91, Barnes Place, Colombo 7
Open until 12:00 AM
The Barnesbury is another cafe in Colombo. They've got a lovely garden out back, interesting London themed decor and they do an ordinary range of generic Western dishes.
The Barnesbury is one of Colombo's oldest cafes.
The Barnesbury is another cafe in Colombo. They've got a nice garden out back, interesting London themed decor, and an ordinary range of genericWestern dishes.
As of about last week, yet another cafe has emerged, adding itself to the ever growing list of 'new in 2013'. The Barnesbury. Completely unrelated to The Kingsbury - although following what I hope isn't a rising trend in random British pub nomenclature - this self-designated restuarant/cafe/lounge is, well, we're not exactly sure what it is.
සිංහල ටික කලකට පෙර තවත් කැෆේ එකක් පටන් ගත්තා. 2013 අලුතින් පටන් ගත්ත අවන්හල් ගොන්නට මේකත් එකතු වුණා. ඒකෙ නම බාන්ස්බරි. කිංග්ස්බරි එකට කිසිම සම්බන්ධයක් නැහැ. මම බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ නැහැ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ක්‍රමයේ අවන්හල් නාමකරණය කිරීමේ නැමියාවක් මෙහෙ තියෙනවා කියලා. බාන්ස්බරි ගැලපෙන්නේ ද බුලවාඩ්, සියෝකනට් නැත්තං චොකෝ ලව් වගේ කැෆේ/අවන්හල්/ලවුන්ජ් වලට. මේවගේ ඔබට විශ්වකෝෂ තරම් ලොකු මෙනූ වලින් තෝරලා ඕනේ වර්ගයක කෑමක් ගන්න පුළුවන්.
Address
Directions
It's on Barnes Place between Wijerama and Kynsey Road junctions.
Contacts
Report InaccuracyOpen until 12:00 AM
Price Range
Ratings Breakdown
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1/5
Worst experience, the atmosphere was good but the staff needs to be taught about proper customer service.
I went to this place on 1st of January 2018, and was waiting for almost half and hour to order the food, where the waiting staff was collecting the orders from a customer arrived after me. Utter discrimination of customer relationship.
Hope they would raise the standards of customer service
4/5
the food tastes good but it's a bit pricey and the quantity isn't sufficient. the interior and environment are wonderful, so are the staff
3/5
Chilled out place, and the food is decent. But pricing wise, you would expect more in terms of quality and portion size.
1/5
Their customer base makes the whole place seem horrible. Every time I go there, there's a bunch of dudes hogging the shisha and eyeballing everything that moves. Can't even take a bite of food without having a bunch of eyes directed at you.
Food's okay. Unreasonably priced.
Haven't been there in a while and I'm certainly not going to change that anytime soon.
1/5
We went there last night, and its gonna be the last time too, we are disappointed about the service, but the foods were quite good and its a nice place to hangout, but they have some stupid waiters specially that #dark looking guy…he completely spoiled our happiness.
they don't know how to treat the customers, and they must practice some discipline,
and there is no any responsible person to discuss a problem, waiters are playing the role of the manager… and it was disgusting and funny.
Thanks for your information. I went to The Barnesbury & it is such a lovely hang out spot. I can't believe this place is soooo beautiful. A paradise in colombo with awesome food. They are so special.
Guys, I recommend you to go there n try it out. They are giving their best out. One n only in colombo.
Thanks to everyone of "THE BARNESBURY"
It is the sort of fare you would expect from Commons, because….they have the old Commons chef plus a couple more guys, one who is now the Manager at Barnesbury (Nazeem) :)
Oh really. I didn't know that. But anyhow, its really good in many areas. I would be going again with my friends and chill out. End of the day, its the enjoyment of life in there with my friends, not the staff lol.
It's a wonderful place and value for money unlike commons their prices are so high, this is such lovely place to relax and enjoy an evening with friends and family, the team there is wonderful they really make you feel so special, keep it up guys your doing a wonderful job will for sure keep going back.
I highly recommend the Barnesbury. I went there for the first time last Tuesday to try it out and I loved the aesthetic of the place and the garden with the two swings is just beautiful. The food is priced at a reasonable level and one of the dishes I really adored was the Lamb Kotthu.
