martinbkk

Ok, Free in the bar means spending lots of time in the bar, tough huh!

And on the basis it's a GF place then there should be little need for it in the room

Dubaiexile

I am sure if you get the password from the Bar Manager (Brit guy called Jonathon) it will also work in your room!
Also the entrance to the bar is on the right as you walk in the place, the entrance further round is for the other side of the bar where locals and Indians tend to drink!

scrubbedexpat141

Of course.

But that doesn't make it a good pub

martinbkk

The online reviews for the Ambassador hotel don't look too promising

Blue Cat

it's ancient and shabby, find somewhere better and cab it to the dives

martinbkk

I've stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Dubai before, nothing special but adequate, was quite a ways away from this area though I see there is another nearer, might be a better bet, but...

I don't mind being a little more spendy, just don't like hotels that treat their paying guests like inmates!

Blue Cat

check Arabian Park Hotel

Dubaiexile

Yes quite true, but what you might think is a good pub I might think was a shithole, as I said previously one mans meat is another mans poisin, each to their own

scrubbedexpat141

I agree, but you're wrong.

martinbkk

Back in 2010 a now closed thread here, Dives of Dubai, started with the following post from Ethos83:

It's Thursday, the countdown to four pee-um begins (for those of us with reduced working hours courtesy of Ramadan).

To keep the clock ticking I thought I'd start a list of the Dives of Dubai to aid Millie when he makes the leap up here.

The first few, in order from worst to best (relatively speaking!)

1. Rattle Snake at Metropolitan (simply scary but the best place to pick up hookers if you live in New Dubai)
2. Rock Bottom in Regent Palace Hotel in Bur Dubai (gross but not scary)
3. Waxy O'Connor at Ascot Hotel in Bur Dubai (the carpets, walls and the air itself is a permanent nicotine fug and the brunch is greasy and awful but terribly, terribly cheap).
4. Aussie Legends at Rydges on Al Diyafa in Satwa (mildly sketchy but the management cares enough to employ Western bar staff, plus there's billiards and football tables)
5. Boston Bar at Jumeirah Rotana on Al Diyafa in Satwa (best place to watch the sad British blokes and their Filipino girlfrieds. Popular with the red-faced expats who've been in Dubai since the 1970s)
6. Red Lion at Metropolitan. A step up from Rattle Snake.

There's tons more in the Bur Dubai and Deira vicinity of which I'm sure some of you are more familiar with than I am, so pony up your recommendations. I've only been to one Deira bar at an anonymous hotel, on a week night, and it was an odd rather than fascinating experience especially the Russian girl band that lip-synched through an entire song while as devoid of emotion or sexual appeal as possible.

Oh - there's also a few bars in the Al Barsha/Tecom cheap hotel ghetto that may be contenders for the future dives of Dubai category - could be worthwhile to scope them out before word gets out on the street, not to mention they're hellava more convenient to me in the Greens.


I'm staying at the Rotana Jumeira this weekend so curious if the bar there is still the same.

Meow

At least two of those bars no longer exist and another has changed its name.

martinbkk

I was always a crap guesser

Meow

I'm sure you'd have loved The Rattlesnake...

The Metropolitan Hotel has gone and Aussie Legends in now called Champs and Rydges Plaza is now called Chelsea Plaza Hotel. Also Al Diyafah Street is called 2nd December Street. Keeping up?

Incidentally Boston Bar is worth a visit on a Saturday afternoon. Friends are playing there (guitars, singing and proper songs) and there's an offer for food and drink, which I think is AED 149 a head for all you can eat and drink for a specified period.

Finally, not a bar but Billy Blues in Rydges/Chelsea Plaza, home is excellent pork ribs, closes at the end of this month. It might be relocating, but I'm not sure about that.

Edit - Billy Blues appears to moving to Wafi, along with Cactus Cantina. Not that I'm suggestable, but I now want to eat ribs!

martinbkk

Many thanks for that.

Just the name "Rattlesnake" in a thread that was talking about dives suggests it might well have been worthy of a visit.

Saturday afternoon I have time to kill, I guess checkout will be lunchtime-ish and my flight back to delightful Doha is later in the evening so a place to while away a few hours would definitely be welcome.

Blue Cat

if they do they will put their prices up, we were in Cactus last week and left as all the main courses were over 100 dhs, place was empty.