Pai Thai

Romantic al fresco Thai restaurant in Jumeirah 26 Reviews

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From Time Out Dubai Eating Out 2009

Let’s make one thing clear about Pai Thai – it is tremendously romantic. Beginning with the abra cruise over to the Al Qasr eatery, there is good reason behind its categorisation as one of Dubai’s top date places. It has it all: candles, terrace seating, quiet traditional live music (the ‘fawn lep’, or ‘fingernails dance’ is particularly memorable) – in short, it is somewhere you want to take someone that you want to impress.

Even if your dining partner doesn’t like the look of you, they’re likely to fall for the food. After navigating the vast menus, the dishes that arrive are fabulous, filling and fairly spicy. While the service may be a little leisurely at times, this is only because the place is so popular – including, tellingly, with Thai expats themselves.

And there’s no need to sweat about the bill – while it is slightly higher than your average Thai restaurant, it’s still a bargain when you factor in the love-promoting atmosphere.

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

• Previous reviews
  • 26 March,2008- reviewed by Jeremy Lawrence
  • 10 March,2008- reviewed by Time Out Dubai staff
  • 12 March,2007- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
  • 25 October,2006- reviewed by Time Out Dubai Staff
  • 30 April,2006- reviewed by Time Out Dubai
  • 01 December,2004- reviewed by Matthew Lee

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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.

Posted by: clair on 21 Mar ' 10 at 15:09

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Posted by: Amy on 12 Mar ' 10 at 13:54

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

Posted by: Wendy Ross on 05 Mar ' 10 at 11:13

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

Read the reviews from here and decide to give it a try for our wedding anniversary dinner. Highly recommend for readers here to use the Abra to the restaurant as this is one of the most memorable moment we had in Dubai dining experience. The restaurant have a very nice terrace overlooking the Arabian summer house and ambience is very good. Now I do understand of this best romantic restaurant award given to them.
Food was delicious especially the duck curry which is the best I ever tried. Service was attentive and friendly. Definitely one of my favourite restaurant in Dubai. Well deserved awards from you Timeout! Remember to make reservation beforehand as I was told they are always very packed especially if you want a terrace table.

Posted by: Liliane on 21 Dec ' 09 at 07:08

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

My husband took me to the Pai Thai yesterday for my birthday dinner and Uauuu ... It was amazing!
Starting at the beautiful Al Qasr Hotel, followed by Abra to the restaurant on the edge of the creek ... everything contributed to the experience to become a magician.
With great service and the atmosphere incredible the food became complementary... a very good addition. Definitely an experience to be repeated.
Honestly the best service we have had in many of the best restaurants in Dubai.

Posted by: mohanned on 10 Oct ' 09 at 05:58

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

everything was just perfect in this restaurant... the food was amazing.. the view outside is really beautiful and the setting from the inside is really nice.. the service is very good...
i advice all to try this restaurant.. before going there i read the reviews over here and could not make up my mind.. but i am really happy that i went there.. and it was one of the most amazing dinners i had in dubai or anywhere else...
very romantic and beautiful..

Posted by: sheena on 29 Sep ' 09 at 19:15

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

Well,so after reading 20 smthing positive reviews listed here,i decided to give pai thai,the oh so romantic place,a try as it was a dear frnds bday.So we arrive with a reservation and mind you,a confirmed one at tht,and we get NO TABLE,we r made to wait for atleast 45 minutes before we r finally shown the table which is somehow shoved in the corner facing the door so tht all we can really look at is...well...the DOOR,tht says a lot for good customer service.to top it all,the confused hostess first does the traditonal thai greeting and wen we r about to ask her about our table,she cuts us midway saying "wait please" while she does the same fake greeting to someone else who strolled in after us.WOW,to the etiquette!
so v r seated,looking not to happy and our order arrives an hour late after left wondering wut really happened to our wok fried chicken and chicken curry with coconut shoots.the food i order from a mini chinese rest near my place does better chicken than pai thai.the wok fried was so fried tht it was an effort to chew it,the curry was flavor-less.
now coming to the attentiveness to the staff:if u call confused,worried and hurried people of pai thai:STAFF,then its a shame.big time improvisation needed
Decor:is a JOKE,please.the abra ride is perhaps the only OK thing bout the whole place,the interiors r plain,the ambience is nothing to rave about and the arrangement of seats is awkward.
OVERALL:OVERRATED AND OVER HYPED,SPEND the hard earned cash smwhere else

