Mayura Indian Restaurant

I am generally interested in Asian food. It's one of my favorite types of spice combinations (no matter the culture), and I love to try new things. I will say that I am pickiest about Indian food because there are often times when the spice, while tasty, can be a bit overbearing. Mayura Indian Restaurant is a good example of that isn't the case.

Food: 3 Beards

The food here is comparable to most other Indian places. It's got a diverse selection, and it was pretty easy to pick what I wanted based on my tastes.

I started off with a Masala tea, which was very well made and not too sweet. That tends to be the problem with a lot of places: too much sugar. Not so much here, which was nice. I ended up having two.

For appetizer, I had some ginger nan bread. This was very nice and -- as is usually the case -- came with the meal. I had the Kadahi Gosht (Goat). I am generally not a fan of heavy, fatty meats -- like lamb and mutton -- but this was nice in the spicy sauce. I ordered a medium spice, and it was just that (which I'll speak more to in the service section).

Service: 4 Beards

The gentlemen who served us -- we had two waiters who bounced around the dining area together -- were both very helpful. The one who took my order and my guest's was very helpful offering a direction with the spice level. He even offered to remake either of our meals if we found it to be too hot.

The meals were served very promptly, and we were looked-in after often, which I thoroughly appreciate. I did not have to ask for my second Masala tea, because they came and checked on us.

Menu: 3 Beards

The menu is very well laid-out. It's also online if you're interested in checking it out. Like most Indian restaurants I've been to the descriptions were a little lax but overall I knew what most of them were having had them before.

Atmosphere: 3 Beards

The place is immaculately clean. I truly appreciated this, and it's very well-lit and nicely decorated. Compared to a few other places on the East Side in the ethnic genre, it's a nice change, because the low lighting isn't always necessary. Also, there's no loud music, if there was any at all, which was very nice, too, so I could have a good conversation.

As a side note, I had the buffet here one time, and the buffer line and area was also very, very clean. That is a sign of a good restaurant. Everything was also very fresh and constantly looked into to make sure things didn't need replacing (not reheating).

Price: 3 Beards

Mayura is comparable to most Indian restaurants. They have lunch specials, which are very nicely priced. Their dinner menu is pretty evenly matched with most other similar restaurants.

Overall: 3 Mugs

This is a good, solid restaurant. It took the place of India Rasoi when it left the city (which I was sad about). I would definitely recommend it over Maharaja, mostly due to service issues. It's certainly worth at least a few visits to try their menu variety, as well as their buffet. Also, when Comet is too busy (as it was the night I went), it's right across the street.