I noticed the following full page ad on the back cover of Muscat Daily newspaper last week and was immediately intrigued. Live Teppanyaki in Muscat, Oman!?
This seemed like a great new restaurant to try out so last week I reserved a table for me and my little lady for last night.
360° is located in Ghala. We were a little surprised as “fine dining” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you mention “Ghala”. It’s a nice location and not too far of a drive from just about any area within Muscat. It’s located in Al-Nahda Towers which is behind (on the right side) of the MAN trucks Oman centre, directly across the Sultan Qaboos street from Peugeot. Just look for the building pictured above with the blue neon lighting on top! Don’t make the mistake of entering the residential tower as we did. The correct entrance is to the left of Vacha’s Hypermart on the groundfloor as you face the building.
At the elevator there was a gentleman named Mohammed who made sure we had a reservation. (Make sure you make a reservation as they are only serving a limited number each evening as they just had their grand opening on Nov. 15th and are a bit understaffed at the moment.) There was some confusion as to whether I was “Dr. Ambi” (sounds like “Andy”, right?) or Mr. Ground (Ground, Brown…I guess they sound similar on the phone, haha!). Once the elevator opened at the penthouse, this was the sight as we entered:
We were greeted warmly by our waiter for the evening, Richard (pictured above), who gave us a full tour of the restaurant before we ordered. The restaurant is really quite a sight and I don’t think its true ambiance with its romantic lighting (soft jazz music playing in the background!) is captured fully in these limited photos I’m quickly posting here.
This “Coffee Shop” is a separate area if you want to enjoy chatting with a friend and a great view. They also had a “Sisha (arabic waterpipe) Area” on the other side of the penthouse with probably the best views of them all. (2.5 OR to smoke sisha) The sisha area already seems to be quite popular with quite a number of regulars who know the staff by name.
This is the Teppanyaki station where we decided to dine. Teppanyaki is a very entertaining form of Japanese cooking. It comes from the words “Teppan” which means “iron grill” and “Yaki” which means “grilled, broiled or pan-fried.”
To start things off, we ordered Crispy California Maki (8 pieces) and Dragon Roll (8 pieces). Both dishes were recommended to us by the chef and we’re glad we went with his suggestions! Delicious!
The Teppanyaki chef (or one of them), Allan Zarandin, is a talented and entertaining man! The food was incredible and he was a lot of fun as he cooked up our food. FYI, Chef Zarandin is from Anti-Polo in the Philippines and he has at least 11 years of overseas service as a Japanese-style cook. We ordered “Fisherman’s Choice” (10 OR) and they wisely told us it would be more than enough for the 2 of us as we had already enjoyed 2 dishes. Here is a short video showing just a sample of him in action:
Because we ordered one of the main items on the Teppanyaki menu, it came with miso soup, a salad and dessert. The salad was great!
Here is what the”Fisherman’s Choice” platter looked like once Chef Zarandin was done putting on a quick show as he cooked. Remember that this is just my plate and my wife had almost the exact same thing served to her at a total cost of only 10 rials!
Here’s another video of Teppanyaki cooking:
Dessert was fabulous!
(Deep fried Icecream)
As you can probably gather by now, we had an incredible evening out at 360. We really appreciated the service from Richard our waiter, the assistance from Mohammed, one of the managers (extremely tall guy who should be on the NBA!) and of course the great food and added entertainment provided by Teppanyaki Chef Allan Zarandin. Here is a video of Chef Allan from his very own youtube channel which is pretty cool:This is a restaurant we highly recommend and we are already looking forward to returning in January when my sister-in-law is in town! (Tel: 24590398) Azaiba/Ghala, Al Nahda Towers 2, www.360DegreesOman.com
Have any of you been to 360? If so, how was your experience?
Andy in Oman 
This is a great recommendation, Andy, thanks! I was doing some research trying to find any information on this new restaurant, and saw your post pop up in Google. Excellent reporting as usual, and I especially appreciate the photos and directions. – Jacqueline M.
Jacqueline,
Thanks for letting me the post helped you out. I really appreciate it! If you do end up dining at 360, try to remember to come back here and comment on your experience. It’s always nice to know what others think about restaurants we’ve tried. Thanks again for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Look very interesting! I heard about it but was too lazy to find out where it is: thank you for the great job! My personal review will follow. Ciao
Thanks, Alessandra!
Let me know when your review is posted so I can check it out. Cheers.
