Mika | Yas Marina — Restaurant in Abu Dhabi

Style over Substance, coupled with Sauna-like conditions.

Went there with a group of friends for brunch on Saturday. Prices were 449 dirhams for house beverages and 299 dirhams for the soft drinks package. I had enquired by phone in advance if there was any discount applicable and was told no, that “it is already discounted at that price.” So yeah, very expensive. But we said, what the heck, you only live once. Let’s treat ourselves. The setting, décor, presentation of everything is all top notch, superb in fact. The place oozes class and sophistication. It is beautiful. And staff were friendly. Brunch kicked off at 1.30pm and we were there on time. First up, payment. Nothing happened without formalising that first, which given the type of establishment, I found strange and to be honest, a bit annoying. Anyway…. Orders were taken for drinks, the menu was presented and we were informed then it would be sharing dishes. I wasn’t the only one at our table of 6 that raised eyebrows when that was mentioned. Especially considering the high price. The drinks came, all served beautifully. Eventually the first of the courses arrived. Servings were small, but at least there was ample and delicious bread. And we would have to eat plenty of it, as from the time we entered to the time that the main course (larger plates) arrived, it was hitting 2 hours. The food quality was good, tasty, but why such a long wait between courses and such small portions (apart from the larger plates). Also, we were seated inside. No choice considering that it was 40 degrees outside. To be honest, it felt warmer than that inside. Uncomfortably so in fact. I enquired about air conditioning (or lack thereof) and was told because the main door was open for the DJ, to presumably let the music he was playing inside spread outside, that that was the reason for the high temperatures. Sitting there, with the sun streaming in, beating on the window behind our backs, with little or no ventilation, it was very uncomfortable. Some of us were sweating a lot. And there were no curtains or blinds in evidence to shield us from the intensity of the sun piercing through. When the time came to leave, we were relieved to do so. Sitting inside felt like being in a glasshouse or a sauna. Which is unacceptable. In short, the staff were nice, and yes we enjoyed our very slowly served meal, but we all said the same on leaving. No way on earth would we go back considering the lack of air-conditioning, slow service, extremely high prices, small portions and overall not getting those basics right. A pity. A lost...

In April, we visited Mika for a mid-afternoon birthday lunch, and it was...an experience. A lot like Russian roulette, in fact.

Starting with the good stuff: the bread and dips were on point. Fluffy and flavorful. Meanwhile, the duck & waffles were legit delicious. The decor: beautiful.

From there came the twists and turns that would make for a good mystery novel. The calamari starter boasted a plenty of breading, with the squid playing hide and seek (and possibly dehydrating in the process). Every bite was like a game of “Guess the Ingredient, extra breading or dried out squid?" So exciting!

The amuse bouche was next — a single, delicate bite of peas and cream. We tragically lost ours mid-photo in a freak fork accident. We asked if it could be replaced. It was not. Thank you, we love it when restaurants boldly choose to save a few dirhams over providing top-notch customer service, especially at this price point. We appreciate this valuable lesson.

The interactive portion of the meal came next: swatting flies. We didn’t realize this was part of the experience, but Mika keeps it fresh! We noticed other tables had spinning devices to keep the flies away, but were we provided one? Nope! Perhaps having flies decorating our food like little raisins was a special experience tailored just for us. How lucky!

Dessert brought another fun surprise. We ordered the passionfruit parfait, but received something much denser — more like a freezer-burnt kulfi. Who needs layers when you can have one solid block of frozen mystery?

This was actually our second visit — the first featured a chicken schnitzel that made the Moreeb sand dune of Liwa feel wetter than the sea in comparison. How fun!

In summary, Mika is for the adventurous who love unpredictable twists at a premium price point. Will we be back? Who knows. But we’ll...

Was expecting more to be absolutely honest with regards to the reviews 4.5. The restaurant from the outside, appears to be undergoing some sort of restoration by the exterior appearance, bland and not attractive to say the least. The interior of the restaurant is welcoming but nothing too elaborate. Service was pleasant but at little biased towards the most expensive dishes on the menu, when I enquired about recommendations or chef's specials. The bread platter certainly makes an entrance all on it's own, but enjoyable( rather alot of bread). Sea bass was fresh and tender, arrived hot to eat but because the service plate was not hot or heated, went cold rather quickly, due to the air conditioning, mushroom risotto, for us was very heavy and were left feeling rather bloated. I made my observations to the serving assistant, and they made some very abnormal excuses, nether the less, my wife ordered a glass of Veuve Clicqot, unfortunately from a pre opened bottle, so was not that drama of opening the new bottle with a pop and the hiss of the effervescent fizz. Glass was a tad flat and not bubbly as expected. So the whole experience from an observation perspective, pretty...