Ibn Al Bahr seafood restaurant is a Lebanese seafood restaurant in Dubai that is famous for its fresh fish, seafood, and traditional Lebanese flavours. Fresh seafood is offered, which can be prepared any way the diner would like. Lebanese mezze, grilled seafood, rice dishes, salads, prawns, lobster, and other shellfish are also served on the menu.
The restaurant offers fresh seafood with Lebanese cuisine, both for eating alone and together. This article includes information about the menu, prices, popular dishes, the dining experience, the recognition by the Michelin Guide, and more information to help you plan your visit to the Ibn Al Bahr restaurant.
Where is Ibn Al Bahr in Dubai
Ibn AlBahr is a hotel situated in Club Vista Mare, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. The restaurant is located in a waterfront dining area along the palm and is renowned for its Lebanese seafood and fresh fish. The restaurant’s official website now lists Club Vista Mare, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, as its Dubai address.
Club Vista Mare is a waterfront resort, featuring multiple restaurants and outdoor dining spots. Visit Dubai (re: Istanbul) mentions the restaurant, and its food is described as Lebanese seafood and mezze with fresh catches.
What is Ibn Al Bahr known for?
Ibn Al Bahr is a spot for fresh seafood and Lebanese seafood. The fish and seafood are fresh and displayed, and the diner can choose what they are ready to eat and an available preparation style. In addition to the Lebanese mezze, seafood is grilled; the menu offers rice dishes, salads, and shellfish.
The restaurant’s fresh-catch concept is what makes it different from a seafood menu that offers a selection of fixed items. They have the option to choose a seafood item and then add hummus to it, along with tabbouleh, fattoush, rice, and Lebanese side dishes.
Fresh seafood selection
Please be aware that these selections vary by availability, and it would be incorrect to say that all the fish listed online will be available all day every day.
The existing delivery menus feature red snapper, hammour, koffer red fish, pomfret, prawns, crab, lobster, mussels and squid. Items range from whole fish to items sold by weight, or as prepared dishes.
The theme of the restaurant is well suited to a customer who prefers whole fish to a small individual piece.
Ibn Al Bahr menu
The menu at the ibn albahr seafood restaurant features Lebanese mezze and seafood dishes, grilled fish, shellfish, soups, salads, and rice-based main courses.
The menu is divided into categories like Fish Buckets, Fish Combos, A Fish For Every Dish, Heart Warmers, Salad, Cold Bait and Hot Bait, and Shellfish.
All the terms are used because the restaurant is a seafood house, but the menu is not just seafood. Lebanese cuisine, including hummus, moutabbal, tabbouleh, and muhammara, is also available to the guests.
Fish and seafood dishes
The restaurant offers a few ready-to-serve seafood options:
- Grilled fish fillet, rice, browned onions, and Sayadiyeh.
- Fish majbous along with grilled kingfish, spiced rice, raisins, and fried onions
- King fish curry with white rice.
- Shrimp Curry
- Grilled squid
- Shrimp in Chilli and Garlic.
- Octopus baked potato
- Mussels
- Lobster
- Crab
- Red snapper
Specific products and prices may vary depending on the availability and weight of seafood products.
Lebanese mezze
It is not a side dish but a significant part of the Lebanese menu.
There are hummus, hummus Beiruti, moutabbal, muhammara, vine leaves, tabbouleh, fattoush, and other mezze-style dishes currently on offer.
These dishes are also suitable for group dining, as they could be served in the middle of the table next to the whole fish and seafood.
Ibn Al Bahr prices
Based on the current online prices, the price range of Ibn Al Bahr Seafood Restaurant is fairly wide since there are affordable mezze, seafood entrees, and large seafood servings.
Its current website does not have a full-text price list on the restaurant’s own website. The current delivery listings are thus the most useful publicly visible price reference, but the price of delivery items should not be assumed to be the same as the price of dine-in items.
