The MAINE Street Eatery Restaurant, Studio City — Restaurant in Dubai

We all know Maine has a lovely ambience decor wise. Honestly, I think the food is over rated for the price, but I love giving a place a chance.

Working in the service industry as well as security sector for 25 years, I've never felt so belittled and looked down on as what I did dining here. I was with my 80+ yr old father, we were dressed smart casual, we were a walk in. The lady greeted us as we walked into the extension, I mentioned we had no reservation. She was lovely and chatty and escorted us to the grey haired man 'in charge' at the computer. "Hi, reservation name", he stated. I mentioned I didn't have one and was looking for a table for two. "Ha hmmm let's see if you are lucky" was stated. I noticed 4 tables outside and minimum 3 inside, but maybe they are reserved I thought. I was offered a big table of 5 in front of the AC unit or a table of four next to the kitchen that was later split in two for us.

For a well travelled man who has lived in the sticks by the ocean, my father said the black cod was 'ok, nothing to write home about, pretty sloppy'. He's not a judgy man and was just visiting. The clam linguine for me was bland and watery, black pepper didn't even help. I regret not sending it back. The pasta was cooked perfect and the side bread was delicious.

I tried to get the attention of any waiter, I noticed ours was busy cutting the salted sea bass. Eventually someone acknowledged and told the grey haired man. No one came for 8-10min, (maybe busy, but not the grey haired man, I tried to get his attention but he looked away). My original waiter came over to ask for another drink order, I informed him we were ok and we have been waiting for the bill. He said OH and took the plates, delivered them, sauntered to the desk and said something to the grey haired man who looked up towards our table and smirked to his colleague. It was quite obvious something was mentioned about me. Possibly I'm wrong, who knows! The bill came and I was told "just scan the QR code and pay", i said I will pay via their machine with my fathers card thanks. He slowly walked towards the grey haired man and gestured something, to which the grey haired man rolled his eyes, flicked his head up and whilst smirking looked at my table/at me who was observing their actions, his head went down to the computer. The waiter returned and put the machine in front of me with no word asking dirhams or the bank cards currency. And then walked away.

I would advise some of your staff to have a bit of a reality check and think about the industry they are in and how body language makes up for over 80% of what we say. But please do not get me wrong, I did NYE here and everything was perfect. Constructive feedback for individuals is an asset to...

IG: eatgosee The Maine is well known to me from their established residence on the JBR curating a classy, sophisticated location to sit in a dark wooden booth or sidle up to a bar stool and sip carefully crafted cocktail. This vibe has been replicated on a smaller scale to a well positioned ground floor restaurant of the Studio One Hotel. Frankly this area of Dubai is a drought for decent bars and restaurants notwithstanding the phalanx of villa developments nearby. The outside terrace and pergola area will be very popular during the cooler Dubai months here.

We positioned ourselves at the bar where service is quick not just for drinks but also you can grab waiters as they walk by. The cocktail menu is a carefully built menu of options and one of the better cocktail menus in Dubai in my view.

The food: we opted for a few light bites and snacks but - price wise - most menu items are below 100 dhs which is good value. We opted for a selection of starters: short rib croquettes, hamachi crudo and the classic steak tartare. The croquettes are twice the size of a gold ball, darker milk chocolate coloured crumbly crust which cracks to reveal meaty threads of moist short rib and a surprise stuffing of gruyere cheese spiked with grassy jalapeño. I would definitely order again. The classic tartare is nicely cubed (likely by hand) with slightly chunky of filet steak lightly seasoned but no spice and no egg yolk (which I missed a little). Overall a good dish and refrains from those creamy or cheesy elements which plagues too many steak tartare these days. The hamachi crudo was the most memorably course like a palate cleanser after rich meaty courses with its light slivers of hamachi marinade in chilli, zesty lime dressing and pickled watermelon. This is a beautifully light dish - I wish there was a bigger portion!

I will definitely return and looking forward to eating my way through the...

I have always enjoyed visiting this restaurant with my husband, both in this location and the one in BusinessBay. Unfortunately, our recent experience at the Studio One Hotel branch left us deeply disappointed, mainly due to the rude and unprofessional behavior of the manager on duty.

We arrived for happy hour, ordering drinks as usual, and it was clear from the beginning that the manager was upset we weren’t ordering food. He even instructed the waiter not to serve us bread, which felt quite off-putting. Fortunately, the waiter brought it to us regardless. We arrived around 4:45 PM, and the waiter kindly informed us that he would hold our order until 5 PM to ensure we received the happy hour pricing. We appreciated this gesture, but unfortunately, things went downhill from there.

After enjoying our drinks, we were shocked to receive a bill with full prices instead of the happy hour discount. When we asked the waiter, he seemed confused, as though there was an attempt to fool us. It’s concerning that a waiter would hand over a bill without checking it first. The most disappointing part was when the waiter went to speak with the manager and supervisor about the issue; we could see them laughing and glancing at our table, which felt incredibly unprofessional and disrespectful.

Eventually, they corrected the bill from AED 745 to AED 407, which was the correct happy hour price. Despite the mistake and our obvious dissatisfaction, the manager did not bother to come over to apologize. When my husband spoke to him on our way out, he only blamed the system, showing no accountability for the poor experience.

It’s a shame that such a beautiful and inviting place is marred by a manager who lacks basic respect and professionalism. I hope the restaurant can address this issue, as it really detracts from the...