Amazing Afghan food with flavorful meats, rice, and mantu. Beef kebabs and chicken kebabs so tender and juicy they melt on your tongue. Served with traditional Afghan rice with raisins and carrots and fresh, fluffy naan. The mantu were spiced to perfection. We came from New Jersey to this spot and the food here is better than the Afghan restaurants we find there. We were pleasantly surprised and very impressed with our meal. read more

The Mantu - Baklava was delicious and not overly sweet. - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

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We drove all the way to go there and have halal food, But that was not a halal restaurant because they are selling Alcohol, so how they will care of halal food? It doesn't make sense. So we left back and went to Aryana halal restaurant 5 minutes away. read more

The restaurant is empty of customers right now. We preferred mantu and soup to share. Mantu is $10 The ambiance is pleasant. Server came out immediately and took our order. They turned on the music. The handicap parking is not great. It's on a hill so getting in and out is awkward. The mantu was $16 each. Aush soup was $10. And dessert was custard and baklava also $10 each. All our food was delicious. I'd definitely recommend the food. The server was wonderful. Friendly and knowledgeable. read more

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Wow what a gem of a place! This is some authentic Afghan food and the flavors and freshness is amazing! Definitely a recommendation to hit up! Absolutely amazing first experience! The mantu and kababs are cooked to perfection and the rice options are absolutely delicious! Will be back! Great atmosphere and wonderful friendly service! read more

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The owner was so nice love his journey and story..love the fact they take a portion of their proceeds and donate to the less fortunate ..food and drinks are great read more

We tried Mantu for the first time, ordering takeout. Upon finding a dish missing, they delivered it to our home within minutes! The food was absolutely delicious - fresh, colorful, flavorful. We will be back soon! read more

I have never really had afghan food before so this was a first to me and it was good ! I didn't know dumplings would be a part of the menu. The staff was soooo nice and you can really tell the chef genuinely enjoys his job and feeding people. He knew exactly what we needed at any given point in time throughout our meal. make sure to get the yogurt sauce ! Also the lamb was sooooo tender fell right off the bone. It is was an extremely homey experience. The ambiance is also cute with art all over the walls. Food smelled and looked so good I never got a chance to take pictures of the rest of the meal also Fridays they have 10% off bottles of wine so we made sure to snag our bottle of syrah! And they gave us free dessert. read more

The Mantu - Dumplings ! - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

We went there a couple of weeks ago and loved the food! It was so tasty! The service was perfect. We will definitely make this one of our go-to restaurants. read more

The Mantu - A yummy appetizer. - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

The Mantu staff are super helpful and accommodating. I wasn't familiar with the Afghan cuisine and Cheryl walked our group of 8 through the menu and the specials. We never felt rushed. Jaimie (was in training) supported Cheryl's customer service efforts .Great Team work! We even met the friendly, talented chef (and owner) Most of our group were drawn to the kebabs. 4 of us chose lamb, 2 beef, 1 chicken and 1 vegetarian entree. There are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. I am a huge fan of lamb of any variety. There are many lamb (and other) choices on the menu. All of our entrees were cooked and seasoned to perfection. All of the apps came out at the same time with enough time to enjoy before the entrees. Mantu dumplings are a must try app. No pics this time, either way pics would not capture the sound of the sizzling hot entrees. I will be back to try more of the wide menu variety. There is plenty of parking in an adjacent parking lot. read more

Great food with real flavor! The owner takes great pride in making sure his customers are happy. The seasoning that he uses is really great. It's a small restaurant and the personnel who act as the servers are not always consistent in terms of their personality, but the food more than makes up for it. read more

My work place would always get catered lunch from here with rice, chicken tikka kebab, and kachaloo e dashi (potato) that never missed, so I was always interested in actually dining here. My life has now been divided into 2 parts--The Time Before I Ate at The Mantu, and The Time After. It's a lovely date spot with the white table cloths, and the waitstaff is wonderfully attentive. We had the vegetarian mantu which was a fantastic start--would highly recommend as an appetizer. But it was the lamb chopan kebab with zamarut pallow and white vegan dip that was a spiritual experience. It's the best meal I've had in a long time, and I cannot wait to come back. read more

