Mango Tree

Thai eatery in the Souk Al Bahar offers Zen cool 21 Reviews

Meal Deal

Free Flowing Friday Lunch

Dhs175 with soft drinks and Dhs285 for Prosecco and wine Timings: Noon-4pm (Friday)

1

© ITP Images

View slideshow

• 
• Picture 1 of 2
• 

From Time Out Dubai Eating Out 2009

With competition from The Address hotel, restaurants at Souk Al Bahar tend to be empty. This can cause an awkward experience: the staff hover over your every move, and the meal usually culminates in desperate cries of, ‘Come again soon! Please! Please, come back!’

But you may well do, as it’s a good addition to the dining out scene. The decor is seriously hip: the middle of the room houses a giant Buddha statue, and the long, winding restaurant (clearly built for dining hordesculminates in a massive room housing 1,000 bottles of wine. In a word, the space is cool. Too cool to be so empty. The mixed appetisers, are a bit, well, mixed, as are the ingredients of the mains: the roasted duck in pineapple curry is tasty, but the chef makes the mistake of adding Thai peas, which, though authentic, are hard and bitter.

The restaurant does make up for its downfalls with the use of juicy, free-range (practically unheard of in Dubai) chicken dishes, and its impressive colourful cocktails. As you leave, the staff follow behind you, bowing repeatedly; a gesture that – even by Dubai standards – is overly servile. An unfortunate cloud over a restaurant that has definite potential – but without the customers, it may not get the chance to fulfill it.

By Time Out Dubai staff
Time Out Dubai, 30 March 2009

• Previous reviews
  • 21 July,2008- reviewed by Daisy Carrington

• Share | |
• E-mail:
• 
• Print:
• 

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

Posted by: JC on 16 Oct ' 09 at 08:28

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

The main thing going for The Mango Tree is it's location & spectacular fountain views. However, the service although friendly isn't good enough. At each course we were asked at least twice by different staff whether we would like to order. We cut short our meal as we were informed they didn't have decaf coffee only to be told by someone else that they did. Whilst waiting for the bill we were asked whether we were ready to leave as they had other guests waiting for tables. When presented with our bill we were asked to go behind the bar to enter our credit card pin! Most of the tables on the front of the terrace although quite clearly designed for 2 had 3 cramped diners squeezed on them squinting at menus due to very poor lighting. Avoid the yellow chicken curry as it consists of only a few pieces of chicken & potatoes.

Posted by: Dave on 06 Oct ' 09 at 07:51

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

Went there for dinner for the first time last night and although the restaurant decor was lovely, and the staff served us with a smile everytime, the food wasnt good, and they had run out of lots of things.

We ordered the chicken in pandan leaves but they didnt have them. I ordered a small bottle of water but they only had the large bottles of Voss (obviously much pricier!). And then when we ordered a 2nd bottle of pinot grigio, it took them 30 minutes to come back and tell us that there was none left, and then another 20 minutes to get us a bottle of chardonnay.

The food arrived very quickly (around 10 minutes after ordering!) but I found it disappointing. The green chicken curry was very sweet, and I couldnt finish it as a result.

There are much better Thai restaurants in town, food wise, although the location next to the fountains is amazing, and the terrace is lovely.

Still, I wont be going back for more

Posted by: Kelli on 09 Aug ' 09 at 13:50

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

I wasn't too sure what to expect when my date took me to the Mango Tree, I didn't realize it was Thai Cusine. The food was excellent and the wine delicious! I was very pleased with the service as well, everything we asked for was brought instantly with a smile.

There are few restaurants that I really enjoy, this is definitely one of them. It feels very exclusive but at the same time also quite homey. The atmosphere is great!

Posted by: Vicky on 09 Aug ' 09 at 13:15

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

I went to Mango Tree for a lunch meeting last week and wow the food was delicious....had a really great Thai Green Chicken Curry- even just writing about it now makes my mouth water- think I'll be having a lot more meetings there! All of the food that came with the lunch offer was really tasty and a great price as well! The restaurant itself is really lovely and the staff and manager were friendly and helpful! Think I'll be going back at night to have a watch out the fountains too! Keep up the good work Mango Tree :)

Posted by: RJ on 03 Aug ' 09 at 15:28

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

We went with a group of seven on a Thursday night. The place was packed. Even so, the service was fine for our table. We had to sit outside due to inside being full. It was pretty hot, but they had some fans that helped. It was worth sweating a bit for the great view of the fountains.

We all ordered different things and shared them "family style". Everything we tried was delicious. My favourite was Prawns in Red Curry sauce, but everything was fantastic.

