Mantra Restaurant Review

Waiter should've warned me what was spicy and what was not. Other than that great food. I recommend the peppered lamb dish with order of rice. Garlic naan. Its family style so be prepared to share.

They just give red colored rice with meat and call it as a Hyderabad dum biryani. I spoke with them they says that s how they do business and it s just a name. FYI Hyderabad dum biryani is not a name it s a recipe and if you can t do that way then just rename your red rice recipe as mantra biryani but don t fool the customers and don t make our Hyderabad dum biryani lovers down. Pathetic restaurant, people and their service.

Does anyone know the name of the happy birthday song they play here?

Nice ambience, great food. If you are ''samosa' fan this is not the place. they will serve you the frozen which are easily available in indian stores. Otherwise
This is a really really nice place , would say closest to giving you an indian authentic touch.
Chicken biryani , anda kari is a must try!! Nice appetizers, lovely ambience, fairly helpful servers.

Had evening dinner and food quality is awesome. There is a decent vegetarian option.

The restaurant has good ambience and ethnic style of decor. The food taste really good and the prices are not much heavy.
Their pulao taste better and veg biryani is quite different taste from other restaurants.

Large quantities of great Indian food. Not unlike a lot of other Indian restaurants. Worth it for locals.

The atmosphere is amazing. Probably most spiritual dining experience in the Midwest. The food and service is a gift of the Gods. Namaste to Mantras "Bruce Whitewolf" The Rainbow Warrior Society Rockford IL

Horrible Experience. We waited an hour to get food. Theu Don't even have stuff that's listed on the menu. No blue moon which is not on the menu, but not even other listed. Same case in certain food like Raj Kachori. I hate this place.

Great food and service yet its chai and desserts weren't that good

Mantra By Indian Garden Restaurant
Dear Owner... Do you understand the meaning of keeping JAIN GODs Idol at your restaurant... And there you're serving Non-Veg food???
It's not good that you're doing business in America so You can use Jain Idols to add some fancy show off in your business.

You're also an Indian... I hope you have a little knowledge about Jainism and Jain Religion.
Please remove the Jain Idol from your restaurant.

One of the best Indian restaurant in Chicago land. Close to airport. We had 4 hours in lay over time and we searched for a good Indian restaurant and we found Mantra. Very good food, friendly staff, and left us satisfied as well us giving us a free ride to the airport.

Beautiful place. Amazingly delicious food. Great atmosphere.

Really good Indian food and the ambiance is very classy and nice. Good place.

Awesome place with very hip decor. Not overwhelming like other Indian places.
Pakora Chicken is one of menu items that everyone should try.
We also had plate with sample of tandoori chicken, baked lamb, cod and shrimp. Everything was simply delicious and you can definitely name spices used for seasoning. Highly recommended for suburban wanderers how do India taste.

Loved their outdoor it seemed like i was indoors, food was good too. I would go back.

Loved every bit of our experience at Mantra !!!
Abi .. served us with such hospitality and took good care of us . Thank you Abi !!! :)

Delicious food And clean environment.
Staff is good and professional.

If you care for cleaning and delicious food and great service don t miss out to stop by here absolutely I will be here again
Thank you

Yummy food and wonderful service.... Enjoying lots at this spot....

I have ordered chicken biryani. Thats not at all close to 1% biryani.
they mixed white rice with curry. NOT RECOMMENDED STAY AWAY

The Food
Called ahead as my wife is not a fan of spicy food and was assured there were non-spicy items on the menu. On ordering, the waiter suggested butter chicken for her as being not spicy. While waiting for our food, a couple came in with their 2 young children and was seated by us.They asked their waiter, not the same as ours, for non-spicy suggestions and were steered towards butter chicken being told it was "medium" spicy. When my wife's' order arrived I tasted it, and would agree with the description as being medium spicy. My wife ate a few bites and was done. In hindsight, I should have sent it back.

The rest of us found all 4 meals at our table to be excellent. Not having a broad frame of reference of other Indian food to compare it to, I thought everything had good balanced flavors with just enough heat in two of the dishes without being overwhelming. The portions were perhaps a bit small , but not overwhelmingly so.

