WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT Joe’s Café was for dinner out this week with some guests of ours!! Myself and Mrs BTR were not impressed and this was probably our worst dining experience at Dubai Mall….and also within the whole of Dubai so far . This is such a shame, due the amazing location and view of Dubai Fountains it provides when eating outside.
Where to start…….well, your not able to book a table (which is fine, and the same as many other restaurants including Social House on the ground floor) but when arriving the female member of staff just asked us to sit at a table and wait as we wanted a table outside, but she didn’t take our name and we were concerned that there wasn’t really any system in place to ensure the fairness of table allocation for people waiting. This seemed like chaos and potentially could lead to upset if one party is wrongly allocated a table before another. In addition to this unfortunately the female member of staff did not produce a smile at any point of the conversation.
Whilst waiting for a table it took a few minutes for a menu to arrive to order a drink, when it did we were only given one menu and then a few more minutes until a waiter took our orders. Shortly after we were lead outside and given a lovely table on the balcony overlooking the fountains – one of only 2 positives for Joe’s Café.
Did we order drinks?.......oh yes, we did – but even though we had ordered them inside and waited, we then had a good 8-10 minutes until they arrived to our table. Regular readers will know…..I LOVE a good milkshake, but do not waste your money or tummy space on a milkshake at Joe’s – quite thin, and not a great size.
The other positive from dinner at Joe’s Café was the starter of Calamari – having experienced some very good calamari in Marbella and often opting for this as a starter, I was impressed. The batter was light, the calamari was fresh and was a very good portion size. This was however the only highlight of the meal for Mrs BTR and I at Joe’s.
Had it been up to me I would have taken our guests to Social House, but Mrs BTR insisted on trying something new…..so I begrudgingly agreed on this occasion. Well, one reason for my love for Social House is the lovely burger that I often have there, and the burger I had Joe’s was probably ONE OF THE WORST I have had since living in Dubai – such a shame. Mrs BTR ordered a Risotto dish that she was not keen on – a strange mix of tomato and creaminess.
Burger Connoisseur – The burger was not very well sized, quite small, and also over cooked. It was quite dry, definitely not as juicy as a burger should be or as good meat as the burger Social House provide.
So…..overall, I would definitely not recommend Joe’s Café to residents or tourists of Dubai as the food and service is far better in other establishments. The food is not cheap, and certainly overpriced for the quality and taste that it provides. The only two positives Joe’s provided Mrs BTR and I was the calamari and a great new view of the Dubai fountains that we had not previously experienced.