HABRA — Restaurant in Al Maathar Municipality

Habra Beef Canteen, 29-Jul-23, Lunch

Finally, success! Well, almost…Habra is a chain started by an Arabic chef, and the Riyadh branch opened in 2022. Habra was nearly an absolute gem, until their double faux pas—they didn’t cook the steak properly—twice. First fail was medium well instead of medium rare, second fail was rare instead of medium rare. Despite the cooking fail, everything else ticked all the boxes. Décor is awesome with all elements integrated, with modern, but comfy, interior furnishings. The look was industrial meets Latin America, with dried chilis hanging and mortar/pestle bowls full of avocados and red/green jalapeños. Staff is dressed in rolled jeans and gingham plaid shirts (🤷‍♂️). The restaurant had a great vibe, and it was packed with patrons by 3pm (we ate at 2). Music decibels was appropriate for normal conversation, and the food was tasty, especially dessert.

I only rated 3 stars though—-would have been 4 stars if the steaks had been cooked properly (see below).

Meat/Price: Australian angus ribeye, 195 SAR for 450g. That’s a great value on a SAR per gram basis. This was by far the best steak I ate in Riyadh. Mine was succulent and flavorful, and had some great fat content—unlike the leanest ribeye ever (fake ribeye?) that Porterhouse served me the night before. However, it, like its’ cousins at the other steakhouses visited, wasn’t seasoned prior to cooking—that was a maddeningly consistent aspect of the Riyadh steak experience. And its serving temp wasn’t as high as I would have liked. But overall, this is a place I’d recommend to people for the steak, which I couldn’t say about the other places.

Misc: No cloth napkins… Complimentary fresh-baked sourdough , but very earthy in flavor—could be off putting for some. It was served with a strange tarragon/cocoa butter, and a large dollop at that. Slow and inattentive service staff at the beginning, but once they...

From prior visitors word of mouth, I was really excited to try this place, however my excitement were met w/ disappointment. The booking process is very messy (in a mind-blowing way). They have a link through the website, in a second, it will tell you have 17 tables in front of your and literally 5 five minutes later (which is not typical when you assume you have 17 tables in front of you) your table is ready, and if you don’t come within 7 minutes, your name will be removed and you have to book again. So don’t bother booking in advance, cause you will have to register again. We arrived and had to wait again, no issue. We waited, ofcourse the waiting area has limited seatings, and we were standing, the female receptionist was any thing but professional, I had to chase her around to register my name, no one was at the desk! And then she came to me telling you can’t stand, you have to set because you are annoying seated tables? Please excuse me, but your restaurant isn’t occupied w/ an accommodating waiting area as it’s small and your booking system is a mess. We finally got seated, however, I didn’t like the experience we had with our waiter, not knowing the contents of the complimentary butter we were served, not knowing the menu! She couldn’t give us proper recommendations, first time in a restaurant I had a waiter come back to the table to make sure she got the right order, because she didn’t memorize the orders and was confused between them. However, when the food arrived, to be fair it was delicious. Unfortunately, the experience leading to the food, compromised our satisfaction. This review is only intended as a constructive...

Ok how do I start I will evaluate first the general atmosphere was good, the lighting is excellent, the service is very good and fast, the staff is very cooperative and understanding and fast Now I will evaluate the food, absolutely unexpected, the taste is very ordinary and less than ordinary, the steak dishes, wagyu, tacos were cold and their presentation was less than ordinary, the amount of tacos makes the dish on the appetizer list and not the main dishes, the stone plates are very heavy and difficult to move and although they are stone and are supposed to be hot they were very cold, the meat was served without any side sauces,and was cold, perhaps the most distinctive thing was the kale salad, it must be said that it was delicious

The desserts are, to say the least, bad and nothing special, the signature sweet dish is less than ordinary . I think the Lotus biscuits were crushed on top of a regular piece of ice cream and the caramelized apples were hard and the degree of caramelization was not right. Overall, the desserts were not successful at all.and doesn't worth it.

Now let's evaluate the price, taking into consideration the general atmosphere and service despite the washing room was on 2nd floor . The price is good to exaggeratedly expensive for the meat compared to the quality , taste and the heat of the dish. Generally fine for one time experiment to average. I really hope it...