As Sammak (Telephone: 2474 9111 – Map) is a beachside seafood restaurant located in Al Sifah which is a bit more than 40 KM south of the capital, it is technically part of the Sifawy Boutique Hotel in Jebel Al Sifah, but it is detached from the hotel.

The concept of As Sammak is pretty fun because it is a seafood restaurant that is located ON the actual beach. The restaurant is built like a wooden hut and has a covered up section and an outer section on the sand. The covered up section is only semi-indoors because the restaurant is open from outside and has only fans for air conditioning. We went exactly at noon on a Friday and by the time we left around 2pm the restaurant was totally fully occupied in the semi-indoors section.

The menu of As Sammak is primarily made up of four different set menus that come with a different combination of sea food along with mezze starters and a large bottle of water. As sammak also offers additional side orders, a kids menu, cold and hot drinks, and desserts. We decided to go for the “Al Sifah” set and the “El Marina” set. Both of the items we ordered came with a selection of mezze that consisted of green salad, babaghanoush, tahini, rocket salad, and arabic pita bread. The tahini felt like a watery plate of hummous, but it was still nice because of the kick of spiciness it had. I also enjoyed the salads and the babaghanoush, but I did not like the bread at all, because I thought it was a bit stale.

The first set we ordered was “Al Sifah” (RO 16.000) which had shairi fish, lobster, and jumbo prawns. I thought that this was the better set we had, the lobster was well done and the fish was extremely delicious. We ordered fries on the side with this order and even though I thought the fries were a little bit small in portion, but they were also good nonetheless.

The second set we had was “El Marina” (RO 12.000) which had grilled hammour fillet, jumbo prawns, and deep fried calamaris. The prawns were great and the hammour was nice, but it was not as nice as the fish we had with other dish. We ordered rice on the side with this one and I didn’t like it much, it was brown in color, but really quite bland.

We wanted to try out some of the desserts, but unfortunately on the day we visited they were out of everything except the slices of pineapple, which we didn’t feel like having at the time.

In total we ordered 2 mains and 3 juices. Our bill came to RO 40.

I thought that the service at As Sammak was great, even though there seemed to be only one waiter at the restaurant, he had everything under control, was extremely professional, very cheerful and gave us suggestions on what we have.

I really enjoyed my time at As Sammak, I thought that the food was amazing, the setting was gorgeous, and the service good. It is unfortunate that it is too far out of town for me to go visit it more frequently, however, I think that it is a must visit for anyone staying at Sifawy Boutique Hotel and would surely make a nice part of any day trip made to sifah.

Has anybody else been here, what do you guys think of this place?

After struggling to find the time at which Left Bank (Telephone 2469 3699 – Map ) was open for lunch, I finally managed to try it out. Left Bank is a lounge, bar and restaurant located in Shatti Al Qurum on the hill by the Sultan Qaboos Road right next to Mumtaz Mahal.

Left Bank has an awesome location and offer indoors and outdoors seating. The seating area outside is airy and overlooks Shatti Al Qurum and the mangrove sanctuary by the beach. We went for lunch and it was a bit too hot to sit outdoors, so we sat in the big sleek indoors seating area. We went for lunch on a week day and the place was almost totally empty save for one other table.

Left Bank is primarily a bar and a lounge, but it also offers salads, sandwiches, and a number of main courses on its dinning menu. The menu is pretty small with about 15 items in addition to the desserts. I decided to go for the “Left Bank Burger” (RO 6.500) which was topped with tomatoes, red onions, gherkin and cheddar cheese. The burger came with cajun spiced chips and home made tomato ketchup. The burger was delicious, the patty was soft and cooked to perfection, and the bun was cloudy and nice, I really enjoyed it a lot.  My friends also had a Chicken Club Sandwich (RO 4.000) and a Wild Mushroom Risotto (RO 6.500), which they both seemed to like.

