If there is one word to describe the general décor and ambience of Fratelli, it would be “trendy”.  “Hip” would also work just as well, but I had to pick one and decided to go with “trendy”.  The lighting is dim with colorful red and blue lights highlighting different areas.  The artwork on the walls is all very diverse, modern, contemporary, and cool.  The waiters were well made up in snazzy suits, and the lower tier servers were dressed in festive football jerseys to accommodate the World Cup game that was on.  Imagine a Planet Hollywood or Hard Rock Café that is less tacky and more suave.  The only down side to the atmosphere was the smoky air from the popular selection of shisha.  At the beginning of our stay it started out fine, but towards the end it did get rather hazy in the room.  Considering the indoor setting, I would only recommend that they improve the air ventilation for those who choose not to partake.  On the other hand, it was a Thursday night, so perhaps that sort of thing is to be expected.

The food certainly could not be described as Italian.  The list is less of any specific nationality, and could more accurately be described as the global citizen of menus.  Close to all continents were covered, from Mediterranean and North American to Asian and Arab.  Even the butter was from New Zealand.  Although I rather liked this variety of feasts, be warned that the indecisive may very well have a difficult time making a decision.

As we sat down, we were greeted with complimentary bread and a variety of green and black olive tapenades, all of which were quite pleasant.  We began with the Combo Starters to try a variety of appetizers.  This comes with onion rings, fried shrimp, fried calamari, and bbq chicken wings.  For some reason, the calamari was replaced with chicken nuggets.  Although quite a disappointment at first, the nuggets turned out to be quite tasty, so we didn’t complain.  The chicken of the wings and nuggets seemed to be of good quality.  The bbq sauce was also quite good and worthy of finger licking, but in the end it was all your typical variety of fried goods.

For our entrée, we had the Goat Cheese Salad, the Chicken Ravioli, and the Oriental Beef.  All three of us were happy with our dishes, but none of us were raving.  I liked the variety of greens served with the salad, it was a nice change from the more typical crunchy romaine.  The Oriental Beef was served with a nice and tangy sauce with a good variety of peppers and onions.  While the quality of the beef was good, it was not melt in your mouth.  The ravioli was served with a heavy white sauce that my dinner mate seemed content with, but once again I never heard him humming in delight.  It seems to me that with such a wide variety of dishes, they pursue a path of doing most things well, instead of fewer and more specific things great.  At the same time, I certainly did not get the chance to try everything, so it is perfectly possible that I missed out on their specialty.

The service was satisfactory but seemed to be lacking in coordination.  They were all friendly enough and our food and drinks arrived at a good pace.  The main problem was that they wouldn’t always arrive at the same time.  Two drinks would arrive while the third lagged behind.  In the case of our dinner, the salad arrived significantly before the other two dishes.  While it’s not a huge complaint to have, it’s always nice to start things off at the same time, that way nobody is left awkwardly waiting.

The greatest prize and true incentive to Fratelli is the social atmosphere.  While I try to stay away from stereotypes as best I can, the hipness of the establishment does seem more appropriate for the younger crowd, while the older folks may be less inclined towards all the flash.  If you’re looking for some great food and a relaxing and serene time, it may not be the best choice.  It’s the type of place you go visit with your friends while you chat over some snacks, drinks, and shisha.  When fun is more the focus of your night instead of the food, then Fratelli would certainly be a great option.

This article also appeared in Arab News on 30/06/2010

Just like last year, we’ve done the hard work so you dont have to. In Ramadan many of us appreciate breaking our fast at home surrounded by friends and family. But some choose to eat Iftar out either regularly or for that special event, and these days you can certainly do it in style. The Top Hotels in Jeddah have been doing Iftar Buffets as long as we can remember. Here are a few of the great offers at Jeddah’s Hotels which are running in Ramadan along with details of how much you can expect to pay for each Iftar and Suhoor. All Costs are per head and exclude service*

* excludes ‘x’ symbol which means no service/ price is net

na: not available or no information currently available

Please Note: The Following Prices were believed to be correct at time of writing. Please let us know of any apparent changes by emailing us. We can accept no responsibility for errors, omissions, or changes in the above details.

Il Villaggio Restaurants & Lounges proudly announces that for this year Ramadan Festivities, we have created a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Buffet, which will be served daily for Iftar at the luxurious Pirarucu Restaurant (Family section).

Traditional Middle Eastern Appetizers such as Warak Einab, Sambusak or Fattoush is served alongside Italian Classics like Arancini, Panzerotti or Panzanella Salad. You can experience also the taste of “Parmigiano Reggiano” the real Parmesan cheese on display, where we cut fresh slices from a big whole loaf log of cheese for you!

