This is hands-down the best Indian food in the inland empire Mantra has 3 locations, the Riverside one is absolutely the best one I've had the buffet at least 6 times, it's always consistent and tastes really good... you will not eat a better chicken tikka masala I must also say the staff is actually very attentive and very kind read more

Service was great very polite the ambiance is amazing they have music playing it's very nice seating is great my hot tea was delicious the spices so warm food was great read more

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I had to literally stop mid bite because I wanted to rate this restaurant. I waited a bit for restaurant to open , but oh! Boy was it worth the wait. I'm Soooo happy I did not listen to my inner voice that was so impatient and wanted to eat anywhere but wait. The food is on point. I have tried MANY Indian food restaurants and o can honestly say the flavor , the temperature, the richness and consistency is all there. I honestly did not feel like I was eating at a restaurant but rather at an aunties house!! Love ! Love! Love this jewel of restaurant. read more

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I say it every time I come here. The food is euphoric, the amount of flavor this place brings to everything we order is out of the world. I seriously cannot believe that people aren't fighting over this place. The naan, basmati rice, chicken tiki masala, chicken tandoori, shrimp or chicken pakora , fish tiki masala! Ughhh! So good. If you can't do spicy just tell them. They understand- don't get frustrated them. They're so kind and eager to please you. Food is authentic and made fresh to order so be patient. I guarantee you it's worth it read more

Superb food: lamb vindaloo, chicken tikka masala and vegetable curry are my favorite choices.

The butter chicken was tasty, and the biryani flavor was good. It was a late-night order, so the biryani rice was a bit broken and the lamb wasn't quite as tender as usual, but the taste was still there. However, the delivery experience was a comedy of errors. I had this delivered to the hospital and didn't ask for extra utensils or napkins because I assumed the basics would be included (spoiler: they weren't). The biggest plot twist? The butter chicken arrived completely solo--no rice! Since other restaurants usually include it automatically, I was left staring at a container of delicious sauce in a hospital room wondering, "Uh... what am I supposed to eat this with lol?" To top it off, the Uber driver just left the food with security and sent a message that required a detective codebreaker to figure out. The food has great potential, but if you're ordering a late-night curry, definitely double-check that you added rice, grab some forks, and prepare for an adventure! read more

Very high-quality Indian food. The all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is great quality and has a wide array of different offerings. The prices are reasonable. Quick service and the staff are very receptive to any questions you may have. Would greatly recommend. The best Indian I've had in Riverside. read more

Nice clean atmosphere very wide open with cool looking modernistic interior LED lights. I had chicken tikka masala. It was pretty good smaller chunks of chicken. The buffet looked pretty good. read more

Mantra Indian Cuisine - Indian Near Me - Riverside, California

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I have actually visited this restaurant a couple times already and the food is Amazing! We have tried the Lamb Biryani, Butter Chicken, Paneer Saag and the Chicken Masala. Everything is delicious, the spices and heat levels are perfect for me and the variety of dishes is plentiful. We usually have early dinners and midway both times the place starts to fill up. It is beautiful inside, the bathrooms are very clean and the service is exceptional. They have a really good selection of wine and are very attentive. From the outside you would never know just how lovely it is inside, the ambiance and decor were really nice. read more

The food was delicious however pick up service was long wait. No welcome and floor was very dirty.

Great food with many options from the buffet. Service is also excellent. This is my favorite Indian restaurant from now.

Mind you I am not an Indian food person. It's usually too spicy for me. BUT... You walk in and the decor is stunning and the vibe is relaxed yet elegant. The food is the best Indian food I've e ever had. The server was nice, attentive and had our food out in no time. When i told him how good the food was he was very pleased and appreciative. The samosas are 12/10. Perfection in every way and their sauces are perfect. I split the butter chicken with my partner and it was melt in your mouth. Paired with the garlic naan it is a whole experience. Also 12/10. All that for very reasonable prices. About 15 dollars for the butter chicken that I split and still had leftovers. Over 5 stars for this place. read more

Usually order from here and everything is good. This last time was so annoying. I ordered thru Grubhub thru Yelp (which is the worst customer service btw) and the order was suppose to be ready by 12pm. My order said "ready to pickup" . We go there at 1225pm and they only start getting it ready and now we're still waiting for our order. So annoying and when I called Grubhub to complain they didn't do anything. Disappointed, now we're late for our event bc we're waiting on our order. read more

