Mehfil And Banquet - Manassas

Update: August 2023: exceptional customer service and food quality remains the same. The floor manager was a great person to chat with.Great quality of food... the customer service is also unparalleled.Will come back here again.

Open on Mondays!! Closed on Tuesdays! My first experience with this restaurant was ordering from DoorDash. I love Indian food and was surprised one day when it popped up as an option. I got the chicken tikka masala, butter chicken and palak paneer. Everything was delicious. A friend of mine and I went there for lunch today. I was surprised that it was located adjacent to the Best Western. That hotel chain is not known for being elegant. However, when we walked into Mephil, it was exactly that. It is so spacious and tables were beautifully set. We were warmly greeted and escorted to our table. Sometimes, when a restaurant is not busy, the wait staff can get distracted, but this was not the case here. Our server was extremely attentive during the entire meal making sure we had our drinks refilled and ask him if there's anything we can bring for us. I was dismayed to see that we were the only customers, I always love supporting great businesses and, based on my past experience, this was! We ordered a potato and chickpea appetizer, which was really flavorful and had a bit of a kick. I always love when food has a good flavor and is not overwhelmed by heat. The chickpeas were tender and the fried potato patties stayed crispy in the sauce. We ordered palak paneer, butter chicken, peshwari naan and garlic naan. Honestly, the portion was so large on the appetizer, I was almost full before I started! The butter chicken was good. It had large chunks of white meat chicken in a sweeter tomato-based sauce. (I always personally find that mixing butter chicken with chicken tikka masala makes the perfect curry! . The palak paneer was delicious. Not too heavy on the spinach flavor (I have had this dish taste pretty earthy and the perfect blend of spices to compliment the tender, creamy cheese. Funny enough, the highlight of the mail for me was really the naan. I told my friend they should make pizza at Mephil! The naan was the perfect thickness, with the perfect amount of crunch on the outside and still soft on the inside! It was buttery and salty and made the perfect utensil for scooping up my curries. I saved the Peshwari naan for the perfect dessert. The fruit, coconut and nuts were thinly distributed throughout and again the bread had the perfect crunch! It was the perfect ending to an excellent meal.

Their chicken masala was perfectly seasoned and cooked. It was tasty. However, for $25, I got four pieces of small chicken meat and mostly soup. It felt like a ripoff. Add to that the awful customer service experience. Our server did not greet us when we entered and left. Took forever for the food to be served and it wasn’t busy. Didn’t even bother to say thanks for coming and hope we’ll see you again. Just gave us our receipt and left. For a restaurant so large and with barely anyone there, we expected better service. It sucks because their food is so good, but we won’t be coming back.

Ordered via UberEats for dinner, one of the items was missing. Had to contact Uber to get a refund. Goat Biryani was average, I liked chicken tikka only out of four items ordered.

The restaurant has taken it to next level. Very authentic Indian food. Big Menu and lots of great options to try from. We tried:Amritsari Kulcha — Appetizing!!! Chef’s Special Dish from Punjab. You will forget pizza once you eat this mouthwatering kulcha. They have these in chicken options too.Dal Handi (Chef’s special)— Delicious!!Paneer Tikka Masala — Tasty!!Tandoori Roti and Naan — Very good!!!Papadum was complimentary.The vibe of this restaurant has changed from how it was an year ago. New Owner and Chef and Staff are doing an excellent job.