For the dessert we had a Panna Cotta ice cream (RO 3.500) that was infused with vanilla and lemon grass and came with raspberry compote on the side.  The flavor of the panna cotta was unique and interesting, and it really tasted great with the raspberry compote.

I thought that the food we had at Left Bank was really excellent, we discovered after ordering that there were some smaller starters that could be had from the drinks menu, but we didn’t have the chance to try them.

The service at Left Bank was OK, but extremely slow. The place was practically empty at the time we were there and yet we had to wave at the waiter for a million times before she acknowledged us. I would still recommend Left Bank for a quick lunch because I really loved the food I had.

Have you guys been to Left Bank, tell us what you think about it in the comments below.

RBG Grill (Telephone: 2450 7888 – Map) is a bar and a grill located in the Park Inn hotel in Al Khuwair. I reviewed it a couple of years ago and never really went there again except this past week.

RBG Grill is located on the ground floor outside the Park Inn hotel. The restaurant is quite big with the bar located in the center of the dining area. The restaurant has a very sleek theme and looks nicely modern. We went on a week day and very few people were there, however, it was still a little bit loud because people were expectingly drinking and in a party mood. That still did not affect our experience at RBG.

Being a bar restaurant, RBG is licensed to serve alcohol. The menu of RBG is made up of a long list of pub food, a number of steaks , gourmet burgers, and a collection of grilled Arabic food.

We had a difficult time picking a starter. because even though RBG serves a lot of pub food, nothing in that section can be had as a starter besides soups or salads. We thought we will try having the Marinated Olives (RO 2.000), which was quite boring to tell you the truth and pretty bland for ‘marinated’ olives, especially in comparison to the olives served at Nandos.

For the main course I decided to go for a Western Burger (RO 8.000) which had tomato, avocado, and smokey chili mayo and came with chunky fries. It was massive in size and a bit hard to take a bit off of it, but I still managed to do it and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought it was nice and well done.

We were in a hurry to leave, so unfortunately we did not try any of the desserts at RBG.

In total we had 1 starter, 2 burgers, 1 soft drink, and 1  small bottle of water. Our bill came to RO 18.500.

The service at RBG was good, everything we had came as ordered and the waiters were pleasant do deal with.

I really liked the burger I had at RBG, it was more like GBK than B+F, but still a different genre of burger if that makes any sense. I think I would be coming here again to try out their steaks sometime.

Have you guys been to RBG, what do you think of it?

Asmaki (Telephone: 2454 7100 – Map) is a grills and sea food restaurant located in Al Hail. The restaurant can be found on the service road next to the Sultan Qaboos Highway, if you are coming from Muscat and going towards Seeb, the restaurant would be to your left, right before the turn that takes you to Caledonian College and the Sultan’s School.

Asmaki has a nice seating area that is spacious and sleek. I went to it on a week day early in the evening and the place was not crowded at all. The few tables that were taken were occupied by couples and families.

Asmaki is Al Hail’s answer to the madly popular Turkish House restaurant in Al Khuwair and seems to have a very similar menu. For the starter we had a mixed appetizer (RO 1.200) which had hummus, lebneh, tabouleh, and a couple of other things, and a portion of rocket salad (RO RO 1.900). The mixed appetizer came with a bag of lebanese bread. I thought that the starters were nice, but I was not a big fan of the bread, which even though it was not bad at all, it was generic lebanese bread bought from some bakery.

For the main course I ordered a portion of chicken kebab (RO 2.800) while my friend ordered grilled lobster (RO 9.900). I thought that my chicken was great, it was well marinated and well cooked. The portion was also perfect and I enjoyed it. My fried liked his grilled lobster a lot, too.

We did not try any of their desserts, but we tried some of the juices which were served by the juice bar Toot, and they were simply phenomenal.

In total we ordered 1 starter, 1 salad, 2 mains, 1 bottle of water, and 2 juices. Our bill came to RO 18.800.