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I'm so glad they are back to having a lunch buffet. Sorely missed. Haven't eaten at this location since it became part of the Mantra chain several years ago. Remodeled since the last proprietors. Much more sterile and I guess modern but I missed the more Indian atmosphere. Restroom much nicer and cleaner. Menu for buffet was pretty good only missing a mixed curry vegetable Korma and tandoori chicken. No soup available. Came with Garlic naan. Flavors average but seems to rely on chili to make flavor. I'm a wimp when it comes to spiciness and I found a tad hot. Best item Chicken Tikka Masala. Good variety of desserts, including an Indian sweet treat, really needed bowls for these. Most items labeled. I liked that they brought a chilled glass bottle of water I could serve myself. Wish standard table setting included a knife, could have used one. Price reasonable for a Sunday buffet. I'd pay a few dollars more for the items I listed as missing. I'd go back here. 3.5 on the scale. Exterior needs work, weeds at entrance. read more

Mantra Indian Cuisine - Exterior - Indian Near Me - Riverside, California

Great lunch buffet!! Samosa best I've ever had. Chicken masala creamy and delicious. Palak spices excellent. Large selection of dishes.

Amazing chefs kiss I had the butter chicken and it was absolutely delicious!! I would 100% recommend this place to someone.

Service was delightful. Naan was amazing. Food was tasty. All you can eat... all good. Enjoy! read more

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My coworkers and I have been eating here for lunch. The naan bread and chicken tikka masala are my favorite! A little pricey but service is good and food is delicious!!! I'm surprised they're not that busy. read more

Taste: 4 stars. I can't tell if I like the Okra. It tastes kind of hollow. Kinda like it's fried but still a little soft. Rarely eat okra, so can't compare. Cauliflower with potatoes was not bad. First time trying this dish. I would order it again. Soft and has kinda like a curry flavor. Chicken tikka masala: 5/5 good flavor. Our usual. Kids love it and we have to always order double of the garlic naan as well. Price: Ok. We always forget our % coupon. It's either 10 or 15% in the Riverside or IE magazine mailer. Parking: Free. Plenty. Location is easy to find, in same plaza as Chase bank, Northgate market, and Frostbites. read more

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So good! I went for the lunch buffet, and for its asking price, it's not bad at all. The servers greeted us right away, and was attentive the whole time. It's a nice place with strobe lights going off the whole time. The food was very flavorful, I just got too full too quick to be able to try anything besides the butter chicken, which was delicious. read more

We found mantra 15 years plus ago. This restaurant is family owned. The owner is the nicest guy and he is very friendly. The food is delicious . If you love Indian food and love supporting local businesses you definitely must stop at mantra.They have other locations in the Inland Empire one in Riverside another one in Temecula and they have a catering hall in Ontario. read more

We were in the mood for Indian food and omg...this hit the spot! We ordered things I can't pronounce but the flavor profile was superb! For appetizer, we ordered muncharin (cauliflower stir fry with onions, bell peppers in red sauce) I'm salivating just thinking about it, then some battered cauliflower, butter chicken, chicken tikki masala, garlic naan, rice, potato balls with tofu, something that started with a "v" lol, and something paneer...uh..,it was all yummy! The chef here is 100% thee best! read more

I have loved this place for years and literally just walked out. I showed up at 11 when they opened. One of the staff told me it was a 10 minute wait guessing theu werent ready. That's fine... a party of 3 show up no more than 5 mins after me and were sat in the booth right next to me. I thought they were asking about the menu but turns out their orders were taken. They get food served to them at this point its 11:30 and the same guy never even took my order. I ask if i can order and he says "give me a min" . I dont know if the other party was served first because they were indian and i'm not but it was pretty rude and disappointing. read more

We went during 1:20ish pm and had the buffet. The waiter/host was kind to us and was attentive. The bathrooms were clean and the tables, plates, and buffet area were clean. I recommend this place. Food was tasty, we got the mango lassi and the buffet cost $17 per person. read more

The food is always fresh and delicious! I have never had a bad dish . When ordering delivery but they wrap it so good ! I'm so glad they opened this second location in Riverside ! read more

I haven't been here since years before the remodel and now the interior upscale this restaurant, which includes the prices. The host is great and the staff is friendly -- made us feel at home, but our server was the opposite. We had the shahi paneer and vegetarian dinner. The food arrived room temperature. The naan was mediocre. The shahi was thick but not creamy and buttery. The daal had good flavor, the palak was okay and the korma was basic. read more

Mantra Indian Cuisine - Indian Near Me - Riverside, California

Beautiful place, excellent food, and service is fantastic! We had dinner where everything is al la carte and my wife and I are impressed on the portion size but most importantly how good the food is! Everything come out perfectly spicy and the side sauces like the tamarind and mint sauce are actually made in house. Easily, this is the best Indian food I have tasted in the IE when it comes to their dinner menu. Next time I will try their buffet when I get the chance . read more

