Bombay By The Bay

JBR curry house almost hits all the right flavour notes 28 Reviews

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With an impressive menu that touches on south, north and even coastal Indian fare, Bombay by the Bay gets marks for variety and even innovation. For example, instead of just the regular tandoori chicken tikka, they do a special version with black pepper, which boasts fiery flavour, but, sadly, not quality. Give the masala papad starter a miss too – you might like things hot, but their version takes things to an uncomfortable, gasp-inducing level. The curries will redeem your faith in their skills however and cups of steaming elaichi (cardamom) tea are the best way to savour what will undoubtedly be a very long night with service being painfully slow. Bombay has potential – they just need to pay attention to the essentials.

By Time Out Dubai staff
Time Out Dubai, 11 August 2011

• Previous reviews
  • 27 March,2011- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 06 April,2010- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 06 July,2009- reviewed by Daisy Carrington

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Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.

User reviews:

Posted by: Azhar on 30 Aug ' 11 at 19:12

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Business lunch
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

very mild flavours...can't impress an Indian

Posted by: Zoe Robinson on 04 Jun ' 11 at 16:03

OverallServiceFood

Value

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Just ordered a home-delivery from this restaurant, which was incompletely delivered. The pilau rice and the naan bread were not sent with the other items, even though the restaurant correctly repeated the order when taken. When questioned about the missing items, they would only send them again with a costly charge.

Very disappointed with home delivery and customer service.

Posted by: Saurin on 19 May ' 11 at 11:03

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Frankly this is not the best Indian food you can get in Dubai.. There are tons of other restaurants with good delicacies and much better service.
I visited the restaurant in April last month and was shocked to meet with unfriendly faces. The captains/waiters take their own sweet time to respond to take orders and more importantly they even forget soemtimes what one has ordered. When one writes a feedback there is no one from the restaurant who even bothers to respond to your complaint.

I would NEVER go back to this place except for the location but frankly there are so may other better options in Dubai.

Posted by: Khyati on 23 Dec ' 10 at 08:04

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Food was excellent, service was awsome...ambience was very nice....The best indian restaurant in Dubai...we found some pillows and bedsheet was not cleaned...thats it....overall experience was awsome...

Posted by: christopher on 11 Nov ' 10 at 22:10

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

hi im staying in marina promenade just behind this restaurant.............5th of nov was my first visit to this restaurant.........i have to say you guys they were really full........somehow we got a nice table outside in the terrace.........the ambience is very nice.......food came on time .....waiting staffs were very helpful...........they are very attentive...........i single staff was taking care of more than six tables outside..........the manager is very polite..........atlast good experience.........will go again

Posted by: armaan on 11 Nov ' 10 at 21:44

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

HI I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT I DON'T KNW WAT HAPPEND WITH EVERYBODY BUT WHENEVER I GO THERE I GET EVERYTHING ON TIME.................FOOD IS EXECELLENT..........SERVICE IS WONDERFUL........I WENT ON DIWALI WITH MY INDIAN FRIENDS RESTAURANT WAS FULL THAT TIME,BUT STILL THEY ACCOMODATE US AND INSPITE OF VERY LESS WAITING STAFFS AND TOO MUCH OF RUSH WE GOT EVERYTHING PERFECTLY ON TIME. MY FRIENDS WERE VERY HAPPY AFTER HAVING FOOD HERE..............I LIKE THIS RESTAURANT VERY MUCH...................

Posted by: rahul gupta on 09 Nov ' 10 at 21:28

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hi i m rahul i visit bombay by the bay last week i had there food was gud or service was excellent by(sonu) he given us all thing on time like drink food or end the dinner finger bal was excellet.he done very nice job thanks sonu

Posted by: Darren on 06 Nov ' 10 at 03:52

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Never; simple bad, bad, bad......I was here for dinner last night with my family and friends and have to say it was my worst Dubai dining experience in 3.5 years of being here. The service was apalling with the wait staff looking like that wanted to be anywhere else but here and certainly not interested in looking after us.

After about 40 minutes our starters of mixed Samosas and Marinated stuffed mushrooms arrived. The Samosas were stone cold and the mushrooms barely edible. The fact that there were only 10 pieces of Samosa instead of 12 could have been over looked had they been cooked! A further 15 minutes to have the starter heated took the experience from bad to worse. The recooked starters arrived just in time to accompany the main dishes.

