Mandi Xpress Yemeni Restaurant and Coffee
Irvine finally gets Yemeni cuisine, coffee, and tea – in a somewhat hard to spot plaza space
New Middle Eastern restaurants too rarely open in Irvine – Super Irvine’s mini-restaurant Irvine Cafe notwithstanding – so we’re genuinely excited when any new option opens south of Anaheim’s Little Arabia district. Soft opened at Alton Square in late December 2025 with neighbors including Bopomofo Cafe, Hui Lau Shan, Handel’s Ice Cream, and La Boulangerie, Mandi Xpress (sometimes styled MandiXpress) is the second location of a small Riverside-based restaurant group serving Yemeni meals and drinks. Though the Irvine Mandi Xpress occupies a smaller space (30-40 seats) and offers fewer menu choices than Anaheim’s House of Mandi, it’s a nice spot to grab lunch or a cup of coffee/tea, opening at 10am each day to serve late breakfasts, cafe drinks, and early lunches.
Digital menus above the counter cash register list the restaurant’s choices in unconventional order, with entrees including chicken/lamb mandi and fish mova ($18 to $38), cheesecake and baklava desserts ($7 to $9), and beverages such as juices, chai, and coffee ($2 to $9) on the left; the right features appetizers such as kibbdeh, mutabbal, hummus, and sambousa triangles ($6 to $11), lentil and lamb soups ($4 to $6), green or tabbouleh salads ($7 to $8), and side orders including fries, nuggets, rice, and bread ($4 to $10). Several other sections – one for a special breakfast platter ($33), another for qolabat, foul, and shakshouka ($17 to $21), and the last for a single “authentic dish” called Harada of Fahsah ($23) – provide additional Yemeni options without descriptions; the Fahsah is a bowl of shredded lamb and beef with a bubbling hot tomato-fenugreek sauce and bread. Several items from the Riverside location, including koobideh, shish kabob, and steamed milk-based coffee drinks, are not (yet) on the Irvine menu.
We were pleased rather than blown away by the items we ordered. On our first visit, the most impressive was Mandi Xpress’s homemade bread – oversized pita-style flatbread, baked in house – which arrived warm and ready to enjoy with a similarly generous portion of pureed eggplant mutabbal/baba ganoush ($7), here mixed with several tomato chunks and olive oil. We ordered both the mutabbal and hummus ($7) on our second visit; this time, the mutabbal portion was smaller, but the hummus included some full chickpeas for texture and paprika for added color and flavor.
Large and pretty good was the “single” portion of lamb mandi ($28), a tremendous portion of colorful and herbal basmati rice mixed with plenty of almonds, some raisins, and onions, topped by a long but substantially fatty and bony strip of lamb. While its essential flavors were pretty much on target, it didn’t have the deeper seasonings or long-cooked, complex meat, vegetable, or rice textures of the best mandi we’ve enjoyed; a separate plate of sauces, peppers, lemons, and onions was included to let us adjust the heat and sourness to preference. The Harada of Fahsah was also a bit on the thin side, and again benefitted from the addition of lemon and onions.
Yemeni coffee – a very good deal at $5 – was another highlight, arriving as a hot, creamy, cardamom-infused glass with a jar of sugar and mixing straws on the side. From dessert options including Basque-style cheesecake and pistachio or chocolate baklavas, we tried both the three-piece baklava ($7) and chocolate baklava ($9). In each case, we tasted more buttery flavor and grated pistachios than honey or cocoa, the latter a surprise given the chocolate baklava’s dark brown syrup-colored dough.
In Irvine, a city where Middle Eastern restaurants tend to be small (House of Kabob), tethered to supermarkets (like the Wholesome Choice-adjacent Cafe Naderi), or gone too soon (Hen House Grill), Mandi Xpress is a pretty good addition – and particularly welcome for fans of Yemeni food and drinks. While limited signage and a large collection of neighbors mean it’s hidden away in its new location, we hope it will grow into the space and expand its menu to match or exceed the Riverside original.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Counter
Open Since: Dec. 2025
Address
5365 Alton Pkwy. Suite K
Irvine, CA 92604
949.932.0008
Instagram: @xpress_mandi