39A Flower Road, Colombo 7
Closed right now
Commons is one of Colombo's most popular hangout spots. They've got a great location on flower road and a relaxed atmosphere. Its expansive menu means your spoilt for choice but quality varies depending on what you choose.
The YAMU team arrived at The Commons Coffee House for a late lunch looking forward to filling our hungry bellies.
The food menu was extremely large so we were spoilt for choice, but I wondered whether Commons would deliver on quality given their expansive range?
Commons’ main food menu offers predominantly Western cafe cuisine such as sandwiches, waffles, crepes and rolls. They also do a range of more sophisticated western-asian fusion dishes splitting their menu into seafood, meat, rice bowls and a separate section titled ‘healthy’.
They also have a traditional Sri Lankan menu, a burger menu and a kids' menu. On this occasion we limited ourselves to their main menu. The four of us placed our orders hoping to try a range of foods.
Vishvi ordered the Spaghetti Carbonara (Rs. 710) and a Cappucino (Rs. 330). The four of us tried the carbonara and weren’t very impressed, the pasta was overcooked and there was too much sauce for the amount of pasta.
The sauce was worryingly yellow and had a gelatinous texture with a bizarrely familiar taste suggesting that flavour enhancer (MSG) may have been used. Another downside was that the bacon was not crispy (something I always look for in a decent carbonara).
As for myself, I ordered the Fish Thai Red Curry with steamed rice (Rs. 695) and the Mochaccino (Rs. 460). We all felt that the fish was not fresh and a bit tough.
As for the curry itself, it lacked depth and the only flavours that resonated were that of salt and chilli. My salad was very basic with a few sliced onions, cucumber and tomato doused in soya sauce.
Sarah ordered a simple Pumpkin Soup (Rs. 410) which we thought was decent but not something to write home about!
Chandana ordered the classic Chicken and Mushroom waffle (Rs. 490) . The waffle wasn’t crispy and soft in the middle, but soggy and overpowered by the sauce.
As the name suggests The Commons Coffee House does offer a range of coffee, tea, ice-coffees, milkshakes and fruit juices.
Vishvi ordered the Cappuccino and although it looked the part, it wasn’t anything special, as it lacked the rich coffee flavour and the light fluffiness of foamy milk that one normally expects.
I ordered the Mochaccino expecting the classic taste of blended coffee and chocolate, unfortunately this was replaced by what seemed to me an overly sweet chocolate milkshake. Chandana's Orange Juice (Rs. 350) was good and wasn’t obviously over sweetened.
To my delight not much has changed at Commons with regards to the restaurant’s aesthetic, it's ambience and relaxed atmosphere is definitely one of its strengths.
With regard to service while generally to standard the biggest let down was that Chandana’s order arrived 10 minutes after the rest of our food did. Unfortunately this brings our opinion of Commons’ service down a few notches.
One thing that we think customers should be aware of is that the service charge and VAT increases the price considerably of each product adding a few hundreds on to your order. If you place a large order it can be quite pricey for what you're getting.
Overall The Commons Coffee House strength lies in its ambience and comfortable seating. As for its food, it is of a mediocre standard and arguably not worth the amount you’re paying. Commons could improve by reducing the size of its menu focusing in on a few well made dishes of top quality. The fact that even its coffee based products are lacking suggests that either it should rename itself simply ‘The Commons’ or focus on improving its primary product (coffee)!
In conclusion if you want somewhere to hangout in the afternoon with a group of friends and you’re not too concerned about quality coffee and food The Commons Coffee House is the place for you!
Sidenote: They're famous for their burgers, so if you go, invest in one of those.
A relaxed place to hang-out with a group of friends particularly if you're not too bothered about high quality food and drink.
Commons is still a cool place to hang out, one of Colombo's few full-service cafes that's open late.
Commons is one of Colombo's most popular hangout spots. They've got a great location on flower road and a pleasant space to sit down and have chat. The service is slow but the food has actually gotten better, specially the rottis.
While Commons is aesthetically pleasant, we're not so sure about the food. It's expensive, and really not good enough to warrant such high prices.
සිංහල මෙතැන තියෙන්නේ ටිපිකල් කැෆේ එකක පෙනුම. ඉඩකඩත් ඕනේ තරම්.
Address
Directions
Past Dinemore on Thurstan Rd, turn left on to Flower Rd at the (Royal College) junction. Commons is on Flower Rd, a few meters passed Ladies College on the opposite side.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyClosed right now
Cuisine
Asian Sri Lankan Fusion European
Price Range
Dish Types
Burgers Sandwiches Wraps Waffles Coffee Iced Coffee Roti
Ratings Breakdown
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4/5
Had a pleasant lunch visit here. Staff were friendly and their service was good. Food quality was good too if a little pricey for what it is but I guess you are paying for the decent upkeep of the of restaurant too. It's definitely one of the nicer restaurants to sit in Colombo
1/5
Terrible service… Not at all customer friendly.