I thought that the service at Asmaki was great, the food we had was good and came quickly and exactly as we ordered it.

Even though I still think that Turkish House is the best restaurant of its category, but Asmaki is a worthy contender and is surely worth a visit by anyone living in Seeb.

Trader Vic’s (Telephone 24680080 – Map) is a Hawaiian restaurant and bar located at the Intercontinental hotel in Shatti Al Qurum.  Trader Vic’s is an bar restaurant chain with branches in the USA, Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East. I went to try out for dinner a couple of weeks ago and I thought I’ll share my experience here on the Omani Cuisine.

Trade Vic’s is a huge bar restaurant located in the outer attachment of the Intercontinental Hotel. It is fully licensed to serve pork and alcohol. The restaurant is divided into the bar side and the dining area that has a Chinese oven. I went to Trader Vic’s on a weekday and it was pretty crowded, however we did not have any problem finding a table. The crowd was predominantly made up of adult expatriates.

The menu of Trade Vic’s has a variety of finger bites, starters, mains, and grills which are supposedly from the Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Polynesian cuisines.

For the starters we decided to have a portion of BBQ lamb ribs (RO 7.200) and a portion of fried calamari with wasabi sauce (RO 5.200). Even though I really like spicy food, I did not like the wasabi sauce that came with the calamari and thought that it had a funny aftertaste. I didn’t think that the ribs were special or memorable at all either.

For the main course I had a 9 Spice Chicken – which is a half chicken cooked in their special oven with some spices. The chicken was alright, but even though it supposedly had nine spices, I thought that it was still bland and boring.

My friends had a Filet of Beef (RO 14.000) and Rib Eye Steak (RO 14.200) both of which they had with wedges and green beans. None of my friend had any technical issue with their steaks, but just like me they did not find it special at and boring.

For the dessert we had one plate of Chocolate Paradise (RO 4.000) which was basically a gourmet chocolate ice cream. The three of us shared this together, and I thought that it was nice.

In total we ordered 2 starters, 3 mains, 1 vegetables side dish, 1 dessert, 2 soft drinks, and 1 bottle of water. Our bill came to about RO 70.

I thought that the service was average, our food took a long time to arrive, but the waiters were pleasant to deal with. I did not find the food special at all and I didn’t like the ambiance, the place was too dark and a bit too old fashioned for me to like. Maybe my experience would have been different if I were someone who drank.

I do not think that I will be going back to Trader Vic’s any time soon.

What do you guys think of Trader Vic’s?

Come Prima (Telephone 2466 0660 – Map) is an Italian restaurant located on the ground level of the Crowne Plaza Hotel right next the restaurant Shiraz. I only recently tried it for the very first time for lunch.

Come Prima is located on the far right side of the Crowne Plaza right next to Shiraz. It has a very modern and sleek theme and is quite spacious. It also has some outdoor seatings that oversee the ocean and Shatti Al Qurum which can make up for a really nice view during the cooler times of the year.

We came to Come Prima for lunch on a week day, it was mostly empty with a few other guests who seemed to be a bit older and were there for what seemed like a business lunch.

Come Prima has a special lunch offer called Pronto Lunch where you can have a two course meal for RO 12 and a three course meal for RO 15 – both of which come with a glass of wine or any other drink of your choice. The pronto lunch menu covers only a small number of items from the much bigger menu that Come Prima serves, we still thought we will give it a shot because it sounded like a really good deal.

Right after we made our order we were presented with an entre of bread buns that came with some dried tomatoes and a dip, I found the buns nice and I enjoyed having them with the dried tomatoes.

For the starter I ordered a Bruschetta Classica – which was a long plate of baken slices of bread with fresh tomato, extra virgin oil, garlic, and basil. The bread was not too crunchy and the toppings were nice and not too overwhelming. I liked it quite a lot. My friend on the other hand had a chickpeas soup, which he thought was very simple, but he still liked it.

