Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the service quality in retail banking in the Middle East in general, and Qatar in particular, based on different levels of customers' perception regarding service quality. Design/methodology/approach - This is an analytical study based mainly on the primary data collected through a scientifically developed questionnaire. The questionnaire have been personally administered on a sample size of 120, chosen on a convenient basis from four Qatari banks, i.e. Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, Qatar International Islamic Bank, and Arab Bank. The questionnaire has been designed on the basis of the study of previous scholars such as Berry et al., Parasuraman et al., Zeithaml and Bitner, and Stafford. Findings - The result indicates that customers' perception is highest in the tangibles area and lowest in the competence area. Practical implications - In order to achieving higher levels of quality service in retail banking, banks should deliver higher levels of service quality and in the present context customers' perceptions are highest in the level of infrastructure facilities of the bank, followed by timing of the bank, and return on deposit. Owing to the increasing competition in retail banking, customer service is an important part and bank managers should be rethinking how to improve customer satisfaction with respect to service quality. Originality/value - This paper makes a useful contribution given that there are only a few studies dealing with the assessment of service quality in banking environments.