Main dishes include Lamb Biryani, Hammour in White Sauce, Roasted Chicken and the favorite Pasta dishes like Penne all’Arrabbiata, Gnocchi Sorrentina or Lasagna Bolognese and many more. A mouthwatering array of Piccolo Desserts will complete your Iftar with Panna Cotta, Tiramisu or Chocolate Cake and a healthy choice of fresh fruits.

The Buffet is offered at SR 120.00 net per Person (incl. service charge) with free Beverages.

We have just added a small Playground for Children where the little ones can enjoy Trampoline, Rock Climbing, Swings and Slides or connect four games. With child friendly and funny cartoons your Kid’s will be safe and can play while you indulge in the delicious food with your family and friends.

For those who prefer the a la carte style of Iftar we offer such at the Traditional Luigi Restaurant, where an Anti Pasti Buffet is served and a freshly prepared main dish from the menu.

We also offer Iftar menu at the Ozone and The Executive Bachelors Restaurants!

The entire Team of Il Villaggio Restaurants & Lounges would like to wish you Ramadan Mubarak and is looking forward to welcome you at the restaurant.

Please feel free to download the menu flyer with further info and details about other promotions here: Menu Arabic Menu English or visit our website: www.ilvillaggio-complex.net

For reservations you can call 02-6688233 fax 02-6632393 or email info@ilvillaggio-complex.net us at anytime.

My wife and myself went there this evening looking for a nice meal at a nice venue, we were excited because it has been a while since we’ve been to a new restaurant. The place wasn’t very crowded thankfully since it is not that big, maybe it’ll seat around 70 people in the family section, and it has a singles section upstairs. You can tell the decor aimed at a high end Asian eatery but stopped at mediocre style, but it seems they spent some cash on the toilets, they’re nice

They gave us complementary “shots” when we first sat down, which were soda water with blue syrup that was ok. Then they brought 4 kinds of sauces that you can have with the food. The service was speedy and friendly.

Moving on to the food, the menu has a very wide selection of Asian dishes that reminded me of the Gulf Royal. However, and to my great disappointment, they only had one kind of dumplings. For some reason, the big poster that was on the outside of the building before it opened had a picture of a bamboo steamer, which gave me the impression that the restaurant was going to specialize in dim sum. I don’t know about you, but I personally think that was misleading of them

Anyways, we ordered the shrimp dumplings, fried fish and fried calamari for starters, sizzling beef, vegetable fried egg noodles and egg fried rice for main. The food came quickly and was hot. The fried fish and calamari were fresh and tasted ok, but the batter was a little too dark and too thick. The shrimp dumplings can be a lot better…the dough is barely there so all you taste is the filling.

The main was also not very exciting, the sizzling beef was ok, tender and the sauce thick and sweet. The fried rice was also good but again nothing special, and finally the egg noodles were less than ok, they had a wheat taste to them, not the flavor you want in fried noodles.

The overall experience was average, or what you would expect from your typical Asian restaurant here in Jeddah. At least it wasn’t over priced, for 3 starters, one main and 2 side dishes plus drinks, our bill was SR 165.

I am not sure if I’ll go to Chop Sticks again, there are many other competitors, so they need to outdo them if they want to stand out.

This post was submitted by Idris.

Imagine my delight when during a visit to downtown Balad for some personal errands, I spotted the familiar red, green and white colors of the Sbarro signage (in Arabic and English to boot) near the Corniche Commercial Center.  It was nearing mid-day and not even lunchtime yet, but I just had to rush over there and grab some spaghetti with the large meatballs – my all-time Sbarro favorite. Last time I had this was at the JFK Airport in New York in between flights and that was more than a year ago!

I must have been a little out of touch because the Balad location had been open for the last 4 months according to the service crew and their next locations will open this month at Amir Abdullah St. in Khalidiya (near Danube I was told) and at Hera’a Street.  After some research, I learned that Sbarro had been in Jeddah sometime in 1996-98 and then closed.  It was reopened in Riyadh in 2006 by the Al-Musbah Group with 4 locations at present.

Lucky me  for they had a promotion going – a 50 % discount on all menu items during the day starting from 11 am until 5 pm  – after which the regular prices kick in.  Not a bad deal I thought, so I helped myself to a Spaghetti with Meatball (they serve one big one on top) and a slice of their Sicilian Supreme pizza.  I like their spaghetti because it was a good serving, the semolina pasta was al dente to the bite and the tomato sauce was authentic Italian in taste. The meatball, although a solitary one, was larger than a golf ball and very moist and meaty. I learned that their meatball recipe combines beef, pork (elsewhere except in Jeddah of course), Italian cheeses, breadcrumbs and Italian spices.  A crusty cheese croissant was also served on the side.