The Mantu - Lamb Chopan Kebab and Chicken Tikka Kebab - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

We loved our dinner full of delicious and unique flavors. The Mantu appetizer was delicious. We really enjoyed our entrees, and the lamb meat was cooked perfectly and falling off the bone. The ice cream was handmade after we ordered. Service was excellent and the chef even came out to check on our food. We would highly recommend. read more

First time and it will not be the last. Great food and great service. The Beef Mantu is a must order. Chicken Chapli and Chicken Karahi were extremely tender with excellent flavors. I would put this restaurant on your list if going to Richmond, good and maybe even better than Stella's or O'Possum. The Chef/Owner competed against Bobby Flay and I have dined at Bobby Flay's restaurant in Manhattan, Mantu was superior to in everything compared to Mesa Grill. read more

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Wow! What a delicious, pretty, and welcoming space! I was with local friends and they never steer me wrong. I was in a mood for veggies and this was perfect. I started with the SOUP E DAAL, Lentil Soup - Curried lentils cooked with onion Garlic Afghan Seasoning Garnished with Fresh Cilantro. Thick and seasoned. That yogurt sauce works on this, too! Other had the SHURWA E GHUSHT an amazing Lamb broth and the AUSH E TUND - a hearty soup of handmade noodles, garbanzo beans, seasonal vegetables, roasted red pepper, cilantro, onions, garlic & mint. Topped with yogurt, ground beef & Afghan spices. I sampled them and all were delicious. Next, BANJAN BORANI -Oven baked sliced eggplant, tossed with seasonal vegetables and authentic Afghan seasonings. Served with yogurt dressing and roasted pepper dressing and garnished with dried mint. Not breaded, and thick slices. More yogurt sauce! My partner got the Beef Koobideh kebab| A mixture of ground beef, minced onions, red and green peppers, cilantro, jalapeños, and traditional Afghan seasonings skewered and broiled. Another wow. More kebabs on the table. We didn't save room for dessert, so we'll need to come back. Nice rice choices, too. I chose the dill basmati. Just a dream. And they have a nice happy hour, too. Super nice people. Linda took great care of us. Chef-Owner Hamid Noori even stopped by to greet us and ask about the meal. Truly a winner. read more

The Mantu is an amazing place to have a group dinner. Rather than ordering from a menu, I had asked Chef Noori to decide the menu for us. Oh, boy, what a feast he prepared. Many, many courses of interesting food. Special appetizers, dumplings, salads, potatoes, squash, eggplant, rices, breads, peppers. Then came the kabobs and lamb chops. The best chicken, lamb and beef. We were all stuffed! But more was coming--lovely deserts, custard and small baklava cakes. Everyone enjoyed the sensational meal. It was really special. Highly recommend you plan a group dinner, decide your budget, and let Chef Noori decide the menu! I love also the fact that Chef Noori takes proceeds from the restaurant to feed those in need. A great guy and talented chef. read more

The Mantu - Our lovely group dinner. - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

I first ate here around 5-6 years ago and this was my first time back since then. We came for dinner and shared a couple different entrees and appetizers. Each dish had a unique combination of well balanced flavors. The appetizers we tried were the dolmeh, potato skins, nargis kebab, and beef mantu. I loved the heterogeneity of texture and savory flavor of the dolmeh. For entrees we tried the beef chapli kebab, lamb chopan, lamb shank, and lamb dopiaza karahi. The chapli kebab was spiced well and had a nice texture on the exterior. The lamb chopan had a tandoori masala on it with a touch of citrusy flavor that stood out. The lamb shank and lamb dopiaza karahi were both very tender and flavorful. The lamb shank had a savory tomatoey flavor that was complimented well by the daal that came with it. The flavor of the dopiaza karahi was a bit more complex and seemed to be centered on turmeric. Most of these dishes were savory and managed to compliment that pretty well with sweetness, subtle spice, and fragrant aromatics. Everything was well balanced and nothing seemed to be overly spiced which I appreciated. The sides of rice that came with all of these dishes were fluffy and aromatic, but one thing that could be improved would be including more cranberry in the zereshk pulao and more of the spinach and dill in the zamarut pulao rather than just topping the rice with a little bit of those as a garnish. Service was a little bit slow, but that's understandable on a Friday night. The staff was very accommodating and did offer complimentary drinks and dessert for the service. I loved it here and will definitely be coming back one day. read more

