55, Barnes Place, Colombo 7
Open 6.30AM to 11PM on Sunday - Thursday, 6.30AM - 1.00AM on Friday - Saturday
Tea Avenue is a very cosy stop on Barnes Place to have a good cup of flavoured tea and some bready goods. The prices are good and the ambience is suited for all kinds of meetups.
We're all pretty familiar with Tea Avenue. It's been around for a quite a while, and practically buzzing on every Instagram story. Almost every teenager in Colombo who's school is in its vicinity tends to go there. I know this because not so long ago, it was one of the places I used to hangout as well.
Colombo city is mushrooming with cafes, but Tea Avenue is still popular. With three branches in Colombo, they seem to be doing very well. Which is why we decided to drop by their oldest branch in Barnes Place, while trying out a FriMi promo.
Our experience at Tea Avenue has been consistently good over the years. However this time around it left a little to be desired.
So, as you could probably tell, the one on your left is a Cafe Latte. At Rs. 580, it had a fluffy layer of foam on top, but the coffee part, the most important element in a coffee-based drink, wasn't all that great. I'm no coffee aficionado, but personally, I would have preferred it to have a thicker consistency and a stronger coffee presence.
The Ferrero Lavish ( Rs. 980), on the other hand, was not lavished with any form of said chocolate. While we found one of the promised Ferrero Rochers sitting on top of the mountain of whipped cream, the rest tasted like chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce. Don't get me wrong, it was super delicious and refreshing, but would've been better if it was delivered as advertised.
This plate of gorgeousness is the Charcoal Waffle with Fried Chicken (Rs. 850). Tea Avenue does some pretty good Fried Chicken. Yes, the waffle was a tad rubbery and the salad practically disappeared after the first bite, but, the two giant pieces of fried chicken drenched in cheese sauce were an absolute treat. We liked it.
Now for the Beef Bolognese with Cheese (Rs. 1040) - which was quite alright. The spaghetti was cooked Al dente, the sauce tasted like every other a average bolognese sauce we've tried, but nothing stood out. It wasn't bad, but a tad too pricey for the Rs. 1040.
Tea Avenue is one of those places in Colombo that have successfully made themselves appear to be all warm, cozy and basically a picture perfect coffee shop straight out of a magazine. The warm lighting, the heaps of chairs and the option of getting a private room, all add up to say that this place is a pretty solid place to sit and chill if that's what you're looking for.
Nevertheless, we suggest staying somewhere in the open areas on Tea Avenue because while the corners are much more secluded, the place we stayed in had a bit of a fly problem and it was super duper warm.
The food took around 10 minutes to arrive, which is good considering that there were around 7 customers in the house.
However, going to order was a bit unnerving. They looked positively annoyed to see us when we walked in and it continued throughout the ordering process. On the other hand, hats off to the lady who served us our food. She was super friendly and literally the only silver lining to this segment of the article.
Tea Avenue is a pretty good place to sit down and have a bit of a chat with a friend or two in terms of ambience. However, you can't really overlook the fact that the prices at Tea Avenue are pretty steep. Especially because there are a variety of cafes in Colombo serving some pretty good food while not being this expensive.
*You can pay from Nations Trust Bank America Express cards here.
A fancier tea house in Colombo with a steady fan base of IG dedicated teenagers.
Our latest look at Colombo 7's Tea Avenue
Tea Avenue is a very cosy stop on Barnes Place to have a good cup of flavoured tea and some bready goods. The prices are good and the ambience is suited for all kinds of meetups.
Tea Avenue is a very cosy stop on Barnes Place to have a good cup of flavoured tea and some bready goods. The prices are good and the ambience is suited for all kinds of meetups.