The slice of Sicilian Supreme pizza (by the way “pizza by the slice” was largely popularized by Sbarro and remains as the top item on their menu) was fresh off the oven, tasty with a light crunch. It was topped by melted mozzarella cheese over the pepperoni, Italian sausage, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, and tomato sauce.

Aside from the pizza and pasta favorites they have side items such as garlic breadsticks, roasted potato, sbarro rice, also a mini salad bar and desserts.

My Sbarro reunion would have been great where it not for a few minor gripes:

-    I just noted that the spaghetti might be just a tad too peppery for some tastes;

-    Even though they are known as a quick service restaurant, I would have preferred that they used proper plates and flatware (like they do in the other locations I’ve been to) and not cheap plastic forks and plates which made the olive oil in the spaghetti sauce float around unappetizingly;

-    It was a small location which featured an-all glass frontage which at mid-day, made the interior temperatures a little too warm for comfort which their air conditioning could not properly handle.  I thought that maybe they could install some drop down shades to cool things down a bit.

For the pizza slice, meatball spaghetti, medium Pepsi and an extra take-out order of spaghetti, my bill was a paltry SR 28, thanks to their fantastic promotion.  So better hurry if you want to catch this great offer because it might not last long.  I do hope they will also have this promo at their Khalidiya branch (which I hope is less cramped, better appointed and better ventilated) which I hope to visit soon!

To be in with a chance of winning this unique prize, just write a restaurant review using the form here,  or submit your review as a comment if the venue has been reviewed already, and the best written review (or comment) every week will walk away with one of the vouchers. So what are you waiting for, put that pen to paper, or start writing! (no minimum word count!).Update: Recipes can also now be considered as entries, so if you have a favourite family recipe! send it in for a chance to win!

Suggested Restaurants to Review: You can choose any restaurant to review, however restaurants we haven’t already listed on the site are always welcome. Suggestions: Cast & Crew, Mabu, Wox, House of Iranian Food,  Swiss Chalet, Shogun Lounge. Costa Coffee, Al Bilad Hotel , KFC, Burger King, Chue, Crusty, Pizza Hut, Dominoes.

Judges Decision is Final. No Limit to Entries: write as many as you want, but you will be judged on quality not quantity! Restaurants need not apply, your entries are easy to spot and will not be judged or posted if found to be affiliated with the venue in any way!

Prize: 200 SR Voucher for Dining at Vertigo Restaurant.

Full List of Past Prize Winners here

Good Luck!

Jeddahfood.com Team

The restaurant used to be a seafood restaurant, which did not succeed and closed its door’s last year, if I remember correctly. The layout remained the same, only the décor was changed and adjusted. We entered the place through its big wooden gates and walked through a small lawn with a nice water feature. Inside the restaurant it was very sleek designed, with high ceiling and black & white colors mainly. The single section can accompany around 50 guests, but we were the only ones tonight!

As we already knew, their menu had a big selection and when receiving it we were only informed that the Buffalo Mozzarella was not available.

Pretty soon we decided that we would share some vegetable spring rolls with sweet & sour sauce, a combination of Ura Maki Sushis like Crispy California, Unagi Sensation and Karate Kid and one Temaki roll as our appetizer. For our mains we ordered the Veal Escalope a la Milanese and the Salmon Teriyaki. The choice on beverages falls a bit short and there is a lack of fresh Juices, as the menu only has fresh Orange or Lemonade besides the usual soft drinks or water. We ordered Orange Juice and Lemonade, plus water and a Pepsi. Pretty much everything from their selection of beverages.

At first we were served a complimentary basket with soft bread rolls and an olive oil dip with herbs. The spring rolls came shortly after and were golden fried, crispy and with the sweet & sour sauce quite tasty. The sushi was average, the rolls were not evenly cut and the rice a bit bland, missing the flavors and sticky glossiness which it usually has when marinating the rice with the sweet rice vinegar.

Our main courses arrived promptly and came well presented on big plates. The Veal escalope was pounded until very thin and fried in bread crumbs, served with a side of tomato linguini and boiled vegetables. The Salmon Teriyaki came as two slices of grilled salmon filet, smothered with teriyaki sauce, on top of spinach with sautéed mushrooms and more teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds as decoration. The Salmon was grilled, a little dry and not pink anymore on the inside, but tasted ok with the teriyaki sauce. The mushrooms were too thin and few to have added a flavor to the dish, the spinach also missed some seasoning. This dish sounded nice in the menu but did not have any WOW factor to it, even though it is somewhat exotic. As for the Veal Escalope, I can only tell what I was told, that they were ok, though the vegetables looked somewhat overcooked to me.

Service was good during all times, but we could not compare or judge it well as we were the only guests.

