What should you order in Dubai? DXB Local, a Dubai site that turns online reviews into short Pros, Cons and Tips for local businesses, has tried to answer with data. It ranked 65 dishes (40 mains, 12 appetizers and 13 desserts) by counting what diners wrote about them. This guide sets out the results, where diners praise each dish most, and how far the numbers can be trusted. The figures are DXB Local's own analysis, not ours.
Last checked 23 October 2026. Rankings and venue details are as supplied by DXB Local; check menus and prices before you book.
How the ranking was made
DXB Local started with listings for 10,309 restaurants in Dubai. It narrowed them to the 2,255 with checked customer highlights, then chose the top 1,000 by star rating, the number of people who rated them and the quality of their listings. Of more than 1.2 million written reviews, 477,898 mentioned food and formed the set it examined closely.
Only clear opinions about a specific dish counted. Praise counted for a dish, and criticism of the same dish was subtracted, which gives each dish a net score. A review that praised a whole meal without naming a dish was left out. In all, DXB Local counted 17,966 dish-specific mentions across the 65 dishes: 15,725 favourable and 2,241 critical.
DXB Local says it used AI to find possible dish votes, but each one had to point to words the diner actually wrote, and it checked the original review. You can read the full method and see the restaurant-by-restaurant evidence.
The top mains
- French toast (net score 682)
- Mixed grill (569)
- Lamb chops (547)
- Butter chicken (533)
- Mutton biryani (358)
The top appetizers
- Hummus (857)
- Falafel (763)
- Lentil soup (290)
- Truffle fries (266)
- Fattoush (219)
The top desserts
- Tiramisu (947)
- Kunafa (488)
- Matilda Cake (318)
- Churros (306)
- Milk Cake (192)
The full list of all 65 dishes is on DXB Local's ranking page.
Where diners praise them most
DXB Local also lists the restaurants where each dish earned the most positive reviews, with positive and negative review counts in brackets. Treat small counts with care: a venue with 16 positive reviews and none negative is a smaller sample than one with 139.
- French toast: Parlour Boutique (40 positive, 2 negative) and Culinary Boutique Jumeirah (41 positive, 4 negative)
- Mixed grill: Chalet Grill Plus (16, 0) and Narrah Lebanese Restaurant (16, 1)
- Lamb chops: Hashmi Barbeque Restaurant (62, 5) and Pili Pili BBQ House, Global Village (26, 0)
- Hummus: Qasmieh Al-Fawal, Al Warqa (47, 4) and Narrah Lebanese Restaurant (38, 0)
- Falafel: Qasmieh Al-Fawal, Al Warqa (139, 5) and Falafel Frayha, Al Barsha (93, 5)
- Lentil soup: YABA Modern Iraqi (19, 4) and Kabab Erbil Iraqi Restaurant, Jumeirah (10, 0)
- Tiramisu: La Fabbrica Italiana, Wasl 51 (178, 9) and PUBLIC (127, 18)
- Kunafa: Feras Aldiyafa Sweets, Al Barsha (128, 23) and Zam Zam Mandi, Al Karama (25, 3)
- Matilda Cake: Parker's, where DXB Local says it is the signature dish across the branches
Every restaurant has a page on DXB Local with its Pros, Cons and Tips.
Why French toast?
A review-based ranking measures what diners wrote, not what restaurants sell, and it can favour dishes that many people order and review. Dubai's brunch culture produces a lot of breakfast reviews, so we asked DXB Local founder Bob Chandra why French toast came first.
He wrote to us: "Dubai's famous brunch culture had something to do with it although it's not just that." He pointed out that only two brunch dishes, Avocado Toast (number 9) and Shakshuka (number 7), made the top 10 mains. The rest of the top 10 came mainly from dinner menus. Eggs Benedict and Acai Bowl drew many votes but missed the top 10 because enough of their reviews were critical.
For French toast, he credits kitchens such as Don't Be Chai and Culinary Boutique Jumeirah for getting it "crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside". In his words: "French toast had 807 favorable mentions against 125 critical, a net score of 682."
How to use this
Use the ranking as a starting point for what to try, not as a verdict. It reflects the written opinions of diners at 1,000 restaurants, analysed with DXB Local's own method, which we have not repeated. Dishes with fewer reviews can rank high on small numbers, and a venue's menu and prices can change.
For more places to eat by cuisine and area, see our guides to the best Lebanese and Middle Eastern restaurants in Dubai, the best Italian restaurants in Dubai, the best restaurants in Dubai by neighbourhood and 4 Dubai desserts that broke the internet.
Source: DXB Local (dxblocal.ae). This guide is editorial coverage; DXB Local has not paid for it.