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I had so high hopes for this restaurant. I waited two years to eat there but it was disappointing. First - ambiance: White table clothes, friendly service. However, it felt dark and uninviting. Second - food. I ordered the beef mantu. As another reviewer stated there was hardly any beef in there. I also ordered borani banjan. It came with either rice or salad, I picked the Afghan salad. It was good. However, the borani banjan was nothing like the one from Afghan-The Box restaurant, which used to be on Hull Street. The eggplants looked different, the presentation was different, I didn't really care for the red peppers cut in strips. More importantly, just like the mantu there was hardly any yogurt on it. This food needed the Afghan nan to eat with but there was no complimentary serving of bread. We ordered garlic nan, which was the star of the meal. It was freshly baked and crispy. My partner ordered chicken karahi, which came with kabuli palaw and he loved it. I tasted it and it tasted like it was prepared the day before. My partner who paid the bill thought it didn't meet his price quality level. I might try their lamb dishes another day. But not anytime soon. I am going to try their lamb dishes other Afghan restaurants in the area. read more

My husband and I went to the Mantu for Valentine's day this year. They were one of the only restaurants that still had open reservations when I tried to book the first week of February. I've been only once before about a year ago and thought it was lovely, but something has obviously shifted. We were probably the third or fourth table sat in the restaurant. The server who took our order also appeared to be the manager. She was running the show with only two or three others - the host, the person serving wine, and a food runner. After our order was placed, I noticed that the tables next to us were receiving their meals very sporadically. There was a special for a three course meal for Valentine's day, and many tables received their second course before their first, and then the entree before even finishing their appetizer. When our server delivered our wine (we had to twist the cap off ourselves), one of the glasses was completely dirty and covered in lipstick marks from the previous customers. When we notified the host (we couldn't get the servers attention) he just washed it instead of giving us a new one and returned it to us still wet. We watched countless tables get served their meals prior to receiving our first course, and had to reorder our whole meal once I finally got the attention of the server. I watched some tables walk out before their drink order was even taken. The whole time we were seated, there was no music playing or any extra sounds, so we had to listen to the server / manager hound the kitchen staff and her underlings for help. As we were sitting there, more couples kept arriving but there weren't any more open tables. I overheard the server / manager tell them that they had overbooked or there was an issue with the reservation website, and they'd have to wait until tables freed up. It's a small restaurant with no waiting area, so everyone just stood by the entryway, watching the diners eat. The food was decent, but not worth the service. Quite frankly, it stressed me out and I will not be returning. read more

Came here at 5:30 on a Tuesday. We were the first in the restaurant but within an hour, the restaurant filled up. All of the food was absolutely delicious. Highly recommend this restaurant! read more

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I went to the Mantu recently with my gal pals and we had an amazing experience. We had made a reservation because we are extra like that and we don't like to wait, but on a Thursday night it probably wasn't necessary. We were greeted by the owner and she was our server most of the time. Honestly we found her hilarious and loved her sense of humor. It's possible that we bonded over jokes about slimy husbands and French fries. She had us laughing in our seats, helped set us up with some very reasonably priced wine, and all in all kept the good times going. Now for the food! If you have checked out the Mantu's website online you probably saw the food pictures and thought "looks nice! I'm sure every plate isn't that pretty though!" Well you would be WRONG. Every dish was beautiful. And delicious! We got garlic naan, vegetarian mantu, the chicken tikka kebab, and several other entrees. All in all we had an amazing time. Definitely recommend! read more

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Loved this restaurant in Carytown. As novices to Afgan cuisine, we tried several dishes: Beef Mantu (dumpling), Beef Chapli Kabob and Chicken Tikka Kabob, and all were delicious. We will try some vegetarian options too the next time we go. Nice atmosphere and food presentation, and beverage options. read more

