Wadiya

I really should have written this review when we went a few months back because now I can’t remember what we had! …Well, then again, that could also say something about the food?
Overall, from what I recall, I was pleasantly surprised with the food (we had ala carte, not the buffet) and the service. The restaurant is in one of the many random strip malls in Anaheim and I have to admit, I was a bit iffy by the looks of it (I pressed the «lock» button on our car about 4 times to make sure it was locked).
When we went in, it was around maybe 7 or 7:30pm, and the place was DEAD. The server was really nice and friendly and helped to explain each dish we had questions on.
We had a
certificate and it was accepted with no problem. It’s too bad the place isn’t located somewhere that would generate more traffic, but all in all, it was a good experience. 3 stars only because I can’t specifically recall what I ate!

I don’t have that much of exposure of Sri Lankan food. is less saucy than Indian food.
Me likes

Read about this place last year via OC Weekly and since I’ve never had Sri Lankan food I was game and convinced my coworkers to also go with me (read Taz review we tried to make her our resident South Asian expert since we thought since she knows so much about other South Asians issues I guess we may have ignorantly assumed too much that she may also know the various other South Asian cuisines even though she’s Bangladeshi, which we knew). The food was not bad I ordered a kottu roti chicken, which was as Taz indicted was stir fry South Asian style but with roti in place of the noodles, I enjoyed it and it had a kick to it. If you’re in a crunch for time for lunch, this may not be the best place to go if you ordered off the menu since it did take awhile for the food to arrive I may suggest buffet, which was not bad but the selection was rather small. So don’t think Indian food if you come here but there are similar ingredients but it’s prepared differently obviously. Think of island/​tropical food mixed with Indian cuisine and toss in some Southeast Asian food and you would get this place.
BTW when did Sri Lankan become Middle Eastern? See folks this is what is happening to California’s education system. It’s gone Sarah Palin.

I was so excited to try Sri Lankan food and the fact that this place was so close to home made it even more enticing. We went on a Saturday afternoon and NO ONE was there. We really wanted a buffet but were told that they only served the buffet Mon-​Fri. We went ahead and ordered from the regular menu and I made the mistake of ordering a mango lassi first. It literally took 15 minutes for them to make it. From that, we timed how long it took for them to get us the food …30 minutes.
Food was okay, some of the meat dishes were soooooooo oily though. The fish curry and the lamb black curry were great and will order again. The rotis were really tasty, especially with egg.
Overall, it’s okay but I’d rather have Indian while in the area.

If you like your food with lots of flavors, you may want to try Sri Lankan. The food is very tasty, some dishes are on the spicy side which is fine by me. I enjoy the food here.
I went twice, once during lunch time with my family. So we ordered a bunch of different dishes, everyone loves the food. Then my girlfriend and I went again for buffet (Fri-​Sat night, and all day Sunday). The selection isn’t as good as buffet should be, but the food was good otherwise.
It seems that this is a family own and operate restaurant. They are very friendly and helpful. Although the speed of the service could use some improvement.