For the main course I ordered a chicken breast with oysters, mushroom, and truffles which came with a salad on the side. I thought it was well done and delicious, I also liked the salad I got which I thought came in the perfect portion. My friend on the other hand had a Seafood Risotto as his main which he enjoyed quite a bit.

For the dessert we both had a Tortino Calod Fredo Al Ciocolato – a mini chocolate volcano that came with a scoop of ice cream which I devoured with ease.

Being the boring person I am, I had my meal with a glass of orange juice.

In total we had 2 starters, 2 mains, 2 desserts, and 2 drinks (or in other words 2 pronto lunches 3 course meals), our bill came to RO 30.000. I thought that it was nice that the price came exactly as advertised with no hidden charges or additional taxes to pay (of course that doesn’t include the tip).

I thought that the staff were friendly, but the service was a bit on the slow side. My friend had a very slow experience the last time he was here too, so I suggest that you keep this mind if you do come here.

Over all I had a very pleasant experience, I thought that the food was great, simple, delicious, and not pretentious. The pronto lunch is a really good deal in my opinion and totally great value for money. I recommend Come Prima to anyone looking for a nice Italian lunch with a spectacular view.

Tomato (Telephone 2468 0000 – Map) is an Italian restaurant located in the Intercontinental Hotel Muscat in Shatti Al Qurum. It is an outdoors poolside restaurant that operates only in the winter season of the year.

Tomato is a pool side restaurant with no indoors seating, we went at night over the weekend and the restaurant was packed. Luckily we still managed to find a table even though we did not book in advance. The weather was amazingly airy with a light breeze and none of the fans had to be used. There was a singer playing live music on the other side of the restaurant, it was pleasant and not too loud.

Tomato has an extensive menu that contains starters, soups, pizzas, pastas, steaks, and a variety of other Italian dishes. It is also fully licensed to serves alcohol and pork. After we made our order we were also served an intro basket of breads with olive oil dips. The bread was fresh and I enjoyed having it with the dips.

Our starters took a really long to come, probably because we ordered the Zuppa Di Pesco (RO 8.000) – a seafood soup with jumbo prawns, king fish, and mussel cooked in tomato sauce and served with Toscano bread crouton. This turned out to be a really huge dish that could have been a main course on its own. My personal preference would have been to have the soup a little bit spicy, but even though this wasn’t I still enjoyed it a great deal.

For the main course I had a Pollo all a Diavola (RO 8.000)  which was a dish of grilled baby chicken marinated in fresh herbs served with roasted potatoes and garlic broccoli, my friend on the other hand had a Ravioli di Pesce al Pomodoro Fresco e Basilica (who uses that for a name?!)  (RO 9.000) – a homemade ravioli stuffed with crab meat and strips and served with fresh tomato sauce. Unfortunately I did not like my chicken dish much, it was pretty hard to eat as it took me a lot of effort to ‘extract’ the little meat on the baby chicken, I also didn’t help that I was almost full after having my huge soup starter. My friend on the other hand enjoyed his Ravioli more than I enjoyed my main course.

We were too full to try any desserts, so in total we just ordered 2 soups, 2 main courses, and 2 drinks. Our bill came to around RO 44.

I thought that the service at Tomato was good, our starters took a bit of time to arrive, but the place was crowded at that time and our soup turned out to be a proper dish. I didn’t enjoy my main course much, but again I think that I chose the wrong dish and not really a problem with the way they prepared it. I still enjoyed my experience at Tomato, especially the ambiance.

Have you guys been to Tomato, what do you think of it?

Señor Pico (Telephone 2468 0030 – Map) is a Mexican restaurant located on the lower floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in Shatti Al Qurum. It is a restaurant and a bar that regularly has live music playing.

Señor Pico is a pretty spacious restaurant with the bar on the left side of the restaurant and proper dining tables on the right side of the restaurant. We went early on a week day evening and the place was not too busy with a crowd that totally consisted of expats. The music at Señor Pico could be a little bit too loud if you sit too close to the band, so you should that in to consideration when you get seated.

