Lo Spaghetto - Doha - Restaurant review

Al Sadd, Doha, Qatar

Map Location

7th July 2012 at 19:30

Parked on a corner location, this small yet busy italian restaurant has a lot to offer. As usual, parking is not easy to find (common in Doha), yet upon entry into Lo Spaghetto, there is a hint of an italian village lurking in the background and the voice of one italian head chef who is repeating orders in English followed by a sentence in italian; the added sparkle! At the forefront of the kitchen is yet another italian pizza maker with a massive oven. I can already smell pasta and pizza in the air.

There was only one table free which is always a good sign. The menu selection was extremely comprehensive and titled in both Italian and English. It ranged from many vegetarian options, meat options, salads, pastas and pizzas. They also discreetly outline in their menu that their homemade pasta is for sale. The pasta options included Spaghetti, Linguine, Fettucini, Tagliatelle, Ravioli, Pappardelle and all homemade. I chose to go for the pizza and a Caprese salad. For those lovers of pineapple on pizza, you will not find it here. This is a truly italian pizza menu. The pizzas are all made fresh in front of you and the pizza chef likes to demonstrate his pizza dough flipping abilities.

What gave it a quirky ambience was the multi-cultural staff. They ranged from Filipino, Indian and Chinese; a fully integrated and diverse working environment. Some of the waiting staff need to turn up the volume on smiling a little versus a blank face. Some training in terms of probing questions should also be on the menu for their serving staff. Without looking at the menu, I asked the waitress if they had lemon mint drink, she replied "no." What I was expecting was, "Were you after something fresh? We do have a range of drinks, here's the options, is there something from interest on this list?"  Anyway, there's always an opportunity for development.

The food did not disappoint. The Caprese salad was very fresh. The buffalo mozzarella was just perfect and the tomatoes at least were in good shape. We asked for some balsamic glaze and clearly this was also homemade. It was missing some of the potential additives that can be found in the supermarket types. The pizza soon followed and it was very italian. It reminded me of the pizzas I'd eaten when visiting Italy. The base was very thin, crisp and topped with simple basic ingredients. I had a Pizza Romana which included: aubergine (egg plant),  fresh tomato, mozzarella. It was light, crisp and equally tasty. My fellow diner had the fresh Ravioli and I gathered they were good when there was no conversation coming out from his mouth for the duration of the meal. There was the occasional moan of "yum" sound coming through. I did have confirmation that they were in fact delicious.

For those three dishes, plus a plain bottle of water, the bill came to QAR 188, or approx $51 USD. This is actually very expensive when you consider the cost of pizza dough. For this price I expect way better service, even though the food was good. Price must equal quality all round. Not so good service also means that my likelihood to return may not be as often.

Overall rating: 7/10. Get the service to match the price you charge and this will increase.