Al Liwan

Al Liwan is the all-day buffet at Marjan Island Resort & Spa - a functional, family-friendly restaurant handling breakfast, lunch and dinner with live cooking stations and a calmer pace than the larger resort buffets further down the island. Big windows open onto the pool deck and the Arabian Gulf, making daytime meals particularly pleasant. The menu rotates through themed evenings - Arabic, Asian, Mediterranean, international - and holds a reliable breakfast spread that regulars note as well-replenished. Selection is moderate rather than vast; it's not designed to match the mega-buffets at the larger resorts, but the quality of the cooking makes up for the narrower choice. Vegetarian and spicy Indian options are consistently praised, and the kitchen accommodates guests who like their food properly seasoned. The defining feature is the front-of-house team. A small, warm, genuinely hospitable group of servers is named repeatedly in return feedback, looking after families and couples through multi-night stays with real care. It's pitched at better value than most of the island's hotel restaurants, which makes it a sensible option for longer stays where the cost of full-resort dining adds up. Go for a relaxed, straightforward meal - not a showpiece one.