Staff is not on the same page, one says they can give a menu item and the other says they can’t.
Even the reservation, they took it in, but once we enter the place they said, “we usually don’t take reservations for 2 people”
Also they make you wait for the longest time to bring the food
1/5
Rs. 300 delivery charge from here to 5th lane (literally less than 1 km). Sad.
1/5
* didn't have waffles and the excuse was that the waffle iron was broken for the last 3 days
* under staffed and those who were there were really rude
* I ordered an English breakfast and I had to keep asking them to bring the missing items on my plate
* so many flies
very dissapointed with the quality drop
1/5
I went by this place 3 days in a row. First time I went they mixed up my order and when I came back nothing was ready. 2nd day the same incident happened with delays again. Today I timed it and it took them 18 mins to bring me an iced coffee which just had to be taken out of the fridge and put into a glass and a further 20 mins (18+20mins=38 mins) for the rest of my food (hotdog). very appalling service.
1/5
In terms of standards their food has really gone down. Was there recently after a while and ordered the Chillie Prawn Pasta… what was served was an appalling goopy mix of knorr infused cheese and cornflour sauce with more cornflour than cheese, with a couple of prawns and chillie flakes mixed in with the pasta…that was it. It was so disappointing especially since I've sampled such a dish in other restaurants such as Bars and was looking forward to having something similar. This was like one of those pre-cooked meals you can microwave for a quick fix. If they can't do certain dishes well then they should remove it off the menu and concentrate on what they can pull off. Otherwise it just ends up disappointing and being a total rip off for what we pay as customers.
Personally, I think their Mongolian lamb rice is pretty good, and their pol rotti with beef curry, though the latter is pretty expensive for three rottis, a curry, and a teaspoon of katta sambol. Everything else is pretty average, and as you said about the filled rottis, they're usually pretty leathery.
Commons' delivery is pretty slow too, compared to the rest of the Harpo's restaurants. You can be damn sure that a Commons delivery will take well over an hour to reach you, if you're lucky.
I love their home made beef stew however when I ordered it to go a week after I first had it I was disappointed as it was full of black pepper and it's too late to do anything about it once you've taken your food home!
The coffee frappe's are pretty good however when you add the taxes + service charges to it you end up paying what you'd pay for a frappe at Starbucks or Gloria Jeans abroad which isn't cool cos it's not as good & they use local Hansa coffee so it's not like they have to pay tax for the coffee that they serve which doesn't justify the price.
Last time we went, there was a disheveled short haired woman who went around terrorizing the staff and customers. She was some sort of manager I believe. She kept stomping around frowning at everyone. Her principle bugbear was customers putting their feet on the short tables. On her snapped orders the manager would then sidle up to the customer and ask them to remove their offending appendages from said tables. Couldn't relax so never went again.
My office is close by so I'm a frequent visitor to The Commons. I agree the prices are considerably too high, especially once the taxes are added. But I've always found the ambience good and the service friendly - except that it can get terribly crowded, mainly with youngsters. I agree the food is inconsistent but I've had some very good dishes including grilled tuna and the tasty casseroles and Mongolian-type meals mentioned by David. I think the plain or egg rottis with curry are excellent. I find the coffees excellent - they don't suffer from being local. Also the French toast or pancakes are great for a leisurely breakfast though I once had some terrible scrambled eggs (but where in Sri Lanka do you get good scrambled eggs?) A tip: ask if they have soursop juice in stock - you won't regret it.
Had a really bad experience with Commons on Saturday night. Their delivery is consistently iffy in comparison to the rest of the Harpo's places. They never can get you your food under an hour, and that's if you're lucky. They average an hour and a half.
So on Saturday night, the girlfriend and I decide to order in and watch the cricket, what it being poya and all. So we order the pol rotti with beef curry. This is one of the few things that's consistently good with Commons. As usual it takes over an hour and several phone calls to get there. When I open the rotti, I find that they've wrapped each rotti individually in tissue paper that is stuck firmly to the rotti. No amount of peeling or scraping will get the paper off, so it's basically inedible. Chuck it in the dustbin and call Harpo's. Several phone calls and another one hour brings us the rotti, this time wrapped in cling film. By this time the beef curry's cold. So two hours for an unsatisfactory meal.
http://twitter.yfrog.com/ocwhbydj
What really pisses me off is that they've done this before. Is there no common sense at Commons? What is the need to wrap rottis in tissue in this way?
