Kimuraya Authentic Japanese Restaurant - 2nd Branch JBR Marina — Restaurant in Dubai

“Kimura-Ya could possibly be the best casual dining, authentic, izakaya-style Japanese restaurant in Dubai”. I wrote that in my review of their newly opened Business Bay branch in August 2020. And here we are in December of the same (fabulous) year and I find myself writing another review for a second newly opened restaurant, this time at the Habtoor Grand Resort in JBR. Hello! What’s going on here? Obviously, someone at Kimura-Ya didn’t get the “there’s a pandemic of biblical proportions ravaging the world” memo. Located in a stand-alone building beside the swimming pool, it boasts a large outdoor dining deck, shaded (where required) by parasols, which one can as easily walk onto from the pool as from the entrance of the resort – a minute away. The interior has as much space as the outdoor area, yet doesn’t nearly have the same colourful, vibrant ambiance of the original branch.

My daughter was in the mood for ramen, something we had not tried at the Business Bay branch. Yet neither of us were tempted by the plain-Jane looking Shio Ramen on the weekday set menu nor could our waitress get us excited about anything else. So, my Yasmin (a sucker for udon noodles) ordered a traditional Japanese Kake Udon while I went the Korean route and ordered the Yukgaejang Ramen, a spicy beef soup. We also ordered some Edamame, Shrimp Tempura and Chicken Gyoza to start. Not, however, before I was brought an ice-cold pint of Kirin – gotta get our priorities straight, right? I mean, here we are sitting on the outside deck, overlooking the pool at mid-day and beer! beer! beer! is all I can think of…

The starters were escorted to our table by a squadron of Kamikaze flies who spent the entirety of our meal practising dive bombing manoeuvres. The ones which were foolish enough to come close to my Kirin died instantly. The rest convinced us that, unless Kimura-Ya has fly fans on their tables the next time we visit, we will sit inside….or visit at night.

Having recently dined at the amazing Maru Udon in Business Bay, I honestly thought I had tried the best Kake Udon in Dubai. Well, Kimura-Ya’s version is just as authentic and gives the boys at Maru a good run for their money. I found its broth perfectly balanced and the udon noodles had just the right amount of bite without being chewy – seriously delicious and much, much better than my also good but totally overshadowed ramen.

Service is a Kimura-Ya strong point and this was evident in the warm reception we received, the patience in which our order was taken and the speed in which our food was brought to the table. Understandably it’s still not as well-oiled a machine as the Business Bay branch but I am sure Mogi-san, the experienced Japanese manager who launched Fujiya and also Biz Bay, will have things running as smooth as a Seiko in no time. I found it amusing when one of the Filipina staff came to me in the midst of a bout of arm flapping, a fly swatting technic I developed during my meal there. I though she had come to help me take down a few more banzai buzzers, but it was actually to say that she remembered me from the Business Bay branch where she worked with my favourite supervisor – Jeca. Now if that doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy, I don’t know what will.

Kimura-Ya remains a breath of fresh air in a market segment overcrowded with bubble gum sushi joints and pretentious, over-priced poser-parlours (of which the Habtoor Group is no stranger). It takes the authentic casual dining izakaya experience of the original in Business Bay outdoors and poolside offering some of the best Japanese food in Dubai. I am already looking for an excuse to go back, this time either with Speedos and a flyswatter...

1 star for the average food.

Looking at the prices on the menu, you’d expect a different vibe and exceptional service. Everything was poor from the second we entered. We were celebrating a special occasion, service was so terrible that I didn’t want to inform the staff regarding the occasion. It was our first visit at such a restaurant, there were multiple different menus and a lot on the menu. We waited over 15 minutes and no one bothered to attend to us. I had to get up and search for the staff, and moreover, she was not able to answer my question as she did not understand what “ teppanyaki” meant. This was the same confusion I faced when I called the other branch who did not even understand the question relating to “live grill station”!

The waitress then directed me to another male staff who clarified they do not have teppanyaki.

I went back to my table and no one attended to me till over another 12 minutes until I specially called out and requested to please explain the various menus. We were lost as this was our first time and not a single recommendation was give and hence we ordered the basic.

I’m usually very quick to order but since this was a new concept and menu was over priced ,you’d expect good service. Food was very average and service was pathetic. Ambience felt like a usual average hotpot spot. Not worth a dime !

No wonder the place was close to empty. Amazed at the reviews as they do not serve justice to the quality of food and service . Very disappointed considering I chose to dine at this unworthy place for a...

Kimuraya Marina was one of my favorite restaurants and whenever we have friends meet up we would recommend this restaurant but this time it was a massive disappointment as the standards have dropped drastically.

We always go for the wagyu BBQ with alcohol package.

Things that have changed:

Beer is no longer bottled Kirin or Asahi beer. Instead it's Heineken and it's served in a tiny glass. Every time we order it would take 15 mins to arrive, yet the waitresses are not busy. Every order we need to hunt them down which was not pleasant over dinner.

30 mins wait the BBQ grill did not come, again we had to ask numerous times. Service was extremely slow. The meat was ok but very thinly sliced, way too thin. The wagyu sticks arrived frozen, after cooking it was not nice full of water inside.

The Japanese dishes that's included does not match the menu anymore. They bring tiny portions. We asked for 3 plates of sashimi. On the menu picture each plate has 6 slices. We were presented a joke portion of 3 slices for 3 people. The rest of the dishes were the same and seems the waitresses deliberately not put in our requested order. The table behind were also dissatisfied with the portions. It would have been fine but again it was hard to get the waitresses attention so you waste time looking for them rather than spending with friends.

We did not enjoy dining here this time and will not return. We hope the management can review above points and bring back the old Kimuraya. In the end we spent over 1,000 AED for a...