'THE BARNESBURY' yet another heavenly place to chill out!.its nw one of my favourite hangout spots:))
awsome food,reasonable prices and ofcourse friendly staff. the courtyard is what i adore the most…guyz u should try out d lime n mint juice there,its something unique.i totally go with the above comment,one unique place to be recommended!!
I may have a good idea as far as the paint on my house bedroom is concerned or how the Verandah needs to be constructed, this doesn’t make me an interior designer or an architect. Likewise for you two to play dress-up as far as being “food critics” go, that’s like eunuchs talking about childbirth!
For one to deliver a credible restaurant review he/she needs to have some relevant experience in the culinary arts or at least the back of the kitchen, simply put your reviews lately are obscene and lack credibility. Maybe you’re on a tight budget hence the reason your went for milkshake over a steak meal or maybe you were missing your usual accompaniment in a bottle of wine, to soften your palate and produce a proper review. Whatever the reason this review sounds like a disgruntled and half –witted load of verbosity and nothing more.
It’s funny you bring up comparisons with other restaurants and deem the food not being that good. You morons don’t realize what you just stated. Once again it goes to show your lack of awareness on taste in general. The Barnesbury has a perfect balance of a veteran chef followed by some of the rising upstarts from variety of culinary backgrounds and some of them actually prepared the food at those very places you drew comparison with. Get your facts right.
Walking around with a notepad, a Fuji camera and having a penchant for crap writing about food (just because you like food!) doesn’t make you a professional, to be honest with you your reviews used to be way better, you seem to have lost your way.
I noticed you tend to leave out the main dishes at most places and go with something which nobody would dare order from the menu. If you really knew what you were doing you would have tried the Steak or Fish &Chips and spent the rest of the time gawking at the floor and whining about the terrazzo, the main priority here is the food-something you Shru have no clue about.
I tried some of those Chinese places you mentioned and thanks for the food poisoning. Seriously you singlehandedly cripple this website!
bottom line the place is good and food is simply divine!
take it from an expert….and i been in the culinary arts for over 15 years
If you got food poisoning from the Chinese places then you have a pansy gut and should probably move to some corner of Europe where they still eat only meticulously boiled potatoes.
Bari- Since you're so impassioned about being the right kind of food critic, start up you own site buddy, and go ahead and carry out your own reviews. With your 15 years of culinary arts experience, i'm sure you'll find enough people to patronize your site and tell you what a great job you're doing.
Yamu is a site for the rest of us- the average man, not worthy of the esteemed dining experience a bottle of wine and steak meal requires.
Oh wait, hang on…isn't Barnesbury a cafe? Aren't Cafes supposed to be targeted at the average person who wants a drink and a nice, relatively inexpensive meal once in a while? Last time i checked, that was the point…
If i want a steak and wine…buddy, I'll go to a fine dining restaurant to make sure I'm paying for what I get. No rocket science there.
The diatribe I've read in your responses is essentially attacking Yamu for not be 'qualified' food critics…frankly they have figured out that a majority of us just want basic information that will point us in the right direction when we're looking to have something to eat on a whim, and hopefully get some value in that expense.
No need for long dialogues of what wines go with what foods which help digestion at what time of the day. If you read the review properly, you'll find that Yamu is looking to return for another round, to see if things improve- why not take that as constructive criticism?!
It's likely you have an investment in Barnesbury- by way of friendship or other forms- and you need to make your point that they serve the most divine food in Colombo. Completely fine to do so.
But not everyone is going to agree with you. Deal with it.
Yamu does not claim to be experts in food. It is a website create by people who enjoy food and give out a review of What They Experienced and Liked. And they do a tremendous job of encouraging people to go off the beaten track and find places little heard of. A true foodie does not care where they eat, as long as the food is good. They don't care about 5star or fine dining or popular culture. It is all about food! Refer: Ruth Reichl _ Author & New York Food Critic for the New York Times. She too got slammed for recommending unheard of places and cheap street food. Venture out YAMU! Life is an adventure!