Tip of the day: don't order from Commons.
I know some of my friends like commons and for any reason they like to go for commons… I was thinking why the hell and why its only me who does not like common at all and was something wrong with me… now I am happy that its not just me who does not like commons… Nothing special for me at commons… there are lot more better places elsewhere.
Well I just logged to write an unpleasant review, and it seems there are many who had the same.
Entrance - blocked with some cars and my wife thought the restaurant is closed…not so welcoming
Staff - don't speak English even when you do, so if you are planning to recommend this to a foreign friend, best not to or a Sinhalese speaking fellow must accompany him.
Their chef kept coming out from the kitchen, and started gazing at all the ladies including my wife as he walked in to the casheir's. He did that twice and if that happened the third time I would have given him a lesson how not to stare at women!
Facilities - the little area beyond the cashier had 2 A/cs , 1 broken and the other doesn't swing, so not ideal in a hot day.
Food - they did have a large selection of bugers. I love burgers so wanted taste something uncommon. We ordered Crab burger - dissapointing. Tuna burger - filling yet nothing great. I could make these stuff at home. They took annoyingly long time to serve.
So, will I go there again - might not unless I happened to be there when I'm hungry and can't bothered to drive anywhere better.
Cool Place to sit and have chats with better half or friends…love to go during weekdays morning….but too crowded in the weekends…food is good but needs to be more spacious…
Loved the place as i can see so many negative & positive facts about the place and the quality of food but i think you much inform them in a proper way so that they will learn from their mistake ? By the way i love the food most of the time :) no bad experiences yet so far!! Good luck Commons
This is a proper way to inform them so the problem is a majority of Sri Lankan establishments take any criticism as negative instead of seeing it as constructive criticism. This wall needs to be monitered by the owners and not anyone else. As a owner if I read these complaints I would quickly take action to make a change otherwise you lose customers.
Food : no complain about taste but was delayed.
Customer service : poor and no privacy as you are been constantly watched by some of the kitchen staff (don't knw y!).
Ambience : average. worn out furniture!!!
Will I go there again : NO
Overpriced and not so great food…… had a chocolate milk shake. its like drinking a chocolate ice cream. will not go there again
Me and my buddies went today to have lunch and I order edit he deviled chicken and ham burger and my buddy ordered a sword fish steak which actually seemed like road kill… And my other buddies ordered some sandwich… Well on my way back I got really really sick and puked in the car and my buddy had a the same issue… I was diagnosed with food poisoning and him with a ruthless tummy ache…. The quality has gone that he gutter…. I'm heavily intimidated…. Do not recommend this place to anyone…
The All day English Breakfast was very good at the start, however standards have dropped of late and service need to be more efficient…the Roti's and crab pie are to die for at Commons though pricing is a bit steep
Was there recently. Had pasta and a latte. I am not a fan of pasta but I have to admit this was scrumptious and the portion size was also adequate. A bit pricey but the meal was worth the price. And the ambiance is very comforting too.
This place has very bad service, less than a minute after we Sat down at a table a manager suddenly asked us whether we were 'done with the menu', offered no explanation for his behaviour and walked off. A few minutes later a couch was free and we shifted there only to be told by another manager that there was a group of people that wanted to sit there. After we were told this two managers and a short haired woman proceded stand in front of us and grin reminding us again that the couch we had Sat down at before anyone else spotted it was now-off limits. We genuinely got sick of the place and left them, their precious couch and selected customers.will definitely not be coming back. '
Was there a few days back. As always its a nice place to hangout but things seems to be slipping with the staff mixing up orders. Poor show.
Standards have improved since the last time I went there which was in the early part of 2014. Food is of a much better quality now though I still wouldn't risk ordering the pasta dishes. They've also revamped their menu and included more variation plus there are some special off-menu items which are featured from time to time. Their rice dishes are pretty tasty and I can personally recommend the mongolian rice dishes, stir fries and the indonesian chicken rice :) I've been there for breakfast two times now and although I love the english breakfast they serve, the last time I ordered it, I was served some very undertoasted toast which wasn't as appetizing so they still need to iron out their consistency issues. Would say they have improved overall in terms of food and service and it might be partly due to the fact that the owners seem to be taking a more hands on approach to managing the place as they seem to always be there checking up on staff.
Poor service. the cashier is the worse. big head. have to learn him to simle first. i have asked how's wasabi with tuna sandwitch he said it is very good, i take his advice and ordered but eaaaaaaaaaaaak it's too bitter DO NOT EAT WASABI thing better you go home and eat KARAVILA it's better than that.
