Iliana Restaurant — Restaurant in Dubai

Hi,

I dined at Iliana restaurant in Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab last Friday with my parents to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We sat outdoors.

Booking ID reference ILI-BK42744RP4XRAY

The dinner segment was perfect - we enjoyed our food, view and ambiance. We were well taken care of by our waiter & waitress. A Tunisian man, and an Indian woman.

Post birthday celebration & paying the bill (approx. 1,600dhs), the wind grew stronger. The outdoor umbrellas were kept open during the winds and eventually one got knocked off and landed directly on my chest, just above my heart, with the wooden leg landing spearheaded on me. All the drinks on the table also spilled all over my mother’s clothes.

I was in shock, in pain and was in obvious trauma with tears pouring down my face. This umbrella was huge, heavy and extremely painful, and landed on my chest.

The service team took the umbrella off me and placed it back in its original location. The manager did not come to check on us. Our waitress however took her time on multiple occasions to address me, check on me & gave me ice along with some ice cream to try to console me. It was obvious that I was extremely upset yet still no manager came.

So my father called one of the managers, who said his name was Sebastian. We explained our frustration and disappointment at his lack of responsibility and care for customer service. We were extremely upset and that I was physically hurt. However his response was cold and uncaring. I was surprised and disgusted by his behavior. He did not care, bother to come and check on an injured customer who was put in danger under his purview!

It was as if we were bothering him by telling him I’m hurt and he has to do his job by making sure his guest is ok. Prior to that the bill was already paid, so I also mentioned that I’m not looking for any monetary compensation but more so a service recovery and an actual care for the customer. I was only told it was because they “were very busy”.

In addition to the lack of customer service, managing any establishment with outdoor umbrellas, management should have instructed the staff to close the umbrellas during windy weather. It’s basic common sense protocol. So the injury was due to restaurant’s negligence, specifically the management.

I have worked in f&b since 11 years and beyond the negligence and lack of safety protocol, the way he simply and genuinely did not care; did not offer a single remorse for the situation and didn’t even come back to us or tell us goodbye with some recovery of any sorts, showed me he is a disgrace to the jumeirah group, with such an established reputation behind them.

Again, I’m not here to complain for a compensation, but I had to take an X Ray today and ended up with medicine to look after my sore hit after this experience.

Extremely disappointed, shocked and cannot believe this is coming from Jumeirah group and in their most prestigious venture Marsa Al Arab.

I urge you to look into this as quickly because you have a customer safety issue and customer service issue. I will also be filing an official complaint with the Ministry of...

Disappointing Experience Despite the Beautiful Setting

The interior of the restaurant is undoubtedly beautiful, and the view from the terrace—overlooking the iconic Burj Al Arab—is truly stunning. However, this is where the list of positives unfortunately ends.

As loyal patrons of the Jumeirah Group, we regularly dine at various restaurants across their properties and usually have excellent experiences. However, this particular visit was by far the worst we’ve had.

The general manager of this restaurant demonstrated a shocking level of unprofessionalism and incompetence that I’ve never encountered anywhere else, especially not in a high-end establishment. We had a reservation at 6:30 PM for a business dinner. Two hours into the meal—without having even finished—we were approached by the manager and asked to move to the bar counter. This is unacceptable behavior in any setting, let alone in a luxury hotel like Marsa Al Arab.

He insisted that our table was only booked for two hours, which is simply untrue. My assistant made the reservation and was never informed of any time limit. I personally reviewed the call recordings from our side to confirm this. If the restaurant does not record calls, that’s their internal issue, but there is absolutely no record of us being told we would have to vacate the table.

To make matters worse, the manager stood next to us for 30 minutes, insisting we relocate—even though we hadn’t finished our meal and were in the middle of a business meeting. This completely ruined the evening and left a very negative impression on my guest.

The food was equally disappointing. A simple salad of tomatoes and cucumbers featured rubbery tomatoes, and the truffle pasta came with inexplicable pieces of raw fish—an odd and unpleasant combination.

It’s clear that this restaurant lacks proper staff training, and that issue starts at the top. When the general manager is unfit for the role, it’s impossible for the restaurant to succeed. This experience was not only disappointing—it was embarrassing.

I strongly advise against visiting this restaurant, especially if you are planning an...

We made a dinner reservation at Iliana to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. The restaurant was informed in advance, but that effort clearly didn’t matter. We were seated at what can only be described as a children’s-sized table—so small that we spent the entire dinner shifting plates and glasses around just to avoid them falling off the edge.

Our waitress was kind and attentive, and she’s the only reason this review gets even one star.

My wife ordered the Greek salad, which—oddly—did not contain any actual salad. Instead, it was a bowl full of oversized, under-ripe tomatoes. A creative twist? Sure. A tasty one? Not really.

I ordered the Waygu Tomahawk steak. It arrived ice cold. Not lukewarm. Ice. Cold. I flagged this to our waitress, who went straight to the manager. And then we waited. And waited. For 20 minutes, the manager blatantly ignored us—until I had to call him over myself.

When I asked him why he chose to ignore me after being told my dish wasn’t up to par, he had no explanation. Just silence and a weak offer: a free piece of cake. I told him to keep the cake and bring the check.

Only after I mentioned that I was a guest of the Burj Al Arab did his tone shift. But by that point, the damage was done.

As we were leaving, the general manager stopped us. He apologized and claimed to have already heard what happened, said it wasn’t right, and insisted it didn’t reflect the restaurant’s standards. We later learned that when our waitress initially raised my complaint, the first manager told her not to worry—they’d just offer us cake. That was their solution for ruining a milestone dinner.

The GM promised to message me the next day to make it right. He didn’t. Can't say I'm surprised.

If you’re celebrating something important—or just hoping for a quality meal—Iliana is not the place. There are too many better options nearby where your time, money, and occasion will actually...