Royal Express

Kitsch railway-themed Indian restaurant in Bur Dubai 21 Reviews

© ITP Images

Themed on the Royal Express luxury train in India that has a history dating back to the times of the Maharajas, this restaurant is something else. Designed to look like its motorised namesake, you’ll hear instrumental music peppered with platform announcements in Hindi and train track noises while tucking in to your curry. Service is a little too attentive and food borders on overwhelmingly spicy most of the time, so insist on mild variations. If you want to experience something different, pop by – you certainly won’t need to bother with a reservation – but don’t expect anything more than uninspiring fare in a comically kitsch setting.

By Time Out Dubai staff
Time Out Dubai, 25 March 2012

• Previous reviews
  • 28 March,2011- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 07 April,2010- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 07 December,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: seema D on 29 Jul ' 12 at 07:57

• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Very good service. Chicken tandoori and laccha paratha were too good.

Posted by: Samar Jawdat on 21 Jul ' 11 at 22:35

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

WORST dining experience ever. Service was truly so bad. The food was not fresh. And the staff's attitude was very unwelcoming. I feel bad not only for the money I spent but the time I wasted to get over there in the first place and in the end get such unpolished service. I will NEVER go back there again!

Posted by: Zaki on 15 Jun ' 11 at 13:26

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Very Very Disappointing service...
the entire restaurant was empty and they were like no place sorry...
then had to speak to the manager to get a place...
and even after we were done eating the whole place was empty...
very bad service...
half of the items oon the menu were not available...
very rude staff...
very slow and disappointing service...
Would never visit the place again....

Posted by: Asad on 07 May ' 11 at 16:16

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Its all a 1 star because we didnt get to go there at all. We purchased vouchers from a deal that this restaurant offered. The vouchers are still valid for a week more. We called the restaurant and surprisingly, no response.We call the hotel to transfer. Finally get someone on the line, they tell us that they are not honoring the deal. Surprising,we've paid in advance for the deal and obviously they've received the money from the online sales site. Now they say, these vouchers are not honored any more.

FRAUD - FRAUD - FRAUD --


I Repeat -

FRAUD.

Posted by: avril millar on 08 Apr ' 11 at 04:51

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

We dined here last night with the view of using a 50% meal voucher. It said 50% off your bill UP TO a maximum of 200AED. When our bill came it was 126AED and management refused to acknowledge the voucher claiming that we had not spent 200AED. When the wording on the voucher was pointed out to them, after a long debate and arguement, the manager decided he would then only charge us 100AED as if we had spent the 200AED. Our arguement was our bill should only have been 63AED and we argued on principal rather than the fact we grudged the money as we totally agree with previous comments about this being a restaurant that is out to cheat the customer. We CERTAINLY recommend that you do not go there. We in the end paid the 100AED but not before ensuring that we made the manager realise that we could be as awkward as he is and made them bring us the extra food and drinks to make the bill legitimatly up to 200AED ensure that if he wanted us to pay 100AED for a 200AED meal, they could provide it which certainly annoyed him so I guess in the end we did get customer satisfaction.
The food was actaully okay but the restaurant was devoid of other diners (perhaps all having known it is a cheating place) and the waiters stand over you whilst you eat which is a bit uncomfortable.

Posted by: venu on 05 Mar ' 11 at 15:41

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

please avoid. most over-rated restaurant in dubai...

Posted by: S.R. on 15 Nov ' 10 at 09:48

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

i heard about this restaurant on the radio. and decided to go there with my family. though the ambience was good, the service here is not up to the standards.
I came here with my family. We ordered a non-veg dish (mutton), but we were served with prawns. we ordered cheese naan, but were served with a plain one and the butter naan was burnt. And looks like count the number of people on the table serve the dish accordingly.
i will absolutely not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Posted by: Sharmila on 13 Nov ' 10 at 11:57

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

Posted by: Tejaswita on 08 Nov ' 10 at 06:51

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

The ambience & Decor is very good, but the Food Quality & services are very poor. They have to improve on that. Food is also not upto the mark. Not a single dish I liked there. From the starting we were telling them "Please serve fast, we are in hurry" still for the starters, they too alomost 50 Mins and for the main course 40 mins and at the end they seved pulav instead of Biryani. its hell.