I went to 360 degrees with my family and friends too after seeing their advert in the newspaper.the restaurant as has been advertised was true to its words and we were awestruck by its ambience . We booked a table for dinner and upon reaching the venue…yaa the best part to locate this restaurant is to follow the blue neon lights that are visible from as far a grand mosque :)..we were greeted by a beautiful and professional hostess and she took us up on the 9th floor…we were greeted by another hostess and she took us to our tables.we were served warm face towels..which was a wow factor…and anil ,our server took care of our table..we were intrigued by the live teppenyaki counter and the chef…allan..he is too good…their sushi are the best sushi in town ….we had some great steaks ,sushis and smoked sheesha on the breathtaking Terrace lounge that they call the space…amazing and very reasonably priced..would love to go there again and again…three cheers to 360 degrees and it’s team.
Susan,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, the warm face towels! That WAS a nice touch. I should have remembered to mention that! We have a feeling that 360 Degree Restaurant will be extremely popular here in Muscat, especially if/when they get their liquor license! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
We have just come back from 360 Degrees…hungry. It was a very poor dining experience. We had to wait 30 minutes for our soups to arrive and when they did eventually come, they were both very watery and quite tasteless. We ordered lambs chops and what was meant to be lamb rack but was in fact more lamb chops with a different sauce. The portions were tiny and we both left the restaurant feeling hungry and annoyed.
We really didn’t feel like spending any more money on what was very average food. Fortunately my wife actually knows how to cook so we came back home and ate properly. Two managers came separately to ask for our feedback and seemed a bit peeved that we were less than gushing about the ‘fine dining experience’.
We found the place to be quite pretentious, completely overpriced and devoid of any atmosphere. It was a bit like dining in the middle of an exhibition hall.
Warm face towels don’t impress me I’m afraid. What I want is good food.
Richard,
You should have tried the Teppanyaki! We were very satisfied with the food and the prices. In our order, soup was included and it was far from watery and tasteless, so I’ll take your comments “with a grain of salt”. I was shown the menu for all types of food types and the prices are FAR from overpriced. Very reasonable prices.
Don’t take this personally, but I do believe there are some customers who will never be satisfied. I think their bitter comments usually say more about them than the restaurant that served them.
Andy,
Glad to hear you enjoyed the food and the dining experience. I didn’t. I have a different opinion from you and chose to express it. It’s a pity about they way you have chosen to react to this. You could simply have told me that you didn’t agree with what I wrote rather than allude to me being a terminally dissatisfied customer making bitter comments and therefore…being a bitter person. It’s hard not to take your very patronising comment personally when it is clearly aimed at me, albeit in a very disingenuous manner.
If you don’t like people contradicting your opinion, then just be straight about it.
Richard
Richard,
If you are going to be so sensitive, you shouldn’t be so insensitive when commenting on a blog. I am curious to know why your experience (so you say) was so horrible when I’ve heard nothing but good reports from others. You want to slander a new business with such over-the-top and untrue statements such as “poor dining experience”, watery and tasteless soup (untrue), and “average food” (according to you only it seems from looking at other comments!). You come across as a condescending know-it-all with statements like “fortunately my wife knows how to cook”, implying that the chefs at the restaurant do not. Please explain to me how that place is “pretentious”? Perhaps you really mean to say “classy and out of your price-range”? Completely overpriced for food of that quality is nothing more than an outright lie. “Devoid of any atmosphere”? Are you sure you dined at the same place we did?! It is for these obvious lies that leads me to believe that you are indeed a very bitter person (or opposing restaurant?) out to slander a very good restaurant.
As far as I know, this is the first time you’ve commented on this blog and you choose to launch negative and critical comments on a restaurant that we enjoyed immensely that is just getting started. This goes beyond “contradicting someone’s opinion”. It is about an insensitive, complaining person leaving whining comments devoid of any merit and then crying “bloody murder” when those comments are shown to be nothing but rubbish. Do yourself (and anyone who takes dining in Muscat seriously) a favor and please do stick with your wife’s cooking!
Hi all! Iam a follower of andyin Oman page and after so many comments about this new restaurant in town and especially after seeing the pictures ,It was curiosity that drove me to this place.the restaurant is class. We went there last night and I would say,had a very enjoyable meal .we had booked our table in advance and were welcomed by smiling faces.yes genuine smiles,,not the fake ones that most of the restaurant staff give out.the soup and starters we ordered well well made followed by the main course for which we ordered steak and a sushi platter..I would give a 10/10 to the sushi that we ate.the sheesha area again was a mystical charm against a backdrop of mountains.eventhough this restaurant is new and unlike all new restaurants is still polishing on the finer skills,but I would rate it much higher as a newcomer in its food,service and ambience and to top it ll the warmth of hospitality that is displayed by their courteous staff.
