Located at: 254 Galle Road, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Visited on: 07th December, 2024

It was intriguing to learn that another international hotel chain was opening its doors in Sri Lanka – this time, in the form of Thai-based hotel chain Amari. Amari Colombo is located right in the heart of the city, and we made a visit to check out their dinner buffet at Ahāra restaurant. The dinner buffet is priced at LKR 7,500 nett per person, while the lunch buffet is LKR 6,500.

The interior made a good impression. It was tastefully done, with a decent layout and eye-catching, contemporary décor. The staff, too, were very friendly and welcoming. The spread was substantial, comprising of Far Eastern (Japanese, Chinese, Thai), Indian, Sri Lankan and Western dishes. It was also attractive in its presentation.

However, in terms of taste, there was definitely something lacking across the board. Moreover, the seafood elements of both the starters and main dishes didn’t feel fresh. After all, the hotel had just commenced operations the previous week, so one would expect ingredients to be fresh – and freshly sourced. There was a general lack of depth and authenticity in flavour in the dishes. For instance, the tom yum soup from the action station did get your tastebuds going, but it was too much on the sweet side. The grilled fish was a bit paste-y, the biryani gave neither aroma nor flavours of the spices it should have been prepared with, and so on. Not to say that everything was entirely in poor form, but there really was no dish that we could agree on to be so good or worthy of a second round.

The dessert counter looked vast, but this appearance came from how the items had been arranged repetitively around the counter. The sweet treats were not bad, and we managed to get through most of what we had picked without complaint.

All in all, it wasn’t a dining experience that left us eager to return. In fact, in comparison with what Amari Colombo’s other five-star competitors in the city offer – for the same or a similar price – this was a fair bit of a disappointment.

Yummy Rating: 3.0 / 5.0