Opal by Gordon Ramsay

Everything about Opal by Gordon Ramsay is honestly amazing. I went there once and I was lucky to meet Gordon Ramsay in person. Both the food and the atmosphere were wonderful. It was an experience I will definitely live again.

The food is always delicious at Gordon Ramsay's Opal restaurant in St Regis Doha, especially the pizza station which serves fab wood-fired pizzas. The soft drinks such as the virgin cocktails are nice but a little on the expensive side, if it was cheaper I'd order more.

I like this place because of its informal style, nice food, the possiibltiy of fine dining in a casual atmosphere, and because some of the waiters are truly excellent. There is an African waiter who I tipped well because I found the service he provided to be truly beyond expecations; his knowledge and attention to detail was perfect. Giles the Michelin star chef is also very talented and a great personaltiy for a restaurant in Qatar! I like the tasty seafood starters that can be shared nicely between friends.

When it is cool enough to sit outside, it's well worth it because the views of Doha and the Pearl Qatar are great. There is a bbq party at Opal on Thursdays and Fridays with a dj, and I'm looking forward to trying it. Starwood card holders also get 10% of the bill at St Regis in Doha.

While I would usually recommend this place, the last time I went this week I had truly terrible service from start to finish. The staff did not seem to be the usual ones and were completely confused with everything, they left us irritated and we didn't even leave a tip. They started by not giving us either the drinks menu or enough menus, so that some people did not know what to order when asked for both drinks and food. It took several attemtps for them to provide enough menus. The orders was completely confusing, one reason was because the waiter kept asking us what we wanted even after ordering, then when things came he left us worried because he was never certain if the correct number of drinks or food would arrive, and was not confident that somebody would get their meal on time. The food was all brought out separately and of course everybody was worried that they would not get the correct meal.

One of our customers got a meal with ingredients that they'd specifically said they were allergic to. We were worried and annoyed the whole meal, and one customer said she would write in to complain. We asked at the start for a different table, and the waiter had to check with his supervisor that this would be permissable, even though none of the tables were reserved and there were almost no customers except for us.

The overall service seemed like a mess because of a lack of understanding, seemingly broken down communication between staff, an inability of lower level waiters to take command of a decision, and poor attention to detail. I must stress this is not the usual service I get here, but in the words of Gordon Ramsay, "damn - what a shame". Unfortunately many things he criticises other restaurants for happen at his own restaurant, but this place is still way better than Gordon Ramsay's previous Maze restaurant on the Pearl Qatar which shut down.

love this place. i love their proawn starter with lime or something andthe pizzas are great- i had a greek one with feta cheese on it a few months ago and it was one of the best ive ever had! its reasonably priced as well you dont go away feeling you been robbed like you do at a lot of -places in doha!