Loved it ABSOLUTELY 🙂
Thomson grey,
First of all, thanks for following the blog! It’s appreciated! 🙂 It was curiosity that drove us to 360 as well! Nice to hear you had an enjoyable time there as well. We also feel that their sushi was extraordinary! Thanks for commenting.
After reading so many reviews of this restaurant , eventhough have taken out time to just post few lines of my experience, a BIG WOW for everything.My latest favorite place and being a big foodie , the taste still lingers .YUM..so for now I sign off ,with a promise to give out finer details of my dining at 360 degrees.chao
Saimaa,
Another satisfied customer. Good to hear. It was definitely a “BIG WOW” for us as well! 🙂 My wife is also a “big foodie” and she is not so easily impressed with restaurants but loved 360 and their food. Give us more details whenever you have more time. Cheers.
Hi!Andy ,
Trust me i rarely come across the bloggers with such high intensity and Passion for food and who would go an extra mile to make it easy for other foodies to find such places:),yes it was your blog and the conversation back and forth drove me to this place (360 degrees)–it was just awesome..and thanks for making us discover a new –genuinely high-end atmosphere and as Thomson mentioned,the staff here are genuinely hospitable and realized they are getting their skills finer but with a true and genuine concern and the SUSHI—-out of this world…trust me this is the best sushi i ahd in a loooooong time…prices are for sure in place with the food we got….Allen –the teppanyaki chef is a star…i would say in the restaurant
besides this one we tried ShriMP mARTINI…..DELIGHT..A REAL DELIGHT….AND WE WILL GO BACK AGAIN…..:) THANKS Andy
Karen,
Thanks! Glad to know the blog helped you out! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Hey guys..I dined at this gorgeous restaurant last evening .it is beautiful…as a matter of facts went there in the afternoon to make a table reservation and also to check out the place before taking my friends and family.the look of the place in the daylight and in the evening is a contrast.in the daylight ,one can see the aura colors on the dome and a magnificent view of the blue ocean from the terrace.i was taken in for a surprise when I walked in in the evening and found the look for the place changing dramatically,with suttle decor,lighting and smiling people.we were taken to our tables and yes,served warm tables,that I have found that not too many restaurants ,including the fine dining ones do not do.we ordered shrimp martini for starters and cream of mushroom soup.perfectly made to order.we ordered sushi , as we have heard a lot about the great sushi this restaurant serves.it was true to its words..the best I have eaten after a very long time.the steaks ordered were good too.overall,my friends and my family ,including me,had a scrumptious meal and enjoyed every bit of our time spent there.the sheesha lounge is oh so good.very chic .i would definitely rate this restaurant as the best in town for its food,decor and service and yes,not too mention ,it is not very high on pricing too ,considering the fact ,it is a fine dining restaurant .
I would love to eat their every week or as regularly I can.kudos to the team behind the scene and the front staff.
Michelle,
Another satisfied customer, huh?! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I’ll have to try and check it out in the daytime someday. Cheers!
Heyy Andy,
Yes,you MUST go there during the day time.Ocean and the mountain view from their outdoor lounges,is breathtaking.lovely place to hang around with friends over a cup of coffee.
Michelle,
Sounds fantastic! If I can manage to keep away from Tim Horton’s, I’ll have to give the 360 coffeeshop a try sometime! 😉
I loved it!!! wait wait no.. WE loved it! I was with 6 other friends loved everything about this place. From the best TEPANYAKI (the only one in Muscat perhaps) to the Sisha lounge. We enjoyed every bit of second we spend there. And you ‘re right Andy that Chef knows how to cook!!
Will probably go and have the Tepanyaki again next weekend 🙂
Divia,
Thanks for sharing your experience. This really is “the restaurant of the moment” here in Muscat. 360 continues to remain at the top for most viewed blogposts even after almost a month since my review of the place! Seems like everyone is searching for info about this new restaurant. Kind regards from another 360 fan! 🙂
Hi Andy,
I visited 360 last week actually on my birthday. I agree with you on most observations the place is very unique and staff is extremely polite and friendly. Even though not very well informed on the menu. Unfortunately we didnt try the tepanniyaki which i am a big fan of but ordered from the main menu. We ordered steaks and sizzlers but were dissapointed with the quality of the food as it came out cold and the meat was tough. I think the prices are reasonable but since food is the number 1 criteria in rating restraunts i must say i was disapointed. I am going to go back this week to try the Teppanyaki so lets see hope its better.
Still recommend it for the sheesha and ambience.