Señor Pico’s food menu features a variety of starters, soups, salads, Mexican specialities, seafood and grills. It is licensed to serve alcohol and the only main dish that contained pork was clearly highlighted.

For the starter at Señor Pico we had “Calamares Fristos” (RO 4.500) which was a plate of fried calamari served with a green chili sauce. I thought that the calamari was a tiny bit too oily, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Señor Pico serves a variety of Mexican specialities in its main course section such as fajitas, burritos, enchiladas, etc. For my main I had the “Tacos de Res” (RO 4.000 – pictured above) which could be had with minced beef or chicken. I originally wanted to have chicken, but I was told that they were out of chicken tacos, so I had to go with the minced beef. The plate came with three hard shell tacos, a bit of salad, refried beans, and some rice along with the minced beef. I thought the portion was pretty generous and I liked the additional mix ins that you could add to your tacos, I thought that the beef was alright, but I felt that I would have enjoyed this more if I had chicken tacos instead.

My friend on the other hand had a Pollo Costeno (RO 3.500 – pictured below) which basically was a grilled chicken breast that came with vegetables and curado sauce. He enjoyed his dish thoroughly.

Fir desserts Senor Pico offers a fruid salad, a banana split, a crepes and a chocolate cake. We went for the Volcan Chocolate Cake (RO 3.000) which came with vanilla ice cream, a few fruits and walnuts. I thought that the cake was really great, the ice cream was nice and the walnuts and fruits were a really great addition.

In total we had 1 starter, 2 main courses, 1 dessert and 1 bottle of water. Our bill came to RO 25.272.

I thought that the service at Señor Pico was good, the staff were friendly and cheerful, and our food came exactly as we ordered. I would have liked the food to come to us a little bit quicker, but I still thought that my experience at Señor Pico was pleasant.

Have you guys been to Señor Pico, what do you think of it?

Narenj Restaurant (Telephone: 9415 4154 , 9415 2152 – Map) is a new Irani buffet restaurant in Al Khuwair located right opposite the left side of Al Zawawi Mosque. If you are driving up the service road in Al Khuwair from McDonald’s towards Al Zawawi mosque you cannot really miss Narenj as it has one of the biggest and flashiest signboard on that road.

Narenj has a really nice location as there are a lot of parking spots around Al Zawawi mosque. The restaurant is also based on the first floor of the building and has glass walls all around the restaurant giving all its guests an awesome view of Al Zawawi mosque and the highway. The seating area inside the restaurant is also bright and quite nice with white leather seats and cool rotating platforms on some tables. There are also mini-tent like sections on the other side of the restaurant for those who prefer to sit on the ground. We visited very early on an evening of a week day and the restaurant was literally empty at the time of our arrival.

Narenj is primary a buffet restaurant that charges RO 10 per person for the buffet, but we decided to do a la carte and order from the menu instead of doing the buffet. The menu of Narenj isn’t structured well and it is clear that it has not been well thought through. The menu has a few types of rice, a few mixed grills, two types of salads, hummous, and soups. There isn’t really a starters or a mains section as everything is jumbled up together.

We thought we’ll try to have some logical structure to our order so we ordered a portion of hummous (RO 1.200) , a portion of youghurt and cucumber (RO 0.800) and a salad (RO 0.900) – thinking they would come before the rest, but they came at the same time as our mains which were a Special Narenj Grill (RO 2.800) and a Mixed Kebab Grill (RO 4.200) which we ordered with a portion of Saffron Rice (RO 0.500) and a portion of Black-eyed peas rice (RO0.500).

The hummous we ordered came with a portion of rubbery cold bread that wasn’t  really bad, but extremely boring. However, I still managed to enjoy the hummous and the yougurt, but I was not a big fan of the salad which came with a strange looking pink salad which we couldn’t figure out what it was made up of.