We'll definitely be going back.

Posted by: zina on 29 Jun ' 09 at 20:19

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Read the reviews from Timeout and thought of give it a try. Completely disppointed with the quality of the food, not really authentic. Went on a Sunday night which is not very busy but hardly can find a service staff to attend and our starters was served after 30 minutes of order. Worth going for the view and good selection for wine though.

Posted by: Adrian on 27 Jun ' 09 at 16:58

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

You won't get value for the Friday brunch menu, first of all, you would be treated as 2nd class diner, as they would serve the ala carte menu diner first. We were one of the first to arrive, but one of the last to be served.

The service was slow and the waiter and waiteresses don't seem to know what's going own with their own menu. The food is ok, but too much msg.

Good for a romantic dinner that extending dining hour is required.

Posted by: James on 18 Jun ' 09 at 18:23

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

Excellent food supported by extremely good service. Seven people in the party ALL ordering different dishes - both appetizers and main - and everything was delivered to the table in good time and exactly as requested. Superb selection of wines available at very reasonable price.

View from the terrace of the fountains - simply unbelievable!!

Only problem - is the lack of fans on the terrace!

Posted by: Gaby on 16 Jun ' 09 at 13:32

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

I was at Mango Tree yesterday with a friend and cannot confirm all things that some people wrote here. The place was packed from around 8 pm on, we were sitting outside which was not too hot and so we could even see the short show of the musical fountain.

The selection is huge both in food and drinks (including liquor) even though, you can sense that it is a chain and they have kind of a unique menu in all locations. The food was allright and not overpriced. We could choose between three different types of rice to accompany the main dishes.

I agree that the service is not as in a fine dining restaurant, but where do you find that in Dubai anyway apart from some selected hotel restaurants? There was an issue with my starter which I pointed out to the waitress and she aplogized and solved it by bringing the missing shrimps. The waiters were not too pro-active but delivered everything within a short time at our request. They do not seem to be too flexible, though, in deciding e.g. if changes to the listed items are possible. This is the management's responsibility to empower them more.

All in all, we had a nice evening and I would go back for a casual dinner anytime.

Posted by: Stefanie on 15 Jun ' 09 at 12:59

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

We went last weekend. The food was ok - not the best Thai in Dubai but still good. Prices were ok. The view is marvellous - you can watch the fontains' show from the first floor which is very nice.
However, I've experienced such poor service seldomly - it took forever to order, food arrived before we had the drinks, took forever to order the second round of drinks.

Posted by: ahmed on 15 Jun ' 09 at 10:07

OverallDecorService

Food

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

The food was extremely tasteless, would rather go to the fantastic Thai Kitchen at Park Hyatt than paying a fortune here. Not even close to the one in London. Definitely won't go back again.

Posted by: Arvind Arora on 14 Jun ' 09 at 08:57

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

Awesum View... Great Service... Yunny Thai Food... Lovely Wines..

One of the Place to Dine in UAE.

Cheers

Arvind.

Posted by: Cora on 29 May ' 09 at 18:40

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Friday lunch. Restaurant was not full but service was slow.....very slow. All the main courses were served with white rice and when we realised that, we asked that they do not serve the rice as we were not able to eat all of it. The waitress then came with more of the dishes with rice saying that the chef advised that this was the standard, Called for the manger who really did not seem too happy to come and talk to us. He advised that this was a direction from headoffice. In a sacarstic tone, he said that this would not change the amount of food. I felt he was insulting us. I used to tell friends to eat here but you can bet that I will now discourage them from stepping into the restaurant. Shame that they did not see it fit to listen to the request of the guest which was going to help headoffice save some money as well.

