We’re regular dine-in customers at Spice Mantra, which is why this experience was especially disappointing.
We arrived at 7:40 PM and were seated at a clean table around 7:55 PM. We placed our order at 8:00 PM — Dum Biryani for the two of us and Mini Ghee Idlis for our 4-year-old daughter. By 8:30 PM, we checked on the food and were told it would be “2 minutes.” We asked again at 8:40 PM, requesting at least the idlis first since our daughter was very hungry, and again were told “2 minutes.” The idlis finally arrived at 8:50 PM — nearly an hour after ordering — and the biryani came at 9:00 PM.
Unfortunately, the delay wasn’t the only issue. The spice level of the biryani was extremely high — far beyond what we expected — and I could barely eat a few bites. We had to pack the rest to take home and mix it with plain rice just to make it manageable.
We understand restaurants can get busy, but the long wait time, repeated assurances, and overly spicy food made this one of our worst experiences here. We hope the management takes this feedback seriously, as we’ve otherwise enjoyed dining here in the past.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Eric Lowery
Excellent service and delicious food!
Elizabeth Blackson
I've gone here twice. The first time I had Mango Chicken and the second time Chicken Biryani. Both were fantastic. The garlic naan is also amazing. The only knock is that on both occasions, wait staff forgot to bring my soda, which is a pretty minor issue.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
The Dorseys
Very friendly service and great authentic Indian food! Glad we tried it and will definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Faith T.
I was really disappointed with my experience at Spice Mantra. The food had almost no flavor or spice, which was surprising and honestly frustrating given the name and type of cuisine. Everything tasted bland and under-seasoned.
The service was also extremely slow. We waited a long time for our food, and it didn’t feel like there was much communication or urgency from the staff.
To make things worse, the music was so loud that it was hard to have a conversation at the table. Overall, it just wasn’t an enjoyable dining experience, and I wouldn’t return.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Jennifer Sursa
The butter chicken and samosas were delicious. American medium spice had a decent amount of kick. The portions were very generous and the desserts looked really good but we didn't try any at this visit. Next time for sure!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Šimon Hauba
amazing food, amazing service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tony Allison
Chicken curry and tikka masala were delicious!
Andrew Powell
Wonderful food and atmosphere. Will definitely return!
Their bread basket is amazing, and the chicken in the butter chicken and Vijayawada chicken biryani is perfectly cooked—soft, tender, and full of flavor.
All over in St. Louis, the Hyderabad dum biryani in this restaurant has most authentic taste. Their mirchi ka salan is a perfect side for biryani. Staff are kind and polite.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Rachel Garrett
Update: The spice levels have been very inconsistent. It’s been going on for a while, our children usually want a spice levels 1 but even the low numbers are coming back as what used to be a “4”. It’s every dish too, not just the tikka or butter chicken. My husband’s and I dishes are too spicy for the level requested. Eating in usually helps with the spice levels, as take-away always seem to be at the wrong too-high level unless you order the biryani which is always not spicy enough. But the service in the restaurant has gone downhill after our favorite server left. We have to ask for our drinks multiple times, getting refills on water doesn’t happen, nor getting boxes. Typically, I just get up and grab the water and boxes myself. If I could access the drinks I would grab those too. What is the point of reading back the order if the server forgets to grab your items? Especially since the mango lasse is premade in a fridge behind the cafe counter. The booths need to be reset for spacing each day, the last few times we went all the booths were offset and we had either no room between the seat and table or a huge gap on both sides. It’s hard to make them fix that once people are seated in the other booths. Also, the bathrooms are disgusting and the place has become really dirty, I hope it doesn’t look like that in the kitchen. The music sometimes is also too loud and people trying to talk over the music makes the room unbearable. Also, I’m not sure why they make everyone sit next to each other when there is room to space people out? Last thing to note is the cakes went downhill too. The last two times I ordered the mango or strawberry cake they were stale, the icing on the cake was actually gooey-hard from sitting so long and the cake had dried out. Very disappointing, I’m glad we got to go there weekly while everything was still running great. :/
Prior Review : 4/5 Definitely our favorite restaurant. We probably eat there at least once a week. We’ve tried multiple dishes on the menu and we’ve loved each one. They are spicer than the other Indian restaurants we have been too, but honesty it’s in a good way. Our favorite server is Sam! She is great.
We’re regular dine-in customers at Spice Mantra, which is why this experience was especially disappointing.