Posted by: Papani on 30 Aug ' 09 at 18:03

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

Last Thursday 27 of August 2009 me and my wife went for honeymoon dinner at Paithai restaurant and it was a mind blowing exprienced we ever had.
i am from Greece and we have many best restaurant of the world but when i went to this restaurant i gave my salute the way my wife expressed to me. this our first time in Dubai but been many times in Thailand but never tasted food like here in Thailand and service was amazing.
our surprise dinner was hosted by my brother with out telling us because he used to stay in Dubai but he did not join for dinner and everything paid by him and i do not know how much was bill. The way we enjoyed with food and service i want to salute for manager and his serving people because they are very friendly and helpful and giving service more than what we expected. restaurant was full, some kids, bit noisy and tables are very near to each other but we considered this as a summer time. one of serving person told me that they have the best romantic table at outside terrace and open after summer. we are planning to come back again to have dinner at terrace.
After our dinner we asked my brother how did he find about this resturant and he told me that it was from time out magazine than we started serching in web side. they really deserve thess awards as they havewon best romantic restaurant and best Thai restaurant in Dubai. Food is great and better than Thailand and service is no way to compare even we can not find in european city and Friendly serving people. we wish for good luck we will tell our friends to come and visit this restaurant and thank you so much for timeout magazine for allowing us to give our feedback.
Once again thank you for Paithai team for making our honeymoon as a memorable in our life............

Posted by: Arwa Manager on 30 Aug ' 09 at 08:25

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

Yesterday, 29th August 2009, was my second time at Pai-Thai, but my husband's first. Because I had been there a couple of years earlier, when I wanted to pick a romantic restaurant for my husband's birthday, Pai-Thai came to my mind instantly.

When we got to Al Qasr and made way to the dhow, he was quite impressed. He was certain this was going to be a romantic evening.
The table we were seated at had an A/C outlet just above us and because of the humidity, it was dripping water. The waiter profusely apologised and made arrangements to have us seated elsewhere. At the other table, not only did the waiter come back and apologise for the incovenience (although it wasn't much inconvenience since we hadn't even ordered yet), but so did the restaurant manager.

We ordered the veg spring rolls for starters, but found it to be quite bland. For our main course, we had the wok-fried noodles with prawns, the wok-fried crispy chicken and the deep-fried hammour in spicy sweet & sour sauce. My husband thought the hammour wasn't fresh, although I couldn't tell. I enjoyed the hammour the most and the chicken the least. The prawns in the noodles were very fresh.

We were about to order dessert when a few waiters & waitresses came in singing Happy Birthday aloud and we were so engrossed in our conversation that not only had I forgotten I'd asked for something special to be done when I had called to reserve a table, my husband had forgotten it was his birthday :) The cake they bought us was the best part of the evening. It was delicious.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience, the service was excellent - not too attentive, but good enough for them to refill our glasses without having to be called :) The food was good, but the pricing was maybe slightly more than average; our bill came up to AED 410/-.

I'd return to the restaurant, but my husband probably won't (he said it was because he wanted to keep it as a memory and not dine there again or with anyone else either).