Hhhmm…
I was expecting, I don’t know. Like a few of the reviews on here Sri Lankan food is different. It’s sorta like a Indian version of Thai, but not, it is own.
The wife and I went here the other night, she ordered off the menu and I had the buffet.
All in all it was good and we more than likely will return, though I’ll explain my hesitant and lackluster review of the place.
— Communication. Make sure all the staff are on the same page. When we were sat down, the hostess informed us we could order from the menu and the buffet. When the girl came by to take our drink orders we were told that the buffet was the only option as they were busy. They had maybe 20 people in there and that was maybe a quarter of capacity.
— Service. A number of other reviewers have made comments about service and I have to agree to some extent. I get the impression that a number of the other patron’s were acquainted with the owners to some extent, so there was a bit of chit chat going own with staff. Nothing against chit chat but your running a restaurant not a social club.
— Food. Like I said my wife order off the menu the Devilled chicken and I had the buffet. The buffet items were not labeled, usually this is not a issue but even the other people were asking what was what. The chicken curry was very spicy (how I like) and lots of flavor, as well as the beef curry, though a bit milder. The potato curry was creamy and seemed to have coconut milk. The lentils were more like a paste but good. There are these things called «hoppers», which are sort of a crêpe like fried bowl, mine had a egg in it. I was not sure what the hell to do with it aside from eat it as is, I’m thinking it may have been a edible container for other items, I liked it any way.
The devilled chicken was sorta like sweet and sour chicken and a chicken curry/​tandoori. The onions and bell pepper give the sweet and sour vibe, but the chicken gives the curry/​tandoori vibe. I liked my wife’ dish better than the buffet. This was very good! Also rice came with the dish and was not a separate order like most Indian/​Pakistani places charge for it.
Over all I liked the food, the restaurant was nice clean brightly lit, though in a lower socio-​economic neighborhood (corner of Barrio Calle & White Trash Ave) strip mall, which has recently seen a face lift and looks a thousand times better than before.
Also the Masala Chai (tea) was amazing I’d go back here just for that.
I’d steer clear of the buffet next time and just order off the menu.

So we came here for my cousin’s birthday based on a recommendation. The place was deserted on a Wednesday night, so I was a little wary. But we’re an adventurous lot so anyway…
Started with a round of drinks:
Nelli — looked and tasted like a melted green popsicle (in a good way).
Faluda — dude… ice cream, condensed milk, sugary strawberry syrup, straberry jello, and tapioca. All in one drink. Before dinner. All drinks should get their shit together and be more like Faluda.
Mango Lassi — pretty standard mango lassi, which is to say sweet, creamy, and fuggin dellishous.
We had the variety appetizer: cutlet, roll, and empanada. It was pretty small, but all three appetizers were warm with a nicely textured crust. The empanada was especially well prepared.
Here were the entrees:
Nawarathuna curry — mixed vegetable curry was rich, flavorful, and tasty.
Lamb black curry — got good reviews all around.
Nasigorang — from now on, all dishes I make will be served with a fried egg on top. This fried rice dish had just enough pizazz to rise above the mundane.
King Fish Curry — the sauce on this was like an Indian yellow curry but more tangy. The fish was so-​so, but the sauce was probably the highlight of the meal for me.
String hopper kotthu — As someone who eats Indian regularly, everything up until this point was well within the milieu of things I’ve tasted before. This was the one truly unique thing that I could point to which I hadn’t had before. It was a yellow mound of food with a cornmeal, grits-​like texture to it, with cabbage mixed in, and lots of vegetables. The taste was mellow but full, somewhat similar to curry but without the pinch. It was extremely filling, that much was for sure.
The waiter «Sanka, like the coffee» was very friendly and patient with us, answering all of our questions fully. Perhaps this was just because we were the only people in there, but still. He brought us some sambor on request and he was happy to bring us plates and forks for the birthday cake that we brought along (yes, that’s how we roll).
All in all, this is an interesting little joint. Prices were great ($ 78 for dinner and drinks for five people), food was filling and flavorful, and the service was great. I’ll have to come back here on a weekend — I hope it gets a little more crowded than this. If not, the place is gonna go tits up and that would be a shame.
Oh yes, almost forgot…
Costco red velvet cake — nicely prepared, with a cakey coating on the outside of the frosting. It was a little bit heavy, but you could coat a turd in cream cheese frosting and I’d probably give it three stars.

Okay, let me start by saying I’m biased. My mom makes amazing Sri Lankan food — curries, hoppers, lentils — the whole shabang. And nothing has ever compared to a great meal at home … until tonight. Wadiya was fantastic. I had the hoppers with beef curry but also sampled the godamba roti from my dad’s plate. My mom (yes, the aforementioned great cook, who usually turns her nose up at most restaurant meals) had the mutton curry. Everything was perfect. Spicy, but to me, a meal is not great unless you’re sweating the heat. We split the kiri pani (yogurt and treacle) dessert which was also delicious. Oh, and the prices are ridiculously cheap. Dinner for 3 with tip was less than $ 50.
Wadiya is not a fancy place (though bright and clean). In fact the strip-​mall it’s located in is a construction mess. But go! Go now! Before the rest of SoCal finds out about it and/​or the owners come to their senses and raise the prices above fast-​food prices. You won’t regret it.

