17 Melbourne Avenue, Colombo 4
Open 11:00 am to 23:00
Siam House serves up reliable and tasty Thai-fare, and they're built for volume and deliveries.
Siam House serves up tasty, Sri-Lankanized Thai fare, and they're able to do it in high volumes. Their big restaurant and delivery service have served a generally happy clientele for over 20 years.
Colombo has gone from two Thai places to a lot, but Siam House still has a solid spot in our hearts. It provides the Sri Lankan Chinese restaurant experience (friends and family sharing a sometimes obscene amount of food) with satisfying Thai flavors. We wouldn't say it's authentic Thai, but it is an authentic experience.
No matter how we're supposed to eat it, a lot of Sri Lankans eat Thai (or Chinese) food like we would eat rice and curry. We get rice, a few sides and we mix it all together. Siam House works for that sort of dining. You could probably eat course by course but we actually prefer it this way.
The classics are the Thai red curry and green curry. Above is a beef red curry (Rs. 720). It was really good. Flavorful, tender and delicious. We can actually still remember it now. It comes with a generous amount of gravy which really savories up the rice.
Another stand-out was the papaya salad (Rs. 540). Just the right amount of acidity to make for a happy rice mouthful. They have more adventurous takes like the fish bowel salad, but we weren't ready for that.
Another reliable pick is their seafood selection. We tried the prawn with long beans (Rs. 970). A generous portion, and tasty, but we found ourselves going for the Thai red curry more.
A note on portions, Siam House's portions used to be ridiculously huge. They're not so epic now, but they're still quite big. A small will easily serve three people, otherwise you get leftovers.
For service we normally just say 'it's fine', but we actually had a really nice experience here. The waiter was funny, seemed to enjoy his job and helped us decide what to order. He was also quite concerned that we liked it since he felt like it was his responsibility. I have a peanut allergy which is usually difficult for waiters to process (especially at Thai places) but he understood immediately and made sure there was nothing in what we ordered. Really pleasant guy.
Another aspect of their service you might encounter is their delivery/take-away, which is quite popular. We've found it reliable, but at certain peak times they can get quite busy.
Siam House has a really big location on Melbourne Avenue (Bamba, between Galle Road and Marine Drive). You can sit on the verandah, and there's plenty of room for big parties upstairs and down. The ample space (and relatively available parking) makes it a good spot for groups.
Siam House makes tasty Thai food, and they can serve big groups (or a few people) reliably. It's not the most authentic, but it is catered to a Sri Lankan palette and we usually have a good time there. They also deliver.
Siam House serves up tasty, Sri-Lankanized Thai fare, and they're able to do it in high volumes.
Sri Lankan Chinese food and Japanese food are already very popular. The final piece to the Sri Lanka-East Asian fusion food puzzle is Siam House, Colombo’s main Thai restaurant.
தமிழ் இலங்கை பாணியிலான ஜப்பானிய சீன உணவுகளை தொடர்ந்து இப்போது கிழக்கிந்திய உணவு முறைகளில் தாய் (தாய்லாந்து) உணவும் இலங்கை பாணியில் கிடைக்கின்றது. சியாம் ஹவுஸ் கொழும்பின் முக்கியமான தாய் உணவகமாகும். தாய் உணவுக்கும் இலங்கையின் உணவுக்கும் பல ஒற்றுமைகள் இருக்கின்றன. இரண்டிலும் தேங்காய்ப்பால் பயன்படுத்தப்படுகின்றது, காரமானது, மற்றும் கறிகளாக சமைக்கப்படுகின்றது.
Address
17 Melbourne Avenue, Colombo 4
Directions
Melbourne Avenue is just south of Dickman's Road on the sea side of Galle Road. From Marine Drive it's between Milagiriya Avenue and Melbourne Ave.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyOpen 11:00 am to 23:00
Cuisine
Price Range
Ratings Breakdown
1/5
I went for dinner with my family and the service provided was horrible. We ordered several dishes and ordered a fried fish asked to be served the sauce separately for the baby who doesn't eat spices but the dish was served with the chili sauce poured on it.