Highly overrated and wins the award for the slooooowest service and probably the slowest cooks~ The jury is out on their claim about the mutton koththu roti…as one of my friends who ordered a mutton koththu was served a beef koththu and when the waiter was told about it….he insisted that it was mutton…and when challenged that the meat was exceedingly tough…and that was unlike of mutton…the waiter stubbornly refused to accept it and came back from the kitchen, stating that the mutton was first fried in oil and then added to the koththu…and hence the reason for its tough texture! When my friend further probed as to how many mutton koththu's do they serve a night…and how much mutton does there kitchen buy for a day, the answer was 3 kilos of mutton to serve all the mutton koththus~ incredible~ So my advice to those who do not like to eat beef ….beware…you never can tell whether the lamb or the mutton you order is the meat they claim ~!
This bloke Harpo….should go back to spinning his scratched records …as he does not know how to operate quality restaurants or fast food joints. He tries to make a fast buck for his backers…and harps a lot about his restaurant credentials…but he is not more than a glorified steward`!~ I say this because, I have had a bad experience at two of his restaurants with the food side and also the service side, and this harpo character has not acted on the complaints. This Yamu site has tons of complaints, but no positive responses and also no surprise…no apologies offered by Harpo for the poor service he had dished out to his customers. Perhaps like the bribery commission, we need the consumer affairs body to haul this fellow up for fleecing and cheating his customers.
Got their wraps, stuffed egg rotis, and sandwiches. Atrocious is the word i would use for the quality of their food given their price point. The tandoori chicken wraps had bones, the stuffed egg rotis were cold. The milk shakes were decent but will not visit again.
Ordered the roti platter with chicken curry and discovered that the chicken was raw. Complained, sent it back, was promised that the new one will be made fresh, and was delivered a second chicken curry by the chef himself (in under ten minutes), which to our horror was again raw!
The manager was completely confused as to how to handle the situation, and blurted out that it might be because they cook frozen chicken. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of cooking knows how long chicken takes to cook to be safe for consumption, so churning out something in under ten minutes is obviously likely to be undercooked. And if you are sending something out for the second time, why was it so difficult for the staff to take a second to check if the chicken has been prepared properly?
We walked out because we were disgusted and all the manager could muster as an apology was if we could be offered free dessert. Terrible experience!
Harpos uses to last an hour to deliver, but yesterday I ordered to Commons and they delivered food after 2 hours. Also food was completely cold. They only apologised and they didnt give me any solution. I claim to Harpos delivery and they told me that they would talk with management and call me back. Still waiting. Its last time I order to Commons for delivery.
The laksa was horrible. It was like they put a dash coconut milk into a Tom Yum soup and served it- quite possible because coincidentally the soup of the day happened to be Tom yum soup indeed!
They sneak this new "Chicken" bacon while the menu states bacon".
We intentionally stated away from the English Breakfast because it clearly says "Chicken Bacon". Ordered the Bacon and Egg Waffle instead since it didn't say "chicken". When the food was served it turned out to be chicken bacon.
We are running out of cafes in Colombo to have breakfast with proper bacon. They can be Halal as much as they like. However does that mean everyone else also have to suffer? They can very well serve proper bacon while serving chicken bacon or any other crap they like to those who ask.
When it comes to Commons, you have to know what to order. Tried and tested options are generally good. What is a little annoying is the attitude of the staff behind the counter taking orders - borders on rudeness. No welcome, no smile, no interest. Just a few grunts.
Ordered chicken and mushroom waffle…not crispy at all…it was very thick in texture.filling was very little…will not order again.
Ordered a New York salad with Salmon and a chicken and mushroom waffle and a baked cheese cake. The salad was plain lettuce and a boiled half egg with a shade of salmon while the waffle was bulky and not crispy at all, The filling was way too little. The cheese cake was too sweet .
Not worth the price for the food which was of low quality. The only plus is you have cozy sofas all around. I felt the staff were just looking at you in an unfriendly manner whenever they pass a customer and it was a kind of awkward at a coffee shop.
Wouldn't go there again
1/5
Ali Mansoor
Overpriced mediocre food. Extremely unfriendly staff. Enough said.
4/5
Brian Edelman
Had a pleasant lunch visit here. Staff were friendly and their service was good. Food quality was good too if a little pricey for what it is but I guess you are paying for the decent upkeep of the of restaurant too. It's definitely one of the nicer restaurants to sit in Colombo
1/5
Mink777
Terrible service… Not at all customer friendly.
Staff is not on the same page, one says they can give a menu item and the other says they can’t.
Even the reservation, they took it in, but once we enter the place they said, “we usually don’t take reservations for 2 people”
Also they make you wait for the longest time to bring the food