I ordered the chicken spicy tikka masala and the garlic chicken both "spicy" for to go. Maybe this was a misunderstanding but I was pretty shocked to learn that it didn't come with rice or the naan bread - that we had to order it separate. And for just 2 orders, the total almost came out to $60. Pretty pricey. Portion wise; it's okay. A lot of the sauce but not as much chicken as one would expect. Bread and rice was good. Overall, I was expecting it to be more flavorful and definitely more spicy but it was just on medium side. Service was okay too. It wasn't very busy but the person that took our order over the phone wasn't very friendly in person. read more

Came here the other day with my fiance and our daughter. I have to say I was very happy with everything. First all the employees were super nice. I had like three different people constantly checking up on us. That's the best. Their food was amazing too. We ordered the samosas, pilau (rice dish) and chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. We were very happy with the food because it tasted so good. The price was very decent too. The ambiance inside the restaurant is great as well. They have color changing lights which was nice. When we were leaving they offered my daughter a lollipop which made her really happy. That made me really happy. Thank you guys for the great experience! read more

Mantra Indian Cuisine - Samosa, pilau, chicken tikka masala and garlic naan all soo good - Indian Near Me - Riverside, California

The chicken tikka masala it's definitely one of the best that I have ever had. Although it is thicker and has more of a tomato flavor then the classic chicken tikka masala, their sauce has a ton of depth and is amazing! The garlic naan is definitely worth buying and tasted much better than the Roti. I wish this place did lunch buffets. read more

Food is delicious. We have never dined in so can't say how dine in service is but it seems like the guys are pretty nice when I do take out. We always get chicken tikka masala and palak paneer. read more

Food was tasty and service throughout lunch buffet was excellent.. I've learned that there's two types of Indian food, regular and spicy. This place is spicy if you like that. read more

Just tried this place for take out and it was so good! We got the butter chicken, shahi paneer, chicken korma, and garlic naan. Everything tasted so so good. We were missing our palak paneer but the restaurant was quick to refund us for that after I called. Overall we will definitely order from here again. read more

We orered a Non-Vegetarian Complete Dinner by phone to pick up. Cost a little under $21. It's a great deal. It had 2 pieces of Tandoor Chicken, Daal, Chicken Curry, Palak Paneer, Rice, 2 Garlic Naan, Raita, & 1 Ball of Gulab Jamun. My favorite was the Palak Paneer. I love that spinach and block of cheese. The Daal is my next choice, a good favor of spicyness. Eating these two with the rice and the a cool Raita on top was the best combinations of flavors. Of course the Gulab Jamun to finish the dinner off is especially satisfying. The Tandoor chicken was ok, but I was expecting it to be a dryer; it was a little bit wet. I am not sure which Chicken Curry it was, but it was not my type. I was hoping for the Chicken Tikka Masala; next time I will probably order that a la carte. The naan got a little soft becase of the heat, but just put in the toaster it'll be nice and crunchy. Why I only gave 4 stars was that they forgot our rice. It the part that completes the meal. We called to ask but I didn't quite understand what the said. We went back to the restuarant and they gave us a big size of rice. Which of course made me really happy! Next time I will be ordering the Vegetarian Complete Dinner. read more

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Definitely a good improvement in quality of their food since I last visited them since 2016. Back then they only had their Corona CA branch as far as I know. I knew they started more branches in the IE area later on. However, the service is still a little lacking. But they make up in their food as the quality has way more improved. They have good staff on hand who take your order correctly. The restaurant before Mantra at this location was Punjab Palace. Their prices are decent but the one thing I liked is the ratio of food you get with what you pay. In these crazy inflation times, going to any restaurant would be expensive especially for a family of 4. But, the quantity you get here is pretty good for the price you pay. The restaurant before Mantra had never changed their internal Ambiance and it was very dated. Mantra has completely changed the old dates Ambiance to a very modern vibrant style. I would certainly recommend them. read more

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I visited the restaurant and we had the buffet. Food was too spicy for my party's taste buds but the naan bread was good. Service was very good. Good lighting and seats were comfortable. read more

The Best Indian Buffet ever! Variety of chicken tikka, curries, tandoori chicken, samosas, naan bread, desserts! 5 stars!

Really nice update they did. The prices did go up so just come in with that in mind . The food is good. Me an husband shared and it was good amount read more

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The best goat curry I've had. My husband and i got it for second time yesterday, and it was even better than the first. And naan with extra butter was an ideal combination. Yes unhealthy, but it hit the spot! Huge thank you for great service as well. read more

We've ordered food from here for work and the quality and taste has never been an issue. What's upsetting is having a pick up time and having to wait additional 7-10 minutes. I placed my order and was ready for pick up at 12:20 pm came in at 12:45 pm for them to ask additional time. Also the chicken tikki masala was not available because they couldn't cook for Dept of health visit??? They didn't call me to let me know my order would be different Will not be ordering online from here again Such a shame read more

Mantra Indian Cuisine - Indian Near Me - Riverside, California

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