Posted by: Dean and Kate Biskupovich on 10 Jul ' 09 at 14:44

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Last night we want ed Thai food. Mango Tree and Zuma were booked unless you wanyted to eat at 11PM. We opted for Pai Thai as it was highy recommended by Time Out. We made a reservation for 2 people for 8 PM and received an SMS confirmation. Sorted!
Our experience started out great with the corny little boat ride to the restaurant. My wife loved it. Upon arrivng, we were a bit confused where the entrance was as there was no one to guide us. We eventually barged through one of the side doors to the dismay of the existing diners. A waiter then guided us to the main lobby/entrance and were told there were no tables availbale. Isn't that what reservations are for? However, there was a table located in the main entrance, BEHIND the day bed where the live music was. Not romantic at all and to top it off, it was annoying as there was a non-stop influx of hot, sun burnt tourist in shorts and phones ringing. I though...isn't this a 5 star hotel and restaurant where a semi-decent dress code was applicable? I guess not. Although...my wife wantedto stay ...I didn't.
We decided to stay and browse through our menus with menu lights as it was a bit dark BEHIND the day bed. As our table was behind the day bed and near the entrance doors, we couldn't help noticing the constant flow of people opening and closing the doors to either come in or go out for a smoke.
We ordered and then waited to see if the food would make up for the horrible, un-romantic atmosphere and ambiance.
We order the spicy beef anbd chicken salads. the meat inboth was a bit on teh dry side and the sauces tasted teh same. Thumbs down.
I ordered my favourite soup, the Hot and Sour Chicken, which came out OK but tasted like any other hot and sour soup. Could have been better.
For the mains, my wife ordered the fried hammour which was excellent. I ordered the fish curry. The curry could have been red, green but I found it very ordinary. Nothing special.
To be a little positive, the staff were very friendly and helpful, although none of them were originally Thai. The coconut margarita was also excellent.
The bill was more than I expected for a sub-par meal (770 AED).
All in all......we will not be returning to this restaurant. I will be going to my favourite, more authentic (with real thai cooks and staff), tastier, cheaper Thai joint......Smiling BKK! See ya!!!

Posted by: Lav on 27 Jun ' 09 at 09:01

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

well like most of the people here i was pretty confused too abt where to take my date for dinner and after reading the amazing reviews here i ditched the bocadillo in atlantis for pai thai in madinat and i was glad i did so!

everything from the romantic ambience of madinat to the boat ride to the food was amazing. for a moment i felt we were on our honeymoon and totally out of Dubai. loved it!

to add a little humor to the romantic dinner there is a thai dancer which comes around dancing right next to your table and we had a good laugh. it was something very unique though, good stuff!

the food was AMAZING, bt what was pretty ANNOYING was after every dish a person would come and ask you how it was, sometimes 2, like they jst want to hear us praising! at one point i thought the waiters were TOO sweet! bt its better than nt attending to you!

overall, go there and you'l love it!
park at the madinat souk parking and walk it up towards the boat ride!

Posted by: S. Faraz Ahmed on 25 Jun ' 09 at 13:25

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

We went there for our anniversay, and it was great, the food was excellent and so was the place. The ride to the restaurant by the abra was a unique experience as well. At the time of booking, I had mentioned that it would be our anniversary, so they gave us a small choclate mousse cake on the house, which made the evening even more memorable. The menu selection is a little limited but the food nevertheless good.

Posted by: ss on 16 Jun ' 09 at 23:12

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

After we read the reviews here we decided to have dinner here. The ambiance was amazing. If we hadn't read about the dhow ride from here we would have missed a spectacular ride.
Our disappointment was when we chose the 3 course set menu for a certain price. The dishes were not that appetizing. We regretted instantly for not choosing a la carte.
Helpful hint: You can get your valet validated at the restaurant.

Posted by: Stefanie on 15 Jun ' 09 at 13:04

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What an awesome restaurant. I went with my two best friends and we had a great time. Extraordinary service, excellent thai food. My friend asked for a very mild version of curry and it just came as that. The advice on the wine selection was perfect.