Examples of some of the ones that are currently listed are:
| Menu item | Current listed price |
| Hummus | AED 28 |
| Sardines | AED 39 |
| Squid, 500g | AED 65 |
| Seafood Soup | AED 69 |
| Sayadiyeh | AED 85 |
| Fish Majbous | AED 85 |
| Fish Curry | AED 90 |
| Shrimp Curry | AED 105 |
| Hammour, 1kg bucket | AED 210 |
| Red Snapper, 1kg bucket | AED 215 |
| Grilled Seabass Sharing Combo | AED 196 |
| Lobster | AED 380 |
These are the current prices of the restaurant’s delivery service and are not a promise of the dine-in price. Prices are subject to change, and delivery services may charge different fees.
The difference is important because some older articles reprint the prices of the menus as they appeared in the past. Today’s restaurant prices wouldn’t be appropriate for an article that is supposed to be useful, since it’s about a price that was current in the past.
How the fresh-fish ordering works
One of the best attractions to become an Ibn Albahr seafood restaurant visitor is the ordering process.
The restaurant offers fresh seafood and lets the customers decide what they would like to be cooked. Michelin acknowledges this idea of a fish counter; the seafood comes from the fresh counter, then is prepared in a somewhat traditional manner.
In a practical order, typically there are three decisions:
- Choose the seafood.
- Choose a suitable preparation method.
- Include sauces, mezze, salad, or rice dishes.
In this way, people could have more say in what they eat than the fixed menus of what they have to eat, as might be offered at an entrée menu.
This also implies that final charges are not guaranteed. Obviously, an individual fish and a whole fish of a large size will yield very different numbers for a group.
What to order at Ibn Al Bahr
While there is no objective single “best dish,” there are a few that stand out as being representative of various aspects of the restaurant’s options.
For those who are looking for an all-in-one Lebanese seafood experience, Sayadiyeh is an obvious choice. As per the current listing, it is a grilled fish fillet served on rice with browned onions and is priced at AED 85.
Fish Majbous is served differently, with grilled kingfish served with spiced rice, raisins, and fried onions. Currently, it is priced at AED 85.
On the menu for shellfish, there are mussels, crabs, prawns, and lobster. The lobster is significantly more expensive than some of the pre-prepared fish food items, and the current delivery list for the lobster costs AED 380.
When dining with a group, a whole fish and Lebanese mezze can provide a better idea for the restaurant’s concept.
Dining experience and atmosphere
The restaurant’s one of the most important features is the setting.
The restaurant has fishing-inspired decor, ropes, anchors, a boat, and a terrace overlooking the beach, explains Michelin. It also uniquely designates the venue as an outdoor dining area.
The atmosphere is therefore more relaxed than a Lebanese coastal seafood house, rather than a formal fine dining experience.
The restaurant’s branding also focuses on communal dining, seafood on ice, and Lebanese ways of eating seafood on the coast.
Guest reviews are another compelling source of evidence-based knowledge of the practical experience, but reviews should be considered as personal experiences, not objective measures. Recent TripAdvisor reviews contain good feedback on fresh fish, Palm location, and staff recommendations, as well as critical feedback on services.
That’s a typical change in this type of information; that’s why it’s not wise to make universal statements about good or exceptional service.
Is Ibn Al Bahr family-friendly?
The menu is organised appropriately for a family to share together.
Hummus, salads, rice and other mezze can go with larger quantities of seafood so that people can have different meals without necessarily ordering an individual seafood meal.
Other options on the menu are chicken or fish nuggets with fries, which are easier options for kids that might not be interested in grilled fish or shellfish.
Tripadvisor describes the restaurant as having features such as family-style dining, highchairs, and outdoor seating.
Michelin recognition explained
Ibn Al Bahr has received the Bib Gourmand from MICHELIN, which is awarded to restaurants that serve high-quality cooking at a good price. The official website of the restaurant currently reads “Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand 2022–2025”.
But don’t mistake the difference for a Michelin Star! Ibn Al Bahr has not received a Michelin Star, as the one-, two-, and three-star awards are not the same category as Bib Gourmand.
Another interesting point of the current listing is worth noting. Ibn Al Bahr is not listed in the official Michelin Dubai 2025 Bib Gourmand list, but Michelin still features the restaurant as a Selected Restaurant.