Well Bari, if you have been in the culinary arts for 15 years you should know that food critiques are highly subjective and rarely reflect your own opinion. If you're unhappy with a critique you can always question it in a civilized manner rather than resorting to personal attacks which only makes you look like a douche. Also, you should avoid boasting about your credentials (without a proper reference) in an internet forum since it's quite redundant. P.S. I'm Gordon Ramsey.
Speaking for myself ( and quite an increasing number of others who agree with me) Yamu does a great job with honest and unbiased reviews, which I hVe found to be spot-on. I unreservedly recommend Yamu to anyone who's looking for places to eat or drink or visit. It's for the average person-about-town who doesn't have a bottomless bank account but still wants to eat well and get good value. Bari, your vitriolic comments would certainly turn me away from the Barnesbury, since you obviously have a stake in it and can't take honest criticism!
For those who seem to show an inordinate amount of interest in the well-being of restaurants with absolutely no vested interests, and can't seem to find Yamu's much sought after "credentials" - I've found it! It's (would you believe it) actually on their "About" page (www.yamu.lk/about/ for those who can't seem to locate it on their own).
The place is so ugly, not tastefully done at all (sorry for being harsh), the garden sort of nice, food not too good. we ordered some sandwiches which were extremely salty, however the staff was extremely nice and got us new sandwiches. I wouldn't go there again.
The Barnesbury Team -
We wish to thank Yamu for coming over to us as we opened our doors and giving us their point of view on our Restaurant.
Everyone is open to speak as they feel freely, and we as Team Barnesbury have been logging into our page on Yamu to see what our patrons are saying.
And we have been taking all what has been said in way of improvement to the place, service and food quality as constructive criticism and will be acting upon these statements accordingly.
@ Varuna
We would like to clarify that "Bari" is in no way invested in The Barnesbury as you have stated. And we hope that the comments written by this person will not in any way stop our patrons from visiting The Barnesbury.
Yamu is great :) and its totally true when they say that Yamu is for the rest of us, the ones who want to hang with our friends and not burn a hole in our wallet , if we wanted steak n wine trust me we would get that too, but yamu is for US :) the normal, sri lankan commoner who looks for spice in almost everything they eat, you BARI with your "15 years of culinary pompousness" should know that more than us lot. So you go make a culinary website of your own with "15 years of culinary pompousness" and leave us with yamu which we love!
and Team Barnesbury : you got three hungry people coming for lunch saturday :) !
Location is prime, in Colombo and quite central. The garden is nice, but the interiors of the place are a bit puzzling and seemed to lack identity with an odd variety of furnishings.
The food was alright, a 6.5/10. I'd probably need another visit and try at the food before, but I doubt I'd return.
As much as I really love YAMU reviews, I do feel that this particular review is a bit of an underestimation of 'The Barnesbury'. I am not quite sure what barnesbury is trying to be or hopes to be, but at present it has been a very affordable hangout spot compared to the mentioned 'commons', so much so that the place has drawn me there far more frequently than I would have hoped.
As for the taste, pretty darn good! Especially the barnesbury chicken tenders, mentioned as a light meal yet more than enough for one even as a main, all at 300 something! Another favorite is the spicy prawn pasta that's just 650 bucks and really does hit the spot!
So all in all the portions, variety, taste and price are amazing and really good bang for the buck!
Lastly, Service, these guys are so down to earth and extremely friendly!
Personally for me, barnesbury is pretty much the best spot compared to all the other neutes such as Ciaconut, Coco Verandah, Pascucci etc etc.
One man's poison is indeed another man's medicine!
What people should understand is that Yamu educate us on the eating places with their experience on the outlet. A very impartial recommendation and it us to decide whether we go there or not. more over the Yamu is not in a position to taste all the food or drinks in the Menu Card. Let me tell you Yamu is my Dictionary to find places to eat. A BIG THANK for YAMU they do a wonderful job go ahead we like youll.
A steak meal is not a blueprint of what the average person will have. A lot of Sri Lankans nowadays seem to prefer vegetarian, chicken and seafood. There are lots of pescatarians around too.
Bari your hearts probably in the right place but your target market is not as Varuna and a few others pointed out - for us Barnesbury is on the 'try' ticket and thats the value Yamu continues to give us. We need better service and value for money at whatever scale we choose to spend at - Sri Lanka is struggling on both of those fronts.
