Urban Kitchen — Restaurant in Abu Dhabi

Excellent Saturday brunch fabulous food, great service. We have been to many brunches in our 8 years living here so can really speak from experience. I would recommend this brunch to celebrate any special occasion.

In my experience there are 7 key things when it comes to a brunch: Cost Food Drinks Service Location / views Comfort / ambience Entertainment

The cost was good. We usually like to get a deal for a brunch, and the maximum discount we could find was a 25% discount using the Entertainer. The the alcohol package, which is what we would always opt for was 600 AEDs for 2 using the discount.

The food was fabulous, with lots of choice from this International style buffet, beautifully cooked and with lots of different food stations. I am not a big dessert person, as they often look better than what they taste. However, the desserts were delicious, which was a real plus.

The timings of the brunch were 1230 to 1600. Arrival at 1230 to the Orchid lounge for a pre brunch drink and then going into the brunch at 1300 hours. The Drinks on the house beverage package were excellent with delicious freshly made cocktails. The prosecco and wine tasted good and the glasses matched the relevant drinks and the brunch quality. Our glasses were never empty. What I did find disappointing was the brunch was advertised from 1230 to 1600 hours, yet at 1525 we were told it was last orders! WHY? Such a shame as it is not correctly marketed.

The Service was excellent. We had the same waiter 'David' the whole time. He was funny, clever and quick witted and really joined in our experience and made sure our table was really looked after. I don't usually call out a member of staff, but full credit to David - Well done and thank you. Someone was on hand at every possible moment.

There is no view as it is a city hotel but the seats are super comfortable and the ambience was great. It all felt up market and very special and pristine.

There was entertainment. A great live guitarist who I think was British. Great choice of music. There was also a live piano player where we had the Welcome drink.

Definitely a great brunch for a...

We recently had dinner at Urban Kitchen, the main buffet restaurant at Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi, expecting a memorable experience given the hotel’s 5-star reputation. What we encountered instead was one of the most underwhelming and poorly managed buffet experiences we’ve had in recent memory.

We arrived at 8:50 PM, a good two hours before the buffet was set to close. Yet the buffet was already in disarray — dishes were nearly empty, the serving counters were messy, and the food looked like it had been sitting out for far too long without attention. Staples like the Lamb Pot Roast, Shrimp Biryani, and Steamed Rice were in an unacceptable state — either dried out, barely lukewarm, or just not replenished. Even the so-called “live” counters had no visible staff.

What’s worse is that this isn’t a casual cafeteria — this is supposed to be a flagship dining venue of a luxury international brand. The lack of oversight, hygiene, and basic presentation was shocking. One would expect a restaurant at Dusit Thani to reflect refinement, hospitality, and culinary care. Sadly, Urban Kitchen failed on all fronts that evening.

We tried to contact the hotel via the official email (dtad@dusit.com), only to find that external messages are blocked — a baffling policy that suggests a disinterest in guest feedback or accountability. This reflects a disturbing disconnect between guest experience and management responsiveness.

We are attaching photographs that speak for themselves. If you’re considering this buffet based on past reviews or branding, I would strongly recommend reconsidering until clear improvements are made.

A luxury dinner buffet should not feel like an afterthought. Dusit can and...

This is a must-try if you are in Abu Dhabi! We tried the Theme Night Buffet on a Thursday (a late Valentine's date for me and my husband). Urban Kitchen has different theme buffet every night and for Thursday, it is Pan-Asian night. It was very delicious with a lot of varieties. We started of with the most sumptuous Spicy Laksa soup and Thai Crispy Salad which is very much recommended (definitely don't skip those!) As we are big Sushi lovers, we went next to the Sushi buffet which has a lot of mixes i.e Sashimi, Makis etc. Then we tried the Peking Duck stall which has the usual pancakes and sauce. You can also just order the duck meat and on its opposite stall it has the roasted chicken if that is your preference. There was also a whole array of Asian desserts and our favorite was the Egg Tart and Pandan Roll. There was also a whole section for main courses like Kung Pao Chicken, Mixed Fried Rice etc. In this pandemic times, they were very strict with social distancing, tables apart, wearing masks and guests are not allowed to get their own food so staff will scoop out your food whichever you point out. The staff were so welcoming and there were a enough of them to serve their guests. You did not have to wait for a staff to be finished serving one guest for your turn. Our main server, Ashima, was very helpful. She always makes sure to refill our mocktails, thanks Ashima. Saving tip for me is, it is included in the Entertainer App as "2for1 Theme Night Buffet", thank...