Just the most awful place I've been to in comparison to what they charged. To start with the food was disgusing dessert pathetic I don't even eat that type of cheap food at home and even when you ask them to personlise food they never seem to get it (I mean this is why we come to boutique hotels - to be pampered & your exact needs to be met) and a hideously limited menu. Then we go to the rooms dim lighting I was not at all able to read, no TV a bathroom that's smaller than what you've at home (Oh no bathtub!); really what were they thinking? Pool is equally boring and no other activities to occupy yourself so I really am at a loss wondering what they really expected us to do. All in all the place just really seem to dampen your mood and I would've left if it was just me & my spouse thankfully we were with family so talking was our only form of entertainment! Service was prompt but considering it was just us and one more couple if they got that wrong I wouldn't know what they'll get right!

We loved this boutique hotel despite being the only guests! This is a very small, private hotel and due to recent conflict, tourisim has badly effected Sri Lanka. But we felt like we had a private residence and we were looked after so well. This was the 2nd place we stayed in Sri Lanka on our honeymoon before going to the Maldvies. The first half of ther week was spent in Habanara at the Cinammon lodge and we did a private tour. This part was always supposed to just be relaxing on the beach. The decor is stunning, the food amazing, in particular the breakfast, anywhere you wanted it. I think we enjoyed it more because we were the only one's in the pool (which is quite small if the place was full there would not be enough sun loungers but I guess there is always the beach), we could also have breafast in the garden by our room and we loved that and wouldn't have wanted to share it with anyone else!
The beach is rugged and not what we would call beautiful but it was deserted apart from the few hawkers who went away easily if you said a firm 'no'. The sea was very rough and we didn't swim in it. The hotel carried deck chairs and umbrella over and set it up and gave us water, we felt very special.

Our rooms were exceptionally clean and we loved the extra touches with the flowers and floating candles and incense burners. There were lots of places to sit and read or drink gin and tonics. We found the bar prices and food quite reasonable.

Slight negatives - the hotel has recently changed management but we understand they are looking to improve a few things namely; having a fridge in the bedrooms for your water and possibly a little TV. There is a lounge that overlooks the pool but we didn't feel comfortable sitting in there because the staff were often in there. This was likely to be because of the lack of guests.

But Taru put a cool box in our room and a TV and DVD with library especially for us so we wouldn't complain! There are games to play, magazines to read, chilled music playing and the weather was fantastic.

The entrance into Taru's side road isn't great, not the best frist impression but this is not their fault as building work to a new premises at the beginning of the road had begun and this property shares the same side road and is in front of Taru. It didn't make a difference when we were there but it wasn't a great first impression.

Taru organised a fantastic Tuk Tuk driver who was v reasonable and waited for us when we went to the temples, market, turtle sanctuary and gem shop. We ate out twice and ate at Taru twice. Taru had the best food but atmosphere very quiet due to it just being us! We loved the Golden Grill - v good food and the Waterside for ambience and romance.

The turle sanctuary in Kosgoda was amazing - def go there and release baby turtles at sunset into the sea and Aesha Gem's (?) was a great place to buy jewellery as was the market for clothes.

A very special hotel for couples looking for a luxerurious haven for a few days.

We stayed here for 4 nights at the end of our 20 day tour of Sri Lanka. It was the most expensive hotel on our tour, and we were looking forward to the cool, boutique luxury.
Best bits:
The rooms, hotel and lay-out are lovely and the food was really very good quality.
The service from the waiters is excellent (if you want to go to the beach, they carry down deck chairs and umberella).
The beach is beautifull and deserted here.

Negatives:
Manager had very off attitude and made us really quite mad. The hotel was empty (on one night we were the only couple there), and yet when I tried to speak to him to ask about locality etc, he seemed very dismissive. Gave us a telling off for taking a tuk-tuk not recommended by him (having been in Sri Lanka for 20 days, we felt pretty comfortable with this). I will not be told what to do!
Very expensive compared to similar quality elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
I know we only booked bed and breakfast but seemed that every little thing had an extra charge. e.g. for breakfast you have one choice from a menu - so if you want fruit and eggs you have to pay extra.
It can be quite noisy - a railtrack runs between the hotel and the beach with trains at all hours, and at dawn there is a long (30 mins), loud calling to a religious center, which sounds like it is practically next door.

We stayed here for almost two weeks over the xmas new year period. After a nightmare flight (delayed, Sir Lankan Airways great , KLM that does their check in - awful ) and taxi ride through the xmas traffic from the airport ( 4 hours, usually takes 2) we were greeted by friendly staff bearing cold flannels and drinks. The usual manager was away and Chandra was in charge, whom we really liked and helped us as much as possible and when we requested a different room away from the noise of the railway changed it for us without any problems.

The Taru Villas is beautifully decorated and we loved our room ( No 1) the pool was small but big enough for a comfortable dip. Our room was cleaned very promptly and we liked the bath products, simple and attractively packaged.

The chef, Ruwan was lovely and we had to order what we wanted to eat mid afternoon so the ingredients were fresh, we did venture out to other restaurants i.e Golden Grill, Club Villas and the Waterside but the food was best at our hotel.

Anthony and Sampeth were very attentive in the restaurant and we did have umbrellas and towels carried out for us on the beach and the staff came and took drink orders.

We ended up spending most days going to the Bentota Beach Hotel and used their gym, pool, elephant rids, water skying - which you can do for a small charge.

Xmas dinner was served on xmas eve (which was wierd being English as we eat it on Xmas day) there was only two couples their and despite the beautiful decorations their was a lack of festive spirit. We were charged £100 each for Xmas Eve and New Year both which were disapointing and to go to other hotels parties would of cost the same. The hotel did have a nice firework display on the beach at midnight.

My only criticism is that the owner of the hotel would arrive with his noisy children and friends(screaming outside our bedroom door at 10.30 at night) Completely monopolize the staff into waiting on him, family and friends and ruin the ambience of this luxury villa hotel experience. There were several days when he would arrive and leave his children to run round screaming, the place is too small for this and it put the staff in an awkward position as they couldn't relay our complaints about their noise.

This is not a good place for children, it's too small and a crying baby can wake the whole place up.

It is a good place for solo holiday makers and couples.

The sea was warm but strong waves and currents made it unsuitable to do anything but paddle.

We got approached by so many hawkers, when we left the hotel and felt under pressure every time we left the hotel. We had a tuk tuk driver called Bindu who appeared every where we went touting for our buisness, which was funny at first and then unnerving.

We went on the boat trip organised from the River House which was amazing, they stopped off to visit a cinamon island and a buddhist monestary in the middle of the trip. It was expensive but amazing (£70) We also tried the river trip organise through the hotel up the Bentota river, this was a joke - a tour of the rubbish tips and poking around in the mangroves looking for crocodiles. There were no life jackets and the guide couldn't speak English very well and despite several requests to go back he just kept on going.

The usual manager (don't know his name) returned towards the end of our visit and was very sweet , he confirmed our flights and got us the emergency exit seats with loads of leg room, he also did this for some other guests from our hotel. Thank you, it was a very nice thing to do for us.

I think this hotel is suitable for a few days only, and recommend that you stay a few days at each of the Bawa hotels down the South West Coast.