Mint Leaf

(Ignore this rating)
Is this restaurant still open? I passed by last Friday night, and there was no salsa. The posted menu on the wall has the name Tigerlily, not Mint Leaf. I didn’t smell Indian foods. Maybe the ownership changed?

I’ve always been a big fan of the food here, great live music, and I love the fact that they have a full bar. Recently saw that they upgraded/​remodeled the bar, and couldn’t wait to try. I’m pretty sure it was done by the same people that created the bar program at East Bay Spice Company over on Oxford St. Finally stopped by for a few drinks and really wasn’t blown away. Looked like more of a cosmetic face lift — reclaimed wood, some piping coming out of the center bar, new lighting, quick power rinsing for bar tools, etc. Still felt it was lacking a few details of a truly polished bar, which it’s clearly taking strides to be, a la East Bay Spice Co. Definitely want to give it a few more weeks to round a bit more into form and give it another go.
p. s. the bartender (Sorry, I forgot her name) was extremely friendly!

We ordered too much and yet our lunch was still under $ 20– total– for the two of us. The orders of naan are very generous. I loved my «chicken tikka masala salad». It was just a yummy portion of breast of spicy chicken (cooked in the clay pot) served over a bed of braised greens but it was really tasty.

Did the travelzoo deal which gave is a bit of a discount. Its a nice place with both indoor and outdoor seating. It was a rare hot day so opted for the cooler indoor seating.
Nice place. Had a samosa which was not bad. As others have said the chicken masala was fabulous. Served in a rich cream sauce. Also had the eggplant dish and I loved it. Thats saying a lot because generally i hate eggplant.
Got a bottle of nice refreshing chardonnay to go with dinner. Wanted to get the sauvignon blanc but they were out. Skipped desert but stopped by next door for some delicious cool gelato.
Service was great.
Nice date night restaurant. Good food, lively atmosphere, and save with travelzoo.

Their cocktails are insane. Like, they hired an actual crazy person to come in and do their cocktail list. Why else would there be a dusting of cayenne on my glass rim? Exactly.
This is the bessssssssst indian food I’ve had in the area. It’s organic which is as trendy as it is actually appreciated. It’s pricey but you’re like across from Chez Panisse so… get over it. It’s the right price. My friends always used groupons here and groupons confuse the shit out of me but it’s nice that they take them.
Service is very good. They always accommodated our large and randomly growing groups of women we had coming there. I never finished my water glass. That’s a good mark.
Oh and whatever has okra in it, get that shit. It’s the only okra I’ve ever had (besides mine ;) that wasn’t slimy.

Chic, moderne and spacious environment. We went around 2:45 pm on a Sunday, and there were two other tables with diners. We had the back area of the room to ourselves, and enjoyed a quiet, leisurely meal.
The lunch thali is a great deal. You get your choice of entrée, grilled vegetables, naan, and rice for under $ 10. Big smile from me for offering whole wheat naan and brown rice!
Great location: This restaurant is right next door to a small upscale food court with a *precious* outdoor seating area in the back. You can continue your «date» with a drink or gelato from the food court and stretch out in the sun. Nice!

Tasty food… And if you want Spicy this is the place. I would try the Moscow Mule drink, bartender made one of the best. Live band on weekends make it very lively. Outside seating with heat lamps makes this place perfect for a warm summer night. Have not had a bad dish yet here.

The décor was nice. The musicians were fantastic on a Friday night. But, I’ve had better Indian food at other upscale Indian places. The prices are overpriced and not worth it. The water was replenished quickly in our glasses, but the waitress did not seem happy to be working there.
Next, I want to tell you about the experience we had leaving the restaurant. When my date and I left the place, a European descent woman and man sat down on our outdoor table. They spoke loudly to us that we were rude because we took our time leaving our table and we did not order enough food. Given that the entire restaurant heard their rude comment, I was surprised and disappointed that the owner or anyone from the restaurant did not approach the couple to tell them to stop causing a scene.
I am guessing that this couple must go back to their boarding school and learn etiquette skills again.

