Holiday Inn Al Khobar

I don’t think I’ve ever had a buffet as terrible as the one at Holiday Inn. I can’t even explain how bad it was! We were a group of 20+ people that attended for a special occasion and the least we can expect is a decent standard of food. Collectively, we paid thousands of riyals for the buffet alone and I regret our choice of what we thought was fine dining. Every single dish was cold and not cooked properly. The meat was stale and also cold, the vegetables were dry, the steamed veggies were a disgrace, pasta was also uncooked, salad was poor, desert was horrible. The whole buffet was unbelievably tasteless. An apology from the management is not enough! We should have gone to KFC instead.

A Farewell Fiasco: Disastrous Buffet at Holiday Inn Hotel, Khobar 26 July 2023. Some backgroun: This was supposed to be a farewell leaving do and we chose Holiday Inn Hotel, Khobar. A well respected and renowned establishment. A colleague called in advance to make arrangements for a buffet lunch for 20 people. And the story begins... Our eagerly anticipated farewell leaving do took a shocking turn when we selected Holiday Inn Hotel in Khobar as our venue. A reputed establishment, we had high hopes for a delightful buffet lunch for our party of 20. However, the reality was anything but pleasant. Initially, the hotel appeared clean, classy, and welcoming. The buffet section, from afar, seemed to promise a tantalizing array of dishes. But upon closer inspection, our excitement turned to dismay. The food on offer was far from appealing; in fact, it was downright disappointing. It was evident that the hotel had not adequately prepared for a party of our size, leaving us with scanty portions and limited choices. Just as Gordan Ramsey is often asghasted and appalled in his TV shows, we quickly realised that the food on offer was less than appealing. To be blunt, it was sh*t. There was not enough food to go around. Clearly they did not prepare for a party of 20 men. The meat, chicken and fish dishes were lacking. Lacking severally. 1 measly chicken dish, one so called meat in okra and there was a half decent fish dish. The chicken dish was on diet. A few pieces of boiled chicken stuffed with spinach and paddling in a shallow sauce that was supposed to be English gravy. A fusion of Frech and English gone terribly wrong. A needless to say, it was not sufficient to go around an army of 20 men, all hungry and prepared for lunch. The meat in okra was comical. That's putting it lightly, pun intended as the meat was so scarce that we all thought it was a simple, but strange, okra curry. The fish was OK. Can't lie. There was a corner where pasta was supposed to be prepared in sauce. Great idea... but no one saw a cook until towards the end. Maybe he was on lunch break. The salad section was ample. Perhaps they thought we were vegetarians, or perhaps they were cutting costs. There was an "Indian" corner. Tucked away in the depths of Kerela that no one knew it was there. Some of the party members ventured out and found it. Nothing special, just a dead beat "curry". And I stated "curry" as there were some South Asians in our group who confirmed that murky looking porridge in Indian spices, was definitely not a curry. As for the desserts... below average and of poor quality. Definitely mass produced in a factory in China and shipped to the restaurant for mass distribution. Oh yes, the soup... vermicelli in chicken. Never heard of it and to be honest never saw the chicken either! It was a watery concuction consisting of some tiny cube shaped boiled chicken and an extremely thin pasta which they called vermicelli. On the brighter side, it brought back memories of when I was 12 years old and we did cooking classes at school. I'm sure you know how those cooking classes dishes turned out! Hahaha! Jokes aside, the overall experience was appalling and humiliating. This was supposed to be a leaving do for a colleague. We chose Holiday Inn as we had high expectations that a hotel chain of its stature and repute would deliver. Unfortunately, it didn't. Would I recommend this place? NEVER. The buffet is whack. A poor choice of word befitting to a poor dinning experience.

This is a very bad experience in the open buffet first we take a coupons from someone his name is thomas and he said that on Mondays they serving a seafood and when we came the guy there says that its written in the CATALOGUE by mistake , second the food there its very very bad taste and its so uneatable after we eat it we go to the toilet we are 8 person and each of us going to toilet and there was no compensation for they mistake simply they said its mistake thats it ?!!! About the waiters they are so friendly i like them , btw iam not recommended this place at all if there is less than one star i will but it . Thanks

The buffet was really poor in taste and quality. It was my first time trying their buffet. I'm not sure if it was about that day, but it was very disappointing.

Thieves and arrogant people working at the administration, we paid 185 riyals for Ramadan Iftar , the moment we left , we saw everyone else paid 135 , even confrontation and calling the manager did not work with them. This hotel should not take more than 1 star.