Sigiri

We wanted to try a new cuisine and picked up this restaurant for Sri Lankan food. Its a small, budget-​friendly restaurant with nice ambiance. The owner was very friendly and helpful. He guided us through the menu as we did not understand much. We ordered Lamprais and String Hopper Kotthu. Both were delicious. Lapmrais is rice, chicken, boiled egg, veggies, onions all cooked together, folded in a banana leaf. String Hopper Kotthu is made with very thin rice noodles that they make themselves. We loved both the items. And we definitely want to go back to try other dishes.

I think I enjoyed the food quite a bit but I would have liked it even more if I had ordered something else. We came here in a small group and I found the owner of the restaurant very helpful and accommodating in terms of explaining the menu in this tiny restaurant.
There were a lot of flavors that I was not familiar with but I ended up really liking the food. People who mentioned the spice levels though were not kidding. I can take a fair bit of spiciness but I found some of the food off the charts.
That said, everything in this small, apparently family owned little place tasted really fresh and homemade. I had goat curry, we tried a sampling of the appetizers and I got to try my friend’s string hoppers, which I really liked and would not hesitate to order again.
One caveat, not a great place to come with a group of more than about 4 people. The parking situation is a bit rough and the restaurant itself tiny and a bit cramped, but I liked the homey feel.

What a fantastic experience ! I went to Sigiri for the first time today with my fiancé and his family. The food was delicious, exotic, and prepared to perfection. I enjoyed trying all the new flavors. My in-​laws are from Sri Lanka and told me that the food at Sigiri is very authentic. While we were there we ran into other Sri Lankan ex-​pats who come to Sigiri all the time because of their authentic and delicious cuisine. I wanted to take the time to write them a good review because of their phenomenal service, careful preparation of our meal, and incredible quality that they put into their restaurant. We had a lovely time and I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone! The manager who served us is named Pushpa — his brother is fantastic too.

I like trying something different, so I finally got a chance to try this Sri Lankan restaurant for lunch today after hearing good things about their Manhattan branch. It’s located in a short plaza a few yards down from McD’s (on the other side); it’s the one with the US and Sri Lankan flags flying outside. The restaurant itself is a bit small – maybe six tables max inside.
Chicken Lamprais ($ 14.50): I absolutely enjoyed this! The presentation is relatively unique, but it’s the tasty food inside is what made me want to lick the banana leaves clean! Each banana leaf pack consists of a large amount of an aromatic and flavorful rice with tender chunks of chicken, sliced red chili peppers, sauteed sweet onions, a fried egg, diced potatoes, ash plantains, and a round fish cutlet all dressed with a spicy Sri Lankan curry. Everything was well seasoned, balanced in flavor, tasted great on their own or with a little bit of everything.
Passion Fruit Cordial ($ 3.50): I initially wanted mango, but the waitress said they ran out so I opted for something else. This is a fruit juice, by the way – not liqueur. It’s light, sweet, and refreshing. However, don’t rely on this to cool your taste buds – go for something thicker.
We also ordered the King Fish Curry (spicy) ($ 11) with rice and the Chicken Curry with Rice combination (medium) ($ 8.50). I did not taste the fish curry, but the bowl was filled with their spicy curry and a handful of thick king fish slices. My table said the chicken curry was spicier than everything else we ordered, but I found it to be just right when I tried it with rice. Remember that the spice levels (mild, medium, spicy, spicier*) are Sri Lankan spicy, which the waitress said is «spicier than Indian spicy.»
The service was great – my table was the first to come to be seated. The waitress/​cashier was very friendly and accommodating; she is happy to answer any question you may have about the menu. Would I come back? Don’t even ask me – you know I’ll be back!

Great spicy food. Anyone looking for authentic Sri Lankan cuisine. Check this place out. Kothu Roti is my favorite.

Sri Lankan food in a sea of Indian restaurants

Just love everything about this place! Flavors galore and lovely service.
It’s a little restaurant with fold up tables and chairs — not fancy, but the food is such a delight.

DeeeeeLICIOUS! First time having Sri Lankan Food and I must say it’s very similar to indian and Malaysian. I ordered the chicken rice & curry combo, it came with a lot of variations in flavors and taste. Would definitely come here again.

Unique, lovely Sri Lankan cuisine. The lunch special is a great deal. You get 2 fresh vegetables, pappadam, and chicken and rice with curry on the side. And oh yeahh, it’s tender and delicious !
If they have the sautéed mushrooms then you are a lucky individual.

Awful crab curry (take out)

Amazing food.
We had ordered chicken curry and fish curry. We had asked it to be spicier. IT was just great. The curries were just awesome. They did not use much spices, the gravy was not very thick and it tasted just awesome.
Will recommend this place and certainly recommend — Sri lankan chicken and fish curry.