PSA: THIS BUSINESS DINGS YOU FOR USING GROUPON
Marykate R and Simon C in February 2014, Tony T in May 2014, Will N in January 2014, Vipin M in March 2014, and Cindy G in June 2013. Six others agree with me on the tax levied on us Groupon users disguised as gratuity.
The service is slow and almost non-​existent with the exception of a young man who continuously walked around the perimeter of the restaurant refilling people’s water glasses. I hope that the entire 18% gratuity that was automatically added on because of Groupon was given to him because he paid the most attention to us of anyone that night. Our waiter took our order and brought us the food, but never checked in on us at any time, and we even went up to the front at the end to pay. And that warrants an 18% tip? Personally, I think that automatic 18% is an excuse to punish people for using Groupon, like the engineering student that I am can’t calculate in her head a proper tip pre-​Groupon discount.
Aside from the undeserving tip, the food is just okay. If you are a complete spice wimp like me, which is highly unlikely, the food here (and at many Indian restaurants for that matter) will be a tough act for you. I had the pomegranate chicken on the mildest setting possible. I don’t dock points for being spicy because that is my problem, not theirs, and they did their best to accommodate my request for mild. The dish came with naan and vegetables.
If you have a very sensitive digestive tract, like my bf, stay away and read Simon’s part about flushing the toilet several times. My bf had the seafood curry and was sitting on the throne the next day even longer than he usually does (which is already long to begin with).
Overpriced food with mediocre service– but hey, your water glass will never go empty while you wait. All places that serve extra-​spicy food should have a water boy like this one.

One star less for a broom at the back of one of the chairs in our table. Decent place to grab Indian food. None of the dishes we ordered earned a wow factor. In fact the chicken curry I ordered was loaded with potatoes. The lady server that night was kind of confused. I ordered a red wine which she brought to a wrong table and just went away (people from that table brought the wine to us).

My friend and I were passing through Berkeley and we decided to grab a bite to eat. This place was right next to the place we parked so we though, eh why not? They were very friendly and seated us quickly, however they mistakenly sat at us a slightly dirty table, which they apologized right away for doing. I mean, we were seated outside on the patio area, so I wasn’t too surprised that it was slightly dirty.
We weren’t super hungry so my friends and I decided to split an order of the vegetable samosas and the chicken masala. The samosas were ok, a little on the bland side. I had to use a lot of dipping sauce for it. Good thing they gave us 2 different kinds to kinda change it up a bit. The chicken masala was great though. It was a large portion, good thing we decided to split it.
Overall the food was pretty good, but the service was a little slow. Maybe we were just starving so it felt like an eternity. Also make sure to flag them down because the are a little slow on refilling drinking.

#181. I got the chicken masala. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t an explosion in your mouth. I’ve had better. If my Indian friends don’t find this place to be authentic as advertised, that’s not a good sign.
Service was way. too. slow. Half the place was empty. C’mon now.
The worst part? When I got home, I discovered that they only boxed the rice and not the chicken. Um, hello? Who eats rice by itself?!

Went here tonight after purchasing the groupon, and I have to say that we left seriously disappointed. The food was a ³⁄₅ at best, the drinks were super skimpy, and the service was slow and rude. The waitress asked us right away if we had a groupon which I found odd, then she ended up charging our party of 2 MANDATORY gratuity based on the price before the groupon. Mint leaf, that was plain tacky. As a confident business, you should give your customer the option to tip well based on their experience, not shame them based on the groupon that YOU signed your restaurant up for.
Same owners as khana peena, so maybe save your time and go there instead.

Good food ggreat presentation and tasty just expensive even with a groupon
I like the sides

Ummm no. If anyone tells you the cuisine here is authentic, well it’s as authentic as Delhi, CA is close to India.
Well, the food isn’t as terrible as Naan-n-Curry’s but it’s definitely, how do I put this delicately, an Americanized version of Indian cuisine. The seafood curry that I had was some curry that wasn’t all that.
The spice level they specify is very suspect as my friend’s «medium hot» was below mild, while my «spicy hot» was enough to launch the dish into suborbital outerspace. I picked out the seafood morsels from the sauce, and buried it in mounds of basmati rice.
The chicken kebab was similar to the «boti kebabs» found in the «Shalimaars» and «_​_​_​Durbars» of San Francisco. It was ok, but wasn’t seasoned right; like at so many other establishments, they’re merely colored seared chicken instead of marinated-​in-​yogurt-​and-​spices goodness.
And the chicken biryani was not really a biryani by any stretch of the imagination.
They have some pretty exciting sounding cocktails. I had the «say when» which was a vodka, mint, and lychee concoction and was pretty good.