Food is solid - and fairly creative. There isn't really another restaurant in Richmond I have found that serves this kind of stuff. The bread was incredibly addicting - whatever that dipping sauce that came with it was? I could honestly drink it. That said, it is a bit pricey - so my partner and I opted to split a dish + the dumpling appetizers. Both were great and I would highly recommend the Vegan Mantu! The Koobideh reminded me of Afghani fajitas almost - never had anything quite like it and it was delish. I want to give Mantu more stars but unfortunately our main hold up was the service. We were there for an early dinner with virtually nobody else in the restaurant - food took awhile to come out and we were awkwardly sat immediately adjacent to the only other party/couple eating there that night. Would have been a bit better to have even a foot or two more of privacy because ultimately the server basically talked to both of our tables at the same time in an effort to make things easy - but in doing so, it became a lot less personable of an experience. read more

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One of our favorite Richmond restaurants! Food is always delicious, authentic, and perfectly seasoned. There is a good selection of menu items and the atmosphere is very pleasant. The owner is gracious and welcoming. The Mantu is thoroughly enjoyable! read more

We had looked forward to trying The Mantu since learning of it shortly before pandemic restrictions were put in place. We finally made it for a recent Friday lunch. The Aush E Tund was delicious though it didn't fit the description at all. My bowl did not contain ground beef or garbanzo beans ; however, it had red (kidney?) beans. Nonetheless the mix of seasonings created an aromatic flavor that I found exceptionally pleasing. The highlight of the meal was the Beef Mantu. I will go back just for this dish. It was not only delicious it was also beautiful. The Beef Chapli Kebab was a huge disappointment. It resembled "hamburger fajitas." The aroma that rose from the sizzling plate offered promise that it would be more impressive than it looked. While the vegetables were deliciously seasoned they did not compensate for the two bland beef patties cut in half. This was not a $24 entree. Shame on me for trusting VPM and not checking Yelp before venturing to The Mantu. I had planned to comment here that they needed to add a lunch menu; much to my surprise they already have one it was just not offered to us. They also have dessert which we were not offered. That said we shared the Beef Mantu and the Beef Capli Kebab, we had no drinks and no dessert and walked a way with a check (including tip) that was just shy of $100. We love the restaurant's story and will most likely visit again but this time armed with more knowledge. AUSH E TUND - 10 | A hearty soup of handmade noodles, garbanzo beans, seasonal vegetables, roasted red pepper, cilantro, onions, garlic & mint. Topped with yogurt, ground beef & Afghan spices BEEF MANTU - 16 | Homemade pastry shell stuffed with ground beef cooked with ginger, garlic paste, cilantro, turmeric, & coriander. Sprinkled with dried mint & served alongside microgreens with yogurt, split pea & tomato sauce. Drizzled with white & red dressing BEEF CHAPLI KEBAB - 24 | Ground beef patties marinated in Afghan spices, sumac, red chili powder, cilantro, onion, tomato, egg, ginger, coriander, and green chilies. Sprinkled with lemon juice and served with shredded potato fries. read more

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I really do hate to give bad reviews but we were fairly disappointed with our dining experience at The Mantu. Food: 2/5 - Started with the beef mantu which disappointed my boyfriend and I. It was 3 pieces of what seemed like deconstructed dumplings with loads of yogurt sauce on top and barely any filling. It's like we paid mostly for dumpling wrapper and yogurt. I ordered the beef koobideh kabobs which was also disappointing as it didn't have much flavor and just tasted like ground beef. And it seemed as though the ground beef had too much moisture causing it to fall apart as compared to other kabobs on a skewer. My boyfriend ordered the lamb kabobs which were tough and he was also not impressed by. We ordered and were billed the garlic naan and while the bread was decent I didn't see or taste a lick of garlic on it. We were excited try the restaurant because we do enjoy middle eastern food but maybe it was just too modern for our taste? Restaurant was clean and modern but still classic. The lady at the front also had a bit too much of an aggressive nature for our taste but the man who we presumed owned/chef of the restaurant seemed very kind and accommodating so it's unfortunate because we did want to support the local restaurant. read more

The Mantu - Beef Koobideh, Lamb Shish Kebab - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