Summary based on 1 dinner:
–ok, authentic Sri Lankan food
–pretty cheap
–friendly service, but slow as others have commented
–easy parking.
I love Sri Lankan food and it’s really hard to find, so, even with its faults, I give this place 3 stars.

Ohhh damn! Hoppers are the coolest! Sri Lankan food is delicious. I am told by my friend Neel, that it is quite similar to south Indian food…
Amazing heat in the food, the hopper (a large open rice flour shell that has a pancake consistency) should be generously topped with sambal, coconut sambal is my personal favorite. The egg hopper is the best, a hopper with a fried egg in the bottom is one of the most comforting bites one could wish for. If it gets too hot, try a mango lassi, I also like the ginger beer combination.
Definitely go for the buffet on Friday or Saturday, and get all the hoppers, goat curry, tuna curry, chicken curry… for like $ 11. Damn! MIA let’s do this!

came here last night… upon arriving, my friends and i thought this place was closed cuz it was so dark and no one was in there. we checked and *whew* good thing it was open otherwise it would have been a waste of sitting through traffic and the 28mi. drive. (but at the same time, we weren’t worried, even if it was closed, we’ll just Unilocal for another restaurant nearby).
First thing i noticed when i walked in… it was hot. i dont think they turned on the AC (minus 1 star).
One of me friends is sri lankan so she was really excited to find a Sri Lankan restaurant since it’s so rare in SoCal. So this was all of our first time trying it. And i’ve tried her mom’s food, so i was a bit afraid i’d be spoiled by her mom’s homecook sri lankan meals.
so Kam T. and I let her do all the ordering since we have no idea what to order. So she ordered:
Lamprias: it’s basically rice w/​eggplants, onions, chicken (our choice of meat), a fried boiled egg, and a croquette sorta thing dont remember what it’s called, ALL wrapped in a banana leaf. This dish was very flavorful. I enjoyed the spices and all the ingredients that were in it. It wasn’t as spicy as i thoguht it’d be; so that’s a good thing. I was really worried that it’d be burning.
My sri lankan friend said that it’s pretty good.
Hoppers w/​chicken curry: hoppers are these bread thing that are hemispherical shaped… but they’re not bread bread. my friend told me that they’re made out of fermented batter of rice flour /​yeast. The curry that came along w/​it. NOW THAT IS SOME SPICY STUFF… first dip, i waslike «oh okay, not too bad» so i dipped it even more on my 2^nd time. «CRAP! i’m freaking burning!» i had to stop. it was soo spicy. of course, to my sri lankan friend, it was nothing to her.
The curry was watery, it was red curry, and it was fiery hot! My friend, in her opinion, it’s not the best curry she’s tried.
devilled chicken: this dish was pretty good. it reminded me of a canto dish, the sweet & sour pork dish, but instead it’s more like a spicy, sweet & sour chicken. I enjjoyed this dish.
due to the heat of the curry, we all ordered a sri lankan drink. we ordered:
1. ginger beer… it’s like ginger ale but 10x of the ginger flavor. being a not so big fan of ginger, i personally dont like it.
2. cream soda… it was okay, but i think i prefer the Schwepps’ Cream Soda. the sri lankan cream soda is kinda light.
3. Pelato… it’s a grape soda. but to me i thought it tasted like grape flavored cough syrup.
one thing i had to complain about the drinks is that it’s not cold enough. i can tell that she probably opened the bottle/​can that was room temp and then just added ice.
another thing we were all annoyed about was the service (minus 1 star)…we were the ONLY one there at that time and the service was sooo slow. we asked for extra plates, she brings only ONE. c’mon!!!
Didn’t come around and check if we needed more water. We kept having to ask for our waitress to get this and that.
My friend ordered something to go… you’d think it’d be ready by the time we leave and pay our bills right? WRONG! after we paid the bills for our dine-​in meal AND take out meal, we still had to wait ~5−10 mins for the to-​go food to be cooked and packed. WTF!!!
overall the food was pretty good, but i havent tried enough sri lankan food for me to be able to compare.
would i come back? sure. but i dont think i’ll be craving for it. and i dunno if it’s worth the drive to anaheim for this place. I think i’d rather dine in at my friend’s house for her mom’s sri lankan food.

