li beirut - conrad abu dhabi etihad towers

the interior is quite elegant, a bit of a mix of a modern burlesque style with a touch of middle eastern style. with lots of dark red colors.

the ambience a bit stiff, never the less they do have some live music, a guitarist playing the oud/arabic guitar in the back ground. which it’s fairlynicebut a bit depressing as by the choice of songs. oum kalthoum. sure a classic, classical music. but yet not what pulls up your mood on a friday night. would have been nicer with something “a notch” more lively.
or so i would have expected at a lebanese restaurant.

food was good, verynicestarters and main courses. but nothing over average. on the other hand the presentation of the dishes was fabulous. one can definitely see the attention in to detail and creativity of the chef. absolutely stunning!!!

service... what can i say?!? .... unfortunately very lousy. no initiative to ask one what we would like to drink wile waiting for others to join our table. not before neither after. not either was there a presentation given to the dishes wile serving them. in my opinion that’s a must specially when there is so many different mezze arriving, (kind of wanna know what i am eating).
never the less... wile asking, them-self didn’t seem to know what they were giving us. on one specific dish some one did ask the waiter if it was a slice of truffle decorating the plate. the answer was: yes, sure! no!
i feel that the staff should be more trained on their menu, and if they do doubt....a sincere answer would have been much more appreciated. he did not even bother to double check with the kitchen and comeback to us.

furthermore around 22:45 the waitresses started pulling up plates, cutlery and linens right behind us for our tables next serving. and switching on bright lights at 23:15. the massage was pretty clear!
is it check o’clock?!?!

what can i say... all in all we had a good time and every one was happy. but question is?!? would i go back?! i don’t think so. would i recommend it?! not really. atmosphere plays a big roll, and certainly do service too. it all has to kind of blend in together. no matter how beautiful the plates were, or good the food. it all should go hand in hand.

update: maybe it was just an off day, but my favorite lebanese restaurant was sub par. the meat was ok and the service was ok. not the wow experience i had on my previous 3 visits. hope it was just a one off bad day.
why this place isn't rated higher is a real surprise to me. the service was very attentive, polite, helpful and welcoming.
the food was off the charts. all our starters were good and they were a real treat for our friends from out of town as they really got to sample a few arabic dishes.
the traditional arabic main courses were like i have never had before. the most succulent kebabs and another dish of thinly sliced grilled beef. my favorite was the grilled lamb cubes.
we also had the grilled sea bass from the chef's special selection. this was lovely as well but had a very european flare to it and was not very arabic.
the ambience was lovely with aniceview over the pool and beach.
lovely evening will be back soon.

i visited li beirut during ramadan and tried their iftar set menu. the setup and decoration is verynicebut i think that it doesn't go well with the lebanese style, even the cutleries. the food was average nothing special but very generous in terms of varieties and quantities. i think the place lacks the lebanese cooking touch in terms of taste and spices. the manager was very friendly and understanding when we complained about the turkish coffee, he instantaneously fixed it and served us sweets on the house.

a good and high quality restaurant with anicelocation and view. the food quality is superb. i always like it to spend time and to relax with aniceturkish coffee.

a good qulity food (yet not unique) and a veryniceambiance (that u may pay for it) specially at dinner times during the week because of the quietness.

authentic lebanese food found at this restaurant which was very delicious. i preordered mg food before coming and once i reached i have noticed they arranged for me anicetable with a sea view and few minutes later the food began coming. there hummus beyrouty was so good its done the real lebanese way. will come here again and enjoy it for dinner. would beniceif the added shisha more people will come .

best lebanese food in abu dhabi! maybe in the whole uae. char grilled chicken is very tasty and tender. ummali is the perfect dessert, nutty and creamy and not overly sweet. fatouche salad is very tasty. hummusniceand flavorful. superb service! ????