co durham boy

Same pint in the Sheraton is 48QAR...

There's not one good decent bar in this town .

OleJanx

Never said it was a decent place to drink, just cheap...(ish)

P18PPS

7 pounds for a pint in Auckland... so not too different?

britexpat76

Sports bar has a happy hour QR25 a pint.......

MrBAH

Are there no decent bars/restaurants? As a family man I rarely go out other than on work-related "piss-ups", otherwise known as business development.

Is it therefore the case that Doha is so dull that the only places to drink or eat are glorified tacky wedding function rooms? Surely the 5* hotels have some appeal?

britexpat76

I think its hard to describe decent as everyone has differing taste but I think there are some good bars. Wahm in the W hotel is a very chic trendy place with a good M - F ratio owing to a door policy, But I also like the Irish Harp which is a doss hole but always fun. Food wise Ipanema is amazing (brazilian meat overload) in the Marriott as is the steak house.

This friday we spent the day in the Rotana, average lunch and a relaxed night on a terrace drinking cocktails from the Jazz bar..............It isn't all that bad.

mrblast

There are quite a few decent bars here and a lot of very good restaurants. People saying otherwise are just venting.

co durham boy

There's some very good restaurants .

All the bars are shit

Vent over

MrBAH

And what are the bars like - decent or otherwise - in terms of atmosphere, etc? I read somewhere that some places have M and F separation (entrances and entry policy) which sounds a but lame? Or are the bars just like anywhere else?

britexpat76

The bars are the same as anywhere else in the Middle East, though not as tacky as some of the dubai ones and with less eijits buying bottles of vodka trying to get into the pants of trolley dolly's. There are only a few bars that will only allow you in with women, mainly to avoid the usual sausage fest but certainly not separate entrances etc.

I've not had a bad night out yet, but it is just crazy expensive.

co durham boy

There's no bar culture here as you'd expect so they struggle with the concept of creating an atmosphere . Anything middle of the road that caters for the masses and is of decent quality is very hard to come by .

There's some very high end places and more coming on stream but what they fail to understand is the clientele don't always want high end .

Pre-booking a table with a bottle of Grey Goose vodka and a minimum spend is not most peoples idea of a normal night out at a bar and most of the lower end places are rubbish , no concept , no thought and no execution , a bit like Qatar in general plus they're usually inhabited by pissed up locals getting bladdered on the top shelf then smashing into all of the cars in the car park afterwards .

The reasoning for all of this is that Qatar does not want to create a mini-Dubai and will try at all costs to create only high end entertainment.

On the plus side it has improved an awful lot over the last 2 years and will only improve when more choice comes online . I've had loads of great nights out here but none of them has been down to the 'Bar' , all of them down to the company you're with .

The W Hotel is the best hotel in Qatar by a mile for a bit of R&R

britexpat76

Totally agree with that, the uber high end places (Four seasons especially) I found really shite, soulless and boring. W is the best and a great outdoor smoking area.

MrBAH

Sorry to keep asking questions on here.... I'll be with a young family and to be honest, a lot of the villas around 12-18k look average and architecturally repetitive, which would drive me insane. Would a large apartment on The Pearl be appropriate and is that reasonably accessible to most places? My concern is that if we were to live "on the pearl", would we be effectively cut-off from other parts of the city due to traffic, etc? And is that a decent place for kids? My budget could go up to about 22-25k per month.

MrBurbo

Hi all,

Im in the early stages of a recruitment process for a job in Doha. The package is ok:
10,000 USD per month + short/medium term bonus + relocation, schooling for children, annual flights to home country etc.

We dont have any kids so its just two of us. Now there's lots of negative comments on here so im guessing the response will be the same, however wheres the best place to meet new people have a decent social life without breaking the bank. I can take or leave this job, but I suppose it has the potential to help me save some cash.......any advice would be great. Thanks

Sue

Hi,

I'm not in the ME so don't want to take this thread off topic, but just wanted to stop by and say hi and welcome you to BE. Hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Ok I'll disappear now .... as you were