Reviews ‪alici‬

Alici is always busy and deservedly so... The service is hectic, but generally attentive, without being over bearing. The food, in my view, is amongst the most authentically Italian in Dubai and Alici has quickly become my favorite Italian restaurant. On the basis of: quality; location; service; and, food, Alici is good value. They also have an excellent wine list and knowledgeable sommelier. Can’t wait to dine outside in the winter, overlooking the water...

We loved everything from our dinner at Alici. Staff was lovely and good advise about menu choice.
I prefer the atmosphere of this place rather than il burro where staff bit overshowing in both attention and skin for the ladies.
Food was yummy. Everything was perfect.
Only regret our cocktails arrived after the first dish was served.
We shared truffle pasta, they had the kind gesture to spontaneously divide and serve them in 2 plates.
Main was seabass in salt crust. That was nice. Simple nothing fancy about it. The product for the product.
While leaving the place manager could have been bit more attentive specially when you spend a good bill but that's alright most important was the kindness of the staff through the evening
I recommend

One of the best places in the city!
Great food, unforgettable customer experience!

Tried this restaurant few days back and i loved it. The ambience is perfect for a relaxed eveninh and the food is good. Especially the dessert. Cost effective and friendly staff. A must visit for italian cuisine.

We went to Alici to celebrate my parents’ wedding anniversary. The place offers great food, even better views and an excellent service. We will definitely be back.

Great view can be enjoyed here especially from the 1st floor. Or only that, and of course Italian dishes here are exquisite. Ordered beef tartar and scallops and both tasted just terrific! Perfect place to enjoy the night view of JBR and skyscrapers in winter time!

Came here for lunch and boy did it meet all expectation. The interior was amazing, looked very authentic and had a Mediterranean feel to it plus a gorgeous view of the sea from all angles. Food wise ordered the arancini and beetroot salad. Main course mixed grill (swordfish tuna lobster and squid) it was delicious. And ofcourse I had to try their truffle pizza as I do in any italian restaurant. It definitely did not disappoint. The dough wasnt too heavy and thick just the way I like. To top it all I tried their tiramisu and flourless chocolate cake. The tiramisu was succulent creamy and moist sponge, although if you dont like the taste of coffee too much this one had a strong coffee flavour. The flourless cake was great it's a must try! Cant forget the outstanding service of the team at alici. Very attentive and you can tell they like what they do unlike some other restaurants where you feel the staffs are forcing it :/

Alici is situated in Bluewaters Dubai. At the time of this review Bluewaters can firmly be described as ‘working to enhance your experience’. Most units remain shuttered and the Wheel remains under construction for Expo 2020.

This means Alici is one of the few (good) restaurants open with an enviously places view overlooking the sandy Dubai Marina skyline and teal waters of the Arabian Sea alive with jet skis and yachts.

The outside terrace is replete with trees and cobalt pots making for excellent al fresco dining in the more forgiving winter months. There is very generous seating space inside but you want a seat upstairs. The floor to ceiling windows allow sunshine to flood into the dining room with uninterrupted views of the skyline. At lunch you’ll have a bright beautiful view and at sunset you can watch Dubai Marina transform from sand to pink to fiery sunset.

The spacious floor is enhanced by the neutral colour scheme of white with hints of cobalt, earth tones and smart grey blue and white stripped chairs. Olive trees and framed pictures of water colours and sketches make Alici feel more homely. The good sized bar is adjacent to the open plan kitchen with a direct view of the chefs hard at work. Old Italian music gently piped through the restaurant.

It would take an individual incapable of love to not be effortlessly charmed and soothed by the dining room. You must get a seat upstairs in front of the windows or in the more private seating area on the left in its own room.

Let’s talk menu shall we?

The menu is primarily seafood (the clue was in the name) but there are a number of options available in case someone doesn’t want that (query why you are here).

A raw, oyster and caviar selection kick off the menu followed by starters, followed by antipasti starters, soups, pizza, pasta, mains and side courses.

I order the grilled octopus with beluga lentils with a saffron red pepper romanesco sauce (85 dhs) followed by the oven baked Atlantic halibut with clams, razor clams, mussels and a seafood broth (135 dhs).

“it looks like a scene where the octopus violently crashed upon a pebbled beach but decided to style it out”

The octopus arrives striking like a latticed weave of meaty, pale amethyst tentacles collapsed on a rubble of moss-coloured lentils; it looks like a scene where this violently octopus crashed upon a pebbled beach but decided to style it out.

The comparison don’t end there. The octopus is perfectly cooked: firm but yielding with a soft sweet and yet slightly charred flavour of which the latter is boosted by the inherently earthy lentils. It’s a modern surf and turf interpretation. This is a very large starter and frankly both in portion size and price could easily be a main course. It demands a white wine bursting with gooseberries or a young, fruity red - unusually, I am not drinking this lunch time.

The saffron red pepper romanesco is a beautiful apricot colour and brings a subtle fruitiness to temper these earthy lentils. I recommend the kitchen leans into the saffron or red pepper a little more as neither come through strongly.

Oven baked Atlantic halibut with clams, razor clams, mussels and a seafood broth

A steaky, thick wedge of halibut arrives in a rouge pool of its own sauce accompanied by candy-sweet tomatoes, black olives, razor clams, clams and mussels topped with thyme springs and basil. If you enjoy the traditional Sicilian fish stew of similar constituents then you’ll love this.

The fish is firm but yielding. Every ingredient is very well cooked and the in umido cooking gives a harmonious continuity throughout bringing the dish together. It’s a casually plated dish which is more complicated than it appears. I quickly regret scarfing the bread basket making a school boy error leaving no carb sponges behind to steep in this sauce. The black olives are divisive perhaps but work when pulled together with the rest of the dish. It works better than another place I reviewed previously attempting to make a dish similar in spirit.