We went here today after reading this review to check it out.
The location - the courtyard that has been raved about above is not that great honestly - zomato has a pic of it and that's about what you get some plastic seating on barely surviving grass - its a work in progress if anything…
The inside is not done up and you can tell by looking at it. Its a work in progress as well but in need of renovation I would say.
We had the lime mint and mango passion for drinks which were great! No alco here btw…
The mains we had jumbo prawns, jerk chicken and nasigoreng…
Menu was quite full of great dishes infact.
The jumbro prawns which were recommended here were not jumbo in size thy were just a little bigger than regular prawns. This was a let down as I asked if they were the big ones commonly carrying the jumbo name! There were a fair few but this dish was salted to the max!
The jerk chicken was also very salty.
The nasigoreng was quite well done full of flavor and prawns although oily.
Our bill was 3000 and if the food was not salty it would have been good but we will not go for a while until this place shapes up.
The service is ok - the table next to us had a couple of things wrong with their order though. Nothing to rave about in terms of service and the waiters loiter the place since the layout is a bit of a mess.
Yamu's review on this is quite accurate and Mr 'food' Bari - this joint is definitely not for you!
Hmmm… went there today with a group. The place is nice to chill out with comfortable squashy sofas and chairs. Unfortunately, one of us had to move because of a drippy aircon. Food was good, reasonably large portions - really loved the Spanish rice! Unfortunately this seems to be an off day in terms of service. The server (?new) seemed inordinately flippant, the spoons were brought so late that a couple of dishes had gone cold (were they adequately hot in the first place, I wonder) and it took them three tries and multiple requests to bring the correct number of glasses to the table (we ordered bottled water). Finally we were presented with the wrong bill!
I'm not sure if I would come again any time soon. Maybe 6 months would be enough for them to polish up their service.
Went to Barnesbury over the weekend. Sadly I think its going to be the last. Have been going there since it was opened. Everything seems to be falling apart. And the main reason I presume is because it's not managed properly. The staff need to be trained to a certain standard and this is not happening. There's one dark looking fello who i think is the manager or supervisor. Half the time we were there he was on the phone. Cutlery came late. Bill was messed up. Electricity was gone. I think I can;t take the tension anymore. Wanna just sit back and relax and catch up with friends. Like Angel said 6 months should be enough to get you stuff sorted. For now back to cioconat.
i can see the difference after nazeem is left. he had bad experience with management of barnesbury. now service is horrible. not only me talking about. all colombo
These guys have awesome macaroons and their Chocolate Biscuit Pudding is out of this world!
I wouldn't advice anyone to go to this place. I didn't like the food they served. The waitress looked foxed when we were ordering food. But the place looks nice. I'd rather go to The Commons or some other place than coming here again.
Ive been here twice and the power seems to be going off frequently. Its pitch dark but the waiters have emergency lamps they will put on the table on standby. Which tells me it happens frequently. And a few reviewers have had the same experience it seems.
its really crazy place. first I called to land line put the reservation one girl answer the phone and said to I cant speak English ill give it to manager . ok fair enough. then manager answer the phone I asked some question but that girl was really better then the manager. its alright finally I came to barnesbury. almost 10 min nobody came and ask anything. luckily one of the guy came and drop some menu and went. after that manager came to take the order. while I am talking with him I loose my appetizer. because smelling his mouth must smoke what ever, then we had only two shake and went to some other place……also when we are coming out that stupid manager also came out with same time again start smoked from the car park . I think he done half smoke came to take our order. compare with all the yamu review . management should be take serious action and run it proper way . because last time my visit to srilanka first came to your place. really love it
Thank you Barnesbury we had a really good time today! The place is beautiful, food was nice n the service was good n ur staff is very polite and friendly! The surprise went off well:)
Thank you Barnesbury we had a really good time today! The place is beautiful, food was nice n the service was good n ur staff is very polite and friendly! The surprise went off well:)
shit review !!!! wanna be food critics ,, lol goday i believe ! wo does goday interiors have anything to do with the food !!
