Mayuri Indian Cusine
6524 Quince Road
753-8755
When I was a server, I used to look down my nose at people who came into the restaurant with a kid and a Happy Meal in tow. Then I gave birth to Connor, an extremely picky child, and realized that the only way to avoid committing this faux pas would be to eat family meals exclusively at restaurants that serve chicken nuggets or pizza. This is surprisingly easy to do, even at Mexican restaurants, but it has kept us from taking the kids to an Indian or Thai restaurant. Until today.
My in-laws were in town and were looking to take us out to lunch. We ran through our usual list of restaurants, until I blurted out, “What about Mayuri?” An Indian buffet sounded good to everyone- everyone except Connor, age 5. I knew we couldn’t talk him into eating the first morsel of food from there without causing a scene, so I made the suggestion we’ve spent four and a half years avoiding. “Why don’t we just run through the drive-thru at Wendy’s?” Chip looked pained, but he knew it was the only way to have a pleasant meal. So he dropped us off at Mayuri, and less than five minutes later was back with the nuggets and fries.
With that unpleasantness out of the way, the rest of us could get down to enjoying the wonderful buffet. Mayuri, located in a strip mall on Quince near Kirby, doesn’t have much in the way of ambience but it more than makes up for it with friendly service, good food, and reasonable prices. For $8.95 a person, we enjoyed a buffet with more choices than I can possibly mention. (This has as much to do with the quantity as it does with my limited knowledge of Indian food.) I shared everything on my plate with Chloe, my adventurous two-year-old. She and I both enjoyed curd rice, mango salad, onion pakora, papadam with raita, mushroom masala, chicken makhani (which I can’t for the life of me distinguish from chicken tikka masala), plenty of rice and naan, idli (steamed rice cakes) and gulab jamun. Her favorite was the mango salad, and my favorite was the chicken makhani. This is shocking, considering it is chicken cooked in a tomato sauce, but that wasn’t a problem since the other main ingredient was butter. Chip ate all that along with two other chicken dishes and some kind of lamb, which he said was all tender and delicious. The Chockleys ate all of the meatless items on the buffet, which I was told they enjoyed. Connor was offered some of everything, refusing it all with a polite “No thank you.”
Less than an hour later we were all stuffed. Chloe started to have a bit of a meltdown, so I picked her up quickly to get her outside without bothering too many people. The manager of the restaurant stopped me to ask if everything was alright, and offered Chloe a lollipop. I was amazed, considering that if I were him I would have held the door open for us in order to facilitate our exit. The lollipop did the trick, and we were able to linger at the table as my generous father-in-law picked up the tab and secured a lollipop for Connor. We left, promising ourselves that we would visit the buffet again in the near future. If we have to stop by Wendy’s first, so be it.
Editor's note: As a child I took McDonald's everywhere--even to Taco Bell--and I turned out okay!
2 comments:
I have had nothing but great experiences at Mayuri as far as how they are with children. Even when my son is at his worst, they are kind and helpful and often try to entertain him or find something to occupy his attention.
Mayuri is my favorite Indian restaurant. I suggest the buffet for lunch. It's a wonderful selection of vegetables and meats. Thank you for sharing your families experiences with us.
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