I had high hopes for this place after reading such great reviews. The food was pretty tasty, but unfortunately I don’t know much about Sri Lanken/​Indian food so I was hoping for some help from the server. He gave some input but didn’t really explain as much as I would have liked. The few things we really wanted to order they were out of. Service was extremely slow, but there were only a few others in the restaurant so I know they were busy in the kitchen cookin ’ up fresh food. I think I would like to try this place again… but I ended up getting sick later in the evening, so i’m not sure if I can handle it :)

When we walking in, it was completely empty, but after sat the down, the waiter did not make us feel uncomfortable or pressured, which we liked.
He was friendly and made very good suggestions for their best foods and offered help to those that are not familiar with sri lankian food.
We had an appetizer, which was delicious.
Our main courses were excellent and interesting but it was a bit too spicy for me, not for husband however.
NOTE: The normal «not spicy food» was spicy to those not used to it. if that makes sense.
Overall, we loved the atmosphere, loved the waiter, loved the price, loves the food, no complaints.
I would definitely come back here anytime ^_​^
picture of the experience:

«What does Sri Lankan food taste like?» Hard glance in my direction.
«I don’t know. I’ve never had Sri Lankan nor am I Sri Lankan,» I said back, to my coworker gritting my teeth.
«Well, it’s in the same region. So I thought you would know.»
«No actually.» I grab a marker and start drawing a map of South Asia. «Sri Lanka is an island off of the tip of India. My people are in Bangladesh, which is over here and in a totally different area.»
Despite this dialogue, I decided to join a group of my co-​workers to try out Sri Lankan food. None of us had ever had it before, and we were curious. The place is cute, and at lunch time we were the only party there. As we walked in, I glanced at the buffet. It looked a little weak, so I opted to go for something off the menu. The guys we went with went for the buffet — the most exciting thing on their plate was the Devilled Chicken which had this tangy mango powder/​tamarind taste to it not found in other desi cuisine.
The rest of our group ordered food off the menu and it took a while to come out. We joked that our waiter was also the cook, it took so long. When it finally came out, it looked very pretty. I ordered the chicken lamprias that came wrapped in a banana leaf (also not part of indo cuisine), and though it was tasty — it was ridiculously spicy. Not that burn your tongue spicy, but as you kept eating, it kept getting hotter and hotter and hit you in the pit of your tummy. My tummy was not happy.
My coworkers got the biriyani,(which tasted allright — typical indian flava), noodles (surprisingly bland), and the kottu roti chicken (which tasted like noodle stir fry but with bread). I also got the Ceylon tea which was tasty.
So now I can tell people what the difference is between Indian/​Bangladeshi/​Pakistani food and Sri Lankan food, officially. SL food is more spicy, tangy dry seasonings, and a good amount of coconut milk and plantains in the dish. They also use dried shrimp flakes which is not often seen in the other foods.
They also have halal meat — not sure if you have to ask first.
I would go again — but I would order the devilled chicken and would ask them to kick back on the spicy heat. My tummy was mad at me the rest of the day.