When I asked about this matter the waiter was advising me to feed the child with the dish by wiping the spices by paper serviettes.
I was astonished and amazed by the poor quality and the service of the staff and the place.
Do not recommend this place for anyone and please note that the food serving here are not authentic Thai cuisines. They serve just fake Thai food without proper spices and ingredients.
Chathuranga Biyagama
Director, Gallery Four Life
Sydney, Australia
Today lunch we ordered one large tom yum, one spicy beef SALAD, one portion chicken in pandan leaves. We received:
1x small serving of tom yum / dirty pot water
1 x bowl soggy beef
1 x portion raw chicken.
Called for a delivery ……Saturday night!… “Sorry miss we don't deliver today” ha ha classic!
If you have ever eaten the real Thai food in Thailand - This is an utter disappointment and a waste of money.
Sorry, this is the truth.
Everything from our starters to our mains was loaded with sugar. You'd think a Thai restaurant could at least get Pad Thai right?!
The food is fantastic here. One of the best Thai restaurants in Sri Lanka. Their portions are also very large, unfortunately most dishes don't have small or medium sizes. They have only one size for everything and it is enough for about 6 people. So if only a couple of people eat there it will be expensive but if you go in a group it is very reasonable.
Though it's not all 100% Thai it's definitely not a bad thing to have it Sri Lankanized more so than westernized since the fusion isn't too strong. Pork curry was amazing and though I personally love it with a bit of fat, this had none but I didn't miss it at all it was that good.
Honestly, I don't know what happened, maybe you guys got lucky… I've been there 3 times… each time I go back it consistently gets worse… and the last time was the last straw for me, cold soup and too acidic, food wasn't up to par and the service was - well… far below average… I would never recommend this place to anyone, even my worst enemy… ok maybe my worst enemy…
This is one of my favorite restaurant. I wonder of some comments. I like their red curry chicken and specially their tom-yum soup. May be it is not original Thai taste. But I like their taste. They Sri Lankanized the Thai taste :)
The food is good most of the time but sometimes a tad too Sri Lankanized to be taste like real Thai. The executive lunch packs are really good but near impossible to get delivered.
Having given up on this almost non existent delivery service, we used to just drive over there to pick up our food. Which also we have stopped now because on multiple occasions they gave the food packed in polythene bags. Imagine bringing home large portions of oily spicy hot curry in a ballooned up bag knotted at the top. At the prices charged surely a box/ container is in order instead of bagging it like a saiver kadey gravy bag.
An all time favorite of mine with great quality food, nice place (calm, homely) and friendly staff. Just the Prawn Red Curry with Steamed Rice will fill up your senses.
I've been visiting Siam House from the time of its old location in Duplication Road. The food used to be absolutely fantastic back then. Even after they moved to Melbourne Avenue it was living up to its standards. However, tonight was my first visit after many years. First off, it wasn't busy and it was really quiet and nice. We were given the corner table of the upstairs balcony which I liked.
Unfortunately the food was really bad. It let me down in so many ways. Even though the Tom Yum Soup was good, the chicken fried rice and the hot buttered cuttlefish were too sweet. The Thai green curry chicken lacked so much of flavor. The green curry didn't have the explosion of lemongrass, galangal and kafir lime leaves which it usually has. We ordered a deep fried garupa with chili sauce which was about 20 minutes late after the rest of the food arrived. We figured the waiter forgot to put the order. After complaining to the manager and after what seemed like an eternity, the fish arrived and the rest of the food were gone cold. The fish also lacked seasoning and wasn't the same since the last one I had a few years ago. We were just given an apology but wasn't offered a compensation, although we didn't really expect one.
All in all, Siam House has unfortunately lost its legacy. I understand they might have good days and bad ones and I may have been a victim of a bad one, but if they want returning customers in their former glory, they must do some serious adjustments. I don't know why Yamu gave them 4 stars while Lemongrass in Kotte serves much better Thai food and deserves a review from you.