The Service
The service was "confused", with 4 different people coming in and out of the scene as if it were a Marx Brothers movie. It felt like they were working out the kinks during the first week of opening and not what should be expected from a restaurant that's been open several years. Several times when the character s faces changed, one had no idea that the other had been at the table. They were not at all busy. Three of four dinners showed up together; the forth showed up 5 minutes later.

Not listening to your customer's needs is inexcusable. If the mildest choices on your menu are "medium" then say so. Yes, everyone s perception is different however, when you ve been warned, several times, that a patron does not appreciate anything that is at all spicy and that the diners have little experience with Indian cuisine and you suggest something that is medium spicy, then a restaurant deserves all the one-star reviews that can be levied against them. It shows you weren t paying attention, don t have enough training or experience with your product, and are more interested in a one-time sale then a long-term relationship. A savvy operator would work up a few recipes to accommodate the desire for something truly not spicy.

The Atmosphere
The dining room is attractive and pleasant.

That couple with the two kids that came in after us, well that s where the wheels really fell off this dining experience. While not terribly high end, at $20 dollars a plate and considering the setting, this is not a family restaurant. The younger darling was rather quiet for the entire meal. As we got up to leave, I noticed what probably kept her occupied was all the cracker type bread that had been on the table was ground up and deposited in a pile on the floor. Yup, in a BIG pile all around her. The other one was a demon. At perhaps 3 or 4 years old, she subjected everyone around her to random fits of screaming during which mom generously rewarded her with a high five. These people make the Flintstones look like high society. Don t think of justifying unacceptable behavior such as this based on the tender age. We raised two boys that ate in restaurants since they were younger than this monster and never once imposed this type of bad behavior on anyone. It was not tolerated, let alone encouraged, so it didn t happen. This, by itself, assures we won't be back.

Why punish the restaurant? This isn t fast food, it s a nicer atmosphere, pricier establishment where that type of behavior is not expected, nor should it be tolerated. Restaurateurs are reluctant to say something to buffoons like this as they don t want to upset the customer. By not saying anything, they risk upsetting a whole room of other customers. Dinner for 4, without alcohol, but with tip, came to $135. Way too much to listen to some spoiled screeching brat.

The Aftermath
As we were preparing to leave, a woman (the catering manager) came by to ask If we enjoyed our meal. I told her about my concerns with the waiters menu suggestion and the screamer next to us and it fell on deaf ears. No value here; spend your money elsewhere.

Food is good, prices are very reasonable. But do not come here without reservation specially on weekends. They are either understaffed or under-trained for peak times and rush

Very nice place and food is very delicious.loved this place

OVERPRICED$$$
Recently ordered a 15$ dish over ubereat..got a call from Restaurant asking 5$ extra for a small side white rice..
If owners / share holders/ 3 party rating platforms SEEING this look similar comments on over priced rice or stories of peoples order food ask holding rice/ rotti for extra 5$
*Date of issue july 3 rd 2020..
Totally not satisfied when comparing similar indian/ North restaurant..

* Regret - buy

We usually go by reviews if no one has tasted in a restuarant and I order biriyani, and appetizer. By seeing it was ok but biriyani taste is like tomato rice and for sure chicken was not fresh. It is so hard and for sure it is warmed up from freezer and given to us. Dont go guys.

This was a good place we found. We found to drop our parents to ohare airport and this is pretty much on the way to Indi from airport. The food was very good. It was a little expensive , but it felt like a date place . An Indian date night , if you would.

Price is over the top and the food is average I ll order from elsewhere. The quantity is also less

I randomly gave this restaurant a try because it was the closest to my hotel I was staying at. Made a quick call for take out in traffic, and the attention to the detail with my order was spectacular. Upon arrival, was welcomed with beautiful elephants that caught my eye. The Palak Paneer here is amazing and one of the most I have ever had! Since I didnt dine in, cant say much about service, but the ambience inside looked amazing! Its a great place for group gatherings, family dinner, etc. Highly recommend to all!!

