The Escape Café — Restaurant in Colombo

I have never posted a negative review about a local business no matter the experience I have had with them, as I believe in supporting home grown set ups. However thought of clearing out misinformation that this cafe has provided on top of a review made by my friend (Ovindu De Silva on the review thread) about the incident that occured on 20.11.2021. I was the person that booked the venue. I shall share both negative and positive experience we had as this is NOT an attempt to run this cafe out of business.

Negative: Booked the entire place, paid an advance that was asked to be paid a few days before, webt there at the time to see around 25 more people occupying the place. No mention of minimum of 35 pax was communicated to us. Staff forgot to place an item in the menu. Had to ask them and show them the agreed menu and brought that item when people finished eating. Place was booked for 4pm, got the food by 5.45 to 6pm (that too partially) One staff was not wearing the face mask. Had to ask him twice to do it. I had to personally intervene to stop outsiders coming to the lawn from the booking they had takwn simultaneously inside The owner accepted the issue and said that the crowd will leave within an hour, they left after 2.5 hours. The cafe still accepted guests even during dinner time, when we had told them our concern of needing to have a private function booking the entire venue. The answer to the issues was that the manager was new and that she hadn't communicated the details properly which I think is unprofessional. We had informed the reduced headcount to the said manager 2 days before, but the billing was for the original count to which I didn't fuss as I didnt want to sound like "one of those guys" at our gender reveal party Asked the owner if it was fair to charge the booking fee for the place and she informed that she will reduce 10k out of the 25k paid. Told her that isnt about the money but about the principle, she still dodnt get it, after having asked the staff ti charge me full, they had reduced the 10k.

Positives: 1.Nice place Good ambience

Verdict: Please do visit this place and and I sincerely hope that they will become better on their customer service game. Its a good place to hang out they dont have experience handling larger crowds in my experience. Wishing the cafe all the best...

I had high hopes for Escape Cafe, but my recent visit was a huge letdown. From the moment we walked in, the waitstaff was shockingly rude. They seemed uninterested in providing any kind of service and were dismissive of our requests.

The cocktails were another disappointment. They were flat and tasted like they had been watered down. When we mentioned this to the staff, they said they would add extra alcohol. To our surprise, they added it to our bill without informing us beforehand.

What made the experience even worse was the attitude of the staff. They acted like they knew everything and dismissed our concerns and questions with an air of superiority. It felt like they believed they were doing us a favor by letting us dine there.

To top it all off, they switched off the lights while we were still dining. When we asked about it, they simply said the restaurant was closed, which was incredibly rude and unprofessional.

Overall, the unprofessional behavior of the waiters, the subpar cocktails, the unexpected charge for extra alcohol, and the abrupt closure of the restaurant made this a place I would not recommend. There are plenty of other restaurants that value their customers and deliver a much...

I went to try this after seeing Instagram ads from far away, but it doesn't taste good at all. It lacks flavor, almost like watery food. Perera & Sons and Fab Lamprise are way better than this. I don't recommend it.

It seems that many reviews mention the food not being good and lacking flavor. I should have checked the reviews before going. ————————

31/10/2024 in response to the owners reply:

Hi, thank you for responding. I can see that you may not be ready to receive critical feedback, and there may have been some misunderstanding. I'd like to clarify that tasteless food and using minimal or no oil are not the same thing. I’ve been to health focused cafes, like Seed Cafe, that manage to make delicious food without any oil. Here, however, the food tasted bland. It is possible to cook with minimal or no oil and still create flavorful dishes. I’ve noticed other reviews mentioning similar issues with the place. If the focus is on health conscious meals, it would be helpful if that were communicated upfront in advertising the lumprice so that those looking for flavorful options know what to expect. FYI-Lumprice isn’t typically a dish people seek out for...