The Barge.

The Barge, with its beautiful semi-outdoor interior and the view, will definitely draw your attention. It certainly did for us, which is why we picked it as the spot for our team drink sesh this month.
Located on a bank of the Beira Lake, The Barge is a sister restaurant/bar to the popular Barracuda. The pathway to this place is lit with string lights, and we followed it and stepped in with so much excitement.
 
Oy vey! It didn't take long for our expectations to go down the drain.

Food

The food menu at The Barge mainly revolves around Chinese fusion and a few Sri Lankan dishes like kottu and black pork curry. Most of them are priced at Rs. 800 and above.

This is the Mongolian Seafood Rice (Rs. 1100). Portion-wise, it's somewhat all right, but in terms of flavour, it had no remarkable quality to it. The rice had a few tiny bits of shrimp and cuttlefish, along with carrot, spring onions and kangkung, but was way too oily for our liking. The skewers they serve on the side, however, were well grilled, but lacked proper seasoning.

The Thai Green Chicken Curry (Rs. 900) featured an assortment of chicken, mushroom and bell pepper, soaked in a thin, light green-coloured gravy. The gravy reeked of coconut powder, was overly sweet too, and we couldn't detect the significant green curry flavour, or anything remotely close it to it. 

The saving grace of our experience at The Barge, was this Pepper Pork (Rs. 900), which had chunks of pork, capsicum, onions and curry leaves, tossed onto a pepper-based gravy. They certainly can improve its pepper factor, because this is quite toned down, but, we appreciate the fact that it's mostly meaty bits, and not oily ones.

Cocktails

The saddest part of our experience was the cocktails. We were quite happy to hear about their one-to-one happy hour deal for cocktails, but instantly regretted it.

The Sex On The Beach (Rs. 700) was disappointing. Watered down to the point that it tastes like a bland Sunquick, we couldn't get any boozy notes in this one.

The Dirty Martini (Rs. 550) followed suit. There was a teeny tiny gin-like undertone, but aside from that, it tasted clear as water.

Ambience & Service

The ambience at The Barge is quite pretty and comes with a good view too. The Beira Lake flows right next to the restaurant, and you'll be able to catch a glimpse of Colombo's nightlights across it.

The soothing vibe, good music and the dimmed lights actually make this place a good option for a date night too.
The staff was absolutely welcoming and helpful throughout our experience.

Conclusion

They have a lot of room for improvement – especially in terms of delivering value for money with good flavours and boozy cocktails. So, as of now, we do not recommend them.

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