We arrived at 7:40 PM and were seated at a clean table around 7:55 PM. We placed our order at 8:00 PM — Dum Biryani for the two of us and Mini Ghee Idlis for our 4-year-old daughter. By 8:30 PM, we checked on the food and were told it would be “2 minutes.” We asked again at 8:40 PM, requesting at least the idlis first since our daughter was very hungry, and again were told “2 minutes.” The idlis finally arrived at 8:50 PM — nearly an hour after ordering — and the biryani came at 9:00 PM.
Unfortunately, the delay wasn’t the only issue. The spice level of the biryani was extremely high — far beyond what we expected — and I could barely eat a few bites. We had to pack the rest to take home and mix it with plain rice just to make it manageable.
We understand restaurants can get busy, but the long wait time, repeated assurances, and overly spicy food made this one of our worst experiences here. We hope the management takes this feedback seriously, as we’ve otherwise enjoyed dining here in the past.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Excellent service and delicious food!
I've gone here twice. The first time I had Mango Chicken and the second time Chicken Biryani. Both were fantastic. The garlic naan is also amazing. The only knock is that on both occasions, wait staff forgot to bring my soda, which is a pretty minor issue.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Very friendly service and great authentic Indian food! Glad we tried it and will definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I was really disappointed with my experience at Spice Mantra. The food had almost no flavor or spice, which was surprising and honestly frustrating given the name and type of cuisine. Everything tasted bland and under-seasoned.
The service was also extremely slow. We waited a long time for our food, and it didn’t feel like there was much communication or urgency from the staff.
To make things worse, the music was so loud that it was hard to have a conversation at the table. Overall, it just wasn’t an enjoyable dining experience, and I wouldn’t return.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
The butter chicken and samosas were delicious. American medium spice had a decent amount of kick. The portions were very generous and the desserts looked really good but we didn't try any at this visit. Next time for sure!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
amazing food, amazing service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Chicken curry and tikka masala were delicious!
Wonderful food and atmosphere. Will definitely return!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Always delicious and friendly servers!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Their bread basket is amazing, and the chicken in the butter chicken and Vijayawada chicken biryani is perfectly cooked—soft, tender, and full of flavor.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tastiest Indian food in whole STL area
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Lollipop, Boneless Chicken Biryani
One of the best spots around. Loved it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
All over in St. Louis, the Hyderabad dum biryani in this restaurant has most authentic taste. Their mirchi ka salan is a perfect side for biryani.
Staff are kind and polite.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Update: The spice levels have been very inconsistent. It’s been going on for a while, our children usually want a spice levels 1 but even the low numbers are coming back as what used to be a “4”. It’s every dish too, not just the tikka or butter chicken. My husband’s and I dishes are too spicy for the level requested.
Eating in usually helps with the spice levels, as take-away always seem to be at the wrong too-high level unless you order the biryani which is always not spicy enough. But the service in the restaurant has gone downhill after our favorite server left. We have to ask for our drinks multiple times, getting refills on water doesn’t happen, nor getting boxes. Typically, I just get up and grab the water and boxes myself. If I could access the drinks I would grab those too. What is the point of reading back the order if the server forgets to grab your items? Especially since the mango lasse is premade in a fridge behind the cafe counter.
The booths need to be reset for spacing each day, the last few times we went all the booths were offset and we had either no room between the seat and table or a huge gap on both sides. It’s hard to make them fix that once people are seated in the other booths.
Also, the bathrooms are disgusting and the place has become really dirty, I hope it doesn’t look like that in the kitchen.
The music sometimes is also too loud and people trying to talk over the music makes the room unbearable.
Also, I’m not sure why they make everyone sit next to each other when there is room to space people out?
Last thing to note is the cakes went downhill too. The last two times I ordered the mango or strawberry cake they were stale, the icing on the cake was actually gooey-hard from sitting so long and the cake had dried out. Very disappointing, I’m glad we got to go there weekly while everything was still running great. :/
Prior Review : 4/5 Definitely our favorite restaurant. We probably eat there at least once a week. We’ve tried multiple dishes on the menu and we’ve loved each one. They are spicer than the other Indian restaurants we have been too, but honesty it’s in a good way.
Our favorite server is Sam! She is great.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Recommended dishes: Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, Mango Chicken, Chicken Noodles, Paneer Biryani, Chicken Korma, Chicken Fried Rice, Boneless Chicken Biryani
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