Joe’s Café in The Dubai Mall, Downtown Burj Khalifa, Dubai - Restaurant Reviews

Tel: 04 434 1439
Travel: Al Doha Street

Joe’s Café

Hip crowd but less impressive food at Dubai Mall 11 Reviews

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Tucked next to the UK fashion brand Joseph on the upper echelons of The Dubai Mall, Joe’s Café seems to attract the svelte, designer-label swathed crowd. It’s not clear what Joe’s diners do, other than shop and look incredibly good and important at all times. My date and I couldn’t help but feel a little out of our league. And, when we tried to order water, we couldn’t help but feel a little affronted when we forced to spend Dhs28 on a small bottle of Voss.

The menu read well, with several surprisingly healthy options in addition to the standard soup, salad and pasta mix. As it happened, our mental image of the food exceeded what was put in front of us. The chicken came out shredded – a bizarre method that seemed to ensure the bird would taste dry, chewy and dull. The steamed vegetables that came with the dish were themselves overcooked, limp and loveless.

My date’s dish came out with a heavy cream sauce that concealed some dull-tasting scallops. The result was disappointing, especially as the meagre handful of prawns and scallops on her plate cost Dhs68.

It seems Joe’s Café likes to think of itself somewhat as The Dubai Mall’s ‘It’ restaurant, given the clientele we saw on our visit. While it’s true that there isn’t much competition in the mall, the café under-delivers on a few levels. The price isn’t exceptionally expensive, but with people watching their wallets, the café doesn’t deliver the best value for money. If Joe’s really wants to be hip, it needs to start upping the quality of the food that comes out of the kitchen.

The bill (for two)
2x Voss water Dhs56
1x Green tea Dhs18
1x Pineapple juice Dhs24
1x Scallops and Prawns Dhs68
1x Grilled chicken Dhs39
Subtotal Dhs205
Service Dhs20.50
Total Dhs220.50