Restaurants in Yanbu Al Bahr | My Review

Unlike in Al Khobar, where I have been more than a couple of times and I can vouch has the best eat-out options, Yanbu has fewer options. I so wish all of KSA is like Khobar.  Yanbu has very limited "good" restaurants and a few that you can visit again. Honestly, I had planned to have a dedicated post for each of the best restaurants, but unfortunately, there isn't much. So here I am listing the restaurants that I have tried and my personal thoughts about them.

In my an earlier post I had mentioned about a rule to avoid cooking and washing dishes on Fridays - Kitchen Closed on Fridays. But that never lasted for more than a few weeks. You know why? There is hardly any place I crave to go to eat out here. Until last time I was here, I was ready to eat anything but cook on a weekend (Friday is the weekend in this world). That should explain my weight gain. But this time, I am more careful about it and mostly cook both the days of the weekend even though I complain that it is not fair that I don't get a day off.. Trust me...when I think of the effort to go and eat something that I don't enjoy and pay for it too.. I would rather cook some food and make myself better at it.

If you are not aware, most of the dine-in restaurants in the Kingdom have two sections, Single and Family. And in the Family section, you have rooms with curtains or doors. This way each family have their privacy. Some take-away counters have a woman only section where F sends me when there is a long queue at the men's section.  Also, some of them have more than one branch and it is not the same kind of service provided. 

At Ostorah

So here is the list of restaurants in the order I frequented most:

Palace Restaurant

This place serves mainly Pakistani. They also serve Chinese and Arabian food that includes soups, meat, seafood and lentils. All these are accompanied by khubz. No other Indian bread is served. We always opt for a take-away from here owing to the not so good dine-insection for the family. Their food is the closest to Indian food that I get here. I will not recommend their biryani or for that matter any of their rice. I feel they all are so bland or not for a south Indian. The best they have is mutton biryani and their "Famous Chicken Tikka" which is a must-try. They are quick in delivering, we just call them and place the order and go and pick it up before they close for the prayer.

Food: Good

Ambience: NA

Quantity: Fair

Quality: Good

Value for Money: Good

Ostorah

My first cookbook ever was a Lebanese cookbook. I love their cuisine ever since I had from a Bistro in Bangalore. Ostorah was close to the Pizza hut corner, we used to frequent and the for some reason I felt the name didn't suggest that it was a restaurant. I thought it was some furniture shop or something. But when I got to know they serve middle eastern food, I so wanted to go there. So following weekend we tried it and it was so good. I enjoyed the service, the ambience and the food. For me, the food has to be fresh and hot and that's exactly how they serve. They have a breakfast menu too which I have not tried yet. Their kebabs in a platter and their salads are all good.

Food: Great

Ambience: Good

Quantity: Good

Quality: Great

Value for Money: Fair

Fuddruckers

I go here when I  want to indulge in a burger with guacamole and potato wedges...I avoid dining in here too often because I do not want to fall out of love for this place. Peak hours are always crowded and most of the time has a waiting period where you are not left hanging. They have good customer service and I am so impressed with that.  Their salad bar is unlimited but I hate to keep walking there to refill. But hey, avoid the salads! You go there for their steaks and burgers... Forget salads!

Food: Good

Ambience: Good

Quantity: Fair

Quality: Good

Value for Money: Good

  

As the post is too long a read, I am going to add the other set of restaurant reviews in another post. 

However, I do wish some Malayalee opens a restaurant that serves South Indian Cuisine... Hopefully Waiting!