And then there was dessert

Cannolis remind me of weekends in Venice weaving through its ages alleyways stumbling across small cake shops featuring hefty cannolis dipped in chocolate and jewelled in hazelnuts or pistachios. A handheld sugary energy bar on the go.

A trio of cannolis arrive: chocolate, orange and pistachio. They appear like long stuffed finger cuffs wrapped delicately around scented cream fillings. The crisp cannoli shatters when pried open like a clam. My favourite is the aromatic orange that leaves a soft clean citrus taste to cut through the darker chocolate and toasted nutty pistachio.

But wait, there is more

Petit fours arrive unexpectedly together with the double macchiato I ordered challenging even my resilient levels to greed. Naturally they are gobbled gratefully.

Would I return to Alici?
Frankly I can’t stop talking about the place and neither can anyone else. My only mistake was to drive here making it impossible to traverse the seriously good looking and reasonably priced wine menu. A mistake I shall only make once. Wine started at 50 dhs by the glass and 230 dhs by the bottle. This pales in comparison to some lesser restaurants where bottles start around 700 dhs.

Let’s talk about price. It’s a fine dining menu and to that end you should come with expectations fully managed. However I found 400 dhs for this quality of cooking, ambience and service to be very competitive save that none of these dirhams included alcohol which would have been on top. Hmm...

Why should you come here?
You are celebrating a special occasion, business lunch or gathering among friends who know and enjoy food, especially seafood. There are some options here exclusively for groups which look very good.

Tasty Italian restaurant, loved the place, the decor and the locations. the food is fresh and delicious, the waiters are very attention and friendly. highly recommended.

Alici, the Italian seafood restaurant inspired by the Amalfi Coast could not be better suited to the rapidly-developing Bluewaters Island off the coast of JBR. The licensed restaurant comes to us from the team behind the successful Il Borro Tuscan Bistro and offers diners similar touchpoints – appealing interiors, strong service and simple Italian fare focusing on quality ingredients.

Recently I had the pleasure to have a dinner in ALICI Restaurant located in BlueWater Island…

The location is absolutely stunning with a beautiful view on JBR side and the palm with The Atlantis on the back…The restaurant is divided in 2 areas…ground floor with the reception and an outside terrace and first floor with a bar and a open terrace as well…

We decided to reserved our table on the terrace upstairs…the weather were amazing…a gentle sea breeze was making as even more comfortable and happy…

The interior are stunning I can say…beautiful combination of colours…neutral white of course…light blue and beige the prevailing tint…wood for the floor…wicker for the chairs like in a beach house…simple but elegant table set up…with on the center a classic oil lamp…

The logo is predominant almost in everything but even that is very simple and nice…I really love that the cure for the details is very present in Alici in every single things…

Of course the food doesn’t disappoint…conversely we really like it… This is what we order:

Gambero Rosso : Red Mazara Prawn of course the best in the world… served with orange and radish
Frisella di Alci
Affumicato smoked tuna and sword fish ( my prefer…)
Arancini al ragu’ di mare…arancino is a typical street from Sicily my region in Italy so I m pretty much picky with that but I can say that I like the seafood version…good job chef!
Fritto di Alici
Fritto misto…a selection of shrimps (super sweet and nice…) Alici…Calamari…zucchini and purple potato togheter with the fish…such a nice idea…!!!
Patate Fritte
Tiramisu’…just a bit dry in my opinion but beautiful presentation…
Fondente al cioccolato….a dream of chocolate…gnummy
We definitely love the food but I wanna come back to try the pasta and main course on the menu…and I already know that I will be a regular guest in Alici because I really love everything in this place… I dont wanna forget to mention that the service was amazing…The guys on the floor are really well trained plus the uniform are super cool and elegant…plus they smell good…ahahahah!!!!

Overall my experience was very good…Very good luck to all the Team of Alici for the best success in the future…

New addition to the Bluewaters development. Great choice of the location overlooking JBR/Marina through floor to ceiling windows. Contemporary Italian / seafood restaurant with dishes for everyone. Recently opened I am sure things will only get better.
Starters - Octopus with lentils 4 out of 5 (lentils were too al dente!
Crab salad 3/5
Mains - Pasta misto 3/5. Could have been more sauce and seafood on the plate.
Seabass with artichokes ans purple potatoes 3/5. The Seabass was a little overcooked as well as potatoes.
Overall - very nice, bright and chic venue.

For reasons I’ll get into later in a later post, last week was a weird week.  There were highs and lows, and as my 38th year drew to a close, I decided to meet up with a friend for a long lunch on Thursday afternoon at Alici.  Having heard good things, I was cautiously optimistic.  While a bit difficult to find (seriously, Meeras, get your act together with the signage at Bluewaters), my patience paid off, and upon arrival, I found the location to be appropriately themed and decorated.  Much like similar restaurants serving this cuisine, there is a beachy chic vibe going which does well to match the food.  Should you be interested, there is a crudo bar downstairs, where you can literally see what will become your lunch or dinner.  I chose to sit upstairs, where the best views of the marina can be found.

رائع جدا .. مكان مميز والاكل لذيذ والاجواء رائعه غالي شوي لكن المطعم والمكان ممتع اخذنا روزيتو ربيان و seabass وكان لذيذ

مطعم ايطالي فاخر يستحق الخمس نجوم موقع مميز تصميم جميل وخاصة تصميم الكراسي مريحة جدا متوفرة خدمة الانترنت مجاناً خدمة النادل راقية الاكل لذيذ الاسعار تعتبر مرتفعة .. اترككم مع الصور

جدا لذيييييذ، من المطاعم اللي اكيد برجع الها