I’ll keep it short and simple: the main reason why I decided to write this article is because this is the question I’ve been asking myself every single day while in Dubai. This city has a lot to offer and for sure you’ll find an endless list of different restaurants. But, not every place is worth visiting. So, if you’re wondering where to have dinner in Dubai, check out these recommendations!
Amazonico Dubai
Those who have followed my Dubai stories on Instagram know that I’ve visited this place 2 days in a row – once for lunch and other time for dinner. Vibe of this place is completely different depending of the time of the day you visit it. However, the fact I’ve been there twice during an 8-day trip speaks for itself.
It’s a modern type of Latin American cuisine, with perfectly mixed flavours and great variety of different food. Besides the interior that got my attention, menu is also something I was absolutely drawn to. From patacones, ceviche and guacamole to arroz con mariscos, asado de tira and picanha, this restaurant is offering all of my favorite food and tastes. For sure it doesn’t happen every day that you find a Latino restaurant, where the food is almost as good as it is in Latin America.
During the lunch time, you can choose between the lunch menu (which is in almost every case most affordable option) or a la carte menu, while during the dinner, there’s only a la carte menu available. Selection of cocktails, virgin cocktails and other drinks is wide enough and what I also really liked is the music.
During the night, this place is vibrating so high! Music is really loud, so if your plans are to have a quiet dinner in a nice restaurant – you should skip Amazonico. They often have live performances along with the DJ, it’s always crowded and this place is a great choice if you wanna have a real hedonistic night. Interior will give you a feeling like you’re in the middle of the jungle, and dimmed lights will wake up the sensuality. For sure this was my favorite place to have a dinner in Dubai.
Typical dinner, which includes starters to share and a main dish, followed with cocktails will cost around 120 EUR – 150 EUR per person. It’s definitely not the cheapest place to be, but you’ll for sure get out from Amazonico Dubai with the smile on your face.
TIP: If you want to make a reservation for the dinner (during the regular dinner hours) you should do so at least 2 days in advance by calling the restaurant. Online booking doesn’t offer many options which can and usually are available while making a reservation over the phone. On top of that, even if the hostess offers time different from what you asked for (which is usually starting from 11pm onwards), make sure you point out what your desired dinner time is.
You can check their menu here: https://amazonicorestaurant.com/dubai/#menus
Al Khaima
I was never a fan of restaurants that are part of the hotels or resorts. However, my opinion started changing a while ago when I moved to Malta. It often happens that within the hotel or resort you have a great choice of restaurants, which was the case with Al Khaima restaurant.
Al Khaima is a part of Le Royale Meridien resort in the Dubai Marina area and we accidentally found it while searching for Lebanese food. As a big fan of Middle Eastern food, I was sure Dubai will offer the premium quality when it comes to their national cuisine. As usual, we checked the Google reviews and decided to give it a try. First thing I liked was the place itself – on the sea, surrounded by greenery, stylish yet casual open-air restaurant. It is a typical Middle Eastern place, with shisha smell everywhere and Arabic music. When you end up in a place like this, you know that amazing food is inevitable.
As we were party of 4 people, we ordered lots of starters to share. We started with Labneh with garlic, fattuosh, babaghanoush, tabuleh and of course, hommous, falafel and some halloumi. I’m telling you know, if you’re planning to have a main course, DO NOT order this much food. Portions are big and even though it was 4 of us, we were already full before the main dish arrived. They also serve alcohol and you have a variety of wine to choose.
Luckily, they don’t start making main course dishes until you finish with your starters, so I was able to cancel my previously ordered fillet of seabass. Just as a comparison, the fillet of seabass in Amazonico will cost you 270 AED, while in Al Khaima you can get it for 120 AED. We enjoyed every single bite at Al Khaima and overall experience might be one of the most pleasant we had in Dubai.
You can check their menu here: https://www.alkhaima-dubai.com/our-menus
Tulum
Even though Tulum was our choice for lunch, I strongly suggest you to make a dinner reservation (and a bit up front.) Tulum is a restaurant with stunning interior and you’d be impressed by details, that are carefully chosen to match the real Mexican vibe. On top of that, their terrace overlooks directly to the fountain in front of Burj Kalifa, so starting from 6pm when the fountain show starts, you can enjoy unique views.