The mains, Lamb Rogan Josh, Butter Chicken and Daal was simply terrible. The Lamb Bone curry offered a few morsels of meat whilst the butter chicken tasted bland. Oh yeah, the steamed rice finally arrived from the kitchen as we were asking for the bill, intended for dessert maybe?

I had a hard time parting with the 500 dirhams for this one, simply not worth it.

Everyone must be warned to keep away from this place - it is really poor food with even worse service.

Ho hum......

Posted by: AS on 27 Oct ' 10 at 13:22

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Went with my husband for dinner. Was totally empty. Still 15 minutes after we were served our main course the waiter came and asked if we were done. And when we said no he kept coming every 5 minutes again! Very very annoying service. 2nd time we went was on valentines day. Same story again. We ordered a lot of food, more than 2 people could eat, 15 minutes after serving the food the waitor kept asking again if he could collect it. The food is not worth the money. Instead, average priced restaurants have better food. if you're looking for a nice ambience there are tons more indian restaurants in dubai. Try Haandi in Marina Walk or Aashiyana at Sheraton Creek. Not going to Bombay by the Bay again!

Posted by: mathew on 06 Oct ' 10 at 23:15

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

excellent food, staffs are very nice, they know me personally, i feel like home, they know my choice, overallllllllllllllllllllllllll wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Posted by: Girish on 15 Jul ' 10 at 20:29

OverallFood

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Edited by TimeOutDubai.com

We asked for 7 pm dinner booking and were told that they can accomodate at 10:30 pm. We accpeted the time of 10:30pm and arrived there and were seated by 10:45pm. waiting for 10 minutes for someone to attend, finally the waiter arrives and tells us to order the dishes as this is the last order as the kitchen closes at 12:00midnight. Very frustrating no water servered, no starters given, no pickels on the table severed and the waiter wanted a final order from us. Better Dine somewhere where you are wanted. We felt that we were unwated guest This place is horrible in sevice and does not care for the customer.

Posted by: Berry on 05 Jul ' 10 at 07:53

• Best for: Business lunch
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

I had the same experience, the quality of the food was nt upto expectation. I wont say much about the service, it was OK, though they take too much time even for starters. But one thing i must share with you that I have come across with a resturant newly opened in dubai marina royal kitchen kuisine, strange they probably misspled Kuisine. Anyways, they food was fantastic, i live in Marina Views tower , got there menu card, very strange design, look like an axe or may be hand fan. They have got BBQ, biryani dum one, handis, curry, vegetarina dishes. I have almost tried all, amazing ones. I have also come know the new concept of dine in. Ala Carte Buffet, they are offering this, each as much as you can from their menu, keep on ordering for such 59/-, thats thier promotion. Lovely.....ooh i can share their number to you as well: its 04 3997865.

Posted by: Mariam on 14 Jun ' 10 at 05:47

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

‘BOMBAY BY THE BAY’ CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS

We live in Rimal 5 and we had been to ‘Bombay by the Bay’ restaurant which is just below our building to celebrate my broinlaws birthday and I must say the service sucks. For starters after we ordered our food, we were directly asked by the waiter if we had an Entertainer or Gulf News coupon; I found this extremely rude and unethical. Never ever in any restaurant in Dubai especially in JBR area has ever asked us this question. In normal circumstances we provide the coupon to prepare the final bill only after we finish eating our meals. No where in the coupon is it mentioned that we need to provide the coupons in advance. To top it all the waiter tells us that we can use only 1 coupon. Again no where in the coupon is it mentioned that we can use only 1 coupon at a time. Moreover we were 2 couples. If we sat on different tables wouldn’t we use 1 coupon each. Just because we sat together on 1 table we are not allowed to use 2 coupons; that’s ridiculous and does not make sense. After trying to explain to the waiter he just keeps telling its management policy and told us to speak to the Manager. After speaking to the manager he had the same response, its management policy. If its management policy it should be mentioned in the coupon. Moreover they do not realize that its just three coupons in a book and if their customer service was good and they had accepted the coupons we would have come back again and again with our guests as well. After all we are the tenants of the building and we give more business than the visitors who come there and let me tell you we were the only 2 couples in the whole restaurant, so you can imagine what business they make, ZERO and now they have lost several customers; especially my family, friends and colleagues who all are equally disgusted by their customer service.

