Ceylonta — Restaurant in Ottawa

I visited this restaurant based on a friend's recommendation and a video they showed me of their friends enjoying the place. However, my experience was far from pleasant. Upon entering, the staff member stared at me disrespectfully for several seconds. No greeting was offered. When I asked for the washroom, he responded rudely and abruptly.

The staff member approached our table to take our order. My friend tried to show a video to help with ordering, but the staff member dismissed it rudely. He insisted on choosing the food for us, seeming rushed and impatient. Later, the staff member tried to engage in conversation, possibly realizing his earlier rudeness. I remained reserved, already offended by his previous behavior and tone. After the meal, he asked for our opinions. I honestly stated I wasn't impressed with the food. When I mentioned preferring another restaurant (Indian Company), he interrupted, misquoting me and claiming I said everyone disliked the food. I corrected him, emphasising it was my personal opinion and asked him not to put words in my mouth. The staff member left and returned visibly angry. He made a racist comment about "Arab blood." I called out his racism and questioned his assumption about my ethnicity while insulting him as well because how offended I was. We exchanged insults as the situation deteriorated. As we were leaving, I mentioned his initial stare and lack of greeting were disrespectful. He bizarrely claimed he saw "evil in my soul." I accused him of discriminating against customers based on appearance. When I asked to speak to a manager, he claimed to be the owner and manager. I managed to record the part where he made the racist comment about "Arab blood when we were leaving as I wanted to make sure that if he were to attack I can defend my self. I'm considering sharing this recording on review sites or social media if the owner denies the incident as it was but if he apologizes I can reconsider as I know how hard it is to run a business. Up to him. This experience highlights issues of poor customer service, racial profiling, and unprofessional behavior in a...

** shortly after my review, the Owner has contacted me. As I indicted in my orginal review below, the owner is the heart of the place and our friendship will always remain as is, great! Thank you for your response! In return, I have revised my review to 5 stars.

I've been going to this restaurant for years and it didn't take me very long to make friends with the owner. I've always enjoyed the food there. In fact, it's been one of my favourit places to order from however, since the transition to the new manager taking charge second from the owner, I've noticed certain things I will not go into full details about. What I can tell you is, the owner probably doesn't know very much about what's been going on. The manager appears to get quite personal and friendly with the customers. He learned about the split up between a woman and I. I started to see another woman and decided she wasnt the girl for me. The issue is, despite the people I bring into and out of the restaurant, I had sent someone to pick up the curry chicken and rice a few days ago and the manager had the nerve, for whatever his intentions were, to ask her if the other woman was out of our lives yet. Although this woman already knows everything, this made her feel uncomfortable. She was completely shocked that he would act that way or ask her this sort of question. They dont know eachother on a personal level. This manager has broken all my trust and has went well beyond the boundaries of what even friends would have, or a customer and a manager would have. This is completely out of line and intolerable. I completely condemn his professionalism. As a result to this odd behavior, I do not recommend any engagement with this employee. This employee is wreckless, unpredictable and not very intelligent for making such a stupid decision. He demonstrated extremely poor discretion. I will not be supporting this restaurant...

I rarely write reviews, but our visit to this Sri Lankan restaurant was truly disappointing and frustrating. From the moment we stepped in, the owner’s attitude was extremely off-putting. Instead of letting us order what we wanted, he insisted we choose dishes he recommended, completely disregarding our preferences. When the food finally arrived, and to our shock, the food was absolutely terrible. It was bland, lacked flavor, had almost no salt, and overall tasted like it hadn’t been prepared with any care. We had to ask for salt just to make it somewhat edible. Even then, the taste didn’t improve. The portion size for the price was a complete rip off ridiculously small and nowhere near worth what we paid. To make things worse, the chicken dish we received was undercooked and rare. When we brought our conerns to the owner's attention, instead of apologizing or offering to fix it, he argued with us and claimed “this is how they make thier food and these are best dishes. We ended up not eating the food, yet he still made us pay in full about $35 for one inedible dish. On top of that, he was yelling at his staff for no reason, creating a very tense vibe. What concerned us most was the state of the kitchen. It was visibly dirty and disorganized. One of the staff opened a back door leading directly to the parking area, and the dust blowing into the kitchen was unbelievable. Yet, food was still being prepared in that environment, no hygiene standards whatsoever. Overall, this place was a complete disaster. Between the rude service, poor hygiene, bad food, and unprofessional behavior, I can honestly say I will never return. I do not recommend this restaurant to anyone. There are far better places in the city that serve authentic Sri Lankan food with proper hygiene and respect...