If you want to start your evening with a really nice dhow trip, make a reservation at the restaurant - then you will receive a confirmation number. In the evening you go to Souk Madinat and take a dhow from there. It is free if you can present the confirmation number.
Very lovely!

Posted by: zina on 28 May ' 09 at 22:43

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

Simply the best! 5 starred ambience, food and service, 3 starred pricing. My favourite restaurant in Dubai!!

Posted by: CD on 13 Apr ' 09 at 18:39

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Very very spicy food.

Posted by: Tina Calaunan on 10 Apr ' 09 at 21:00

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

I have been to the restaurant last night after reading the awards and reviews they have received from this website. The whole experience is really mind blowing and had definitely inpressed my guests from Thailand and myself. I am very gladful to read the recommendation and i believe they deserved the recognition.
Food is truly authentic and impressive. Quality and quantity exceed our expectaion. Even though it looks like the restaurant is very busy but the service is still very attentive. We are pampered like royal family! Highly recommended for someone who likes to try authentic Thai food with a touch of romantic. :)

Posted by: Susanne Pier on 05 Apr ' 09 at 13:36

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

Service and food is totally over rated.
Ask a thai nationality if you want to know if the food is good, the thai stall food in emirates shopping mall serve better quality food.

Posted by: CJ on 03 Apr ' 09 at 06:27

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• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Very disappointed, came here for our wedding anniversary and seeing as it just won the award we thought it would be amazing. Unfortunately the staff were not very knowledgable about the food or helpful towards vegeterians and we were very let down by the food and menu. For the very high cost of eating here we expected to be blown away by the quality and service and we very underawed. We won't ever be coming back here and also found it to be very crowded and noisy. The poor thai lady forced to grimace and dance through the diners when the music wasn't audible out on the deck was a bit of a laugh though, at least until we got the bill....the ban thai cocktail was a winner though.

Posted by: khalid mahmood akhtar on 01 Apr ' 09 at 16:13

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

very nice

Posted by: Ahmed Ashour on 17 Mar ' 09 at 07:53

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

Actually I can rate it also as the best THAI restaurant in Dubai, in addition to its fabulous location for having a good food in a romantic atmosphere.
Recomended for Thai food lovers

Posted by: Andrew Bogdan on 09 Mar ' 09 at 20:25

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

Pai Thai is the most amazing restaurant I have ever been to. The overall experience was amazing from being picked up on a gondola to being dropped off at the Pai Thai. The food is exquisite and served authentically. As for the young Thai lady dancing, it says it all. It was that special on the night of March 7th 2009, that I proposed to my amazing partner Elizabeth. The scenary, ambience and service pushed me to an emotional limit, let alone the couple behind us. So thank you Pai Thai for making that evening the best ever.......!

Posted by: Atif Majid on 01 Mar ' 09 at 12:28

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

I have been to this restaurant atleast 10 times, and tonight is going to be my 11th.
Everytime I have friends visiting me from abroad, this is where I entertain them.
The food, the ambiance and the service is excellent.

Posted by: IRENE on 25 Feb ' 09 at 15:14

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

Best Thai restaurant I have ever been. Excellent food, excellent service, fantastic ambience. To try

Posted by: Alvin Gho on 09 Feb ' 09 at 12:08

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

I went there for dinner last night with my family The restaurant is amazingly romantic with the nice abra ride along the waterway of Madinat Jumeirah. I just came back from Thailand last month and the food here are definitely very authentic and delicious. Service is very attentive too. Highly recommended!

Posted by: Wuttikorn S on 03 Feb ' 09 at 23:07

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

I went for dinner last couple days...it was great experience and great atmostphere and great foods

Posted by: Steve Bartholomew on 13 Jan ' 09 at 09:49

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

I went to this restaurant in January 2008 and it was fantastic!

I could not recomend it more, the food was devine and the atmosphere is excellent.

After catching and Abra up the internal river, I proposed to my girlfriend whilst sitting outside... the perfect spot!

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