LOWE Dubai — Restaurant in Dubai

This place has lost its mojo, as if someone clueless took over the kitchen.

My no.1 takeaway from the visit was that the food simply did not work. You have no idea as to the sizes of dishes you are going to get and it is very difficult to combine them into a proper dinner. Large dishes like rice and lamb shoulder are listed side by side with petite prawn dishes. The serving staff was a bit clueless too. They talked me out of the aforementioned lamb boasting how great the prawns were. The prawns were frankly atrocious, impossible to separate from shells and grilled in a way that a lot of the carbon from the grill ended up stuck on them. It was the most disgusting seafood dish I have had for years.

We also ordered a sashimi style starter, served on a green salad leaf. That did not work either. I love my sashimi and can really appreciate it. This concoction was quite bad though, the fish was cut too small and the strong raw herbal taste of the greens rendered the fish totally tasteless. Waiter's tips as to how to eat the dish came out grotesque.

The steak was ok, but nothing special for the money, it was Carrefour quality meat, nothing wow as the pricing might suggest. Plus it was one of those dishes where the steak arrives finely sliced and gets cold in a minute, form over substance, fussy food for fussiness' sake. Do not get me wrong, I love fancy food. When it works that is, and that was not the case here.

As to the deserts, gosh, how I regretted having gone for a full dinner, the madeleines with lemon custard were super nice. On the other hand the soft curd ice cream was another derailer. Although tasty, someone who should have know better decided to serve it on a bed of ice, with no separation layer in between. As a result it began immediately melting into the ice turning itself into a watery mess and you inevitably ended up putting shards of ice into your mouth. That is not an enjoyable experience I assure you. A really poorly assembled fussy dish again.

Overall the restaurant was poor value for money. It was my second, and probably last, visit to Lowe. The first visit was already some years back and I expected the surroundings to be a bit more spruced up. Alas, the residential project still sports landscaping that looks half finished and the toilette area looks positively drab and in a state of disrepair.

Dear Lowe team, this way you shall perish. Dubai is an amazing place with top quality local produce but you have no idea what to do with it. I think you also need to make up your mind as to what concept you are running. Either you are a fine dining place and you should arrange your menu into degustation sets of fine dishes, provided you can actually prepare those. You also have a license and could do wine and craft beer pairing. Frankly, I think you are out of your depth for that kind of concept. Or you could consider being more of a gastropub and shift the menu in that direction with dishes still aligned with the terroir concept, gourmet still, but more no-nonsense. Presently, you are neither and you are not getting...

This is a very good new and modern restaurant that offers a range of innovative dishes in a nice and well thought out setting.

The dining room itself has small tables for two, bench seating & larger tables with high chairs for groups. The decor is modern and fresh with some interesting art that adds to the charm. The kitchen is open and can be seen and smelt from the dining room in is nice. The kitchen is very nice and well equipped and it is good to see the kitchen team preparing the meals.

The food is very good although it is not always clear what you will be getting from the menu description. That said I have now eaten most of the dishes and they are all delicious and well cooked. It is a sharing concept restaurant so that should be kept in mind when ordering. Furthermore, they do not follow the standard Starter, Main, Desert formula which was a touch unexpected. However, it is executed very well and everything I have eaten so far has been lovely, even dishes I was a touch apprehensive about. They also have a large number of drinks most of which are made in house and completely worth trying.

The staff are friendly and very helpful. They are attentive but not in an intruding manner. All in all a really good restaurant and great concept that I would recommend to any...

LOWE: mediocre food, mediocre service.

Reservation system is not acknowledged: we were told they only had availability at the 'terrace', which is basically the concrete outside the restaurant, although we booked indoors. No acknowledgement, no greeting by staff. Also no call backs for confirmation or 2 attempts of phone calls were left unanswered/not returned.

Items on the menu unavailable: (Lobster benedict) Also we were not informed in advance while we were given the menus, although alternatives were offered during placing the order e.g. smoked salmon or avo toast with prawns.

Breakfast food was bland and overpriced: dish presentations were pretty but bland and overly priced for items offered. LOWE breakfast is 2 slices of tomatoes, 1 whole cucumber and 3 mezze with 1 slice of pita, 85 Aed. Prawn avo toast was served cold and bland with few chives and yuzu condiments.

Service staff interactions are below standard: front desk staff asked how our breakfast was before our breakfast was delivered! Our waiter did not initiate any feedback seeking conversation even though he cleared a 75% full plate. He did not seek why. Front desk staff was also serving food without appropriate PPE or apron.

Overall, a very expensive disappointment. Unpleasant experience. Never to...