This guide to the best restaurants in Dubai covers the spread from street-level meals around AED 50 to tasting menus well past AED 500, with the city’s most expensive table at AED 2,000 a head. Every restaurant below is real, open, and priced from a published source; where a figure moves, the range is given.
Dubai’s dining scene no longer needs the introduction it used to ask for. The MICHELIN Guide inspects the city, Time Out Dubai crowns 89 restaurants a year, and Visit Dubai’s dining guide tracks the openings. Homegrown kitchens hold their own against the hotel imports. The list that follows is a working shortlist rather than a definitive ranking: four tasting-menu rooms, three Emirati kitchens, five international stalwarts, four casual regulars, three seafood tables, two vegetarian menus and two ways to finish.
If you want a single dish rather than a whole table, the site’s deep dives cover the best pizza in Dubai, the 11 best burgers in Dubai and the best coffee in Dubai. This guide is the hub those lists hang off.
The best restaurants in Dubai: fine dining and MICHELIN stars
Trèsind Studio (St. Regis Gardens, Palm Jumeirah). Modern Indian with three MICHELIN stars, the only Indian restaurant in the world at that level. The tasting menu costs AED 1,350 a head, and the 20 seats face the kitchen, so the cooking has nowhere to hide.
Row on 45 (Grosvenor House, Dubai Marina). Jason Atherton’s 12-seat room, two MICHELIN stars and Time Out’s Restaurant of the Year for 2026. The 17-course menu moves through three rooms on the 45th floor and costs more than AED 1,000 a head.
Orfali Bros (Wasl 51, Jumeirah 1). The Syrian brothers’ bistro topped MENA’s 50 Best list three years running before taking a MICHELIN star. The 13-course menu is AED 850; the original OG menu returns at AED 350.
FZN by Björn Frantzén (Atlantis The Palm). Three MICHELIN stars for a nine-course Nordic-meets-Japanese menu starting at AED 2,000 a head. That figure tends to settle any argument about whether the occasion is special.
Emirati kitchens
Athar (Chef’s Society, City Centre Mirdif). Heritage Emirati dishes with Arabic coffee treated as the main event, from The Q Lab. Expect AED 50–100 a head; it is still in soft launch, so prices may shift. tbreak has the full opening story.
Al Fanar Restaurant & Café (Al Seef). The MICHELIN-listed original of an Emirati chain, on the creek with old Dubai across the water. Chicken majboos is AED 65 and the mixed grill for two runs AED 160.
Gerbou (Nad Al Sheba). Often described as Dubai’s first fine-dining Emirati restaurant, serving machboos, fish mathrooba and date salad from a kitchen that treats UAE cooking as a cuisine rather than a heritage display. About AED 450 for two.
International favourites
Jun’s (Downtown Dubai). Kelvin Cheung’s third-culture cooking, MICHELIN-listed and Time Out’s highly commended fusion room for 2026. The 11-course tasting menu is AED 560, which is the sensible way to meet a menu this long.
Sufret Maryam (Wasl 51, Jumeirah 1). Salam Dakkak’s elevated Levantine kitchen, new to the Bib Gourmand list and Time Out’s Best MENA winner. The mansaf with jameed sauce is the dish to order; about AED 300 for two.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki (Dar Wasl Mall and Dubai Hills). Reif Othman’s izakaya-style small plates, a Bib Gourmand at both branches. The Angus beef claypot rice is the signature; around AED 220 for two at Dubai Hills.
3 Fils (Jumeirah Fishing Harbour). The small harbour-side room that topped MENA’s 50 Best in 2022 and still queues nightly. There are no reservations, so the queue is the booking system; about AED 145 a head for three courses.
Khadak (Al Wasl Road, Jumeirah). Chef Naved Nasir’s modern Indian, a new Bib Gourmand and Time Out’s Best Indian for 2026. OpenTable lists the average at AED 110 and under, which keeps it among the more accessible MICHELIN-recognised Indian kitchens in town.
Casual and neighbourhood finds
Al Ustad Special Kabab (Mankhool Road, Bur Dubai). The Iranian kebab house that has run since 1978, known for yoghurt-marinated mutton and a wall of roughly 8,000 photographs of previous diners. The mixed grill for two is about AED 100. Iranian cooking is a Dubai speciality in its own right; the dedicated guide has more.