Hey Barnesbury thank so much we had an awesome time n a super surprise for our friend on the 27th dec. the food was nice and the place is really cool n ur staff is really friendly n nice! Thanks for the support too. Hoping to drop in again sometime soon.
I found the waitress couldnt take my order as i said it in English. She asked if i could tell her again in Sinhalese. But the menu is in English. When i told the manager that the waitress cant Speak English he said she Spoke Sinhalese to me because i Looked Sri Lankan.! very narrow minded thinkin on part of management. Expected Better Understanding of Clients and customer Service From an area Like Barnes place Which has Embassies around it.
Went to the Barnesbury yesterday and honestly can't agree with some of the comments above. The place was great! The outdoor lawn was amazing, the prices reasonable and the food good. The food at Commons has gone down and some items are not worth the price anymore. What I had at Barnesbury was nice, without a hefty price tag attached. A great place to chill-out with friends on an evening. The service was great, as was the English speaking waitress. Thanks for the hospitality Barnesbury :)
The most disappointing experience ever, food was ok but no value for money, it took 1.45 hours to get da order done, no proper cutleries on the table & the ceiling was leaking for da rain we had to keep on shifting tables, had to request to switch on da AC, moreover the staff & the duty manager “Mr.Feerdy” had no clue about the discounted credit cards we had to educate them! It’s not only the beauty the customer service matters will not visit again & will not let my friends too!!!
It used to be a well run place but the last time we were there, about two weeks ago, the place was quite shambolic. The interior was swarming with flies and midway through our meal, one of the waiters started swatting them with one of those electrocuting rackets. There was a large crowd of people seated directly in our line of sight and when they complained about the amount of flies, the waiter started swatting away over their table, bringing the racket dangerously close to one of the diners much to his annoyance. It's really unprofessional to behave like that in front of diners and more importantly I can't fathom where so many flies came from in the first place since the interior didn't look messy. As for the food, pretty average and way too expensive for what we had so no real value for money. I think it's fair to say that their food, atmosphere and service has gone downhill over time.
Love this place! The interior is very elegant and quite different compared to most other places in Colombo. Great outdoors and indoor seating. Staff is very friendly and polite. Service is really good and not so slow.
Food is good is pretty good too although it is a little too expensive…
Overall, lovely place. Would recommend
We went there for a date night with the good recommendations at YAMU in mind but have to say we were let down. The ambiance was too crowded. The chair arrangement in the garden was ridiculously packed up so close together. Food too was very disappointing and did not meet the expectations. Will never go there again. The staff was not friendly at all and the guys with ties on kept staring at people which made us feel really inconvenient. Actually we went there as a couple to celebrate our anniversary. Utter disappointment!!!
We don't really recommend it for everyone, but I think some of our commenters do. It is crowded, so I guess some people like it
We can't really depend on the reviews of YAMU / KAMU. Because I've experienced same few times. Most recent is that, we went to The Barnesbury last Sunday and ordered Baked Chicken Breast Florentine (which looked like that someone vomited on it) and The Banesbury Mixed Chop Suey Rice (which looked like vomit) and both were completely tasteless and unappetizing. What I heard from the nearby Tuk-Tuk driver was that the previous chef was left the place about 1-2 weeks back. I think if YAMU could think or research on a method that could reflect the updated status of the eateries and etc would be great.
Went there today in a group. Really liked the ambience indoors and the staff was friendly if laconic.
The drinks were nice and the food was served in good time and excellently plated.
We paid about 1,700/- per head for a drink and main sans dessert.
We felt the preparation of the food was meh, after trying out five to six mains.
Got a mongolian rice from here recently and it was a disappointment - soy sauce rice comes to mind.
I think they have a target market that enjoys this.
I think the "food is alright" conclusion is just biased. I found the food to be wonderful and the ambience is awesome. I would give it 4-5 stars, not 3 stars.
Tried it and service is pretty poor. All orders did not come at once and they seemed to have forgotten to bring one order and everyone had to wait about 30 minutes till that order came. Food is pretty average. Reasonable pricing though.
Enjoyed the ambiance, most of the staff was friendly.
Found an insect in my burger. Waiter seemed uninterested about the situation.
Horrific experience.
Please get rid of the old waiter.