This is a quaint and humble Asian establishment. I Wanted to try something different and decided on Sri Lankan food. The food was very similar to Indian however their curries were thinner in inconsistency however packed full of flavor. They also had an assortment of roti and curry with various types of meat.
The proprietor was a very friendly and helpful in offering a selection of food.
I ordered the crab curry which was absolutely delicious but did not come with much meat. So I ordered a side of beef curry. The beef curry was very heavily tomato-​based and didn’t have much flavor.
I duo enjoy naan but I assume as this it’s Sri Lankan that was not on the menu!
All in all I was satisfied but prefer traditional Indian food.

Go to this restaurant… it is excellent. I never had Sri Lankan food before and I am very pleased. We asked the gentleman what to order and he was very helpful with his suggestions. Comfortable, delicious… Go!

ZOMG this meal just zoomed me back to Sri Lanka. The rice and curry is on point and its a huge serving for under $ 10. I stopped here to cut up a long east coast road trip. Worth it!!! Friendly servers and the kitchen was pretty fast, too. THANK YOU!

Excellent Sri Lankan food! All their items are authentic and made to order. I am from Sri Lanka and can vouch for their food. I have been ordering from them for several years now and the new layout of the restaurant can accommodate several dine in guests.

A great restaurant for keralites and other south Asians looking for familiar tastes. So, all the Keralites on this site, head to this place if you want Puttu (or Pittu), Appam etc
Very good food with great service. Recommend crab curry with hoppers or pittu for anyone planning to visit this place.

My first time eating sri lankan food and It was as good as I’d hoped. I’d read about katthu roti in the Times and had really wanted to try it but unfortunately no where in the Bay Area serves it. So I bookmarked a bunch of sri lankan joints near NYC and figured one day if I was around with a car I’d check em out. Well I happened to go to a wedding in NJ that required me to rent a car and this was my first stop out of EWR.
Katthu Roti is incredible. I love the chewiness of it and the accompanying curry gives it that extra bit of moisture. Also I got weird cold chills from the spiciness. No idea why but I like it.
I also got some beef roll appetizer which kinda sucked so don’t get that.

This was my first experience with Sri Lankan food, and hopefully not the last. I’m sure many of you are wondering what this sort of cuisine tastes like. Well, it’s kind of Indian-​meets-​Thai-​meets-​Malaysian, lots of earthy flavors with a good deal of heat thrown in, and a fair number of curry or rice dishes.
I came here on a fairly quiet Thursday night, so the small dining area wasn’t really a big deal, although I wouldn’t come here with a group larger than 4 – 5 people if I were you; there’s only about 6 tables, with most being 2-​seaters. The staff was exceptionally friendly and did not hesitate to help us with the menu, even handing out a separate page with pictures of their more «signature dishes». After much deliberation, I settled on the mutton curry, extra spicy (about $ 15) with the gotthu roti appetizer (beef, about $ 3.50). One friend of mine is very sensitive to spiciness, so they played it safe and ordered a rice dish, making sure to specify «no spice at all».
The first thing I noticed, was that my $ 3.50 appetizer was kinda small. I didn’t expect anything huge for that price, but I got a fairly tiny «egg roll» sized piece of roti with a scant amount of meat in it. The other apps were similarly sized, so I’ll probably skip those if I come back. The entrees came out soon after. My «extra spicy» mutton curry was given to the person across from me (we swapped when we figured it out), and was indeed extra spicy, so bonus points for that. However, one of my «restaurant taboos» was committed here — the dish was served bone-​in, and boy was there a lot of bone fragments. In fact, aside from one person’s roti dish, everyone’s dishes were served with bone, making it pretty difficult to eat without using your hands; not something I want to do with super spicy curry.
Bones aside, the flavor of the dishes were all pretty good, although I would have liked to see the portions a *touch* larger. The rice and roti dishes looked to be of nice size, and were pretty tasty to boot. If you come here, I’d skip the rest of the menu and go straight for one of those. One last thing: that friend of mine who ordered his rice dish «not spicy at all»? Well, the poor guy couldn’t eat his food; he got about 6 bites into it and his mouth was on fire, so if you can’t tolerate any spiciness, this is probably not your scene. A decent dinner, although for $ 21 with tax and tip, I’d of liked a bit more, or in the very least, a boneless curry. This isn’t Jamaican oxtail stew, for cryin’ out loud.

What a terrific find. It’s one of the reasons I love Unilocal!I’ve never heard of this place nor have I had Sri Lankan food before. We figured we’d give it a chance and we are so glad we did. The food was absolutely delicious and the service was quick and friendly and we left very very happy we ordered crab curry and the rice wrapped in banana leaves I don’t remember the name of that dish though.
the crab curry was awesome! We were talking about it for days afterward.
Highly recommended!

Absolutely fantastic and unique Sri Lankan food. Service is fantastic and the staff is very friendly, throwing in some extras for us and getting very excited when we said we like food spicy. The roti is nice and fluffy and delicious with some tangy chicken. The curry crab was probably my favorite and nice and sloppy but soaked in delicious broth. The devil chicken was good but could have been spicier. The ambiance is ok, tucked into a strip mall but feeling nicer with nice tables and funky music.