urban kitchen

i test the buffet proposed by the urban kitchen. theplace is very nice with a lot of style. the food was tasy but the choices in the buffet  were not enough. the chef pasta was very nice since he was preparing in front of us our pasta and pizza!

ive visited urban kitchen saturday lunch buffet with my family, not much varieties, food is not tasty at all, very limited choices. first and last time, dessert was a nightmare, im not big fan of chocolate all, the chocolate was the only ingredient in their dessert items.

heard a lot about it.. but i found out that it is just fine, thought it will be much better.
good place for the people who like sea food... but for chicken fans you cannot find your goal.

i have visited urban kitchen for a saturday lunch as well as a tuesday dinner buffet. i enjoyed both visits but would recommend the tuesday buffet if you like asian food. the restaurant is really pleasant with with a nice buffet set-up. what i like about urban kitchen is that the buffet is big but not huge, making it possible to try a bit of almost everything. i especially love the desserts here. the food is good, particularly the thai cuisine. service is good. interiors are nice as well.

we of course like any other average joe, bought a groupon online & that is why it had value for money!! apart from the lavish interiors , extravagant design & soothing lights there was nothing i could find fault with. all jokes aside, it was a nice experience which my fiancé enjoyed a little more than me.
maybe my expectations were high, but the choices were normal or even mundane, if i could say that!! having said that every item on display was tastefully laid out, looked very appetizing & did taste good. if only they had a bit more variety in the dinner seafood buffet!! the waiter & waitress, seeing as there were only two of them, were very hospitable & went out of their way to accommodate us. also the chefs who were cooking to order made a difference, by personalizing the experience. the chef at the grill counter was a little hesitant to grill more than one piece of anything that was pointed out. me being the voracious eater that i'm, put aside shame & kept pointing until all the skewers were used.

the deserts were like before- excellent in taste but lacking in creativity & character. at this age & stage, restaurants without michelin stars put the ones with them to bed early, so unless they spice us their act & find the right temperature to work, fewer & fewer people might be returning.

but i will definitely go back because i really do hate their soothing lights , with lavish interiors & very friendly, hospitable staff who patiently wait with professionalism, until the very end!!

sushi was like hard rubber and one of the worst i had in abu dhabi. i thought the sushi chef was from infamous go to king. chinese fried chicken was so hard and not chew-able. tender loin was not tender at all.  thai pumplin soup did not have any pumpkin but just milk water. even thai papaya salad and fried flat noodle did not have decent thai flavor at all. (maybe trying to avoid using nyokmum fish sauce to apply to arabic and western taste, but that is a wrong approach. it does not taste good.) chocolate cake was crumbly and terrible. the thai restaurant is really wonderful at dusit thani, but not the buffet at urban kitchen. very disappointed daughter told me, " you have to pay me to go to that restaurant again."

price on zomato was not correct. the cost was 195 aed per person for seafood night (thursday). we did not realise it was a seafood night there was a decent selection of seafood but very little for of anything else. wasnt impressed with the sweet selection. the food i ate was great however, very well prepared. there was free softdrinks with the buffet which was good and the staff were friendly. perhaps its more impressive on other nights.

went there for friday brunch expectations were high however it was very dissapointing as we were expecting an asian brunch which turned out to be your regular brunch with a little more then usual asian.

we went to urban kitchen on saturday for the buffet lunch. on reaching the restaurant we were promptly led to our table.the buffet has a fairly large spread with a salad section, a mains section, a desserts section, a live pasta station and a section for starters. the salads section had a variety of arabic and continental staples along with sushi. there were also a variety of cold cuts. however this is standard fare in any good international buffet. in the starters there were mushroom pizza, roast chicken, batter fried vegetables and arabic mezze. the mains had a seafood kabsa, lamb biryani, veg curry, chicken harees and thai cashew chicken among other things. surprisingly in the breads though they did mention that there was naan and roti i was disappointed to see heated frozen parathas being served in the place of both these things. desserts had a huge variety as well with umm ali, cheese cakes, fresh fruits, chocolate brownies and a chocolate fountain. so while you can just get full by tasting a morsel of everything in this buffet, i did not find one single dish which i can describe in superlative terms. the taste of everything was just okay. i found flavors lacking. i was also expecting some more asian representation on the menu but sadly this was not the case. in the end i felt i would have been happier with an a la carte lunch with a few of my favorite dishes instead of the lavish spread we had just sampled.

this.place has a lovely asian brunch spread. the salad and canapé selection is lovely. sushi was not a big spread nor exceptionally great. cold.seafood was lovely- crabs, lobsters...they got it all. hot starters like.spring rolls, dimsums but special mention to the.beef and.chicken satay....the best i have ever had!! the meat was succulent with the spices perfectly balanced and the flavours coming through. the live noodle counter was.brilliant and it was delicious. the indian.spread.was.great too. desserts were ok...lacked chocolaty desserts. they also have a kids area where the kids are looked after by people while their parents can enjoy brunch. great value for money and exceptionally great food!!!

my mother and i visited urban kitchen, for her birthday, and tried the friday brunch.

the salad and desert spread are the real show stoppers. between the two i barley skimmed through the main course; which was fine as the main course was not too great. just a couple of standard dishes.

the deserts were very good though and i fell in love with the banana toffee pudding.

the buffet also comes with drinks which is nice. they had a selection of organic colas and juices along with the usual soft drinks and still as well as sparkling water.

the staff were very attentive and friendly and were able to arrange an impromptu cake for my mom which i really appreciated!

we tried the friday brunch. very kind and attentive staff though the food was not all that impressive. i am not sure why they had a mexican food counter amidst all the far eastern cuisine. er.. someone clearly flunked their geography class ;)

overall, full marks for fantastic ambience, soulful instrumental live music and a huge shoutout goimg for the kids area replete with yummy finger food and a tv..our 7 yr old was completely occupied!

too expensive. food just average. arabian night with no kebabs or grilled meat.