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 restaurant review.
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