The restaurant is also a recipient of other awards like the Favourite Seafood at the FACT Dining Awards Dubai 2025. This provides extra context to its reputation for seafood, but the Michelin Bib Gourmand and other dining awards are to be taken with a grain of salt.
Opening hours and reservations
At the moment, the official site states that the Palm Jumeirah branch is open daily from 12 pm to 1 am. It has the reservation number 800 426 252 247.
Currently, Michelin is showing the time as 9 AM (09:00) to 2 AM (02:00). The figure of 12 PM – 1 AM is based on the official restaurant website for current operating hours.
When planning a particular trip, particularly around a public holiday, it is best to check with the restaurant in particular.
Ibn Al Bahr for lunch or dinner
Lunch may be perfect for visitors who don’t want to make eating in the waterfront a late affair.
Dinner will focus on the outdoor environment of the restaurant and is more likely to be more “natural” for those who are trying to find a restaurant to go out for an evening meal of seafood by the water.
There is no established universal “best time” as it is dependent on what the priority is: daylight, sunset, temperature, availability, and the atmosphere.
In the case of a sought-after outdoor table, it is best to make a reservation with the restaurant beforehand.
Ibn Al Bahr versus a typical seafood restaurant
The biggest difference is the combination of a fresh seafood display, customizable cooking methods, and Lebanese mezze.
A regular seafood restaurant could offer a standard selection of grilled salmon, seafood and chips, prawns, or lobster. In this restaurant, the importance lies in selecting the seafood and in deciding the way it’s going to be cooked, and then the accompaniments are Mediterranean and Lebanese.
It’s also the reason that menus look different from restaurant menus, in which the price of each seafood dish is set in stone.
Conclusion
Ibn Al Bahr seafood restaurant is a unique Lebanese seafood restaurant that focuses on fresh fish, shellfish and classic mezze. It has a fresh seafood counter, which gives customers a chance to pick their own seafood, and a menu featuring grilled seafood, rice dishes, salads and Lebanese favourites for a full meal.
Before visiting, visit the restaurant’s official website for the most accurate information regarding the restaurant’s current menu, location, hours and reservation information. This is especially helpful as older online advertisements can still display the former address or incorrect prices.
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Frequently asked questions
Where is Ibn Al Bahr seafood restaurant in Dubai?
Ibn Al Bahr is at Club Vista Mare, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.
What type of food does Ibn Al Bahr serve?
They offer Lebanese seafood, such as fresh fish, prawns, shellfish, grilled seafood, mezze, and rice dishes.
Does Ibn Al Bahr serve fresh fish?
Yes. Fresh seafood is available for guests to select from the display and then prepared in accordance with the cooking options available.
How much does a meal at Ibn Al Bahr cost?
The cost will vary depending on the dish and seafood of the choice. Fish dishes like Fish Majbous and Sayadiyeh are now offered on the web at about AED 85, and bigger seafood dishes are more costly.
What are Ibn Al Bahr’s opening hours?
The official restaurant website states the restaurant’s Palm Jumeirah outlet is open every day from 12 PM to 1 AM.
Does Ibn Al Bahr have outdoor seating?
Yes. The restaurant has waterfront seating with Club Vista Mare.
Does Ibn Al Bahr have a Michelin Star?
No. It is not a Michelin Star restaurant, but it has been recognised in the Bib Gourmand category.
Is Ibn Al Bahr good for families?
Yes. They also have fish and chicken nuggets served with fries, as well as family-friendly shared orders.
Can I choose the fish myself?
Yes. The fresh catch concept of the restaurant lets diners choose the seafood on display before cooking.
Does Ibn Al Bahr serve Lebanese mezze?
Yes. It features Lebanese specialties like hummus, moutabbal, tabbouleh, fattoush, and muhammara.
Is Dubai Creek still an Ibn Al Bahr location?
Currently, Dubai Creek is not on the restaurant’s official website, which shows the restaurant’s locations in Dubai. Older listings might refer to the branch.