Food here is pretty good. Yes, it’s more costly than south side college style Indian food and no buffet available, but you do have quite a bit of choices of appetizers and soups and salads comparatively.
Overall, the portions are much bigger than the a la carte at Naan N Curry or House of Curries, especially if you do the entrée, which comes with naan, rice, veggies, chutney, lentils. For me, that’s a lot of food. Also, it’s a lot of food with a lot of stuff that I don’t really eat. I usually opt for their a la carte version, just because curry is heavy enough where I don’t need the extra carbs to stay full, and I have a strong preference against lentils. For the health freaks, they do have a brown rice option and wheat naan, that’s probably something to think about for the extra fiber. (But keep in mind curry works just like fiber *smiles and walks away*).
Anyway, I tried their tikka masala and their lamb saag. The flavors are definitely there. If you’re a spicy lover like me, just beware and don’t accept challenges, their hot spicy is pretty darn hot so don’t even dare to try the Indian spicy. I remember my server had her eyes wide as if even she couldn’t handle the Indian spicy level. The meat is in good large chunks, and they are pretty tender.
Aside from the curry, I like their chicken soup. It’s a light broth, although it could be a bit heavy on the spice (not the hotness) and the saltiness. It’s definitely a good change from the heavy curry in your Indian cuisine every time. Another item that you should try is their mango laasi, I don’t know how traditional it is, but it’s not extremely sweet and it’s like a smoothie type of drink. When you don’t feel like touching their wine list and are sick of the bland water, it’s a good beverage choice.
Service could be spotty here. I’ve had good ones where they are attentive and detailed. The last time I came here, my server had little common sense in terms of providing containers for my doggy bag. The last time I checked, curry is more liquidy than solids, even for the chunky type of curry, I still have a good amount of sauce. Why would you offer a PAPER BOX for my curry, where the curry leaked out and soaked my seat and my pants on my way home? Something to think about when you train your servers, Mint Leaf.

There aren’t many places to get a (liquor) drink in North Berkeley.
Mint Leaf is great for cocktails, especially on a warm summer day in Berkeley. There are a few tables outside which enable you to catch some rays while enjoying one of their great cocktails (the mango margarita is one of my favorites). Drinks are standard price (~$ 10), though they do have some happy hour specials.
Mint Leaf’s food is solid though the real draw is the cocktails (and friendly bar staff).
Later on weekend nights (after 10 p.m.), they have a DJ, and it almost turns into a club — sometimes with salsa dancing!

Mmmmm, Mint Leaf!
My guy’s mom was in town so we decided to go out to eat. The place we originally chose was closed, so we suggested Mint Leaf. When we arrived, they had a musician playing live music and we were seated right away.
To drink, my guy and I ordered one cocktail to split and a flying horse. We often like to share menu items and drinks, so we can both try new things. We ordered the Rangpur Heat, which has a little jalapeño spice to it.
This time we decided to switch things up, although we wanted the lamb again. Note: We both were not big fans of lamb and love it here. It’s very good. We ordered:
*Vegetable Samosas:
*Vegetable Biryani:
*Lamb Khalbi:
*Tandoori Garlic Chicken:
You can either order ala carte or the full dinner for a few dollars more. That comes with naan, rice, sauce and mango chutney.
I was so pleased with this dinner and loved the spices.
For dessert, my honey and I split the Pistachio Ice Cream
and a port. He’s not into really sweet ports, so I picked a subtle one with the Graham’s Six Grapes Port.
His mom ordered the Crème Brulee, which I had last time. Soooo good.

Three of us decided to have dinner at Mint Leaf on a Friday before our show at the Berkeley Rep. Parking was not an issue as we were able to find a parking space two blocks away on Shattuck.
They had a jazz band playing in the front of the restaurant, which was nice.
We each ordered a dinner entrée, which included rice, nan and vegetables. You had a choice of basmati or brown rice without any additional charge.
Lamb Korma, the lamb was tender in a slightly spicy sauce.
Chicken Pomegranate, the chicken was moist and had good flavor. They forgot the
nan, which they had to bring separately after we informed the server.
Chicken Makhan Masala, the chicken was moist and had a very delicious and flavorful
sauce. This was the best of the three entrees, taste-​wise.
We were all pleased with our entrees. Service was a little slow in getting our orders placed and it took some time to get our check so that we could pay for our meal so that we could head for our show.

For dinner, my friends and i decided to try Mint Leaf.
Started the meal with a Mango Mintra «Winner of the Effen Vodka’s Best Martini of the East Bay: Efffen Vodka, Mango Purée, Fresh Mint & Lemon
I honestly found the drink to be quite boring and could not imagine how it won an award until I realized that they use Effen Vodka so maybe that has something to do with it? Regardless, I felt the drink was missing something.
For dinner, I ordered the Chicken Makhan Masala-​chicken cooked in a special super hot clay oven, finished in a moist delicious sauce of homemade yogurt &almond
The sauce was pleasantly delicious, good balance of heat and savoriness. I found the chicken to be moist and a relatively decent portion. I would certainly order this dish again.
We ended the meal with 2 desserts but I can’t seem to recall their names. One was a crème brûlée I believe and the other was some ball shape thingy. I did not care for either dessert.
Service was spotty, I found the owner to be especially over bearing on his staff. On several occasions I noticed him being pushy with his staff. Everyone who worked their seemed oppressed.
Overall Thoughts
Not the worst Indian food I have ever had but certainly doesn’t make me want to come back for more