Malabar Hill

We went here for a birthday lunch and it was an amazing experience. The place and the food quality, service..everything was excellent. The recommendations of the staff were spot on and I would recommend the mango cheesecake for dessert :) Next time we will come back to stay as well!

We had an amazing stay at Malabar Hill; the whole experience near perfect from start to finish. I booked 2 Villas directly with the hotel - 1 for my partner & I, and 1 for my partners parents; travelling together to celebrate a Birthday, a Baby & a 40th Wedding Anniversary! The hotel was quick to respond, kind & accommodating, and offered several thoughtful touches to mark our special occasions. We were collected from the bottom of the Hill when we arrived and were warmly welcomed by the staff in their restaurant. We were then given a tour of the property - which truly is beautiful - before being taken to our Villas. They kindly accommodated us 2 villas next to each other, with stunning views of both the Wetlands and the ocean. The rooms are so beautiful - well designed, clean and had all of the amenities we needed and more. The food in the restaurant is exceptional and, in our opinion, worth the premium on what you will pay elsewhere - if looking for elevated Sri Lankan Cuisine. The setting and ambiance is perfect; and the menu has a wide selection for both breakfast & dinner. We appreciated that you could order breakfast to your room free of charge - allowing us to relax and enjoy the views with our doors open. We also had a floating pool breakfast, which was a novel and enjoyable experience. The staff also went above and beyond; and arranged a candlelit meal by the pool for the 4 of us on a beautiful starry evening. They offer a free shuttle service down to their sister establishment on Mirissa Beach. This works really well and the staff down at the beach really looked after us, ensuring sun loungers were available for us to use. The food and drinks here were also great. Truthfully, there isn't much that could be improved (nothing that detracted from our experience) but a few points from us: 1. Much of the hotel information is accessed via QR Codes; and they communicated with guests quite a bit via WhatsApp. I like that this is an option (alongside seeing staff at reception) however waiting for WhatsApp replies was at times a little frustrating when you were trying to arrange something. 2. The customer service is exceptional - so much so, that it was at times almost TOO attentive. They frequented the table at breakfast/dinner so often that we had barely sipped our drinks before they were checking again whether we needed a top up. 3. The hotel offers a variety of free activities - including wetland walks, cycles and yoga. These were all so enjoyable and with knowledgeable staff. The paid excursions however seemed very overpriced. We sought quotes for a whale watching trip and diving, and felt both prices we were presented with were hugely inflated. This was also the case when it came to arranging transport from the hotel. We found it much cheaper arranging drivers via Apps or driver-contacts we had made on our trip. The hotel is a very short drive from Weligama and we absolutely loved the secluded location. The downside of th