This is a quick update to my original review posted some eight months ago:
Food quality has most definitely deteriorated, our mandi lamb was dry as a bone, and the rice was like the rice you’re given when you’re sick; no salt, no oil, no spice,…no taste.
Like the last time I visited, my friends and I sat upstairs, past the fully enclosed, floor seating cubicles, beside the window looking on to Sheikh Zayed Road and the Dubai Mall Metro Station. The first thing we noticed (shocked over actually) was the number of flies. Well, if nothing else, they did make our meal more animated. But on a more serious note, this really is something the restaurant needs to address – urgently.
Service was the other disappointment. Either their cute little buzzer system (see picture) doesn’t work, or there’s a major time delay in response. Irrespective, we had to wait for an age to be served, and for food to be brought to our table.
And my last gripe is that we now have to pay for extra/spicy salsa, AED2 for the normal, and AED3 for the green, super spicy one.
That’s just plain and simple greed – shame on you, Bait Al Mandi. Thankfully, there are so many mandi restaurants opening all over town, not least Tibba in Business Bay. And then of course, there’s my all-time favourite mandi restaurant – Maraheb, just two minutes up Sheikh Zayed Road.
This is my original review, posted on Zomato around eight months ago (when the branch originally opened). I gave it a rating of 3.5 at the time. I am now knocking a half point off and giving it a 3.0:
This branch of Bait Al Mandi is one of its newest. Located near the old Porsche showroom, near the Dubai Mall Metro Station on Abu Dhabi-bound side of Sheikh Zayed Road, the restaurant is a two-story affair, the upstairs offering floor seating cubicles in addition to a table/chair arrangement. The franchise is obviously using the opportunity to spruce up its image (much needed) starting with its all-new, super glossy, laminated menu. You can now also order a wide range of kebabs and fried fish, something I don’t understand. Why would someone order anything but mandi at a mandi restaurant? Although the franchise probably uses a common kitchen, I’ve found the quality and taste to be quite inconsistent from branch to branch, International City easily being the worst of the lot, and Al Muraqqabat the best. The mandi and madfoon at this new branch, however, were spot on. The rice was fluffy and flavoursome without being overpowered by spices. And the meat, especially the madfoon; soft, tender, juicy. Service was friendly and fast. Worth a visit.
Waste NOT. Want NOT.
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