I would suggest, not waste money to see d decor. Instead of that spend d money in such hotel where you get quality food.

Posted by: reteesh on 28 Aug ' 10 at 17:29

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

we landed up here again due to compulsion from friends as they threw a party @royal express , These guys have changed a lot , they have some new good managers that have joined The sevice is getting better , but i think they need more staff, the food quality is much better and they are very organized now , Keep it up guys and the Buffet was amazing with a huge spread ... Keep it up , The change in attitude of all the staff is great and cheers to Jeet the new F&B executive

Posted by: nazia kamal on 14 Aug ' 10 at 09:19

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

The ambience of the restaurant was really good and the food was just according to their prices..,,there was nothing new except the decor.....i wuold like to tell ppl not to try raan dish ever coz it was the worst i have ever eaten...it was like oonchi dukan pheeke pakwan.....also some of the dishes prices were not on list ....(which had high prices) customers ko ullu banane ke liye.....
the worst thing there was the restaurant is a cheat.....they print the diff dish on the bill which u have never taken....a deliberate attempt to fool customers.A REALLY BAD EXPERIENCE....THEY ARE CHEAT.

Posted by: reetesh on 14 Aug ' 10 at 09:14

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

had heard a lot on radio and went to have dinner with friends.
waiting hall is congested and felt like as though we were waiting in some ordinary restaurant. Valet parking is one way that means you have to walk all the way back to parking area some 500 m away from restaurant.
they took almost 30 - 35 minute to bring starter. check the prices of all items. some items are exhorbitantly priced and dont have value for money they charge. like chef special plater cost you like anything.

they took so much time in serving main course and you feel like leave and going out...
most important thing check your bill, it happened with us we ordered something else..they billed something else...so better check your bill..
in nut shell...

slow n pooor service.
no value for money
dont feel like going again.
or recomendng to any of my frndz...to g there.

Posted by: rehana on 14 Aug ' 10 at 05:43

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

The ambience & food quality is good, but the service is very poor. Taking a hell of time for serving the food, extremely slow serive.

Be carefull while ordering & taking waiters opinion. they will recommend food which is not mentioned in the menu & later you will shokced to see your bill.

i had a very bad experience there, probably the worst in dubai. they has a cheating tendency.
they included items in my bill, which i didnt ordered moreover that i realized when i left the restaurent.

DONT GO FOR FOOD AS PER THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS & CONFIRM PRICES BEFORE ELSE YOU WILL END UP REPENTING.

Posted by: Arpan Gupta on 27 Jul ' 10 at 09:16

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

The ambience & food quality are good. However, service needs a real revamp. We had to wait for approx. 70 mins. for the food to be served, worst of all, the waiter dropped hot water on one of us.

Posted by: E.M. on 16 Jun ' 10 at 05:35

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

This is an excellent dining experience which if placed in one of the 5* hotels would be certinly one of the best in Dubai. The theme may be described as kitsch but it is superbly done. The food is wonderful and the service is attentive and friendly. A great place to go when you get tired of all the same, same Dubai curry houses. PS Make sure you read the menu from cover to cover as there are some amusing introductions to the courses...

Posted by: S.kumar on 21 May ' 10 at 05:34

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

Posted by: Adnan Abbas on 14 Feb ' 10 at 18:47

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

Posted by: harsh sharma on 31 Dec ' 09 at 04:52

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Posted by: Jason creek on 09 Dec ' 09 at 20:43

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

Posted by: Jason creek on 09 Dec ' 09 at 20:36

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

Posted by: deepa on 09 Dec ' 09 at 18:35

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

my experiences at this restaurant were extremely pleasant.
As compared to other similar restaurants specialisiing in Moghlai/
traditional IINDIAN dishes, I found it an economical yet enough variety to choose from.
Ocassionally certain choices may not be available but that does not over-rule the general goodness of a place in a comparative analysis.