Masala Island — Restaurant in Colombo

Visted this place for some drinks and some bites. First of all, this is one of the restaurants with the most slowest service! We have to wait for 20-30mins to receive our order even when the place is not flooding with people. And when we are done with our drinks and meals and want to check out, we have to wait for someone to come around to send us the check book.

We had fried mushrooms which was way too deep fried with oil dripping and getting soaked into the tissue papers. It was also fully stuffed with chillie pieces and spices. The ambience tends to give out an old vibe and needs to be imprved upon. And their beverage menu is very limited. And the food menu is limited to very specific common Indian dishes and also offers a few western options as well.

There was a small group of 2-3 people playing in the band and the music was not consistent. They tend to play one song and get up and leave , drink and then play the next song in about 40mins later. What is even up with that?

The staff in this place also does not pay prompt attention to the needs of the customers. They keep you waiting to receive your food and sometimes needs reminding.

If we will vist this place again, is quite unsure. Overall, mediocre experience and lots to improve with regards to...

Great atmosphere and vibe, slow but friendly service, a simple menu that is not too fussy and caters for all - with English and Italian cuisine options - fairly pricey dishes, but the food was okay. We had a vegetable masala, garlic and onion naan, and a roti to share.

When we say, ‘slow service’, we don’t mean the time it takes between ordering and getting our food. Food is being cooked fresh, so it takes as long as it takes – no problems with that as that’s what you want. No, we mean it’s a little slow beforehand trying to catch a waiter’s attention to order or to ask for the bill – it was a long wait. Felt like we were forgotten, yet the waiters were mostly stood by the door chatting but looking fairly bored.

The plates with the elephants on were nice though.

Edit: This was our first experience of Sri Lankan cuisine. We later – a few days later – realised there are better places to dine around Colombo, and certainly much better and authentic Sri Lankan restaurants elsewhere around the island.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this place.

Visited...

We recently visited this restaurant and had a bad experience. The waiter kept suggesting certain dishes, and when we mentioned that the menu was overpriced, he assured us the 10% service charge had been removed because the food was already expensive. However, when we got the bill, the service charge was still there. We complained to the manager, but he didn’t seem to care and brushed it off.

We ordered Naan and Butter Chicken for 2650 LKR, but the dish only came with four tiny chicken pieces—not worth the price. Since the curry wasn’t enough for the Naan we ordered, we tried Chicken Tikka Masala. Unfortunately, it tasted almost identical to the Butter Chicken, with barely any difference. The waiter had initially told us that the curry would be enough for everything, but the portion was way too small.

The waiter misled us about the service charge, and the food was overpriced and disappointing. We won’t be returning and don’t recommend this...