Hunaid,
Thanks for sharing your experience, both good and bad. Robert, who commented as if it was a “restaurant from hell” (he still continues to send me bizarre emails!) assumes that I only allow comments which I agree with. Not so. If a person is civil, they can pretty much share whatever experience they like here. Let us know how your Teppanyaki experience went if you get the chance!
Hi Andy,
I have to agree with Richard and Hunaid here. I visited this restaurant last Sunday (Dec 23) for a birthday and it wasn’t a very pleasant experience. There were 6 of us and we ordered soups, apps and entrees from the Asian and Western menus. (Only because the teppanyaki chef was off that day.) The soups and apps arrived almost an hour later. By then we were already starving but were shocked at the portions. The soups barely filled half of the tiny bowl. Three of the soups tasted exactly the same but had slightly different items in them (wonton had two dumplings, almond had three slices of almond, cream of mushroom had a few bits of mushroom). The Western entrees were quite disappointing (tough lamb meat, overcooked steak, chicken breast was awful). The Asian ones, however, tasted quite good, but weren’t exactly filling after the one and a half hour wait. All in all, it was one of my most disappointing dining experiences in recent memory especially considering the very poor value for money. (To top it off, their visa machine wasn’t working so we had to dig in our pockets and pay with all the cash we had on us)
After reading your post and the comments, it seems that the consensus is that the restaurant is good for shisha or teppanyaki, but the regular dining menu is to be avoided. I understand that it’s a new restaurant and is understaffed but they really should get their act together if they expect to keep any regular customers. They certainly lost six of us that day.
Shaban,
Sorry to hear about your poor experience, especially seeing how it was for a birthday! Sounds like Teppanyaki remains the best option for us. Others have tried the a la carte menu and seemed pleased. Maybe like many restaurants in Muscat, it’s hit-and-miss, depending on how busy the restaurant is and who’s serving you. ?? There was a problem with the visa machine the night we were there as well and like you said, it was good we had cash on hand. This is common in many restaurants and shops in Muscat though and is often a problem with the bank network being down I’m told. Thanks for sharing your experiences here.
Spent our Xmas dinner here it was great experience..food were good ambiance were romantic. I’ve been waitin the live teppanyaki but only ala carte were available for Xmas dinner..which means have to go back again to experience their live teppanyaki 😉
blossom,
Good to know you enjoyed your Christmas dinner there. Some people have complained of slow service and small portions on the a la carte menu but sounds like you enjoyed it. If you manage to read this, please let us know what you ordered. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Two experiences at 360 and both of them lacking. The first time the food was way underdone… Dish was returned yet billed to us. The next time we had to wait an hour after placing our order to be served. The waitress laying our table probably had a domestic fight and was venting her displeasure on us. Shoving spoons and cutlery aside with the very plate she was laying for us. Not cool.
To top things off we were billed twice for that meal…I am yet to be reimbursed.
Level of service… Horrible.
Rizwan,
I can’t help but wonder if you “had a domestic fight and were venting your displeasure on this restaurant”… 😉 See, that’s the problem with getting all personal instead of just stating the facts. I don’t understand why people (if they had such horrible experiences) would return to a restaurant they didn’t enjoy. There are far too many restaurants in Muscat to enjoy to return to one that (they thought) was less than satisfactory.
Hi Andy,
Do you mind dropping a pin at it’s google maps location and posting it here?
I can quite figure out where this restaurant is located. Thanks!
Maryam,
I’m not sure how to go about “dropping a pin at its google maps location” so I’m afraid I can’t help you out in that department. They really should add a map with their location on the 360 degrees website. I suggest just calling the restaurant and getting clear directions from them. If you read the first paragraph of this post, I did try my best to make it easy for you to find the place. Wish I could do more to help. Sorry. Best of luck finding it!
Hmm, very contrasting views here. I guess i will have to try the teppenyaki and keep away from the main menu. I would hate to go through what some customers experienced. I would never leave a restaurant without dropping in comments and suggestions if my experience was unpleasant. At least let the owners know and they will look into what went wrong. Thanks Andy for your wonderful post! Makes me eager to try it out!
Mystic,
Great advice about letting restaurants know if your experience is unpleasant! Glad you enjoyed the review. Let me know what you think (here on the blog) if you ever try it out!
360 degrees is here to stay and is definitely a tough competition to the best restaurants in town.This place is a delight to visit each time ..have been there 8 times already 🙂
the food and sheesha is so good and the ambience is truly very upmarket.
i rate it as the best restaurant in town..again planning to go their tonight.
