Mela restaurant in Asheville celebrates 10th anniversary Tuesday

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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mela_10th_anniversary_asheville_2015Mela restaurant is celebrating its 10th anniversary in downtown Asheville with some fun stuff on Tuesday. Help them celebrate. Mela will be featuring $10 dinner entrees, $1 glasses of bubbly, and belly dancing to celebrate the night. The restaurant staff wants to see all the friendly faces (especially the locals) to say thanks for a great 10 years.

More from Mountain Xpress on Mela:

“We want to say thank you to Asheville for keeping us around for 10 years, so that’s why we are doing the $10 special. We are hoping that since it’s earlier in the week, more locals will come out since they are the reason we have lasted here,” says manager Sarah Katzmark.

Mela is having a busy summer. The Lexington Avenue restaurant held a fundraiser earlier this month for a regular customer, Vance Elementary teacher Laurie Joens, who is battling breast cancer. And owner Anoop Krishnan has plans to open a new location by this fall — details are yet to be disclosed.

 

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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19 Comments

  1. downtown julie August 9, 2015

    From what I’ve heard, the owner is a perv who hits on the waitresses. He likes white chics. Even scared some of the girls to move out of town…

    Reply
  2. AVL Neighbor August 5, 2015

    I still miss Vincent’s Ear. They closed so Melanie could open.

    Reply
    1. downtown julie August 9, 2015

      Not true, Vincent’s Ear was where Local Taco just went out of.

      Reply
  3. RJ July 28, 2015

    Have eaten there many times though not lately. No problems. Reading these posts I am starting to think at least some of these people have an agenda.

    Reply
    1. luther blissett July 30, 2015

      Mela is… not as good as it ought to be, and I’ve been around for all ten years it’s been open.

      Downtown now gives you options, and they include the chaat menu at Chai Pani, or the northern menu of Cafe Kathmandu. Neither of those establishments have the curious hiring policies on display at Mela for a long time — nothing against skinny women in black uniforms, but they project a certain image, just like Old Europe’s unfortunate time in the building that’s now The Southern.

      Point being that Mela positions itself as the high-end south Asian restaurant downtown, and while the decor, bar and waitstaff convey that impression, the menu and quality of food don’t really deliver on that promise.

      Reply
      1. cwaster August 2, 2015

        True, most of the waitstaff is skinny white chicks. Some of which seem… bothered to have to deal with normal people. The food is okay, not great, but passable imho.

        Reply
      2. Billy Bob August 8, 2015

        Yup, the agenda is to talk other people down when your food sucks and you have a bunch of white dudes trying desperately to make passable indian food.

        Reply
  4. Irish July 28, 2015

    Went there once and ate from the buffet and pulled a giant, stringy piece of a dirty dishrag out of whatever slop they were serving. Showed it to the server and the manager and they couldn’t have cared less. Never went back and don’t plan to.

    Reply
    1. chris July 31, 2015

      Photo or it didn’t happen.

      Reply
  5. bob July 27, 2015

    -1 Mela, gives me explosive diarrhea every time from the buffet

    Reply
    1. chris July 27, 2015

      Photo or it didn’t happen.

      Reply
  6. Das Drew July 27, 2015

    Congratulations, Mela. Ignore the haters.

    Reply
    1. Selene July 28, 2015

      No hate here, just constructive criticism. If they ignore it they’ll continue to lose customers 🙂

      Reply
  7. Selene July 27, 2015

    I was pretty disappointed with Mela a couple weeks ago. It was very hot out and they had no AC, no ice in the water, and when we ordered cold drinks they really skimped on the ice, so the drinks never really got cold, and we never got quite refreshed. The food and the presentation of it have changed. Our entrees were just a protein in a sauce, no veggies. They are served on regular white plate in front of each person rather than the charming traditional metal bowls on the table for sharing. All the changes seem to be based on cheapening the cost for the restaurant, at the expense of the customers’ delight and comfort. Oh well, I had already written off the buffet for its blandness and messy clatter, now I’ve written off regular dining as well. Also, they seem to hire only young, thin white women to wait tables. I used to love the place – now it’s pretty much meh. Not worth the high prices.

    Reply
    1. John July 27, 2015

      agreed, i come from UK where indain restaurants are everywhere, hire some indian people and get some AC…

      Reply
      1. Selene July 27, 2015

        Well, I would suggest hiring people based on their ability to do the job well, not because they look one specific way. Our waitress did not offer a solution to our polite complaints.

        Reply
        1. John July 28, 2015

          thats what i mean’t, Indian people more likely to know about Indian food, if they educated their staff properly that would be fine….Das Drew not haters mate i’ve eaten their many times, just friendly advice get some AC and people will always have questions about Indian cuisine so act accordingly….i want to eat there more, i get a sweat on eating Indian with AC the summers months its just too hot in there…..big love Mela 😉 only teething

          Reply
          1. Nonono July 29, 2015

            Trolls are trolls, you are a hater and should give your full name and address if you are going to slander a successful business that is owned and run by a good man from India, you racist

            Reply
    2. Big Al July 30, 2015

      “…they seem to hire only young, thin white women…”

      About time we started discriminating against skinny white women. Just because you live on the cover of Vogue doesn’t make you above a little hatin’.

      Reply

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