I went on yesterday with my gf. Food is ok.But not worth, and very poor customer service.They dont know how to talk to a customer. I blamed them and out.
I went to this place for the first time on 22nd Jul 2015. Really didn't know what to order so just tried with the ones we thought might be good. other than the place and the gentleman who served, I don't think i will comment positively on the food or the price. not worth for the money you spent. Me no going for the second time.
Nirojan.
Cheating & No value for money! Ridiculous Portion size!
We have been visiting this restaurant and food is good. I have even hosted my birthday party twice, hence I know the amount of the dishes. Usually when two of us go, a small portion used to be more than enough for two people. A couple of days ago two of us ordered a medium portion of rice which was nearly LKR.1350 + 25% tax, was not enough for two. If the medium portion is enough for only one, then is the small portion enough only for a kid? When we addressed this, they didn't have a proper answer and claimed that the portion size may have been altered recently. Changing the quantity unreasonably and not informing the (regular) customer is not right and after waiting for nearly 20 minutes to see this quantity, ordering another so called medium portion from such a place wasn't even an option for us. Hence we left feeling disappointed, angry and hungry too.
Their food is tasty, but since there are many good quality Thai Restaurants coming up in Colombo, this might not go a long way unless they improve.
crappy service. Didnt get what I wanted. Crowded, tacky! Have to order what the server wants. Never again
Four of us went with a tom yum soup in the beginning,then; fried seafood noodles (m); fried seafood rice(l); hot butter cuttlefish and Thai red curry, for our main course (lunch).
The only thing that tasted acceptable was the thai red curry. The seafood rice and the noodles could have had seafood instead of making us fish for seafood in something that has 'seafood' in the title and the overall experience was definitely a negative.
Firstly their tom yum soup had a very strong flavor, I guess their excessive use of lemongrass and possibly MSG. This was not the worst tom yum soup I've had, but it could have been better; they had plenty of prawns in it though.
Secondly the noodles had a unmixed MSG (Ajinomoto) cube that I happened to bite on and and when I asked about about it, they swore that their Thai chefs do not resort to such artificial flavors but I knew that it was certainly a lie - as I do use MSG at home on occasion and know how they solidify once opened.
Thirdly the HBC was bad as well, I really don't know how they could give me cold butter cuttlefish (it was at room temperature by the time I was served). The crisp was non existent, probably due to their stinginess for the batter that they coat the cuttlefish with; there certainly wasn't enough batter on the fish to give the intended crisp and flavor.
When I brought up the issues to the manager was claiming that their 3 chefs have never had complaints over their 14 year history, and that this was the first time. I gave a second chance to Siam House and they disappointed me just the same as the first(I gave them a second chance because my first time order was takeaway and I thought the food was bad because it cooled down by the time I got home- but certainly that wasn't the case as we ate in)
ORDER DELIVERY AT YOUR RISK>>>>> IT MAY NEVER ARRIVE
Delivery and customer service sucks. After ordering at 8.31 pm, 10 calls to the takeout counter and 5 calls to the dispatch rider, food arrived cold at 10.22 pm (more than 1 hr 45 mins). Deeply disappointed that there was no follow up on the delays with the customer or courtesy towards customers.
Signs of customer service standards rapidly deteriorating…. cant think it can get any worse being in the "hospitality" business.
ATTN : Management Siam House
1/5
Chathuranga Biyagama
I went for dinner with my family and the service provided was horrible. We ordered several dishes and ordered a fried fish asked to be served the sauce separately for the baby who doesn't eat spices but the dish was served with the chili sauce poured on it.
When I asked about this matter the waiter was advising me to feed the child with the dish by wiping the spices by paper serviettes.
I was astonished and amazed by the poor quality and the service of the staff and the place.
Do not recommend this place for anyone and please note that the food serving here are not authentic Thai cuisines. They serve just fake Thai food without proper spices and ingredients.
Chathuranga Biyagama
Director, Gallery Four Life
Sydney, Australia
2/5
chunkyluvr69
Rated 2/5
4/5
HiroJP
Rated 4/5