Araliya

A risky choice as we are a very ‘foodie’ family and this was a birthday dinner. We all said 10/10! Attentive and expert service all evening. Amazing cocktails showing same attention to detail and creativity as the food. For those who say it is too expensive- stick with ‘eat all you can’ places- bland offerings that you won’t remember the day after. Can’t wait for our next dining experience at Araliya. Thank you for a delightful evening.

The food was beautiful with an incredibly delicious blend and balance of spice. Reminds one of a home cooked meal but with extra finesse with its beautiful presentation and taste. Our palates were left wanting more. Will definitely be going back again. Highly recommend!

Always delicious and memorable top quality food. The chef chosen tasting menu at 69.00 is excellent value. They also have a very good take home menu and delivery service.

Took my dad on his birthday, such a rip off and waste of an evening. Waited for thirty minutes for menus and a drink I ordered when we were the only table in the restaurant! Didn’t give us water for the table and forgot the rest of the drink orders (while being the only table). The food was ridiculously overpriced, small portions, so bland, didn’t taste fresh at all and wasn’t even hot it was luke warm! 350$ later and felt embarassed for taking my dad there.

TERRIBLE PLACE. For people who claim and advertise themselves as fine dining this place was shocking and the food was inedible. I booked this place in the afternoon for dinner that night as my in laws were in town and we wanted to eat our home cuisine. We rocked up on time for our booking on a Saturday night and to our surprise the place was empty. More surprised than us was the manager, who told me they didn’t see any bookings come through. After doing a double check, there was my name on the screen. Irregardless the place was empty, so what’s the issue?

We sat down and ordered our drinks, which was okay. Then came the disaster- the food. We ordered $200 worth of food and got about $10 worth of inedible dishes. The lentils were not curried and was watery- no literally it was swimming on my plate. We then received what seemed to be cold and at least a week old string hoppers which you could not transfer to your plate without it crumbling into pieces (this dish is meant to be warm and stretchy). After taking a bite I immediately spat it out as it was like a stick like texture. We believed that this was accidental and let the manager know, to which she became grumpy and said that’s the way it is. What a joke, considering I have eaten this my entire life. Everything else was equally terrible and the portions were a ridiculous. $30 for a curry that was exactly 1 metric cup- mostly full of water and not fresh.

All in all this place was horrible and we left very frustrated. Was not the worth the total $250 spent- and yes we were charged for the string hoppers. I was initially stunned why the place was empty on a Saturday night, but now it all makes sense.

Non stop diarrhoea. Food was minimal and disgusting. Not worth a single cent. The only Sri Lankan thing about this restaurant is that the food is from a Sri Lankan dump. Go at your own risk.

The absolute best Sri Lankan food in Australia. If you like spice, this is the place. Been around for decades for a reason.

DO NOT GO!

In summary: overpriced, terrible food, bleak atmosphere, bad service.

If you are looking for authentic Sri Lankan food STAY AWAY from Araliya. Once you walk in the first thing you will notice is that it is completely empty on a Saturday night which tells you so much about the restaurant, the background music itself will drive you crazy. The waiter would first read out 10 different specials that was not on the menu assuming that we would remember, even herself couldn’t remember some of them, then manages to spill every drink she brings out.

As a Sri Lankan this was the worst food I have ever had. The food was not fresh, especially the string hoppers which we nicknamed it the “koodu” (powder) hoppers because it crumbled into a million pieces. We assume it was left sitting in the fridge for a week, it should be soft and stretchy. The vegetable nirvana which comes with 3 tiny bland curries including a thosai the size of a spring roll was absolutely ridiculous. The thosai came out first which we thought it was an on the house starter but turns out it was actually the main. The dark pork curry which had 3-4 pieces had no flavour, it should be bursting with flavour because it is normally made with a variety of spices. The portions were so small they would still not be enough to feed mice. Since the mains were that shocking we didn’t even want to see what the dessert was like so we left.

We couldn’t even talk about the food let alone our own conversation because the waiter would stand in the corner like a ghost listening to our conversations, mind you this was an empty restaurant and we were the only customers.

The fact that the restaurant had the audacity to overcharge for food like this was astounding and should be illegal. There nothing fine about this restaurant.you can find much better Sri Lankan food at your local spice shops.

If negative stars was an option that still wouldn’t be enough. BEWARE!

Absolute ripoff, will not return.
Service was horrible too a young boy who didn’t know what was going on. Expect better from “fine dining”

Wonderful meal once again! Tried the fish of the day special which was chilli roasted with shrimps and fennel and it was wonderful. Polite and friendly service from our young waiter. We have been customers of Araliya for many years now, having followed them from Hawthorn. Always greeted with polite, efficient service and meals never fail to disappoint.

Worst customer service. Cashier woman like a queen Elisabeth. No any respect to customer. Also very expensive but no efficient work. Please don’t go this kind of places.

Terrible! Absolutely terrible food. Extortionate price!
Very disappointing Friday evening!

Will never be returning.

The Lady was very racially profiling her own kind.
Gave me very low spacious table in the corner since there are bunch of tables empty anyway.
Went to check it anyway.never coming back.

Piss poor customer service. Arrogant and racist female manager. Booked prior to attending and upon showing the confirmation, stated that they didn't have the booking. Told us the wait time was approximately 40 minutes. After 40 minutes we asked if we could place our order to which she stated "you might be ready, but the chef isn't". MIND. BLOWN.given there were only a few people dining in. Extremely over priced for average food.
If i could give zero stars, i would. Disgrace.

Experienced terrible customer service by the female manager/owner. Kept us waiting for more than 40 minutes for the order to be ready. We were also asked to stay outside until our order is ready while there were plenty of space inside. When asked, she claimed that the tables were reserved. But no one showed up for the 40 minutes that we were there. We also noticed that other workers were mistreated by the female manager/owner and these workers appeared to be stressed out. The food we ordered was also terrible, it was the worst kottu I’ve had in my entire life. I was absolutely surprised to find a place like this in Australia. Please avoid this place at all costs.

Easily the best meal I've had in months. The flavour is spectacular. Every dish was great - my partner and I had the tasting menu (hers was the normal one and mine was the vegetarian) and we loved every dish.

Always friendly staff and delicious food, my favourite dishes are chicken curry and beans & cashews curry.

Literally the worst place I've been to, Worst staff, They kept us for like 45mins and ignored our order. Just because of this one lady the whole restaurent gets a bad name.

Before launching a business that directly deals with innocent HUNGRY workers and hungry kids, Learn humanity and customer service first. They literally chase behind money, and treat the rich soo well, they literally have seperate floors for rich and poor LOL! WORST PLACE IN MELBOURNE!

Every component is delightful. Flavours, textures, aromas. The full package. I think the people who wrote unhappy reviews went to a different place. Give it a try, it's just wonderful.