Cinnamon Grand- Not So Grand
by TripAdvisor Member justmarried2007
We stayed at this hotel as our last night of our honeymoon in Sri Lanka on Tuesday 24th July - Wednesday 25th July. We booked this along with a city tour with Kuoni as our flight left Colombo early on Wednesday morning. We had been staying at The Heritance which i fully recommend - see other review.
The grand entrance and lobby make a fantastic statement but our room didn't continue the grand impression. The room smelt of smoke even though we asked for non smoking,the carpet was grubby, the bathroom was mouldy around the edges and we were given an adjoining room to someone else. The rooms on the wing where our room ( 236? i think), was like a prison. All doors to the rooms ran along either side of the building and there were 2 walkways connecting either side. Luckily we were only staying one night.
We did enjoy our meal however at Tao. Fantastic service and nice food.
I would point out that we did have wander around and found the other 'newer' wing rooms were modern and therefore looked cleaner. I would recommend this hotel for business travellers due to its central location
Great Seafood.
by Emichelle about The Lagoon
The Lagoon is a great seafood restaurant at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Here too the atmosphere is wonderful and its great for dining. You can sit in the airconditioned area or have a candle lit dinner under the stars. You've got to take your pick and give it to the chef and the cooking is done in the centre of the place right in front of your eyes. The service is good and the food tastes great. Try the place out if you do visit Colombo and if your a lover of good food.
would definetly return
by TripAdvisor Member fallingleaves
We have just returned from a six day stay at the Cinnamon Grand and enjoyed our stay all the way.
The rooms are very 5 starish and nothing extra ordinary to write about but the service, the ambience in the lobby and the food at the lagoon would definetly get a 10 out of 10. The gym is well equipped with trainers, the breakfast is a large spread and the food is so good at the Lagoon we dined there twice.
The staff was efficent, pleasant and welcoming . The live music at the Lobby bar was a treat . They have a different band every day, taxis are also available 24/7 at the main entrance . Thank you everyone at Cinnamon grand for making our stay pleasant and most enjoyable.
Comfortable hotel
by TripAdvisor Member t50
I stayed on the executive floor (9th) at the Cinnamon Grand for one night in June 2007. On this floor at least the rooms and very well equipped and comfortable. The beds are a good size and the ability to choose one's pillow is a great boon. The room had a proper desk and comfortable desk chair which made working all that more comfortable. Generally I thought that the hotel was good and on a business visit at least suited me very well. I have read criticism of the air-conditioning in the hotel but I did not experience any trouble with it and indeed it was superior to that found in many hotels in the tropics.
Can improve hospitality extended to future guests
by TripAdvisor Member SharonJune
My husband & I stayed a night at Cinnamon Grand on June 15, 2007 & checked out at 3am on June 16 (our flight out of Colombo was at 6am). We were attended by your proud looking male-cashier & we requested for details of the breakdown for the dining receipt (to check the wine price quoted while dining, 2 glasses cost more than a whole bottle & we were not informed so), we were more than surprise, to notice that the receipt for our dining at The Taprobane Restaurant was signed by a member of your staff !! May I suggest that only guest(s) be accounted to sign for their dining receipts. If you had missed catching us at the Restaurant, you should locate us up at the room & not sign on our behalf to your convenience ! This was very disappointing. We had already filled the feedback form at Taprobane the night before whilst dining & if at all it was given to us later, I would not hesitate to bring this up. [ guest @ Room 957 ]
Nice rooms, poor service
by TripAdvisor Member Kenyagirl4
My husband and I stayed at the Cinnamon for 10 days back in January, and we found the hotel to be average. The ambience is really nice, the rooms are clean and well-appointed, but the service leaves something to be desired. They do what they can to accommodate you, but it's definitely not the nicest hotel I've stayed in. I was really disappointed with the food and the choice of restaurants at the hotel. I love eating great food, and I didn't have one good meal at the hotel. The breakfast buffet was decent- there was a nice selection. Room service was pretty good, as well. Housekeeping was good about turn-down service the first half of our trip, but for the last 5 days, they seemed to get a little lazy. We would leave in the morning and return around 3 PM to find that our room hadn't been cleaned yet! The bathrooms were really nice, until our water turned brown! After a few rainy days, I turned on the tap on the sink and it was brown! I went next door to our relative's room, and theirs was the same. Also, one of the nights, there was a party outside our room and the music was blasting until late in the night. Even after complaining three times, it took about 2 hours to get the problem solved.
