FLOW — Restaurant in Colombo

From walking in to leaving, my experience at FLOW was mediocre. Our reservation didn’t exist despite having call logs to prove the reservation was made. We were asked to call the number back to ensure it was the right place (which I thought was hilarious).

SERVICE/ATMOSPHERE: We got seated at an awful location and when we asked if we could be moved, they said this was the only seat not reserved, as if somehow it was our fault for not THEM not having our reservation. Throughout the night, it was hot, other guests were clearly sweating and the AC was dripping onto my friend. There was a live band playing by the exit and music from the speakers in the restaurant at the same time and it was so bothersome. Our water was never topped up and sometimes plates were taken when we were still eating from them.

DRINKS: They were serving eggnog in small glasses with a stick of cinnamon inside. It was watery and lacked flavor, just tasted like milky cinnamon water. We were told there were free flowing cocktails - arrack based apple cocktail, arrack based strawberry cocktail and black currant iced tea. So two cocktails that tasted like it had no alcohol in it and like it was made using KIST juice bottles. Still potable so we drank them. There was a king coconut and lime shooter that tasted like cold water with a drop of lime.

FOOD: The rolls in the bread section were good. Why the butter was served in smalls molds on ice is beyond me, the butter was so soft because of the heat. It would have been way more conducive to have butter in their tiny packets submerged in ice water (which I’ve seen Hilton do before). The roast meats section had “slow roasted pork loin” which was such a let down. It was dry and fell apart in your hands for all the wrong reasons. Even the roast chicken was very dry, I could pound on it with my fork and not make a dent. There was no jus or gravy to go with either meat, just chili flakes and Parmesan? What am I supposed to do with that? The Hawaiian chicken salad was nice. The potato salad was mediocre, many pieces of potato were extremely hard, like they weren’t boiled right. Seafood dumplings tasted great but they came in individual differently shaped ramekins so you couldn’t take a lot onto your plate. If you took the dumpling off the ramekin, the bottom of the dumpling was stuck to the dish. The egg fried rice was good but nothing to write home about. The Mongolian beef has so much potential to be fantastic, but there were giant pieces of beef here and there that were chewy and tough to eat. The tempura prawns were fabulous! The Indian section was great, the naan was soft and the butter chicken masala was very very good.

The desserts were also not that good. Chocolate cake, dry. Chocolate brownie, dense and dry. Red velvet cake, dry and tasteless. There was caramel pudding (watery and tasteless) with fruit on top and the fruit is FROM A CAN, you immediately taste the fakeness to it and let’s say the pudding was bearable to eat? The fruit ruin that. There were several other desserts that just didn’t look appetizing, bright colors and sprinkles and pieces of scraped chocolate do not make up for a bad dessert. The cheesecake and apple strudel were the only two good desserts. Maybe do less desserts next time and focus on perfecting those few instead of pumping out varieties that taste like nothing.

I’ve eaten at Jaic Hilton before and very recently ate at the buffet at the Hilton Residences and they’ve far superseded the experience I’ve had with FLOW. If you’re an affiliate of Hilton, I would think it’s important your standard is through the roof. This was quite a disappointing meal, especially for 7200/- pp I would not pay my own money to...

An evening of “Absolute Disappointment”!

We made a reservation 2 days prior for the dinner buffet on the 5th for my Birthday! We visited the restaurant around 8 p.m and decided to start off with the Chinese section at which the name boards said “Chicken Dumplings”. My husband took 2 dumplings and the dumpling tray was empty. So when inquired from a chef at the counters he said he would come back to us. In few minutes a staff came and politely asked whether we would like to have seafood balls which they had on another tray, for which we said that we would like to have chicken itself. Thereafter he continued to ask whether we could take the pork dumplings, for which I said don’t consume pork and would prefer the chicken itself. Then it was communicated that they had to make a few and would take time. “THE DUMPLINGS THAT THEY PROMISED NEVER CAME TILL WE LEFT(even after 1 hour). Then with hesitation we went further to see there was a mixed seafood sweet & sour dish which had 2 pieces of fish and a prawn. We inquired as to if one person takes this it would be emptied and whether would refill it, for which it was informed that they would deliver it to our table. Was quite happy and in few minutes we got the dish, which did not the any heat and was absolutely not fresh. When inquired from the waiter, the waiter said it was freshly made… but we told to check…that if at all it was freshly made it should at least be hot, but to his surprise it wasn’t and he took that dish too away! Which means “WE DID NOT GET THE SEAFOOD TOO TILL WE LEFT”! Thereafter there was a dish with pork sausage wrapped with ham, and only 5 pieces were available… when we checked whether we could get few more it was said that it would take more time, which too DID NOT COME THROUGH TILL WE LEFT!!!! We ended up having Parata with beef curry and pol sambol…. That was it… as the Dhal fry seemed to be the other popular dish that they had at the Indian & Sri Lanka section! Tried the Black Forest for dessert which again was a disappointment! Finally the so called complementary cake arrived… wolla!!! We figured out that the staff of “Flow Restaurant @Hilton Residencies” did not know to spell Darling…(they had spelt it as “Daling Amma”) It was surprise that my husband had planned out, BUT INDEED WAS A DISAPPOINTING EVENING”. We were embarrassed to the core with the spread that was available as we hosted our parents too. WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THIS RESTAURANT AS IT THIS IS A RIP OFF!!! IT REALLY DIDN’T SEEM...

I have been there several times with my friends. All of them were weekday dinner or lunch outings. Every time it was a great experience. The atmosphere is very nice and inviting.

The food is simply superb but the spread is bit limited when you compare it other similar places. But still it was great for us. Their speciality is having five live kitchens severing food in five different cuisines.

On the soups I really love their cream of mushroom soup. It's very tasty. And they have a generous collection of dinner rolls along with few types of cheese.

On main course you have good food options belonging to different cuisines. I love their Japanese offering where you have different types of sushi and sashimi. They are really nice. They also offer at least three types of sea food which could be selected and prepared according to our preference. In the Indian section you have comparatively large spread with lots of carb and vegetarian options. Their offerings on meat is very limited. In the Chinese section you could have freshly prepared noodle soup with ingredients you choose and they have several types of dumplings which are tasty.

The dessert department also carry lots of options starting from fruits, ice creams, traditional sweets to Western dessert. All of them are with their own special taste.

Overall We had a great experience every time. The staff is also very helpful and prompt. We are planning to...