21 Grams (Umm Suqeim). A Bib Gourmand Balkan bistro that does breakfast, phyllo pies and ricotta gnocchi in a residential corner of the city. About AED 190 for two.
CQ French Brasserie (Mövenpick Hotel, JLT). Time Out’s Casual Dining Restaurant of the Year, doing steak frites, escargots and crème brûlée properly. Monday brings steak frites with wine and dessert for AED 369 for two, which is the arithmetic that keeps a neighbourhood room full.
Za Za Slice (Jumeirah Garden City). Six pizzas, sold by the slice at AED 23–29 from a counter that does not need a longer menu. The pizza guide makes the fuller argument.
Seafood
Ossiano (Atlantis The Palm). One MICHELIN star for a seafood tasting menu served against the aquarium’s 65,000 residents, which keeps dinner company. The bill runs past AED 1,000 a head.
Ibn Al Bahr (Club Vista Mare, Palm Jumeirah). A Lebanese seafood tavern where the day’s catch is chosen from the display on ice. MICHELIN-listed, beachside, about AED 500 for two.
Bu Qtair (Umm Suqeim). The fish shack that fries the catch and serves it on plastic plates. Cash only, about AED 120 for two, and the frying does not stop.
Vegetarian and veg-friendly
Avatara (Business Park 1, Dubai Hills). The only vegetarian Indian restaurant in the world with a MICHELIN star, running a tasting menu around AED 595 a head that does not feel like a compromise.
Zaroob (Sheikh Zayed Road). Levantine street food done as a proper counter: foul at AED 27, wraps from AED 8 per the official digital menu, and enough vegetable plates that meatless eaters eat well.
Dessert and coffee
BRIX Café (Jumeirah Fishing Harbour). The pastry and coffee room from the 3 Fils team, with Carmen Rueda’s desserts and a harbour view. Time Out’s Best Café for 2025; about AED 95 for two for coffee and cake. The coffee guide linked above covers the city’s other serious cups.
Scoopi Café (Jumeirah Beach Road). Liquid-nitrogen ice cream with a sense of occasion. Regular scoops sit around AED 35; the gold-leafed Black Diamond costs AED 2,999 and is mostly ordered to be photographed.
Practical information
Book the tasting-menu rooms a week or more out; the 12- to 20-seat rooms fill first. The casual spots take walk-ins, and 3 Fils, Bu Qtair and Al Ustad do not take bookings at all. Dress codes are light: smart casual covers everything on this list and no restaurant here requires a jacket. Licensing varies, which is normal for Dubai: the hotel rooms and most fine-dining tables serve alcohol, while the Emirati kitchens, the neighbourhood spots and the cafés are dry.
Brunch is its own institution and its own budget. Hotels run Friday brunches from roughly AED 200 a head and the premium ones pass AED 500, and they book out days ahead; the Friday lunch at many restaurants on this list is a quieter, cheaper version of the same kitchen.
None of this list stays still for long. Menus change, prices move, and a kitchen that earns a star one year can lose it the next; the best restaurants in Dubai are the ones you keep going back to. Start with the list above, and let the neighbourhood ones become regulars.
How much does it cost to eat out in Dubai?
From about AED 23 for a pizza slice to AED 2,000 a head at FZN by Bjorn Frantzen. The casual tier runs AED 50-150 a head, and tasting menus start around AED 560.
Do you need to book restaurants in Dubai?
The tasting-menu rooms need a booking a week or more out. 3 Fils, Bu Qtair and Al Ustad take no reservations at all — the queue is the booking system.
What is the dress code at Dubai restaurants?
Smart casual covers everything on this list. No restaurant here requires a jacket, and the casual and Emirati kitchens are genuinely relaxed.
Where are the best areas for food in Dubai?
DIFC and Downtown for fine dining, Jumeirah and Al Wasl Road for the bistro wave, Bur Dubai for old-school kebab houses, and the Palm for destination rooms.
Are Dubai restaurants licensed?
The hotel rooms and most fine-dining tables serve alcohol; the Emirati kitchens, neighbourhood spots and cafes on this list are dry. That is normal for Dubai.