This place is another gem in the Richmond restaurant scene. After reading reviews that characterized it as unexciting, having a buffet feel, we went to see about that, and found it to be a lovely space with vibrant colors and flavors. We were served by the owner/chef and he was fun, engaging and attentive. And, the food he delivered was nothing short of fantastic. Gorgeous dishes, bright flavors, superb food - not one of the four of us had a complaint. The Afghan dumplings are phenomenal - try them all. And the sauces - just wow. Don't miss this, you'll be glad you went!! read more

I read the mixed reviews prior to dining here, but the mantu has been on my list of places to try in the city. I'll start off on a positive note. The service was great. Our server was engaging, friendly and attentive. The food here is beautifully presented, colorful and inviting. Unfortunately the dishes were significantly lacking in flavor. I started off with the beef mantu which looked delicious, but consisted of mostly dough and very little beef. I opted for the chicken tikka kebab as an entree with rice. I don't have much to say about either except they didn't have any flavor which is shocking considering how delicious the plates looked. The naan with "the mantu sauce" which was a yogurt based sauce, was the best part of my dinner. I really wish the rest of my meal had as much flavor as the yogurt sauce did. I ended up dipping my chicken in the sauce just to give it some flavor. It is a cute restaurant and if you're interested in trying afghan food I would try it out to see if you enjoy it ! read more

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Yummy!! Chef Noori's story is so inspiring. I'm glad I was able to support this place! Visited on a Sunday night. It was absolutely dead so we were OK eating indoors, but they have a heated patio! My friend and I ordered a few items so we could get a good feel for the food. The potato skins were delish! Not your typical skins -- but they were the right amount of crunchy and tender. The flavor was great. For my meal, I ordered the Kabuli Pallow and CHICKEN KOOBIDEH. The rice was great, flavorful with a hint of sweetness. And the chicken -- WOW! My favorite part of the meal. We ordered flan because it was the only dessert they had that night. I was not a fan, but it still tasted decent. They are doing free delivery within 5 miles for dinner, so I'll definitely be ordering in! read more

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We had dinner at The Mantu yesterday evening. What an amazing experience. One of the best we have experienced in quite some time. There was not a single aspect of The Mantu that isn't deserving of a 5 star rating. Great location. Lots of parking. Very spacious and well appointed dining area. Great service. And the absolute best cuisine one could experience. All at a great value. Our selected appetizers were beef mantu (very flavorful, the accompanying split peas was a perfect pairing) and potato skins (very original concept that was perfectly executed). These are must-haves for any new patron(s). We intend to try other appetizers in future visits because everything we had was exceptional. Our selected entree was the chicken koobideh with rice. (to share) It was the absolute best koobideh I have ever experienced. I love Afghani and Middle Eastern cuisine, so have experienced it quite a few times at other establishments. The flavor was simply amazing. It was so good that after finishing the chicken koobideh, we decided to order the beef koobideh and naan. We felt the same way about the beef koobideh as we did the chicken koobideh. The naan was toasted just right. We got an opportunity to talk to the owner and also to Chef Noori, who was very humble. We are looking forward to returning to The Mantu. I highly recommend it. read more

Insanely good! We will be back. Service was great. Food is incredible. So worth a try! There's a beautiful dining room. Outdoor dining is available too and it's definitely a very pretty dining area. Aush E Tund is just amazing. Perfect spices/flavors. Great vegetarian options. The pan fried eggplant entree was so good. Definitely a bit greasy, but it's worth getting. The eggplant is so beautifully cooked. Also, pay the $3 for the garlic bread! Delicious. read more

THE HYPE IS REAL. I've been meaning to get in here since it opened - my first Afghan food was in a restaurant in NYC, in the 40s midtown, back when I lived in New York. It became a fave spot, that joint, but when I moved to RVA there weren't any Afghan spots that were anywhere near my usual-circuit. It took a buddy who lives in Dallas pinging me with a recent NYT piece about the place, and its founder Hamidullah Noori (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/dining/afghan-restaurants-refugees-taliban.html) a couple weeks ago to actually spur me in, and now I'M HOOKED. I was in there last Saturday evening for dinner, and I managed an appetizer (stuffed cabbage), an order of lamb chops (ZOMG), and a saffron cake dessert. That's a lot for ol' #MetsParty girl here, and her dimmed appetite. That's how good this meal was! Am booked in there for lunch this coming Friday, with a buddy who lives in the Blue Ridge, who's desperate to try the place. You need to get yourself in there, too. It's REALLY special, peeps. read more