I really wish I could jump on the bandwagon and say that I l loved this place, but I didn’t.
Mistake number one must have been ordering from the buffet. Mistake number two was not to scope out the buffet before ordering it. Mistake number three was eating at the buffet.
When I hear the word «buffet» I think variety and second helpings. Not leftovers which this place was clearly serving. The buffet consisted of a noodle dish, a starchy root, white and yellow rice, chicken, fish curry, mutton curry and a vegetarian curry. The dessert was fruit in some congealed sauce.
It all sounds great when I list it like that, but in reality everything was tiny and looked like it had been sitting for a while. Everything tasted the same. After the first few bites I was really starting to regret that I didn’t order from the menu. The starchy root was dried up, the mutton curry was all gristle, the chicken was flavorless, and the noodles were some hodge– podge just thrown together. The saving grace was probably the fish curry and rice which I did enjoy.
I ordered a lassi which was really good– tart, tangy and sweet. Yummy. I’m willing to try this place again, but this time off the menu. When you see no one in the restaurant eating at the buffet, I suppose that is an obvious clue.
Service was good, the waitress took our orders and they were frequent with the water refills. Expect an updated review in the future after I scope out the menu.

YES!!! Another Lankan joint! I no longer care that it’s a helluva hike form home– the Pol Sambol rocks!
My sis and I did a random search and stopped by on the way back from SD this past weekend. I was so overjoyed, I hugged the owner and she didn’t know what to do so she gave us a couple of Hoppers– gratis… which we topped with pol sambol and made lil’ burritos with– my mouth is watering just thinking about it! I’m not being dramatic when I say it was as good as back in SL.
Next, the Wattalappan is terrific. Not as spicy as I’m used to but so smooth and rich. String Hoppers are excellent as are the potato and chicken curries we got. My mom is coming up to visit and I’m going back tomorrow to taste the rest of the menu! Let’s hope the fish cutlets are in keeping with the rest.
PS– that’s not «East Asian» dress– it’s a Kandyan Sari, yo!

This was my first time having Sri Lankan food, and I liked it! To me it seemed like a cross between Indian and Persian food. It was full of flavorful spices and we had lots of delicious basmati rice.
Located in a strip mall in Anaheim, I’m sure I never would have discovered Wadiya on my own. We came with my parents who had read and saved the review from the LA Times. We basically tried a few of the dishes from the article and shared.
We all had mango lassi to drink, being familiar with it from Indian restaurants, and it was very good. We ordered three dishes to share: the Biriyani with shrimp, the Lamprias with chicken, and the Ambulthiyal, which came with steamed basmati rice.
Of the three dishes, my favorite was the Lamprias. It’s a combination of vegetables, basmati rice, chicken (or other meat), cashews, and spices steamed in a banana leaf.
The Biriyani reminded me a lot of Persian food. We got it with shrimp that turned out to be jumbo sized in the shell. The basmati rice had cashews and raisins or currents in it and had a nice flavor. It came with a side of cucumbers and tomatoes in yogurt.
The last dish, the Ambulthiyal, was chunks of tuna in a curry sauce. It was the spiciest of the dishes, and also my least favorite. The tuna was very dry. I would not order this one again.
For dessert we had ginger beers and shared the Watalappn and the Kiri Pani. The first was made from coconut cream and tasted like caramel. The second was plain yogurt with a syrup to pour over it. We were told this is a very traditional and popular dessert in Sri Lanka.
I’d come back again to Wadiya, and I think next time I would try the buffet. It seems like a good way to try some different dishes since we only scratched the surface of what Sri Lankan cuisine is all about.

After reading the review from Gustavo, and reading all the 4star reviews i had real high expectations for this place.
I am glad Jon F.‘s review from yesterday. It sort gave me some hints to not to keep high hopes. And I am glad I read jon’s review.
I went with a friend to this place, and the waitress was pleasant for few seconds to seat us and hand out the menu. She said she would be back to get the drink order, and that was the last of when we saw her. After a 10minutes of wait, and not seeing any sign of anyone waiting on us anymore, we decided to go check the buffet ourselves.
The food is good. Very good, authentic, and everything I imagined it would be.
We got the food and still no sign of drink orders or even a glass of water. All this time I see the waitress and a waiter walking around checking other tables. I literally had to call someone and tell the guy to bring some water. Once the water ran out, we had to rerun the same scenario above one more time. No refills, look around. finally get hold of a waitress.
We paid the check, and walked out.
The service is poor and even the worst of the poor scale. I hope the food and ambiance is great, and the entire wait crews attitude wont ruin this business!!!

