• CLOSED: Mandala

  • (25)
    2

    Closed

  • White Vegetarian
Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Ovo
Chinese
Western
Peruvian

Small restaurant located two blocks from Plaza de Armas. Offer a large variety of vegetarian food. Menu of the day comes with salad, soup, main, drink, dessert, and side of yogurt. Vegans should specify, and say "no yogurt, no cheese". Reported closed January 2022.


Venue map for Mandala
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25 Reviews

First Review by jcjames11

chinka666

Points +85

Vegan
03 Dec 2019

Cheap but not very fresh

Meal of a day cost 9.5 sol includes starter which was ridiculously small, soup which was desente and main dish which that day was rice, lentils an one slice of tomato. Not very fresh and no special taste. For sure only one time visit place.

Pros: Price

Cons: Not very tasty, Small porcion, Only cash

efossvold

Points +33

Vegetarian
02 Jun 2019

Bland food

Staff was friendly enough, though not very attentative, they never came over to my table without me calling out for them, not even to take my order.

Being a vegetarian restaurant I’d expected more «true» vegetarian dishes. Pretty much all the dishes in the menu are just meat dishes where the meat is replaces with soy meat. I’m not a fan of soy meat as it’s heavily processed. I would want more options of food that is made from pure vegetables, not just something processed like soy.

Nevertheless, I chose the menu of the day which consisted of a soup and a veggie kind of pancake for starters, and the entree was fried veggies, soy meat and rice. The veggie pancake was super greasy and contained zero to none veggies. The soup was bland and there was no salt on the table to add, I had to ask. The entree with the veggies was not too exciting, but ok. It came with brown rice which at least is a plus in my opinion.

Pros: Cheap. 10 soles for menu of the day.

Cons: Unexciting menu. A lot of dishes with soy meat.

Piuss

Points +41

Vegetarian
01 May 2019

Don't waste your time there

The service is awfully slow. Two guys who had ordered one pizza went away after having waited for 30 minutes.
The guacamole was horrible (way too much lemon and salt) and the brocoli-rice-peanut dish was drowned in a tasteless sauce.

Cons: Don't go there if you have hypertension, all their

WayneB

Points +219

Vegan
16 Nov 2018

Greasy chips

While some vegetarians may just be satisfied here, the food isn't dietary supportive and lacks the nutrition that conscientious eaters would seek. Saturated soya (some too hard to eat), fried onions and chips just doesn't seem to justify the restaurant's name and setting. If you visited daily, there is little variation and there's a huge missed opportunity as there are amazing cooks in the markets of Peru providing incredible meals for the same price.

Cons: Boring unhealthy options.

Greyskies

Points +243

Vegan
23 Jul 2018

Really tasty and really inexpensive

Small, very casual and very friendly

Pros: Very tasty vegan food, Very inexpensive

Cons: None

Sarbee13

Points +355

Vegan
07 Jul 2018

Good lunch in a pinch

Arrived in Arequipa early in the morning and struggled to find vegan food. Mandala had lunch ready at noon, so I popped in after the market. Had a large bowl of soup, drink, and main dish (soy meat, rice, and veg) for S/10. The two gentlemen working there were super nice.

Pros: Warm home cooking

Cons: No vegan dessert option

KatieCunningham

Points +39

Vegetarian
07 Mar 2018

Wholesome lunch menu

Nice little place with a good lunch menu. Despite what the previous reviews say I found my menu tasty and filling, nothing spectacular, but simple well made food. The owner was lovely, and I would recommend for a healthy lunch.

Pros: value for money, wholesome and healthy

Cons: If you’re looking for an ‘experience’ I guess ther

buckethatV

Points +54

Vegan
10 Feb 2018

everything good

ordered a soup to go for 9 soles. Soup came in a handy container with a lid. Staff was very friendly. the soup was very tasty.

Pros: friendly staff

Cons: central location

Yony

Points +21

Vegetarian
16 Jul 2017

En el centro de la Ciudad Blanca

Opción económica y para lo que ofrece justifica su precio. Algunas veces la gente cree que debe de encontrar joyas en algunos lugares y no es así. La comida estaba correcta, es verdad que el lugar necesita cuidado como pintura en sus paredes, mejorar su servicio higénico. Un almuerzo de paso fue justificado.

Pros: En el centro de la ciudad.

Cons: Mejorar su presentación.

sfisch42

Points +46

Vegan
12 Jul 2017

dont go

Wouldnt recommend. Waited about 40 minutes for the food and the satay soy meat dish was basically just onions on rice. Not even a nice sayce to go with it. When i asked for sauce i got offered a drop of ketchup for 2 people. Worst meal in a while.

Pros: none

Lozcriston

Points +842

Vegan
21 Mar 2017

Cheap, good, but keep reminding vegan

This place was super cheap, $US 2.90 for a decent lunch. Have to keep reminding vegan though, as they kept bringing the vegetarian versions at first at every course. A delicious tea, salad for starters, veg soup for entree, and a soy spaghetti bolognese for mains.

Arlen

Points +428

Vegan
22 Jan 2017

not Vegan friendly

The owner made it Very clear that this was not a Vegan restaurant and couldn't be bothered
a very bothering attitude

akela

Points +25

Vegetarian
14 Jul 2016

not interesting

our food was boring and not really tasty. the place looks old fashioned and my friend got her dinner plate when I already was finished with mine.

LaughingFighter

Points +66

Vegan
11 Jun 2016

Fair & Fixed Menu

I thought the food was great, healthy and complete meals. I had a salad, hearty soup and vegetables with quinoa and rice, as well as a small desert and juice for S/18. I do think though that I might have had dairy despite asking for vegan - so just make sure you go the extra effort of explaining what that means - no queso etc.