Posted by: Dimple Ragoowanshi on 10 Jun ' 10 at 09:55

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Nice Interior , food needs improvements, service is not that bad ,but an be improved.

Posted by: RAJ on 24 May ' 10 at 06:29

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Somone said before It's just a waste place , SERVICE is just impossible , Order takes Minimum 45 mins to get ready,
Last time i placed order before i started from my HOME, i reached and still waited LONG,
i will not suggest to go there , STAFF is very sad, no smile on FACES, no service , even they will not give you water until you will ASK

Posted by: anita on 22 May ' 10 at 14:56

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Romantic
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Took a friend for a birthday lunch there
It was nice & empty,especially the outside seating

Its a nicely done-up place..the turquoise-coloured seating,the rajasthani fans inside,curtains draped around pillars....just 1 gripe,their seating fabric is stained....don't they change the covers??

Food was pretty good though
Tried the Ajwaini makai tikka & the Achari paneer

Posted by: zia on 25 Apr ' 10 at 21:17

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Guys, believe it or not but i was browsing through above comments on this page with my Iphone and i was scared cause most of the people have opted to not visit this restaurant again. i was with my entire family involving 9 adults and 3 children = 12 people. And while reading the normal usual repeated flaws of this restaurant such as SLOW SERVICE, FORGETFUL WAITERS, AND DISAPPOINTED CUSTOMERS i ordered the food at sharp 11pm and the more than 9 dishes were on my table at sharp 11 35 including the starter which was served at 11 25pm. As you can see that i was very keen in knowing as to why so many people are disappointed with this place which forced me to judge this restaurant like a Food Critic.
I even ordered two ANNANAS PANAS and didnt like the taste of it so the waiter replace it with Orange juice without charging me for the former.
In simple words i believe they are improved their service, quality of food and surely the Ambience was always a motivating factor to visit this place.
I would suggest all of you to give it a try and BTW the entire food came to 921 AED only where as i expected it to be higher.

Posted by: Uchil on 17 Apr ' 10 at 13:15

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Hopeless service, looked like the waiters were jailed and were serving their jail term, no smile no welcome seemed like they were doing us a favour serving us, whenever I called one of those donkeys they would act as if they didn't hear me (I am sure they did!!)

I asked for a smaller bottle of water he said ok and never came back, I called him to request another dish and then he remembered I had asked for a smaller bottle of water, by then I had already opened the bottle.

What a waste of time I had taken my wife out for a romantic dinner the whole plan flopped!!

Will never visit that place again.

Posted by: alain on 25 Mar ' 10 at 23:00

• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

very nice every thing is very good

Posted by: Hannah on 28 Feb ' 10 at 07:02

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

When i first read the reveiws on time out , i thought "why not give it a try?"...8 good reviews would over rule the 2 bad ones right ???

NO !!! ...I wouldnt go back here...

- First, i booked a place for 6 and asked for the outdoor patio , instead they gave me a corner table with no ventilation at all.
- The waitiers did not attend to us even after beckoning to them 3 times over.
- We had to wait over 45 mins for the starters , the waiters did not attend to us unless we called them .
- it was so noisy and I wouldn't even encourage couples to go there for a romantic evening.

Even the food did not make up for the appalling service , except for the palak paner which was "to die for"....

I had to make a good impression but im not sure i did .....wish i had chosed another place *Sigh*

Posted by: 3mummies on 16 Feb ' 10 at 05:56

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Romantic
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Disastrous evening. Had to change seating 3 times, untill we found some "roomy - leg space seating" and "CLEAN" seats.
The ambience of the place was the ONLY good thing about it.
We waited for a waiter to acknowledge us for 30mins before WE asked him to atleast get us some drinks while we decide on the dishes. Once we made a decision, the starters took 30mins to arrive. The choice of food I made was not available so I was basically TOLD my only alternatie dish. ( I felt dinner was ordered for me ) when the food finally arrived, one complete meal was missing, We were a party of only 3. As we had already waited sooooooo long, my friend said if the dish is not being cooked to leave it!!!! She shared some of the food that had turned up.
We did complain and demanded complimentary dessert and tea! which we got and THEY were the best items we had,
Staff could have been better, service could have been much better, time wise they definitely need to improve... we were having a girls night out and chatting but if we were starving we would not have tolerated the wait... its unacceptable....

wouldn't come here again. Advise you all not to bother with it. Seats were absolutely disgusting, please use the laundary service!!!!