After reading the review two of my friends and I went there for dinner this week, although I was expecting the quality of the food to be in good standard, it was not so. It was " Okay, not too bad" type. Although the prices are somewhat reasonable, and quick service ( food arrived withing 20 -25 minutes) as for me, I would not go there again and would not recommend the place.
Spacious, comfortable atmosphere with friendly staff and good choice of menu for a cozy hangout. Slightly expensive. Enjoyed Kottu and spicy cheese toast.
Oh the food is awful & service is very bad. Prices are too high. There are better places to have good food. Tea avenue got super tea without fancy names as here & serving junk tea. On top of the lane, The paddington serves super food & also gives a classy service….
Barnesbury you better not rip us with high prices & low quality food.
So, yesterday my friend (from Russia) and myself were the first people to try out the crepe menu. There were about 6 options to choose from. I went for the smores crepe (i was in need of something chocolaty) and my friend went for the Oreo Obsession.
The smores crepe has a very thick layer of peanut butter, marshmallows, chocolate syrup; wrapped in the crepe and topped with more chocolate syrup, dark chocolate pieces, marshmallows and a scoop of chocolate ice cream on the side. Cutting the crepe was VERY difficult. My palms are still red from trying to cut the crepe. We were offered a stake knife, it did help but not by much. The peanut butter layer was too thick and over powered most of the other flavors. There was no 'smores' just marshmallows. To many this may be a small thing but for me, if it says smores, there should be smores. There was chocolate syrup but put so sparingly that it was forgettable. The chocolate piece were not proper chocolates but cooking chocolate and does not a give a pleasant taste.
The reason I pointed out that my friend is from Russia is because Crepes are really famous there. She was telling me how it is part of their national cuisine and called 'Blini'. So for her Crepes is not a new thing. She's has had many versions and variations of crepes. So she went for the Oreo cause it was the only type she had not had. She had similar issue like me, crepe to hard to cut through. She said there was way too much whipping creme, would have been better if the Oreos were blended into the creme instead of just cut up and put into the crepe.
Overall, it was not a very good experience but since it was their first time ever i guess we'll give them a pass and hope they improve dramatically in the future.
The mojito and smoothies were very good but they got a re order wrong. We ordered a Mango smoothie and a Mango/Stawrberry mojito. Instead they delivered and Mango juice and a Chocolate milkshake. My friend accidentally took a sip of the juice before she realized the order was incorrect. After they took back the wrong deliveries, I regret to inform that we witness them take the Mango juice my friend had taken a sip from and deliver it to the person who originally ordered it. I think that's a very disgusting thing to do.
This is not the first time I've been to Barnesbury but every time I go the service and quality keeps deteriorating.
just went over there with some friends and had a great time its so unique place to dine .you would love the environment. if you haven't been there yet. you should try it for sure .
This restaurant is such a bad amalgamation of s many different things. To start off, the chairs are uncomfortable to sit in for more than 5 minutes at a stretch. Then there is the fact that the server who took our order had no clue about what we ordered. We asked for a burger to be cooked "medium rare," however, he looked dumb-founded and took the order anyway- only to comeback 15 minutes later with a "well done" burger. This seems to be the constant in Sri Lanka though, rain or shine all meats are cooked "Well Done." Are we that terrible at understanding our palettes? Who knows.
First and last time visiting this establishment. Too bad its on Barnes place, Visited Mirissa last week and had a GREAT burger at Hangover cafe. The chef in Matara knew his burgers and how to cook a beef patty medium rare, but the chef/cook here in glorified Colombo 7 had no clue what's the difference between "medium" cooked and "well done" cooked is??? Yikes.
3/5
Nirma1992
Nice & Quiet place. Their food is good but compared to the similar places like these , the price of the menus are not reasonable
1/5
Savithu
Worst experience, the atmosphere was good but the staff needs to be taught about proper customer service.
I went to this place on 1st of January 2018, and was waiting for almost half and hour to order the food, where the waiting staff was collecting the orders from a customer arrived after me. Utter discrimination of customer relationship.
Hope they would raise the standards of customer service
4/5
zainabhudha
the food tastes good but it's a bit pricey and the quantity isn't sufficient. the interior and environment are wonderful, so are the staff