We had some laughs and enjoyed the dinner, more because of our company than the food. I would have to say that the dining experience today was average, a nice setting with a very good ambiance and good location.They had their grand opening a few days ago and it is probably only natural that there weren’t anymore guests that night.We spend SR 620.00 incl. the service charge for this dinner. Another report by toonsla and stay tuned to read reviews on upcoming Iftar deals!

Description From Mabu Website.

Mabu is the achievement of one of the several projects of NRC Holding (New Restaurant Concepts). Mabu an untouched paradise where fluttering wings soar into the sky, MABU will embark you on a journey. The result is a succession of areas each with their own identity, Almost like walking though different parts of the world.

MABU encompasses a restaurant, sushi bar, and a terrace grill with a lounge ambiance, The men has a very strong Eastern influence, delicate flavours served in a very contemporary style.

Finally, the wait is over for all those craving the real Japanese taste in Jeddah! Forget what you tasted before and visit Ohayo! Where Authentic Japanese Food is prepared the Japanese way!

As you enter you will be transported to downtown Tokyo with its alluring skyline and bustling nightlife, a blend of post modernism and a history as rich as our own defines the city and takes you on a gourmet journey you wont forget anytime soon..cooking is done on a live bar where you can choose to enjoy the action live, or watch from your table afar!

Japanese cuisine has been favored by millions of hungry global fans throughout the decades. Ohayo puts the fun back into devouring Japanese food, whether you favor noodles or sushi, the variety of the dishes here will keep you coming back!

The Ramen (original Japanese noodles) selection is unlike any other in this part of the world and Ohayo offers a dazzling variety of it from beef, vegetables and seafood. The Sashimi and Nigiri Sushi and Bamboo Rolls are other categories on the Menu that are a must try.

Nestled on Al Kayyal street beside MoonMilk and Phillysteak, the location makes for a perfect dine in option (with your friends/family) and is an ideal place to pickup your choicest noodles and sushi by pre-ordering!! Now try it for yourself! Ohayo has just been opened recently and is ready to satisfy your taste buds!

Have you been to Ohayo yet? if so, why not leave us a review in the comments below for a chance to win a Brand New Apple iPad!

View Menu

The restaurant staff were busy chatting as we entered the reception area of the restaurant. Nobody bothered giving us that customary “good evening” greeting. Not that it’s required but it’s part of the whole customer service thing, isn’t it? Anyway, we were simply told that the singles’ section was on the left side. When we went there, we found out that we had the whole area all for ourselves as there were no other diners probably being it late in the evening on a Saturday.

The singles’ area looked pretty average. It had six wooden tables with two chairs apiece on both sides. A few pieces of abstract artworks adorned the off-white walls. Little bulbs plugged in the ceiling in spiral formation illuminated the room. At the corner was a staircase leading to the family section in the second floor.

Nobody gave us the menu which they just had on a soft, A4-sized paper folded in half. We just picked up the ones we saw on one table and checked what the restaurant had to offer. After we had decided on what to eat, we called for a waiter to attend to us but nobody heeded our call. Thankfully after several minutes, a waiter came to us but unfortunately, he was on his mobile phone while he was getting our orders. We opted to wait for him to finish the call. And when he was done, he finally took our orders.

To my utter dismay, our initial choices were not available so we had to choose again. I asked for the waiter’s recommendation but he said all the dishes were good. I believed him and picked Boston Beef. My other two friends settled for Chicken Fricasse and Beef Oriental.

The chicken-asparagus soup, their soup of the day, was served first with freshly-baked kubos. Served in a tiny covered bowl, the soup was warm and good although a tad too oily. We all thought it was an indication of good things, in this case food, to come.

Moments later, we heard some sizzling sound. It was our food, smoking hot in sizzling plates. The food, served in hefty amount, looked delicious and smelled really appealing; prompting us to conclude that it was going to be a good dinner. But we were mistaken.

The Boston Beef tasted too sweet, so was the Chicken Fricasse. The Beef Oriental on the other hand was too salty. It would have been fine if the dishes were a little too sweet or salty for as long as the taste was acceptable but sadly, it wasn’t. The food was bland such that none of us ended finished our plates.  I felt a bit embarrassed that I was the one who floated the idea of dining there.Our bill amounted to SR96. It was cheap for three persons alright, but considering the  food and the service, we could have done better.

Shadab is located on Muallifeen street opposite Royal Plaza which is recently opened about 3 years back. In Shadab, besides the top rated Hyderabadi Biryani, dont miss the grilled chicken, dum ka chicken, chicken 65, Bagharay Baigan, Khaliya and Haleem. There are many dishes to taste for and also dont forget the famous Hyderabadi sweets or desserts. for eg. Kheer, famous Double ka Meetha, Gajar ka Halwa etc etc.Shadab has 2 halls for parties, wedding and small functions while they also do catering and are very famous amongst locals.

This post was submitted by SaleemQuadri.