Posted by: Foodie on 14 Feb ' 10 at 21:20

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• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

The BEST Indian Restaurant in town! Awesome food and service. A must try... Beautiful views from the terrace and great interiors!

Posted by: dolly on 22 Jan ' 10 at 10:15

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Romantic
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

My visit to this restaurant was a beautiful experience,
My hubby and i had the best time...it takes u away frm the fast paced urban life..
the ambiance is very romantic, food was good, serivce was quick(yeah tht too on a busy friday evening)
Its definately worth the value...
Great for couples......go relive old time or make sum gr8 new moments togther

Posted by: matthew on 08 Jan ' 10 at 23:03

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

no doubt the best indian restaaurant in entire dubai,with such a wonderful dec or,with undoubtely knowledgeable staff,with the best food in town ,it a great pleasure tom dine in such a restaurant,its really worth to go and dine -in .try it chears

Posted by: Smart King Cole on 25 Oct ' 09 at 05:41

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• Best for: Romantic
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

One of my worst meals ever,

The waiters were un responsive, and it took them almost 85 minutes to get my order. On top of that they forgot to bring the Veg Platter, and another dish that I had ordered. Had a couple of vegetarian friends, who left extremely unhappily.

Whenever we tried to call the waiter who was serving our table, he left as if he never heard us. All we wanted to know was the status of our order.

The food was extremely spicy. We werent asked whether we want our food spicy or not, so it was a surprise to get such spicy food on our tables.

This place has a beuatiful ambience, and good interirors. Alas , it good to do with better service and better food.

On complaining about the service to the Manager, he just said "Sorry". A sorry doesnt compensate for our horrendous experience here

Posted by: Optimist on 24 Oct ' 09 at 17:43

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• Best for: Romantic
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Apalling service. Food wasnt bought in for more than 1.5 hour. We ordered 2 Veg three course meals, a Veg platter, and a Baingan Patiala.

The waiter didnt even note the order correctly. He didnt bring in the baingan patiala and the veg platter.

After almost waiting for one hour we got restless, and when we tried calling the waiter, he just walked off as if he never heard us. This was simply appaling. When the food was bought in the food was extremely spicy, and the bread was hard and dry. The dal bukara was decent though. On asking about the remaianing orders, the waiter tells me I didnt order those dishes. The funny thing being that it was the same waiter who suggested the Baingan Patiala to me... Maybe the ran out of brinjal in their kitchen.

This was really pathetic.. I asked for his manager, and the restaurant supervisor appearead, who said he was really sorry about what happened. Anyways his being sorry doesnt really help. I still paid Dhs 265 for the most appalling dinner of my life. To compensate this we were offered complimentary Gulab Jamun, which we were in no mood of trying. Anyways on trying one, the gulab jamun had some much sugar in it that you could literally bite the sugar in the Jamun. Will not even recommend my worst enemy to visit this restaurant. After all it takes a lot of hard work to earn money and there are better ways to spend it than visit this lousy restaurant.

Posted by: Sonali on 18 Oct ' 09 at 10:15

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FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

We had heard so much about the restaurant that we had to try it out, asfor a long time we've been looking for a good Indian restaurant this side of town... I have to say we were really disappointed.

While the decor and ambience was quite nice, the service was absolutely appalling. Our entrees did not even make an appearance for about 60 minutes and the staff were quite unresponsive and unconcerned. Every request (that wasn't answered in the negative) had to be made more than a couple of times for it to be answered. While the food was quite OK, the service made us want to walk out and ruined the evening for us. Somewhere around the end of the meal, things improved somewhat.

One word of caution, if you're not into spicy food, say so to the staff even if they don't ask (which they didn't for us), so they can prepare it accordingly, and you're not left with steam coming out of your ears.

All in all, not such a great experience for us.

Posted by: Purdy on 24 Aug ' 09 at 22:06

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• Best for: Romantic
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

I have had the pleasure of dining in some of Dubais best restaurants and this is without a doubt THE BEST indian the city has to offer.
The quallity of the dishes are on a par with the very best ive enjoyed in India's many 5-star hotels. It is no surpirise therfore that the Chef comes from the Shangri-La Delhi.
I can honestly say that i enjoyed every dish, even the ones that were unfamiar to me & reccomended by the knowledgable waiting staff.
My wife iwho is areal foody insisted i took her back there in the same week!!
Go check it out..you will not be disappointed! Yum!