Restaurants in Oman: Pizza Hut in Al Hail, Seeb, for Iftar 2014

If you are like me, with Omani inlaws from the interior, then you will know that people tend to force you to go to pizza hut. It is, as Italian as they get (besides Chillis). This is probably because there are so few good restaurants out by way of Nizwa... that Pizza hut seems classy. I don't know. Usually I have terrible experiences at Pizza hut (its a chain) in Oman, but the other night, in Al Hail branch, I had a good experience.

The service was amazingly good (the staff listened to us, didn't screw anything up, and had five star politeness going on). They held the doors open for us, didn't make us wait on anything and yet didn't hover. All in all, better than many other restaurants in the capital. I was surprised. The decor in the branch was also very new, and clean, so I liked that. They had family seating suitable to jealous Omani husbands (you know, wooden boxed off cages with doors {stylish despite the confinement I might add;D}, suitable to Interior families not used to Muscat) and also, normal seating, so that gave me options on who I could go with here. For example, my mother-in-law would probably wear a face covering (not even eyes showing---niqab isn't normal for use but wearing a scarf over one's face to Carrrefour is) if I treated her to a normal seated restaurant. But family rooms, and she feels very at ease.

My husband liked that the salad bar was clean (no hovering flies like a few other pizza hut locations---ewww gross) and I liked the general service. I've had terrible service experiences at Pizza huts in Muscat and Sohar and even Nizwa... but Nizwa I let slide because there's so few nice options out there that aren't tikka or kebab or burgers and rice.

I liked my blue lagoon drink. I however, hate the new lasagna format (it looks bigger but is merely a two layer noodle excuse for a lasagna). It is cheap and not lasagna so I will never order that again. My two year old loves the alfredo, and I can live with the pizza (which the Al Hail location actually does let one customize unlike some other branches). However, my daughter's "tutti fruiti" drink looked nothing like the picture on the menu... That's all I can say for the food. It is pizza hut afterall.

However, they did have a very affordable buffet for iftar that consisted of hummous, muttubel, breads, samboosa, drinks, coffee, three kinds of pastas, three salads, and two kinds of pizza. It was around 4-5 rials per person, so very affordable. I didn't try anything but the coffee being I ordered a pizza and lasagna but everyone else seemed very happy with it. (Also, the delivery for this location is way less of a cheat than the Al Khoud Pizza hut----which totally sent orders without all the food in the dishes to more than one person I know)... So, here's to hoping the lovely ladies at Pizza hut Al Hail, Seeb, stay as happy and smiling as they are whenever I have met them... they truly made what is otherwise a blah dining experience for me, a really happy one.