Pros: Tasty food, Healthy, Tables by the window if you like people watching

Cons: Not certain on vegan, No English - but we are in South America!, Can get chaotic when busy

mr.veg.veggie.

Points +15

Mostly Veg
30 Jan 2016

unfriendly staff and bad food

the description of the food doesnt match with the reality, prepare to get very cheap made, boring tasting food for quite moderate prices.
half of the menu is missing, the restaurant itself makes quite unclean impression and the staff is just unfriendly and seems to be annoyed by the customers. just choose another restaurant.

Cons: unfriendly staff, unclean place, food is not tasty at all

backworld

Points +25

Vegetarian
29 Jan 2016

bit boring

Found it tasteless and slow service. My friend already finished his meal before I got mine.
The place is on a busy street, and the whole of Peru seems to be driving diesel, so with the door and windows open the idea of eating healthy is quickly forgotten.

Siva_Parsippany

Points +17

Vegetarian
06 Jan 2016

Value for money.

This is a vegetarian place and we went here as the nearby Lakhmivan was closed. Mandala is quite inexpensive (10 soles) and serves a fixed menu of soup, entree and desert. The food is just basic but I will consider it a good value for money.

Pros: Inexpensive, Fixed Menu

Cons: Not a great ambience, Average Service

pistol_pete

Points +261

Vegan
26 Nov 2015

Amazing

My wife and I went here on our last night in Arequipa a few nights ago, and got the set menu, which was all vegan. The owner was really friendly and interested in us, and assured us that the whole set menu was vegan. We got a starter, soup, main course, and desert. Really tasty, really filling, and happy.

Pros: Great vegan options, Inexpensive, Friendly staff

Cons: Not 100% vegan

yanoom

Points +70

Vegan
25 Dec 2014

Not good...

We went with a family of non vegans, after they were recommended on that place.
We all had "the menu" (a 3 course meal), since all other options were vegetarian.
The food wasn't very good: the soup was salty, the mashed potatoes felt like potatoes soup and the fruit salad wasn't vegan.

Pros: Cheap, Nice atmosphere

Cons: Not tasty, Not much of a (vegan) variety

sglcklch

Points +2815

Vegan
20 Jul 2014

Best bet in the city

This seems to be the vegetarian restaurant in the city center at the moment. All the other places I hit up were either not open or appeared to have gone out of business. So, I ended up eating here three days in a row—once for dinner and twice for lunch.

The food was basic, but tasty and very inexpensive. Lunch was an incredible deal—bread, a soup, a small appetizer, a main course, a drink, and a dessert, all for 7.5 soles. The downside is that they only offer one option (which changes every day), so you won't have much of a choice. Also, not everything is vegan and there will most likely be something with dairy/eggs in it. However, they do understand what vegan is and will adjust your order on request. Both times I came for lunch, one of the items in the main course was not vegan. They just left that one out and gave me more of the rest. For dinner, they also do set meals that come with a soup and a drink for 10 soles. You can pick your main plate from a list of dishes.

True, the interior is seriously lacking and doesn't look at all inviting. But, once you get over that, this place is actually pretty good in terms of food quality and value, not to mention the central location and that they stay open for dinner.

Pros: great value, location

Cons: shabby interior

aisawesome

Points +127

Vegan
16 Jun 2013

closed when I came :(

I REALLLLY wanted to come here on my day in Arequipa, as it sounds like this is the best veg restaurant there. We came on a Sunday, as it lists being open on Sunday, but they were sadly closed :( We got there at 2 something which I assume is still lunch time..but maybe not? Maybe they're only open til 12 or 1? Anyone know? Was bummed :(

HeatherNicholds

Points +95

Vegan
10 Mar 2013

Fantastic

This place is great - food is excellent, service is wonderful, and the price is the best of the vegetarian places we've been to in Arequipa. It's 7 soles for the menu at lunch, which includes salad, soup, main, drink and dessert. They also give you a yogurt unless you tell them you can't have dairy. The salad on the day we went had cheese, but they made a plate of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and olives instead when I said we couldn't have dairy.
They're also open for dinner, which is good since most of the other vegetarian places aren't, but they don't have the same set menu available, you basically order a la carte although you can add a soup to your main for very little.

Pros: Delicious food, Amazing service, Great value

Cons: not everything's vegan

Jenny Lemons

Points +40

Vegan
08 Jan 2012

My carno hubby wanted to go back twice!

My husband and I tried this restaurant for lunch and ended right back there for dinner. Very intimate, the owner and his wife are very nice and try really hard to understand broken Spanish. We tried two soups (homemade and authentic), their custom salads (homemade venegrette and perfectly crisped tofu made this salad amazing), and the Ricota Relleno (husband tried, has eggs and cheese but he scraped his plate) and highly recommend each item. They have many mock meat items on their menu with veggie burgers, chinese food, etc. Easy to find near Plaza de Armas.

Pros: Fresh ingredients, Family owned, Many vegan options

eiros

Points +69

Vegan
07 Jan 2012

great value

basic little restaraunt with suberb food. paid 6 soles for the set lunch menu which included an entree, soup, main, drink and desert (we didn't eat the desert as it seemed as though it was a jelly). Great value in Arequipa.

Pros: good value, fresh and healthy

jcjames11

Points +58

Vegetarian
21 Oct 2011

Good food

Went at Lunch time. Had a Special menu 10 sole. Soup of the day was delicious. Then a choice of a main course I had rice and vegetables. My partner had tofu and pineapple sweet and sour and rice. Also with Tea.
Plus as an extra we had the delicious home made lemonade.
The menu was in English and the staff were very helpful and friendly. Maybe place in need of lick of paint.

Pros: good value, healthy cuisine, excellant food

Cons: in need of lick of paint




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