Library Bar — Restaurant in Dubai

Thursday evening is one of the most exciting evenings of the week. This day I decided to spend in atmosphere of jazz, whiskey & cigars of old-fashioned Library Bar in a luxurious @ritzcarltondubai

🔹Food & Drinks. Food wz served very fast & it was very important, as I wz quite hungry, presentation wz precisely appealing & appetizing. Obviously chicken wings were unquestionably fresh, tasty, juicy & tender but lil bit more spicy than expected. Food menu itself was limited, not too much varied, I would call it humble, but fairly good for ‘bar food’. As for the drink menu, here I can start my dithyrambs. Veritably good offer of whiskey, scotch, bourbon, gin, cocktails & others.

🔹Service & Ambience. Staff is very attentive, helpful & friendly. As for the place itself, it has the style of real classical old-style cigar bar/lounge. Dim lights, cozy armchairs & sofas.

🔹Music & Entertainment. All that amazing atmosphere is added, supplemented & totally completed with @ciaranfoxsinger with his Sinatra’s voice, magnificent jazz & swing repertoire. Obviously it’s amazing experience. Unfortunately, live music is applicable for Thursday evening only. As for the rest of the time, there’s nice background music which is very comparable & matching with the style of the bar. Mostly it’s swing, jazz & retro compositions.

🔹Location & Parking. Obviously not the best one, as it’s in JBR, but not so deep, so, easier to reach it. Anyway, be ready to spend some time standing in a traffic. Valet parking is available.

🔹Rating. 5 out of 5....

OMG... What a rip off; after the wonderful spa experience at the One & Only, we were a tiny bit hungry, so we went for the bites menu. The breaded calamari, 80 aed (22 euros) for a few FROZEN calamari... Sincerely: chewy and absolutely tasteless; i am not sure if that or the salmon sandwich we ordered were accompanied by fries, but again a very small portion of FROZEN fries; and the salmon sandwich, 3 triangles, salmon and cream cheese (afternoon tea style,.nothing else with it, no lemon, herbs or seasoning, chives .... nothing) for 115 aed (35 euros)... I literally was shocked when i received the bill as I had not looked at the prices; but the real problem is not me not looking at prices, it's the quality offered for the price.. seriously frozen food ????? At such an hotel?! Bummer. We came back home and had dinner right after that. I could have gone to McDonald's have a fish filet and fries it would have...

Great little hidden gem of a bar that got a very high score from me almost purely on account of the excellent bar man Vasilis. He took excellent care of us while we were sat at the bar, taking his time to explain the subtlety in his creations from the herbs and slides and infusion times he felt were needed and all the way to the ice cube moulding tools used to make the perfect spherical ice (and St Regis logo ice that was very 'cool'.. . Yes pun intended). The attention to detail here is unparalleled in my limited experience of the inner workings of bars. We quickly dubbed him "the mixologist" on account of the passion and creativity he put into each drink he prepared. The world needs more...