How often do you come across a Sri Lankan restaurant? They’re probably few and far between here in the states! Boy am I lucky to live in California, land of culinary cuisines from around the world. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to dine at this Sri Lankan restaurant since I love trying new ethnic foods.
Wadiya offers both Indian and Sri Lankan food. We walked on into Wadiya and was greeted by a waitress dressed in traditional East Asian attire. We were seated at one of their booths and glanced at the menu — it’s separated into «Wadiya Specialties» and «Sri Lankan Favorites». I love Indian food, but my sole purpose of the day was to get some Sri Lankan food into my belly.
Devilled Chicken ($ 9) — this pan-​fried chicken and vegetables dish comes on a hot, sizzling platter with a side of long-​grained rice. The spices were sooo good. It had a good amount of heat balanced with a slight sweetness. Like another reviewer mentioned, the spices fall in the range of Thai’s sweetness and Indian’s boldness.
Chicken Curry ($ 8.99) — most their curries here are Sri Lankan based. From what I could tell, Sri Lankan curries are less heavy and not as creamy as Indian curries. The flavor is reminiscent of Indian food, but with less distinct/​powerful spices. The chicken was tender and comes with the bone on it. The portion of the curry was somewhat small (they give you about 6 chunks of chicken), but all their curries come with your choice of various homemade carbs (roti, naan, Sri Lankan noodles, dosa, fried rice, hopper, etc).
Now I had no idea what hopper, dosa and such were so I asked the waitress what seemed like a billion questions. She was patient and able to answer everything with ease. I finally decided on trying the Godhamba Roti — they give you 2 plain ones and 1 egg roti. This is panfried, giving it a soft but crispy texture — it reminded me of this Chinese flat pancake bread.
For drinks, I decided to try a Sri Lankan specialty — I got the Nelli ($ 2.99), which is a green looking sweet drink made out of an exotic green fruit. The drink was really sweet… a little too sweet for my liking, but it was still pretty good.
Our meal came out to be about $ 23 for two people, and this included two drinks! Not bad at all for the amount of food you get. I’m so glad I got to finally try Sri Lankan food, another ethnic cuisine crossed off my list!

I never knew there’s a Sri Lankan restaurant in Anaheim and it’s close to my work so naturally when someone at work asked «interested in trying Sri Lankan food?» I jumped at the chance to check it out.
Located around the corner of Euclid and Ball. It’s nicely tug away betweeb Dae Woo Acupuncture and some Chinese Vitamin place. Inside, it has a tropical feel décor. Kinda cute and colorful!
Daily, they offer buffet priced at $ 6.99 for lunch and $ 10.99 for dinner. The dishes consists of white and yellow rice, devil’s chicken, chicken curry, spicy potato, eggplant, lantil paste, and veggie. There’s a ginger, caramel pudding for dessert. The veggie dish reminds me of some Chinese veggie chop-​suey but a good way.
The spiciness seems to be between Thai and Indian, Thai being the far end. If you are looking for a good spicy place, this is it! Both chicken dishes definitely have some kicks but the devil’s chicken has a little more heat for sure. The dish reminds me of Malaysian belachan chicken just without the belachan taste. It’s spicy and tasty and I think I like that dish the most of them all, hence I took a picture of it!
I would come back here since I am curious about other dishes they might have. A few things that I notice. Service might be a little slow even though we were the only group of customers there. They aren’t quick in picking up the plates as one of people in our group pointed it out. Drinks order came a little slow too especially for people who weren’t used to the spiciness. They were really hoping the water would show up sooner so they could wash down the spiciness. Other than that, it’s a good place for lunch and you can’t beat the price especially for good food.