Polonnaruwa Restaurants

Let's face it - I'm not a fan of buffets.. usually the food is very indifferent and of no quality at all. Sadly this restaurant was not the exception. I guess I'll never understand why Sri Lankans are so fond if buffets

Favorite Dish: The usual buffet-style Sri Lankan dishes - hot, spicy and not very good tasting. There must be better Sri Lankan food than this. We were saved by some pasta. As for real Sri Lankan food... I'm still hoping to get around to atste it locally

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Right next to one of the entrances to Polonnaruwa, you will find the Rest House Polonnaruwa which has a small restaurant overlooking the lake.
The restaurant is quite old and a photo of Queen Elizabeth II's visit here in 1954 is proudly displayed in the corridor nearby. In some ways, the hotel looks as though it has not changed since the 1950's, but it is pleasant enough to visit and the views are great. There is an outdoor terrace too to admire the views.
The restaurant serves a lunchtime buffet to the tourists that visit, although I chose to order a sandwich from the menu, which was tasty enough, although no fries were available that day.
Prices were reasonable and staff were friendly.

Favorite Dish: Sandwich snack.

We were treated to a lunch at the rest house where the queen had lunch in 1954. Not a lot changed then. I really believe the food we were served was from 1954! Awful, and dirty. Would recommend that you safe your money, go elsewhere. It is a tourist trap.

We ate at Hotel Sudu Araliya, Polonnaruwa's finest hotel, by accident. We had wanted New Araliya Sinhala Hotel, a cheap, local eatery in town, but our driver mis-understood. We were in a hurry to get to the sites, so we went with it.

We found the food fine, but bland and not really worth the price tag - Rs. 500+ per person. Nice view of the Tapa Wewa tank, though.