As you can assume by the name of the place, it’s a Mexican restaurant, with variety of high quality food. As we were visiting the place during the day, we chose the lunch menu. It was including a started, main course and a dessert, while portions were satisfying for an adult person. I was going for grilled vegetables as a starter and grilled octopus for main course, which was a portion big enough to share. Food was just delicious but the thing I didn’t like is that we couldn’t chose the dessert. We had to go with the exotic fruit sorbet.
It might be a bit tricky to find this place at first. You have to enter the mall as you’re going to visit the Burj Kalifa. However, in the mall you’ll find the elevator that will take you to the 2nd floor. From there, you use the escalator to reach out to the 4th floor. As for the most of the places for dinner in Dubai, reservation is needed.
What I’d say is a down side of this place is the service. They were super slow with preparing food during the lunch time and also, waiters don’t speak English very well. Usually I wouldn’t mind the lack of English language, but for a place that’s presented as a top-notch place in Dubai, this is not acceptable.
You can check their menu here: https://tulum.ae/menus/
L’antica pizzeria by Michele
Even though I like going to restaurants and discovering new places, sometimes during traveling I get tired of getting all fancy and visiting trendy places. Well, one night I was craving real Italian pizza and luckily, I know an expert when it comes to finding authentic pizza places.
I always go with the same options when it comes to pizza – it’s either Margherita or Norma. You know what Italians say, you’ll know if the place is good by the way they prepare their Margherita. What was my first and the best impression is that pizza arrived after 3 minutes – like it’s supposed to be! I couldn’t eat the whole thing, even though I hoped I will, but it was a really, really great pizza.
Interesting fact about this place is that L’antica pizzeria by Michele is one of the most famous and oldest pizzerias in Naples. And we all know pizza in Naples is the real one and incomparable with the others in the world. So, we were really lucky to have a taste of Naples in Dubai.
In my mind, pizza always goes with beer. However, this place doesn’t serve alcohol, which might be a bit of a cons for me. But honestly, once you start eating that pizza, you forget about any liquids. Even though it was a dinner time, I wasn’t able to reach the restaurant, so we just walked in there, hoping we’ll find a spot for dinner. Overall impression is great. It was short, but tasty and proper Italian dinner in Dubai.
You don’t need to check the menu for the real Naples pizza. Just go!
99 sushi bar & restaurant
Let me start by saying that I’m not sure this is the best sushi place in Dubai, but it was the best option we could find for dinner in Dubai downtown. I was trying to reach out to several sushi places in Dubai Marina, but without luck. If one thing I’ve learned about Dubai is that you have to make reservations for everything in advance. Today for tonight type of booking here just doesn’t work.
This restaurant has a direct view to Burj Kalifa and thanks to the nicely decorated terrace, it feels a bit hidden from the crowded downtown area. They have a great interior, as well as exterior and the service was wonderful. I had my doubts about it, since restaurants in the busy touristic areas are usually lower quality and higher prices. But in Dubai, that’s not the case. It seems that restaurants know they have to keep the quality on the highest level, or otherwise they’ll be beaten by the competition.
Here we had several sushi platters to share, with edamame and wakame salad as unavoidable starters. They also have a good selection of Italian and Chilean wines. I believe the combination of all factors – food, drinks, company, service and the view makes this place as worth trying. I’d say this can be the “safe” choice in case you’re in downtown Dubai and you can’t make the booking for the desired spot.
You can check their menu here: https://www.99sushibar.com/en/food/
Even though I mentioned only 5 places in this article, I hope I saved you at least 2 nights of searching for places for dinner in Dubai. Regardless, if you decide to skip them all and go by your own list – please share the experience you had with me! Keep in mind there are many amazing restaurants to visit, such as – Bagatelle, Zuma, Ce La Vie etc, but one visit isn’t enough to check them all out. This was the first time I visited Dubai, but for sure won’t be the last. Everyone deserve at least a yearly dose of hedonism that only Dubai can provide you with.
