Kothu Rotti Restaurant — Attraction in Ottawa

I was so happy to find this place years ago. One of the only Sri Lankan food places in Ottawa, the other one being Ceylonta on Bank and from what I understand the present owner of Kothu was a cook there?? The first year I was a frequent regular, indulging in their vegetable Kut Rotti. The owner/cook made it to perfection, to my liking. He was always generous with his portions and gave me a complimentary coconut chutney on the side which was a small gesture that kept me coming back! He was always happy and smiling! Now, years later I can see how tired and worn out he is. He has no more smile on his face, the portions are still bigger than standard but less than his usual, the complimentary chutney is gone ( his wife made sure he charges me) and the perfect kut rotti is now imperfect. My last few trips there were disappointing, rotti was cold . He re cooked it in front of me but rushed through it. The time prior to that, something in the dish ( rotti or some of the pre made curried vegetable he added in) was tasting moldy and sour! Clearly I can see that this poor man is working himself to death and although I love his food I'm actually at the point that I feel so uncomfortable making him cook my order since he looks so tired and burned out. There is no doubt about it that the food is delicious but the owner/cook looks like he can use a holiday. There are only a few chairs to sit down and the place is always hot like an oven but somehow that never seems to bother me. I only hope the quality of his food...

I order the vegetables tali (basically a variety of 5 or 6 different vegetarian foods) had it delivered. While I'm eating, I start chewing on something hard. I removed the thing from my mouth and it ended being a staple from a stapler. I then immediately called the place, and spoke to whom I believed is the owner, he was very defensive over the phone and then told me to come back anytime during the week to collect the refund. (His words to return any day of that week).

I stopped eating the food and put everything back in the containers and left it in my fridge so he wouldn't accuse me of still eating it and whatever. I went to his store, not the next day but the day after. 2 days. Brought him back all the food. And I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, sometimes these things happen. He waited til everyone walked out to then start yelling at me. Making ME feel like it was my fault lol saying that I returned late and it took everything for him to give me the full refund of 48$. I had even put the staple in a ziploc bag to show him and he was still being rude af. He started pulling out all his frozen food bags to show me how they were packaged because he refused to believe it was his fault.

I cannot believe that this is how one runs a business. I do not recommend anyone coming here, for the quality, but especially the lack of empathy and rudeness this person had towards me. I will also share this story with as many people as I know. I work at a near by hotel and will tell everyone.

Shame on...

Not a safe place to eat "FOR ME", An old man tried to kill me in February 2022. I don't want to give a bad review because I don't want to destroy their business. For everyone safety I would like to share my experience in this location. Every time when I see this picture, I thank God that I'm still alive, I thank God that I didn't swallow 1 inch of nail tool in my stomach while eating the Dosa.

Every time when I see the picture of tool nail in my Dosa my hair stands up and my stomach gets sick. I came here once and the Dosa was really really good, so decided to came back to celebrate my birthday in February 2022. An old man was doing the Dosa for me.

After eating 3 bites, I saw the tool nail inside the Dosa, so I showed it to the old man, the old man told me that we never have that nail, it's not our nail. I was so angry that I don't even know what to say, I didn't say a word. The old man think I would eat a big bite, his plan was not successful.

I really wish he would did it to another bad customer and the bad customer would show him a lesson. The old man should have thanks to me, he's very lucky that I didn't call the police, the Ministry of Health and the media right away.

Note: Dosa and dipping were not good enough. Here is the truth when I get home I have a stomach upset and I have had diarrhea for 2 days. I knew they know how to cook a good quality food. I really hope that they respect their business, their customers and use a good products.

They owe me...