Mandala Restaurant

Food was cold steak was seasoned nice but fatty and chewy , service was blah , slow had to ask for stuff repeatedly ambiance was nice .

Such a nice fancy place! Food is delicious and i will be back for sure just pricy. There is also a dress code

Located in downtown Downey, right next to Besos night club. My friends and I wanted to try this place after seeing so many good reviews, but it was a miss for us.For a Friday, it was not packed at all, maybe because it was new? Appetizers and drinks were good. We got calamari, ceviche, and beef tongue yakitori. Beef tongue yakitori were the best. Ceviche was not what we expected, it was more of creamy sauce and not lemon juice and the overall taste was weird. We were not a fan. Drinks were delicious with interesting concept, this restaurant is known for tequila so we got drinks with tequila. Main entrees we got pork belly, carne asada, and seafood rice. Pork belly was deep fried pork belly and was pretty greasy with the mayo sauce on top. I suggested changing it to roasted pork belly with some elements to cut down the fat. Overall we left a bit disappointed and felt like the prices didn't reflect the quality. If you are looking for small plates and drinks, i would suggest Mandala, but not for entree :)

On Yelp it said Mandala was open today (Sunday, October 27), and their website allowed me to make a reservation for four people at 1:30pm. We drove all the way out to Downey, had difficulty parking in the busy downtown area.. only to find Mandala was closed.Please update your hours and reservation system to save people from wasting their time.

A very nice restaurant in the heart of Downtown Downey. Really liked the decor here. We were able to reserve a table by the bar. The drinks we had were great! And the arepas were also delicious. I couldn't give it a 5 star rating because the service was very slow. We had to waive people down to get service. Some people were not able to take orders, so they would tell someone else and we'd have to wait more. I would recommend this location not rely on their bartenders to be waiters also. It doesn't make any sense to have to take orders and make drinks.

I went on Valentine's day.. and I must say it was not at all what I expected. Fixed Menu I was not aware of didn't help either.

Fries were good but they were too crispy for my liking. We sat at the bar and were tended to right away. The drinks all looked good so we got a drink recommended to us by the bartender. I got a 1/2 flight of tequila and I was able to substitute one of the reposado tequilas with another they had. Place looks like it is good for groups or to take a date. We had came from dinner so we just got fries while we enjoyed our drinks but the food definitely caught our eye. I will definitely be back to try the food menu some more.

WOW, WOW, WOW! Our first experience but won't be our last. I received an email from Mandala that they were extending their dineLA menu/offer through the final weekend, so we decided to give it a try. Décor and ambiance are casual to upscale cool. Parking is on street, however there's a small lot across the street at the US Bank building, that we used in the evening, after the bank closed.SERVICE: Mauricio waited on us, and the service couldn't have been better. The entire wait staff worked as a team and made us feel like we were the only ones there. The kitchen staff even checked on us to see how we were enjoying the food. Meal courses were timed out perfectly.FOOD: We started with a shared dish of their Esquite (Mexican Street Corn) with corn milk, basil, and a Cascabel salsa ($14), creamy and delicious. The dineLA menu offered four courses with a selection of two items for each course, so we tried and shared all eight items. The food was absolutely amazing, fantastic flavors and beautiful presentations. The dineLA portions were so large, they could have easily been shared by two average appetite eaters. In addition, my mother-in-law ordered two of the Anticuchos (Yakitori) skewers, a Beef Tongue ($12) with sesame sauce, and a Chicken Adobo ($12). Again, the flavors were sensational.TIP: Ask one of the staff about their speakeasy, Kuduowl, located upstairs with access from the restaurant through a secret doorway...very fun.We were so impressed with Mandala Bar that we can't wait for our next adventure. I highly recommend.

We stopped here for drinks and appetizers before watching a concert at Downey Theater. I must say the food was delicious and the drinks were amazing!! We tried the pork belly skewers and beef tongue skewers, chicharron de pinwheels chips called Duritos as well as the parm truffle fries. Everything was delicious! We even got drinks and I got a drink called Secret Sin which is Mandala blanco, pineapple oleo saccaru, salt, lime and Topo Chico. What made this place even amazing is it's the same company that makes the Mandala Tequila and the decor all over the restaurant consists of these beautiful bottles. Next time we go back we're going to try their dinner!

"This place is newly open, even though Google's photos must be updated. The location is beautiful and brand new. I went there for a girls' night out dinner, and I must let you know that the shared appetizers, arepas, filet, and chuleta kan kan, were all delicious!"BTW, importantly Shoutout for the great service and attention from Denise our server, Madison the host! And the amazing attentive staff!!