Posted by: Cdr on 25 May ' 09 at 15:05

OverallDecorService

Ambience

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

We decided on having dinner there after the beautiful walk around the Souk and the dancing fountain so we didnt have reservations but we decided to take a shot at it anyways cause we love Thai food.
There was a gentleman in a crisp black suit behind the reception desk and we asked if we could get a place without reservations and he gave us this very angry look and asked us to wait while he seated other customers who walked in before us.He came back to get some menus after 5 minutes and we asked again if it would be possible and he snapped back saying "Wait" and never returned.After another 5 minutes a thai lady walked towards us and greeted us and checked to see if there was anything available and since it was a weeknight she had a table for 3 available and she sat us down with out menus.The guy in the black suit saw us being seated and just ignored us just walked past.
The places was sweltering!The AC inside wasnt working and the place was full so it was reallllly stuffy.Since we were hungry we deicded to get a drink and eat and get out.We then waited for 20 minutes for our order to be taken and managed to get one persons attention to take our order and he said he would come back and dissapeared for another 10 minutes.Our patience wore out and we left .We the had dinner and drinks at the Meat Company just downstairs from the Mango Tree and it was delightful.The place was filled to the brim but the staff was really polite and they showed us to the bar to get a drink while they figure out where to seat us.Witihin 10 minutes they seated us and we were greated with a friendly "Jumbo" followed by the menus.
Even though they looked understaffed considering the place was full the service was simply brilliant and the food was even better!
We have been to some of the best restaurants in the world but have never come across bad service like we did in MANGO TREE.
We had with us a friend who was visiting Dubai for the first time and he was also shocked at the terrible service considering they are a relatively new restaurant they need to make a good impression.

Posted by: Inga on 25 May ' 09 at 10:21

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

We went there on a Saturday Evening, we had to share a huge table with other guest, but this wasn't a problem.
After 20 Minutes of waiting(!!) decided to organize a menu ourselves...
The Wine we ordered was not available, therefore they totally forgot our water.
The King Prawn was peeled as requested, but they added the shell to the curry... chewing on crab shell is an experience but not really wanted at that moment....
The terrace and the fountain is nice, but if you don't want to get totally wet, you shall stay inside... the spray of the water is spilling all over the Terrace.
There are definitely better places in Dubai to spend money on Food and Service....

Posted by: Olivier on 15 May ' 09 at 08:42

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

Excellent food, good service, nice ambiance especially on the terrace with the view of the new fountain of Burj Dubai but it’s very HOT outside, please add fans! Inside it’s nice but too noisy.
I’ll come back for the food

Posted by: Amelia Jane on 04 May ' 09 at 09:36

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

its ok
its not wow, food was ok,

but with so much choice in Dubai they should get it right.....not so??? esp with great hotels right next door offering great experiences

Posted by: Sahar on 16 Apr ' 09 at 09:49

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

i went to this restaraunt with friedns after reading TimeOut's review and was surprised, to say the least. The decor was beautiful, unfortunately that was the only good thing abt the place. First off, we had the most disinterested waitress taking out order on a piece of scrap paper. Once she left, we asked andother server for napkins and lo and eold they were short of NAPKINS!!! On a saturday night, and you're short of NAPKINS!! Then a different server came and told us that they were out of spring rolls as starters. Then i ordered a bottle of aqua fina water and guess what they were out of every single bottle of aquafina!! So i had to order the more posh water. Then we got our meal an hour and 20mins later. The food was reasonably good though. Unfortunately halfway through we ordered another side of steamed rice and guess again, they were out of STEAMED RICE. The server apologized in an extremely haughty manner saying , 'madam, the chef says it will take some time to prepare the rice, so why don't you order some noodles instead." Since when has steamed rice needed to take huge amounts of preparation time?? and sicne when did the main chef needed to make the rice?? That was the last straw, we paid and left. Disappointed, a perfect saturday night ruined by lax service and mediocre food.

Posted by: Oytun on 03 Apr ' 09 at 19:10

WMy girlfriend and I went there with the intention of having a nice Thai style seafood dinner but after they took our order two different waitresses came one after the other to tell us they had neither the mussles nor the crab we ordered. The manager later came and told us we cood have the crab dish made out of non-shelled crab, but the only thing this could possibly mean was they were going to use non-fresh crab, perhaps frozen or out of a can. Needless to say we were quite disappointed and left for another restaurant. Items not being available is one of the most annoying experiences in a restaurant and this time it was not one but two items they advertised on the menu. I'm not saying they are a bad restaurant but they should not let their customers down like this.

Posted by: Carmela Manalo on 26 Jan ' 09 at 13:53

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

we had our anniversary dinner at mango tree thou we had to wait for 45 mins to wait for a vacant table. The food was superb. We had been escorted by their manager whos very warm. For starters, we had marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves, their mixed fried rice was great when we combine it with the plain steamed rice. Their serving for the grilled sea bass wrapped in banana leaf was the best. For the dessert, we've ordered mango with sticky rice and coconut milk. yum yum yum

Posted by: Cheng on 26 Jan ' 09 at 10:27

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

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

We were at this restaurant last Saturday for dinner and it was really a wonderful experience! My date is not very fond of Thai food but they have the grilled Angus Rib-eye that he really enjoyed

I think once the construction is finished around Burj, their Terrace will be packed as their Terrace has direct views of the Burj and Fountains

Add your review/feedback