A restaurant entirely made of wood, too much wood looking like a cheap canteen, Karaz is a new Lebanese restaurant open in Muscat for the last two months or so. I didn’t feel the concept at first, too much wood, red and green colors like a Mexican fast food joint, two black screens, and a black ceiling. A menu printed on cheap carton like a street diner and a menu that has nothing including “cherries” which is Karaz in Arabic. When a place is named “Karaz,” at least have cherries in some of the food plates. And the experience continues... I’m sure this place will close soon!
Not a single Lebanese waiter, no description or story of the concept, no slogan for the restaurant, the Arabic language, and Lebanese music are the only things that will make you believe it’s Lebanese.
No tea! No sparkling water! Nothing with cherries! OMG! This concept is a failure before it even opened.
On the menu, find a selection of Sandwiches, snacks, Shawarma, barbecue written -barbeque-, hot mezze, appetizers, and soups. An international and complicated menu I didn’t understand: “a mixed sandwich”, -a premiere for me-, a sandwich where you mix your own ingredients but yet, the waiter doesn’t know which ones.
Wait, there is more: “Laban Ayran” is considered a soft drink. The menu is loaded with mistakes written by someone who probably never visited Lebanon. Pepsi is served without a glass and no ice: drink it from the can. No tea! Come on! It only needs hot water. On google maps, find Karaz, a Lebanese restaurant with an “A”. Nothing is right, absolutely nothing.
White plates, cutlery wrapped in napkins; we were ready to eat.
So I ask: “do you put garlic in the hummus”, no sir! The waiter insisted. And then I received a hard textured hummus loaded with garlic; it’s so hard it feels like feta cheese. The moutabbal is old and acidic. Lebanese bread has been baked two days ago leaving it hard and chewy.
The “wara2 3enab” is undercooked, left in the fridge, unpleasantly cold with end notes of bitter acidity. The stuffed grapevine leaves need two more hours of cooking.
Tabbouleh is better be called “the onions salad”, more onions than parsley and the parsley is too hard for a salad.
The mixed grill has a burning smell with unpleasant aromas of spices: Super hard meat! Over cooked chewy kafta that feels like gum!
Order the fried potato cubes and feel the most undercooked and oily potatoes you can ever taste oil, pure oil, hidden inside black cubes of potatoes.
At that moment I hoped there was an international committee that will forbid people to use “Lebanon” for their own business purposes without minimal standards. The “Lebanese” cuisine is one of the world’s greatest; it cannot, and should never be handled this way.
What a shame, a shame for the Lebanese culture! I left so pissed after discovering how Lebanese food is dealt with. A real shame! $33 is way too expensive for this low quality.
