Elephant Walk

I loved my evening at elephant walk! Went with a group of friends and couldn't have asked for a more homely setting with great food for a good catch up. Fairly priced too! Will definitely be making it one of my regulars.
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Hannah L
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, December 08, 2011

My wife and I were on holiday in Sri Lanka two months ago. We wanted to try some Sri Lankan food in London and we decided to dine at Elephant Walk last Saturday. It brought back some wonderful memories of Sri Lanka, particularly the taste and smell of Sri Lankan food.

When we were at a beach resort called Bentota we dined at a family run restaurant near the hotel on the first night. We liked it so much that we went there for dinner for the remaining three nights before we moved on to the hill country.

Elephant Walk reminded us of just this restaurant in Bentota. We will be going to Elephant Walk again for sure and we highly recommend it.
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Lana
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, November 14, 2011

I ate here with my wife using a Groupon Voucher. I live 5 minutes form this place so was familiar with the location. It was near impossible to reserve a table. They blocked out most times and only left undesirable times for the Groupon voucher holders.

As soon as I walked inside this place the service was terrible. We had to wait for menus, for drinks and for explanations of the menu.

I ordered a coke as a drink. It was flat, they didnt offer to replace it and they charged me for it. I was very disappointed by this considering I left 3/4 of the glass.

The food wasn't too bad, however my wife didnt like it all as her meal was hot on the outside and cold in the middle, symptom of a microwaved dish.

I'm sure this was a poor example of a Sri Lankan dining experience, however I dont think I'll gamble on trying another one.
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Richard
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Monday, October 31, 2011

Thankfully our experience was much more pleasant from what I have been reading! Having read the reviews prior to going I was a little anxious but all turned out well. The ‘street food’ selection is authentic and of good value in a cosy, quaint atmosphere. Staff are friendly and accommodating. We were happy to pay the added service charge – I have found it a common occurrence for restaurants on group-on deals to do this.

We reserved a table under a groupon voucher for 2 at Elephant Walk last Saturday – it seemed difficult to get a date of our choice as lots of reservations had been already been made under groupon, but we got there in the end!

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Elephant Walk – we will be returning again to try more of the menu which wasn’t covered by group-on.
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Maya Andrews - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

We got a groupon voucher for a diner for two at this restaurant.

It proved difficult to book a table in the first place as we had to do it via email and as I wasn't getting an answer I called to check if we could come along that evening, well we had to wait for the man to call "them" and then wait for an answer...

From the minute we walked in the atmosphere was very poor, the waitress sat us without a word, we waited 15 min for a menu and were given a choice of 3 main dishes, the waitress had very poor command of english and would repeat herself again and again when we asked questions, she had no knowledge of sri lankan food.

We waited for our drinks a further 20 min and had to ask twice more about a glass of tap water. The food finally arrived and my husband's was tasty and well presented, mine had been warmed up in the microwave as the outer was boiling hot but the middle cold. We sat waiting for our plates to be cleared up for a further 20 min and decided to ask for the bill as no dessert menu was offered despite asking for one. The bill came and surprise surprise it was over charged and service had been added, we complained and they agreed to remove the over charge and the service. Needless to say we wont be returning.
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Nathalie
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Sunday, September 25, 2011

I had a groupon voucher so had the street menu. There wasnt much choice but I was really happy with my curry and loved the way it was presented

The waitresses didnt have a clue what they were doing and could barely understand English. If I asked them a question about the menu they would launch into an explanation of something completely different.

To top things off, when the bill came I was charged service on the dishes I had already bought through groupon. When I questioned this and asked for it to be taken off as I had had bad service and was only with a table of 2, so would rather tip, they refused to take off service charge. This is a bit strange because if it is a compulsory charge with the dish, it should be included in the pre-bought voucher.

I will never be returning here as I found them rude and the service was poor.
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Lorraine Cooper
3 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, August 01, 2011

Having discovered there was a Sri Lankan restaurant nearby we were somewhat excited. Upon glancing at the extensive menu, we were very much looking forward to some mouth watering dishes. However, once we tucked into the food excitement turned into disappointment. Food arrived promptly albeit the fish curry was not warm enough to begin with, which led us to the suspicion it was microwaved. The quality of the chicken was very poor. A very average restaurant at a relatively high price.
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May
5 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Sunday, May 15, 2011

Four of us spent an extended week end in London in March. Born in SriLanka we were happy to find a 'SriLankan' restaurant.

The first impression was disappointing, atmosphere was dull, torn piece of a saree and a curtain did not impress us either.

The waiter was not Srilankan but Indian girl, not very knowlegable abour SriLankan cusine

Many of the typical SriLankan food like Hoppers, Gothamba rotti were not available neither was sweet Vattilapam-this place should change its name to something else.

If you are looking for SriLankan food- look elsewhere.
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j godfrey
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5
Friday, April 08, 2011

From a glance at the website this place seems like a tantalising proposition, but having actually eaten there I would merely rank it as so-so.

The staff were lovely – friendly attentive and polite – and the decor passable (if a little careworn at close quarters) but it was the food, that real test of a restaurant's mettle, was where I found it sadly lacking.

To start with, presentation was a little sloppy – the condiments which accompanied our poppadoms were three pools of shop-bought sauce, squirted onto a plate; one of which (bizarrely) was tomato ketchup (which I'm not that fussed about even on chips, let alone food hailing from the Indian subcontinent).

For a starter I had calamari, which was passable if not especially generous in size, and lacked any identifiably Sri-Lankan motif (it could have been cooked in France, for instance). More troubling still was the reappearance of the dreaded tomato sauce, which glowered at me undisturbed from the side of my dish. I must say, if this addition seemed merely incongruous with the poppadoms, here, as an accessory to delicate squid, its processed, sugary presence felt utterly inappropriate.

For mains I tried white curry with king prawns, whose coconut flavours and sour citrus notes were slightly reminiscent of Thai cooking. The broth was reasonably tasty, if a little watery and anaemic, but the king prawns (which I suspect were cooked from frozen) were chewy to the point of being crunchy. All in all, a bit steep for £10 (without rice) I thought.

My companions seemed to fare somewhat better, with both the Rotti and Buriani seeming both tastier and better value for money, but overall I was pretty unimpressed. The menu seemed to promise exotic, or at least more nuanced cuisine than your typical anglo-english fayre, but ultimately it just felt the wrong side of reasonable for food cooked without attention to detail, and with underwhelming ingredients.

It's the opposite side of London to me, but even if it weren't, I'd struggle to recommend it, based on what I ate today. And someone should really have a quiet word about their choice of sauces.
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Tom
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Sunday, November 07, 2010

I found the food was good and the staff friendly. It had a family run atmosphere. The furnishings are to a high relaxing standard. Obviously some money and thought has gone into the decor.

Heavens forbid I don't expect a fast food outlet type service. The place has class. Certainly a food and drinks connoisseur would appreciate it.

What provoked me to post here was stumbling across this site and then reading some "nonsensical" reviews. To fairly balance out the thread and supply my impressions. I'm going to rate it highly in the interests of fairness. You may deduct a couple of points here and there to get my true ratings.

I would finish by saying that the proof is in the eating so go there and find out for yourselves. And in case you're wondering good food that arrives in 2 minutes flat has to be viewed with suspicion. It takes you a while to cook and a good chef hates fastfood.

Enjoy.
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Foody - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, October 15, 2010