Joe,
Well, you sound like you’re sold on the place! Have you always tried the Sheesha place? What about the Teppanyaki? or casual dining area?
hi guys!!
the best place to dine and to be seen at is 360.this place truly rocks.went there last week and saw salsa happening at their hydro lounge .the staff is very friendly and the service and food rocks 🙂
n not to miss the elite crowd of the town is seen dining there too..kudos to the management for perfect marketing of the restaurant and offering something new to their customers each time they walk in..
Hi, Karry,
6 minutes later and from the same IP address as Joe. I’m assuming that you guys are friends and writing from the same computer, right? Benefit of the doubt there as some would think that you might be the same person. 😉 One concern…I really don’t think that you should go to a place “to be seen” though. That certainly isn’t our motivation when we go out dining, nor is it to see “the elite crowd of the town”.
First time I went there and I got disappointed. The price of my meal cost me more than 20OMR. Too much for single person. The food is not even good.
Are you sure we’re talking about the same restaurant?! You’d have to try REAL hard to eat enough to get a 20 rial bill for one person at 360…
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I really enjoyed the fishermans choice…thanks to andy for recommending it!!! the soup that came along with it wasnt much to our liking though…but the salad, main meal and dessert were really nice. Also Chef Allan made the evening so much fun!
Glad you enjoyed, Dee! Chef Alan is a great chef, entertainer and human being!
Greetings Mr. Brown,
Your blog has been really helpful for trying out new restaurants. On your suggestion we tried the 360 degree restaurant and yes, we enjoyed it. Super ambiance and good food. Have you tried the Grand Fish Market restaurant? It is located near the Seeb City Centre. As the name suggests, it is mainly a sea food restaurant. The food is really good and the prices are quite reasonable. Hope you will like it.
Anon,
Nice to hear you enjoyed your evening there. The Grand Fish Market is one of the restaurants on our list of places to visit. Thanks for the recommendation. It’s appreciated!
My experience at 360 was EXCELLENT !!! i had booked the whole patio for a surprise party to celebrate my father’s 70th B.day. I had invited 40 people for the event… The patio looked beautiful with the seating arrangement and dim colorful lights… we opted to have a buffet with starters served on the table… The staff were so lovely and welcomed all my guests with a smile… The food was delicious from the starters to us ending it with some lovely kulfi ice cream… The staff were always around when i needed them and attended to all the guests,,, I am so glad i had picked this place to celebrate my father’s birthday and definitely would recommend 360 to anyone who is looking for somewhere special to host an event…. I would like to pass on a very special thank you to Mr Kishore and Mr. Vikas from 360 who made sure that everything was perfect for us.
Nis-Nisrin,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Happy belated 70th birthday to your father!!!
Hello!
I was in the midst of a very intense search for great places to take my parents to for my mom’s birthday. Had heard quite a bit about 360 and had seen it from the road a few times too. Stumbled across this blog, got pretty scared by some comments but decided to give it a try. SO glad I did. Yeah the service was extremely slow, considering it was pretty empty on a friday night. Ambiance was a nice though for some reason I had higher expectations after reading people raving about it. We had the a la carte, and considering every person in my family is a fuss spot, we had 3 different cuisines at the table! And no one was disappointing. Again, due to reviews, I was very against ordering soup, but my mom did anyway and she enjoyed it. Their Indian food is authentic and delicious. It has definitely not been westernized as so many snazzy restaurants do. I had the lamb sizzler which was nice, but I couldn’t get enough of those mashed potatoes!! Going to be dreaming about those tonight. And it was extremely cheap!!! I was so surprised. 3 people with healthy appetites with their own main courses and a shared starter and all it came to was lower twenties. I will definitely go there again and recommend it to my friends. Also shows, you mustn’t believe the reviews you always read.
Divya,
I agree about the price. We find the prices extremely reasonable for the quality of food they offer! Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts here. I couldn’t agree more with you that “you musn’t believe the reviews you always read”! You gotta go out and try it out for yourself. Of course I hope the reviews I write will be true/helpful for the majority of people, but I also understand that folks simply have different opinions, criteria in reviewing a restaurant and different tastes!
To date the best restaurant I have ever dined at. Fantastic service, fabulous food, great ambiance. I’m running out of words!
Thanks for sharing your experience, chap.
Is a niccccccccccccccc group
I had just my lunch…it was tasty and i like the atmospherics and the place as well
I had an experience at 360 and it was just FABULOUS! And luckily, today I am coming here to celebrate my sisters’s in-laws anniversary! (My Aunt and Uncle!) I am the youngest child, though and I made them a small card.
P.S, can you send us your number? That would be a big help! Thanks
Another happy customer. Their number is 24590398. Sorry for the late reply!
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