Address
Directions
Turn into Barnes Place from C.W.W.Kannangara Mw, go past Museus College. Tea Avenue is right at the Wijerama Mw junction.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyOpen 6.30AM to 11PM on Sunday - Thursday, 6.30AM - 1.00AM on Friday - Saturday
Price Range
Ratings Breakdown
The Java Lounge has been around for a few years…
A restaurant and a guest house in Ella, that one should…
2/5
Came here today for a late lunch with my friend. Was excited because food on their social media looks good and people have said the place is good. Unfortunately they didnt have basic ingredients like penne for the pasta option and they were out of cheesy bread (which I was really looking forward too)
Got the chicken katsu and a spicy prawn sammie. The food barely hit the mediocre mark for me. The prawns in the sandwitch were crazy tiny and it tasted overall bland. Katsu was okay, but only came with a tasteless bunch of green leaves.
Very pricey food for the quality and quantity you get. I do not recommend this place
Something is not right that you reviewed a "Tea Lounge" and wrote about coffee??? It is like going to a coffee shop and write about tea. Furthermore, reviewing about coffee is not base on the size or how pretty the mug…and the worst thing to do is ordering a coffee with ice. At least, you need to act like an expert and order an Expresso, talk about crema, aroma…
As usual people open a cafe right next to another cafe….because that makes business sense….not
Probably thanks to Yamu we got 3 strawberries. But their chocolate muffin was horrible. It was very dry, consistency was like a "Kanakatha" - the dry cake in the village bakery. But lovely ambiance and pretty good tea!
Thanks for the review. And kudos to everyone opening a new lounge or café in Colombo - great to see so many new options! Judging by the neg. comments, they have some way to go to improve. But hey, it's great that people are actually doing new stuff - that's how we'll learn & grow as a city…
Love those waffles… Really good food. However, the staff take such a long time to process with one order.
I would not recommend this place to anyone who needs to have a private party. Seriously
their service is horrible. The food was average. They were fussing to make the payments before the crowd even arrived. It was supposed to be a surprise party! and they were interrupting to make the orders.
And even the orders were late.
They should improve on their customer service.
Been here a few times and I haven't had a pleasant experience once. Thought I should give it a second chance (and a third in this case) but sadly nothings changed. Waiters are inattentive, rude and unprofessional; half way through conversation he dropped the English and spoke to me in Sinhalese (I can't speak it) and greeted my Korean friend by calling her Chinese.
Tables are oily (you can literally see the oily film on it), food is sub par and the tea usually tastes like water. I ordered a hot tea (since I had a sore throat) and it came to me luke warm and my friends chocolate coffee tasted more rubbery than anything else.
Is it just an off day? I can confidently say its daily service. Having a hard time understanding why this place is so popular. AVOID.
Bought a cheese cake slice and it was so damn small. It wasn't that good either but so overpriced. The working staff is horrible btw
Keeping it short and simple… The service just can't get any shittier… but guess what? They proved me wrong… the service just got shittier than it was…
great place to chill and have a chat with your friends and family , ambiance is just right to sit down and read a books. well trained staff and not to mention good food and great coffees if you ask me
Two words about tea avenue: RAT INFESTED! dined there a few days back and we literally saw a rat run across the floor. If we wanted to dine with rats we'd eat in the gutter! when complained to the manager he said that it was an old building and shrugged it off!
Enjoyed the waffles (chicken) and the English breakfast. Coffee was great. The éclair was soft and decadent.
Visited the place to buy time as my Kids were having a birthday party at ciocanut.Ordered some cheese cake, hot chocolate and tea and it was the worst food and beverages we had. The tea was undrinkable and spilt all over the saucer and the hot chocolate was cold and a pot of suger.They forgot about the cheese cake and had to collect it from the counter on my way out.The shitest service, food experience I ever had.
Good Place, use to be there when i wanted to be alone, they have separate area for smoking and there drinks are quite good as well,
4/5
Nirma1992
Waffles - my favorite and it has varieties of waffles with mouthwatering flavors which I like.
Place to be out in the eve with friends & family
5/5
Lexie R
4 stars
5/5
Ramona Van Grenberg
Loved the Creamy Chicken Pasta