back because food is really delicious, and the rest of the team are really nice. But I hope we won’t encounter...