Abi our waiter is a very personable he helped us with our selection . All around great guy. He made us feel so comfortable being here.

DISAPOINTING EXPERIENCE ON OUR ANNIVERSARY!!!!! i would give this restaurants zero stars for their service if I had a choice. It was a anniversary celebrations with our family. We had called in earlier to make reservations but were told that they take no reservations. When we reached there they told us that it was a 15 minute wait. After waiting for about 30 minutes we were still not given a table, even though there was a table of 6 empty. The wait staff was rude and told us that he cannot give us that table as we were a party of 4 and would have to wait till a party of 4 would empty the table. The restaurant was closing in an hour, there was no one after us and it could not have been reserved for a party of 6 since they don t take reservations. The waiter spoke very rudely to us and it was a very disappointing experience. We landed up just walking out of the restaurant. The whole experience was frustrating.

Best Indian cuisine around. Very delightful workers as well! Would highly recommend to anyone

manager and employee service are bad . They don t have papad at all and also they bring onions at the last like deserts. I repeated again costumer service really really really bad beside one Indian lady .they over charged to for my food and they don t know how to take order either .i have to minimum give 1 point if not then I will give them -10 .

Awesome indianish ambient inside and also has very good food.

Try the fish curry, worth it. Ambiance is the best swaddling.

Food was good and the restaurant is beautiful but service is pretty bad.

Great food, excellent service. The restaurant itself has a really cool vibe, and an amazing bar.

I was in love with this place. But my last experience ruined all of it. I ordered potato stuffed bread and ask them if they can make it little spicy, they added all the green chilies and made a green chili bread. On top of it we had to wait 45 min to get the food and the service was so poor. Nobody cared if we want water or anything else. Even after we asked for check, we had to wait another 20 min and at last i had to walk over the reception to ask them to send us the bill. If i can give a negative star i would love to because the attitude of people over there is so bad makes us feel we made a mistake choosing this place.

Great service but the food is way overpriced for the portion you get. Ordered once for delivery and food came cold.

Enjoyed the food. Ate all meatless options and didn't miss it. The food looks inviting and makes you happy you took a little detour out of your usual comfort zone.

Amazing place! The food is excellent and the managers are great! I highly recommend this resturant!

I would give it a zero if there was one. We ordered lychee ice cream. WE GOT FRICKIN KULFI. $5 for 2 sticks of the wrong thing such a ripoff. They also forgot about our order and got us the wrong thing. How stupid. Food is just barely ok. The service is unimaginably terrible. NEVER COME TO THIS PLACE AGAIN

Lahori paneer was tasty. The buttermilk tasted just perfect! Loved it.

I admire this place! They prepare superb food, they have a rich menu, The cook in that place is well trained, I like a lot tasting all their food. The dishes are consistently fresh and tasty, the service towards the guests is agreeable. I often go to this restaurant and I was never discontended. I recommend it to all.

Had a very good experience in this spot with my girlfriend. The food arrived quick and the service is just fantastic. Prices are convenient.

The setting and ambience of this place is just so unique and different from rest of the other Indian restaurants I ve ever visited. A perfect balance of both traditional and modern touch to its decor gives a warmth to this place. The chicken biryani which we ordered took a lot of time to arrive. Also some of the items from the menu which we wanted to order initially wasn t available. But the taste and quality was superb and indeed worth the wait. The chicken 65 was so juicy and very flavorful.Pricing is a bit higher and is expensive. Restrooms are clean. Staff and service is little slow. But overall a great restaurant.

Everything was excelent the food was one of the best i ever try, i will come back for sure

Wow! Amazing and authentic indian food, we ordered variety of vegetarian dishes and every dish was amazing. I highly recommend this restaurant over any other indian restaurant in the Chicagoland area and I hope you choose to go here too.
Happy dining.

Editing my score as second time around was not that good..the non vegetarian dishes did not seem as authentic as the vegetarian ones...
Previous review : Amazing food and ambience ! Have been in US for a while now but never came across more authentic indian food than this before. I dont unusually write reviews, but it was so good that i had to put in one. I highly recommend it !

