Dandana Gourmet Restaurant-مطعم دندنة غورميه — Restaurant in Abu Dhabi

Abysmal.

Sometimes the lord gives me patience I don’t have and tonight I think my theory was proven. I can’t recall everything, possibly because my infuriation had me in a state of red mist. Journey with me through this harrowing experience.

This is by far one of the worst experiences I have ever had in a restaurant, not just in Abu Dhabi, but anywhere in the world. We are 5 adults and one toddler (almost 2 years old). We walked in and found a place to sit. Only half of us were given menus, not directly, but as a stack as the waiter swished past. The place was super empty, yet the staff decided it was wise to bring some shisha smokers to sit directly behind the toddler, and we are indoors with absolutely no doors open or alternative ventilation (no wonder the place smelled like tobacco and a mix of flavours). No thanks to gross negligence and carbon monoxide poisoning for my 2 year old so we ask to be reseated.

Now we get to the food. We were recommended to have a platter that cost aed 175 and a set of cold mezza for 95, as that should be enough for all of us. Out of the five adults, only one had a full appetite so we expected to pack some away. Nope! We finished and not a single one of us was close to being full. Even the toddler was miserable at the end; as he lost all hope, he just wanted to have milk and call it a night.

We ordered more food, 16 lamb cubes for aed 70, and I asked to speak to the manager about their shocking portions. It was difficult to even get the attention of staff because they all stood far away chatting together (waiter 101 fail). In comes General Manager, I sensed a bit of attitude from him, but I gave it a go nonetheless. Sadly he didn’t seem very interested and even said to me that this meal is usually enough for a group like us… even though 2 barely eat and 2 others were not that hungry? Gaslight alert 🚨 so at the end I made my point clear and he politely said “ok, thank you” and walked away with the problem unresolved and unaddressed. I assumed maybe he did something to address the problem afterwards, and perhaps wasn’t the type to talk a lot. I didn’t want to assume the worst and certainly didn’t want to nag him about the problem if he left, but it seems I should have assumed the worst. He really just walked away and that was the end of the story. In this historic disrespect, not a fraction of a gram of f* was given. I couldn’t even tell you that he left me hanging, this was more like being left in space, drifting indefinitely 🪐✨

Finally, after keeping the toddler distracted by the combined expertise of both of his parents, grandparents and uncle, we receive the lamb cubes and a staggering THIRD of the 16 are pure fat (check photo). At this point, I didn’t even bother asking to talk to them. To think that I can somehow convince this atrocious service to generate new gram of f* is akin to expecting a unicorn to bring me the card machine to pay, and by the famous words of Regina George - “it’s not going to happen”… Well, at least the toddler got to eat 😕

I would love for this to be the end, but in reality, the bill arrived at more than aed 350 with 5 still hungry adults and a toddler with no patience left to go to sleep. Then we found out the bottle of 1.5L Arwa water cost us aed 16.25 they love to put the cherry on top (if you haven’t already noticed from the decor). No one even pour a single glass of water for us, we had to do it ourselves because they needed to have a great chat.

And that bring us back to the first point. Sometimes the lord gives me patience I really don’t have - because we just got swindled slowly and politely, with a smile and no effort - and somehow I managed to walk out without blowing my...

Shockingly bad value, avoid like the plague. Very poor customer service and a misleading menu.

Food -- expect half of what you would get at other establishments. As shown in the photos, the highest priced skewer set at 175 AED gets you enough to feed 1 hungry person, two if you're lucky. For some reason you only get 2 pieces (yes two cubes, not skewers) of chicken, four cubes of lamb, two minced lamb koftka, one single lamb chop, four small lamb meatballs with some small insignificant salads. Sounds perfect for one, but they told us that it feeds FIVE adults.

If you look at the menu, it actually appears as if we got the 95 AED mixed grill instead. As the 175 AED set does not mention any eggplant or chicken (which the 95 AED mixed grill states is included). When we brought this up to the waitors and escalated to the manager, they all feigned ignorance to the cost of the food and their earlier statement that it would feed five adult people.

If you see the other picture, for some reason a plate of lamb cubes with fries, salad, etc costs only 70. Why would you pay 2.5 times for the 175 AED set when you could get more quality meat this way? Looks like the fancy fire candle that came with the 175 AED set costs 80 AED by itself.

For the record, the lamb plate that cost 70 AED, 1/3 of it was pure inedible fat. Not only is the price not commensurate with the amount of food, the quality isn't even comparable to cheaper restaurants.

We asked about the lamb chops for 80 AED which we didnt end up ordering as you only get FIVE miserable pieces. At other places, you could feed 2-3 hungry people alone with 80 AED. But it is instead portioned like an appetizer here.

Everything else is overpriced, cheap bottled water 1.5L is 15 AED, its no wonder they don't show you the prices for water (nor for soft drinks on the menu). The cold starter set costs 95 AED.

Service -- for the record the place could seat hundreds but I only saw five tables occupied but the many waiters stood around uninterested and distant. They threw down a stack of menus and didnt bother to hand it to us, in fact, for a party of five they only bothered to give us three menus.

We had to get up out of our seats and walk over to them to get our attention.

They didn't refill our bread until we asked.

When we expressed our immense disatisfaction at the quantity of the food, they didn't care. No deductions off the bill, no apologies, no care at all given.

Atmosphere -- there is a heavy stench of shisha indoors, yes very nonsensically they do shisha indoors without any ventilation. This is a serious health hazard. From the moment you walk into the restaurant you are hit with the stench at full force. Made me want to leave immediately. Place overall is very dark empty and dreary.

TLDR; Go to alternatives like Karam al sham or Zahrat lebnan, you'll get better service, more and nicer food for a quarter of what you pay here. I'm not surprised no one comes here. Management and frankly everything needs a...

We used to be a regular customer who lives nearby. We regret coming to this restaurant and will no longer come here because our last two visits were extremely unpleasant. Here is what happened

1. On the second-to-last visit, i came with my family including my 1.5-year old son. We asked specifically for a non-smoking area (because we have a small kid) and the waiter prepared a table for us in a non-smoking area. After eating for some time, 2 ladies came and sitting next to us in the non-smoking area and choose to smoke cigarettes. We immediately complained to the waiter and he just said he will do something about it. At the end, nothing happened and both ladies still enjoying their cigarettes. We decided to close a curtain of our table to protect our son from the smoke and raised another complain. Again, nothing happened. Finally, we had to raise our voice when complaining about it again right before we paid our food. Again, nothing happened and nobody said anything to those two ladies.

2. On our last visit, it was for iftar buffet during Ramadhan. This time i also went with my family and my 2-year old son. We inquire the price for the buffet, and somewhat the waiter were not sure whether our 2-year old son needs to be charged. At this point we didnt feel right because for sure our son is not the first 2-year old person that came to the restaurant and we cant understand why the waiter did not know whether to charge a 2-year old person. Then she came again and said they will charge 60AED for our 2-year old son and he could also play in the children area next to the restaurant. We now feel the restaurant tried to force this price on us, so we said we will only take a buffet for two adults. The waiter then said ok. At the end, our bill shows that we still have to pay for 60AED for our 2-year old son while he did not take his share of the food. We did not want to spend much time arguing to your management and chose to pay anyway, because i'd rather spend the rest of my time and energy for something more valuable.

So i want to say goodbye dandana gourmet. We will not step our foot again in your restaurant. I hope you learn your lesson as much as we...