MATTO Italian Restaurant

Music drinks and shisha

This place is permanently closed sadly

Our first visit to Matto in the Oberoi had been a couple of years ago and it was pleasant enough to justify a second one (mid November 2020) because we happened to be in the vicinity and wanted to eat Italian food.

The valet service of the hotel had been withdrawn because of Covid. (Please note that all other hotels with the 5* marking continue to offer it albeit with the requisite precautions).

Straight off we noticed an air of dullness and neglect in the hotel: the elevator which we were forced to take from where we parked our car smelt of sweat and hair oil; the windows of the lobby were covered with dust and had clearly not been cleaned for weeks). Shocking because the Oberoi is a big brand and generally associated with the highest standards.

The restaurant itself- MATTO- had a lurid red lighting which coupled with the hour (lunchtime) made it appear most unattractive. It was empty save for one table occupied by (clearly European) tourists. The maitre’d had no wish to engage with us, offer suggestions, ask us for our order or even smile at us. His primary focus was on the Europeans, possibly in the hope of a big tip which he didn’t expect us to match. He kept sending another guy (not a proper waiter because he deferred all our enquiries to the maitre’d) to our table.

The food when it arrived was ridiculous in portion size in relation to the prices. The taste was good enough but nothing exceptional to warrant the absurd pricing. The wine was good.

We were displeased enough to tweet about it which resulted in a response from the Head Office of the Oberoi. The General Manager (or so he claimed) of the Dubai Oberoi called us a couple days later full of insincere but polite platitudes and assurances. We let it go. We ain’t going back there again.

Great Monday night brunch! Pizza and wine were fabulous.

Omg its amazing