Good place to checkout if you are craving for indian food while staying at Chicago. Quality, taste and ambience is credit worthy. Menu is quite wide spread with lots of options.

Service is quite slow though for even a weekday evening.

Mantra has one of the worst service in my opinion. Our recent experience was very bad. High prices for just OK food and horrible service is NOT OK. We left very annoyed.

Prepare your taste buds for a journey... This place creates awesome flavor memories

Food was overpriced not good... service was awful... I wouldn't go there again.

What a delicious experience... Recommend this place for authentic Indian cuisines.

A good place to hang. Nice ambience with tasty food. Friendly staff. Keep up the good work guys.

The best Indian food we ve had, and friendly staff. I ll admit we only ever order the same dishes at every Indian restaurant (murgh makhani (butter chicken), palak paneer, naan, and saffron rice), but Mantra s is so far the most delicious! It is also the farthest away so we can only come when we ve spent the day out in Rosemont.
The butter naan is so good, especially when dipped in the best butter chicken we ve ever had. We also got mango lassi and masala chai.

Nothing ,food was spicy and sweet at the same time and no salt. Did not like the food at all. It is way to expensive for the quantity they give.

Interior and ambience is excellent. Food was okay. Seekh kebabs were too spicy and chicken soup had no salt or flavor. Naan was good and paneer lahori was okay.

So annoyed I can't leave a picture, my first bit of advice Do not order from here. $36 dollars bought me 6 pakora and a Rogan Josh. That was it no rice no pompadom no dips NADA. 16 oz tub of sauce with nothing else really..... I called them and quite frankly.... Save yourself the time and grief don't do it

All I can say is dal makhani and methi mutter... Now stop reading this review and get your butt there and order these two dishes with the bread basket... Fabuloso!

Great ambience and nice home made food kind.. Tried Nawabi biriyani and Paneer pakora and they were good and felt like home made. Food was not spicy and for sure they considered all nationalities taste level.

Overall good food for some expensive price

Very accommodating service. Food was very well prepared. I had one of the house specialty vegetable dishes an Aloo, potato dish.

I love Indian food. My three kids did not... Until my family dined here. It's a beautiful establishment that is relaxed and elegant at the same time. Almost too fancy for a family with kids, but we visited before standard dinner hour rush. The menu is more creative than what I'm used to seeing at other Indian joints. Service was to notch. The lamb samosas were like meat filled pockets of heaven. Thanks for breaking my kids in so they can appreciate Indian cuisine.

Worst service ever waited 30 min on table no one came to take an order.

The food is very tasty! They pay attention tonight to the details! The decor of the restaurant is outstanding. Servers need to be more organized and a bit more attentive. I would go again.

Beautiful restaurant written amazing food. Staff is friendly and helpful.

Best place to eat Indian food! We been there many times. Amazing food with authentic Indian taste, vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian, highly recommended tor foodies. Even in Covid-19 time call and book in advance.

Place looked great, food was good and cost was affordable.

Food was awful. We told them that food is not good.so they told us we're having shortage on employees. So we're like, this is not our problem. And also they didn't asked us for discount on food. I'm not going again.

The food is prepared with local people in mind and is not totally authentic Indian. The food was really good despite that and the ambience was really good. Would recommend this place.

Our portions were huge! Split an order of Punjabi samosa and an order of shahi paneer with someone and we had to take home leftovers. To be fair, we were not starving when the meal began but still... hefty portions. The samosas were a nice starter with flaky crust and a spicy (but not too hot!) filling. The paneer was firmer than I am used to but delicious nonetheless and the sauce was creamy with a depth of flavor that kept us coming back for more. Not the best tamarind sauce I've had (but still decent), but the tomato sauce was so flavorful and the mint sauce kept me pouring it over everything. Mantra has a gorgeous atmosphere, tasty food, and friendly staff-- I'll definitely think about coming back on my way to O'Hare!