Araliya Kew Sri Lankan Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

DO NOT GO!

In summary: overpriced, terrible food, bleak atmosphere, bad service.

If you are looking for authentic Sri Lankan food STAY AWAY from Araliya. Once you walk in the first thing you will notice is that it is completely empty on a Saturday night which tells you so much about the restaurant, the background music itself will drive you crazy. The waiter would first read out 10 different specials that was not on the menu assuming that we would remember, even herself couldn’t remember some of them, then manages to spill every drink she brings out.

As a Sri Lankan this was the worst food I have ever had. The food was not fresh, especially the string hoppers which we nicknamed it the “koodu” (powder) hoppers because it crumbled into a million pieces. We assume it was left sitting in the fridge for a week, it should be soft and stretchy. The vegetable nirvana which comes with 3 tiny bland curries including a thosai the size of a spring roll was absolutely ridiculous. The thosai came out first which we thought it was an on the house starter but turns out it was actually the main. The dark pork curry which had 3-4 pieces had no flavour, it should be bursting with flavour because it is normally made with a variety of spices. The portions were so small they would still not be enough to feed mice. Since the mains were that shocking we didn’t even want to see what the dessert was like so we left.

We couldn’t even talk about the food let alone our own conversation because the waiter would stand in the corner like a ghost listening to our conversations, mind you this was an empty restaurant and we were the only customers.

The fact that the restaurant had the audacity to overcharge for food like this was astounding and should be illegal. There nothing fine about this restaurant. you can find much better Sri Lankan food at your local spice shops.

If negative stars was an option that still wouldn’t be...

TERRIBLE PLACE. For people who claim and advertise themselves as fine dining this place was shocking and the food was inedible. I booked this place in the afternoon for dinner that night as my in laws were in town and we wanted to eat our home cuisine. We rocked up on time for our booking on a Saturday night and to our surprise the place was empty. More surprised than us was the manager, who told me they didn’t see any bookings come through. After doing a double check, there was my name on the screen. Irregardless the place was empty, so what’s the issue?

We sat down and ordered our drinks, which was okay. Then came the disaster- the food. We ordered $200 worth of food and got about $10 worth of inedible dishes. The lentils were not curried and was watery- no literally it was swimming on my plate. We then received what seemed to be cold and at least a week old string hoppers which you could not transfer to your plate without it crumbling into pieces (this dish is meant to be warm and stretchy). After taking a bite I immediately spat it out as it was like a stick like texture. We believed that this was accidental and let the manager know, to which she became grumpy and said that’s the way it is. What a joke, considering I have eaten this my entire life. Everything else was equally terrible and the portions were a ridiculous. $30 for a curry that was exactly 1 metric cup- mostly full of water and not fresh.

All in all this place was horrible and we left very frustrated. Was not the worth the total $250 spent- and yes we were charged for the string hoppers. I was initially stunned why the place was empty on a Saturday night, but now it all...

I used to love this place for its great food, ambience and absolutely lovely owners, the husband a chef and the wife attending to guests. Sri Lankan cuisine is surprisingly not very easy to find in Melbourne and Araliya used to do it perfectly for me! However, after my lunch yesterday I'm not sure I'm coming back. I was delighted to see their brunch menu and requested for the eggs with either the string hoppers or the coconut roti be replaced with a vegetarian option (I don't eat eggs). Given they already have vegetarian curries on their menu, I didn't think it would be an issue. Turns out, it was...... The server checked with the kitchen and said, sorry not possible. I wasn't sure why... but he didn't have an answer. I walked out a little miffed, but came back right in, as my friends were quite keen on the hoppers. I ordered the vegetable nirvana which was alright, but nothing to write home about (I've had a much better version of this platter here on a few occasions). My friends very eagerly had their hoppers (hoppers delight from the brunch menu) but were sorely disappointed. Said the 2 hoppers with eggs were pretty bland and lacking any flavour... not something one would expect from Sri Lankan cuisine. The 3rd plain one (they added mushrooms, spinach and tomato) also did not make up in taste. The 3 of us had a very unsatisfactory meal which is sad, coming from a place which we'd...