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All right, this is gonna be an unusual review for me so bear with me! We had tickets to go see the Jackson Browne concert in town and decided to go out to eat prior to the show. My wife only had one request and that was that we had to eat at a place that neither one of us had ever been. I had heard about this restaurant before and wanted to check it out. Having said that, I have never had Afghan food before. We arrived at the restaurant around 530 with very easy parking. We went ahead and ordered the potato skins as well as the beef mantu and a chicken dish. My wife does not really like spicy food, so it was a little on the hot side for her but overall she was able to hang. Now here is the unusual part for the review. I believe very strongly and expanding one's culinary horizons and trying new foods and different things. That was the spirit that drove us to this restaurant, but as it turns out I am not a very big fan of afghan food! I I am still giving the restaurant four-star's because the food was good, it was presented very well, the service was friendly, and it was a good experience. It just turns out I don't particularly care for the cuisine! I am still glad that I went and tried it, and I would certainly recommend it to anybody that has a craving for Afghan food. I wish the owners nothing but the absolute best as I am sure it takes quite a bit of courage to open a restaurant for such a niche taste. I can't say that I would make it a destination restaurant for me, but if friends were going and wanted me to tagalong I would certainly go and be happy. read more

The Mantu - Potato Skins - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia

This is a place that you come to for the food, but not the atmosphere or service. The food was for sure 4 star worthy. We had the beef Mantu for an appetizer, lamb shank and BanJan Borani for the entrees. All the food was absolutely amazing. My eggplant was so tender and flavorful. The lamb was tender and the sauce and lentils were a great compliment. The service is really where this review goes down. The service was fast, but pretty horrible. None the servers understood most English so the owner had to come out a few times to help. Even for simple things like getting a rum and coke. Then the bill was messed up and they undercharged us by $80. Thank god I caught it and told the owner or he would have been out that money. The place itself is the old burger Bach and nothing has been done to upgrade it or change in. A few tables thrown around the room. read more

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Great food and service was excellent. First time enjoying Afghan cuisine so the staff gave great suggestions. Can't wait to enjoy again?

Finally got a chance to try this place after seeing/hearing about it multiple times! Definitely a more upscale restaurant but excited to try Afghani food for the first time! The chicken chapli kebab and beef koobideh were both pretty decent! The former had quiche/omelet vibes to it as it was a ground up chicken with spices, while the latter was more like a sausage packed with beef and their Afghani spices. I felt the seasoning was there but could have been a little more salty? The two meats were also relatively dry so I wish there was more juice or sauce. We paired the two entrees with the zereshk rice with cranberry and saffron and the zamarut rice with spinach, dill weed, and garlic. Both rices were pretty flavorful buy itself but I liked the zamarut rice more. My party of 2 went pretty early 5:30ish on a Friday. I was confused when the server asked to seat us outside but all the indoor tables were empty. There were tables with the "reserved" sign but not all were taken. The outside tables were definitely more dusty. It was also kinda cold and windy that day but they didn't have heating outside. The servers did come and check in on us regularly, which was very nice and appreciated. But I almost felt like it was too excessive? We had 3 different people check in on us almost every 10 minutes. Overall I felt like it was a great way for me to experience Afghani food but I wish the logistics were a little better. read more

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I always like to try local places with food I am unfamiliar, so I was excited to finally try Mantu. Maybe I just don't care for Afghan food but everything we got was so bland. Each dish said it had traditional afghan spices but I actually could have used some salt because it had so little flavor. We got the potatoes skins appetizer but it was just shavings of potatoes and it was cold but actually that was the best part of the meal. The rice was pretty good too but our entrees were so bland. The service was very good and the waiter was very nice so I have no complaints there. read more