Overall, I wasn't thrilled- but unfortunately, I don't think you'll find much better accommodations in Colombo!
another patchy experience
by A TripAdvisor Member
I stayed in this hotel in June 2007 for four days.In a standard room. The standard rooms are fine - free newspaper fruit and chocolates delivered every day- broadband access at $12 a day - tea/coffee in room, bath/shower combo and comfortable bed.
I too had the problem with very brown water - it never disappears entirely, and you don't notice it if you shower- beware!
The old swiming pool mentioned by a previous review has now closed. Instead there is a new swimmingpool which is at second floor level in a new building on the Galle road, with gym, sauna (separate M/F) and spa/massage area. The whole gym/pol complex is extremely cool and expensively designed and contains an Italian restauirant. The pool is about 20m - an exercise pool maily with a small cafe and sundeck- great. However, it is noisy because of keel's building work next door extending the hotel I guess.
My resatuarant experience was patchy. Tao's is tremendous - asian-western fusion by a fish pond - very peceful. The Lagoon ( the seafood restaurant) however suffered from very poor service - very offhand - not wanting to find a table for two as only large tables for six or eight were free - whast is that about? Eventiually seated at a dirty table which was not cleared - they didn't notice. Gave up on the place.
Reception staff are also unhelpful - my only negative hotel experience in the whole of sri lanka. They prefer to chat to each other and seem not to be interested in service. To make up for this, other more junior staff are very helpful and friendly - they make the hotel special.
Other restaurantrs - I can recommend 168 seafood palace, in sea view terrace, off the Galle road just south of the market.- for a no fussand authentic chinese meal. And visit Green Cabin - further south on the Galle Road - a sri lankan intituton - for sri lankan curries, an outdoor terrace/garden and calm and unhurried service.
Would I come back? probably - but be aware of the lack of service among some of the staff.
Forum Posts
Cafes and Apartments in Colombo
by peterdavids
Can anyone who lives in or has been to Colombo, Sri Lanka, please tell me the names of some nice coffee shops/cafes for westerners in the centre of Colombo? Just European-type ones though, not American-style cafes like Starbucks. Also, what does it cost to rent a 1 bedroom apartment or studio apartment in Colombo, near the centre (say 64 square metres or less)? Thanks.
Re: Cafes and Apartments in Colombo
by ViajesdelMundo
There aren't a whole lot of such cafes in Colombo, due to tourism being down for so long and that a lot of tourists don't spend much if any time in Colombo. The ex-pat community is also not so large,and for other reasons, such just are not as viable there as other places.......but there are several small places around and one favorite that you can go to any time of day for 'short eats' etc. is CAFE ON THE 5th, which is 5th Lane running east off of R.A. de Mel Mawatha, or more commonly called "Duplication Road". It is an open air setting with lots of greenery around, but there are tables inside of course.
Not too far away is the GALLERY CAFE, 2 Alfred House Rd,part of PARADISE ROAD shop; also you can 2 others noted on my Colombo page, ODEL's and BAREFOOT, both of whch are also connected to high-end specialty shops and all 3 of these are VERY nice and worthwhile.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/f8c86/15cd43/c/
Odel's and Barefoot would be better for hours outside of mealtimes and less expensive.
Mostly, the foreign shops and cafes would be around the Cinnamon Gardens, Kollupitiya and Bambalapitiya areas on/between/near Galle and Duplication Roads, except for ODEL's; but you may well want to get a tuk-tuk there anyway (see my Tip).
There is als another good place on Duplication Road very close to 5th Lane, on the west side of the road, but I can't recall the name right now.
A lot of the ex-pats use the big hotels' lounges, particularly Cinnamon Grand and the nicest setting and ambience of course is the verandah lounge at the GALLE FACE HOTEL,facing right on the Indian Ocean. (See my Tip on it)
There used to be a very extensive guest-room availability but it has dwindled over the years, but still a few around. Right now I don't have any off the top of my head and I need to go out, but maybe could find something for you, although there are a couple living in Colombo area, who are active on here and they would probably be able to give better info, as I was last there in 2008.
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