Nightjar Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Dubai

UPDATE : Downgrading my review because the owner only chooses to respond to positive comments but has not addressed one. Poor showing for any business owner!

THE SUMMARY

A Beautifully Decorated Cafe with a decent but pricey menu selection and a poor customer experience left me disappointed and wanting more. Seriously a shame because it is obvious the owners spent a lot of time and money to get the set-up done right but the lack of service from the staff just led to a lacklustre experience.

THE ARRIVAL

When we arrived, there was a wow moment and a great energy full of diners but that's where it ended. The staff behind the counter directed us to use the QR ordering system which I personal LOVE - no more paper menus!

THE MENU AND ORDERING

The system from Opaala didn't work for me or my companion and didn't open the menu.(Ps. There are way better QR based ordering systems out there). When we told the staff the QR code wasn't working he seemed to not believe us until he eventually came over 10 minutes later and tried for himself and he gave up and left us his phone to do it! The menu was not easy to use, I've seen better but hoorah for Nightjar for moving with the times and getting mobile ordering.

THE FOOD

The food took forever to come and waiters were hard to track down and they ran past not paying any attention to us. When the coffee came out there were no sugar options on our table. The table runner just plopped the coffee cup on the table and ran off before I could ask for the sugar. He didn't even look at us. By the time I got the sugar, my coffee was cold so it ruined it for me. When the food came, it looked beautiful but it was so oily/buttery I could barely stomach it. The long black coffee was decent but pretty small - 2 sips and it's over! For dhs80 for breakfast (Scrambled Eggs on one slice of sourdough with 2 small chicken bangers and a small coffee), I didn't feel this was good value for money compounded by the poor service and-functional menu QR system.

THE END

All in all, I'm not encouraged to return to this venue. A missed opportunity for a beautiful cafe. The owners need to get involved, improve the operations behind the counter and give their staff some customer service...

Unfortunately due to a miscommunication, a very bad experience that ended in a barrage of insults.

Rude staff member (most probably the manager judging by their nature) who made inappropriate accusations that are borderline abusive and defamatory. This man made such a scene with his raised voice to ensure all the public heard. Let it be clear, the venue looks amazing and the reviews are great, hence our decision to try it as a venue for clients.

Our mistake and I apologise for parking for a moment in the marked Bay Area (it is a small road within the venue and I did not want to block other cars. I also understand it is a goods delivery area). I never had the intention of parking there nor did I have the intention for this to escalate.

When we were trying to explain the situation, we used the word “fact” that was translated by the gentleman as a swear word which then released what can only be described as pure rage by this man that would not calm down. He does not understand how something like this can cause damage to anyones reputation, let alone be considered a crime for something that was not real.

I am not one to post, however this incident today left me very uneasy as to how someone can jump to this level. Really disappointed and with no apology from their side, I feel it must be said to anyone else who wishes to visit here, please go visit and please enjoy. Just make sure to avoid this one man who can spin the table. So lucky that there were no other patrons around who witnessed his foul attitude. I do not believe the customer is always right, however I would not take the time to write such an...

Please fix your delivery set up on Deliveroo - it is only allowing scrambled and Fred eggs to be ordered with paratha and not sourdough toast as it always has done - see latest screenshot

EDIT: Hi - thanks for your response - no need for my details, i'll explain here. My standard order is fried eggs on sourdough bread. I always order an extra egg, extra sourdough and extra bacon. That order never changes. Twice in once week the extra toast was not sent, and once the bacon was not sent. Also - if you look on Deliveroo, when you order eggs on toast now, where it used to give you options to have EITHER sourdough OR paratha, now the only option is paratha - there is no sourdough option. Not sure if this is intentional or just that the option has been left out when you rebuilt the delivery menu (I did notice that for a few days the entire menu was missing from Deliveroo - only coffee packs were available for purchase - so I don't know id during that phase this sourdough option was removed. Anyway, point is - I never want eggs with paratha, I only want eggs with your sourdough - so has that menu item changed?) Edited 9/10/25

Dunno what’s happened on your Deliveroo profiles this week but I just got the second wrong order in a week. Clearly no one is reading the additional item orders nor the notes.

This is the continuation in a downwards trend in service and quality at NightJar in general, in delivery from this store and the Greens, as well as dine-in experience at City Walk and Al Serkal.

What a pity. Used to be my weekly go-to.

I hope things turn around soon. Nowhere else I’d rather eat breakfast or...