The food was decent, but the service was painfully slow. I'm not sure if they were perhaps under-staffed, but it seemed as if they should have had enough staff to service the small restaurant when we visited. Nearly 40 minutes after we placed our order, we were shocked that the owner stopped by our table again to ask if we had ordered yet... it took nearly an hour and a half to receive our food. I watched tables around us waiting long periods of time to receive their food, check, or to be cleared after finishing the meal. My boyfriend enjoyed the flavors of his meal while I found mine to be under seasoned and quite greasy. I'd give them another shot in the future, but I'm disappointed since I had high hopes for this restaurant when we visited to celebrate our anniversary. read more

If I didn't have to limit restaurants I frequent to places that are gluten-free and dairy-free friendly then I would not eat here again, which makes me sad because they are great about food allergies and the food can be good. Dishes are overpriced for what you get and often poorly executed. The interior is nice enough, there is a patio, and parking was easy. The first time I ate here was dine-in with hands-on attention from the chef/owner, and it was amazing. The food was great and the service excellent, so I was excited to get eat there again. However, subsequent dine-in and carry-out experiences have been lackluster to awkward. The lady we interacted with for all of these subsequent orders was friendly but very unprofessional to the point where I'd honestly second think dining-in again if she's there in the future (which she always seems to be). The dishes have never been the quality of the first time I ate there, which makes them very overpriced. Sometimes the dishes are floating in excessive amounts of poor quality oil and/or shockingly flavorless, which is really unfortunate. The results coming out of the kitchen and the service taking place doesn't seem to align with the chef/owner's expressed intentions, so I'd guess there's either managerial issues at play or financial corner-cutting, if not both. At this point I only order pickup/delivery when I'm simply desperate for a different option than my other allergy-friendly restaurants, but it always feels like an expensive gamble. I'd love to see the quality of the food and service live up to my first experience eating there again so I could add it to my rotation of dine-in places. read more

Having just spent 2+ hours waiting in line for nearby Christmas pop up bar Miracle, my wife and I were hangry and in need of some sustenance at a relatively late hour. We chose the Mantu based on our love of Afghani and Middle Eastern cuisine as well as their ability to accommodate us for a sit down meal at 9. We arrived to an empty restaurant, which was surprising given the relative popularity of this place in various food publications. The space itself feels open and manages to strike a decent balance between its warehouse like environs and more elegant, Middle Eastern touches. Since we were famished, we ordered two appetizers (potato skins and the vegetarian mantu) and two entrees (lamb shish and chicken tikka kabobs). Our appetizers both arrived fairly quickly and were fantastic. The potato skins possess a perfectly crispy yet tender texture which soaks up the zesty pepper tomato sauce they are tossed in. My wife and I have never had anything like that dish, and the closest comparison I can make is a cross between an Indian chaat and loaded fries. The eponymous mantu were no less delicious. The homemade dumpling wrapper had the texture of an excellent fresh pasta (supple and chewy), and the butternut squash filling was subtly sweet and spicy. The dumplings were crowned with a tangy yogurt that melded all the flavors together exquisitely. I wish we enjoyed our main dishes as much as our appetizers, but they fell a little flat in comparison. Both arrived sizzling hot and with an accompaniment of high quality basmati rice with assorted toppings. The meats themselves had a decent char from the grill and tasted fresh, but lacked the bold flavors we anticipated given our experience with the appetizers. We did not detect much spice on the meats themselves, and found some of the cuts a touch chewy. We did enjoy the bed of well roasted and tasty mixed vegetables the meats arrived upon, but ultimately felt the kababs weren't necessarily worth the $25-30 they each cost. We had no issues with service, though the end of our meal felt a bit rushed since the staff were (reasonably) trying to close and leave. Since our mains were quite pricey, our total on the bill was eyebrow-raisingly high. All told, we found some truly compelling dishes in the appetizers we sampled here but felt that the main dishes were somewhat lower in caliber. We enjoyed our meal here overall, though we'll likely stick to smaller plates upon return. read more

Dinner here was lovely after a fun day at a college parents weekend! The food is super flavorful with a lot of different spices. Every plate brought out is truly a work of art not only taste wise but appearance wise as well. I got the chicken and my friend got the fish- both were great! The staff were just okay- friendly enough. Food was fresh, came out hot, and was delicious! read more

The Mantu - Afghan Near Me - Richmond, Virginia