The Special Narenj Kebab turned out to be a skewer made up of mixed chicken and beef layered over each other, while the Mixed Grill basically had a chicken skewer and a beef skewer. I thought that they grills were extremely average and not memorable at all. The saffron rice on the hand was acceptable, but the black eye peas rice had an extremely strange dry texture and unpleasant.

In total we ordered 3 side dishes, 2 mixed grill dishes, 3 portions of rice, 3 drinks, and 1 small bottle of water. Our bill came to RO 13.200.

I thought that the food at Narenj was mediocre at best, probably just as expected of a buffet restaurant. It was such a let down because the location is great, the restaurant  had a nice atmosphere and the staff seemed very cheerful and friendly. The fact that the menu of Narenj isn’t structured well is an indication that you probably should not bother looking at it and just go for a buffet if you want to come here.

I am not a big buffet fan and I do not think that I will be trying out Narenj again any time soon.

Have you guys been to Narenj? What do you think of it?

The SteakCompany (Telephone 9411 6600 - Map) is a steakhouse located in Bareeq Al Shatti Mall. The SteakCompany is located in the same spot as the now defunct Abala, but it is not owned or operated by the same people. The SteakCompany is relatively new and at the time of this review the restaurant has only been opening for dinner and not lunch.

The SteakCompany has mostly maintained the look and feel of Abala and looks really amazing withs glamourous lights and sleek furniture. The SteakCompany also has a few tables outside the restaurant, which dont necessarily have the greatest view, but I guess are still an option for smokers. We went early on a weekend evening and the restaurant was not crowded at all.

The menu of The SteakCompany offers starters, salads, sandwiches, steaks, and a grilled sea food and chicken section. For the starters we wanted to try to the Carpaccio and Calamari Rings, but neither of these starters were available, so we went for a plate of Garlic Prawns (RO 2.900) – which had jumbo prawns cooked in garlic and coriander sauce, and a plate of Boerewors (RO 2.000) – which was a South African sausage dish cooked in tomato salsa.  I thought that the Prawns were good, but not very memorable, and I thought that the Boerewors on the other hand were quite special and really nice.

The steak section of menu of The SteakCompany is divided up into three categories, New Zealand angus beef, South African prime beef, and Australian black angus beef. Each of these beef types are offered in a variety of cuts such as New York Strip, Rib Eye, Filet Mignon, and T-Bone. The SteakCompany offers two sauces with its steaks, pepper mint and Argentinian chumichuri. Each steak is offered with vegetables accompanied by mash potatoes, chunky fries, or potato wedges.

I ordered a medium-well Australian Rib Eye (RO 13.900) with crunchy fries. Unfortunately my steak came as medium-rare, I informed the restaurant staff about this, and they offered to take it back to the kitchen to cook it more, but I chose to try it out as I have never tried medium-rare or rare meat before, after starting to eat my steak though I discovered that it wasn’t consistently cooked at all as it was medium-well on one side and rare on the other, which was a bit frustrating even though I liked the chumchiri sauce and the little vegetables that came with the steak.

The other three people who came with me for dinner did not have the same problem with their steak and enjoyed what they had more than I did.

For the desserts The SteakCompany offers Chocolate Fondant, Cheesecake, and Date Cake. We went for a Date Cake (RO2.200) that came with ice cream on the side which we enjoyed.

In total we ordered 2 starters, 4 steaks, 1 dessert, 2 soft drinks, and 2 fresh juices. Our bill came to RO 50.295.

Besides the incidence of not having my steak cooked well, I thought that the service at the SteakCompany was still very good. The staff seemed to be friendly and helpful and our food did not take a lot of time to arrive.

I am still willing to give the SteakCompany another chance even though my steak wasn’t cooked properly. I am hoping that the problem I had was just an isolated incident.

Have you guys been to the SteakCompany? What do you think of it?