Colombo City Hotel is one of those hotels that somehow clung on through the war years, able to survive until bombs stopped scaring away the market.

Panorama is their bar/restaurant located on the fifth floor. You can get there by taking the helpful elevator installed for the purpose. It's relatively cheap and has a chilled out varendah that is cool and shady even on hot afternoons. They have great cheap coffee here, I had a decent cappucino for Rs. 210.

Food

The Prawn Cocktail was a disgrace to prawn cocktails everywhere, and to prawns in general I would think. It is smothered in tomato sauce mixed with mayo (there's a place in hell where sinners are only served tomato sauce mixed with mayo). [Editor's note: I like sauce and mayo. But that is not cocktail sauce].

It was rather sweet to boot, and the soaked cabbage and the greens at the bottom were hard to access, assuming you would even want to.

Being hungry (no surprises there) I ordered the Steak Baguette. Again, it came soaked in too much mediocre sauce, and the beef could have used a bit more flavor. The texture a little on the hard side but good if you like your meat a little tough.

The Club Sandwich was again rather bland. The menu said it had beef, but it had no beef. The best thing I can find to say was that the bread was well toasted.

Service

The tables are dusty and the waiters didn't bother to wipe them down before we sat. Also, the staff here are terribly difficult to get the attention of. So no points for service I'm afraid. 

Oh and in case you're wondering, there is no WiFi here (still clinging to past authenticity in this regard) so drop the idea of popping into work here if you're sick of being cooped up in your office at the World Trade Center. 

Conclusion

Panorama is a bar cum restaurant that we don't love as a restaurant, though we have heard good things about the bar. Come here at sunset for the view and don't be too picky about anything else.