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. 

Food & Drinks

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.  

Ambience 

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. 

Service 

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. 

Conclusion

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.