Fab food, great prices! Affordable restaurants in Dubai Marina
Overlooking the glistening water, with numerous luxury yachts afloat and the sounds of the bell from the tram going by, Dubai Marina is one of the best places to dine in the emirate. If you’re on a budget (or just waiting for payday to come so that you can splurge!), you don’t have to put off your plans to for dining at Dubai Marina. We’ve compiled a list of cheap restaurants in Dubai Marina so that you can enjoy a fine meal in beautifully buzzy surroundings – without blowing a hole in your bank balance!
Restaurants for an AED 50 – AED 100 budget
If you’re on a super tight budget, these are the restaurants that can save your hunger pangs.
Grill and Chill
Dubai residents know the joys of going to a cafeteria in the city – these cafeterias have numerous dishes from all major cuisines. These cafeterias have menus where you can find shawarma, Adobo, biriyani, pastas, burgers, dosas…you name it! At super affordable prices and delicious tastes, these cafeterias are great for every day dining.
Grill and Chill is one such cafeteria in Dubai Marina, offering various grilled dishes (chicken and fish), burgers, pastas, noodles and more! Don’t forget iconic drinks like abood, titanic, or sanam, which are just combinations of fruits like mango and melons to create filling shakes. Being a cheap restaurant in Dubai Marina, Grill and Chill tends to get a tad crowded after 05:00 p.m. (after people leave from work), so do keep that in mind before you head there.
- Location: Al Zaruni Building, Near Marina Mall, Dubai Marina
- Prices: approx AED 40 for 2 people
- Contact: +971-45-706-009, +971-504-376-699
Saarangaa Bhojan Shala (Dubai Marina)
Saaranga Bhojan Shala is an Indian vegetarian restaurant in Dubai Marina, offering mostly Indian and Indo-Chinese dishes. They have multiple branches across Dubai, all known for their food options available on a budget.
The most interesting thing on Saarangaa Bhojan Shala’s menu is the variety of dosas available. These Indian crisp savoury pancakes are usually served plain, with ghee or masala filling, but at Saarangaa Bhojan Shala, you can find interesting combos like onion rava dosa, palak dosa, cheese roast masala dosa and chettinadu mushroom dosa – akin to the streetside ’99 varieties dosa in South Indian cities.
If Indian food is up your alley, check out our guide to the top Indian restaurants in Dubai Marina.
- Location: Marina Pearl Building (behind RAK Bank), Dubai Marina
- Prices: approx AED 80 for 2 people
- Contact: +971-45-706-009, +971-504-376-699
Helal Al Barsha (Dubai Marina branch)
Having built a name for itself in Al Barsha and Barsha Heights, Helal Al Barsha in Dubai Marina is a cafeteria that brings the taste of food from Kerala to this city (along with the cafeteria staples).
Their tastiest dishes are from Kerala’s cuisine, such as the varieties of curries, seafood, mutton and beef dishes. These are made with fresh coconut oil, a signature of the cuisine. If you’re looking for something outside the Indian subcontinent, you can go for the fried chicken or Chinese dishes available on the menu. Helal Al Barsha can definitely be an option if you’re looking for affordable seafood restaurants in Dubai Marina.
Cafeterias in Dubai are open as late as 02:00 a.m., so if you have those late-night chai cravings, they have your back. And we’re talking AED 1 teas!
- Location: Shop 4, Opal Tower, Al Seba Street, Dubai Marina
- Prices: approx 80 AED for 2 people
- Contact: +971-45-657-943
- Timings: 06:00 am –02:00 am
Seven Hot Pot Marina
Ah yes, there’s no better food experience than a hot pot – you get to choose raw ingredients based on your preferences and fry/cook them at your table, which has a little grill and boiling pot of broth. Hot Pots are Asian, and it is fun when you have a few people joining you.
Seven Hot Pot Marina is one of the cheap restaurants in Dubai Marina, offering the iconic hot pot experiences in the area. You can opt for the AED 60 (per person) all-you-can-eat buffet – with which you can choose your greens and meats and fill your belly. Don’t forget the sweets!
We would recommend choosing the spicy soup option for a more flavoursome broth.
- Location: Shop #10, Continental Tower, JBR 1 – Dubai Marina
- Prices: AED 60 for an all-you-can-eat buffet per person
- Contact: +971-4-5820-9977
- Timings: 11:00 am – 01:00 am
McDonald’s (Dubai Marina Mall food court)
You can’t talk about affordable food without mentioning good ol’ McDonald’s – the American fast food chain. This branch of McDonald’s is located in Dubai Marina Mall’s food court, which tends to be a crowd favourite amongst mall visitors.
Choose a burger of your choice – chicken, beef or fish filet, and a drink to match the vibe. You can also go for their AED 10 Oreo or KitKat McFlurry as dessert. It is on everyone’s affordable Dubai Marina Mall restaurants list for the lowest prices for burgers and wraps.
- Location: Dubai Marina Mall food court
- Prices: approx AED 50 for two people
- Contact: +971-600-588885
- Timings: 08:00 am – 12:00 am
Doner Market
Fancy a doner or kabab on a budget? Doner Market can be the place for you. This cosy restaurant in The Walk (Dubai Marina) offers a variety of burgers, wraps, and, most importantly, doners!
Yeah, that means doners in pizzas, doners in cups, and doners in wraps – you’re spoilt for choice. Outside all the high-budget restaurants in The Walk, Doner Market gives you higher portions of food at lower prices.
- Location: Marina View Towers
- Prices: approx AED 50 – AED 100 for one person
- Contact: +971-50-243-5680
- Timings: 10:00 am – 05:00 am
Restaurants for an AED 100 – AED 150 budget
If you’re able to stretch your budget a teeny bit, here are a few restaurants for you.
iWok Restaurant Marina
As the name suggests, iWok Restaurant Dubai Marina specialises in noodles made on a wok. This restaurant offers Asian, Thai, and Chinese cuisines, including noodles, soups, spring rolls and more.
The saucy tangy taste of the sauces mixed with the fresh ingredients and blended with the noodles straight off a hot wok served in a cup can definitely make it on a list of comfort food – along with being on our list of cheap restaurants in Dubai. iWok Restaurant also has rice dishes and desserts, but we’d recommend choosing an iconic wok noodles dish!
- Location: Marina Promenade, Dubai Marina
- Prices: approx AED 110 for two people
- Contact: +971-800-4965
- Timings: 10:30 am –02:00 am
Marina Dine Restaurant
Marina Dine is one of the affordable Dubai marina restaurants that specialises in Indian and Chinese cuisines, offering an array of dishes from both cuisines alongside cafeteria staples to visitors. Although they are known for being great as a takeout delivery option, you can sit in Marina Dine and indulge in a shawarma or a burger.
Marina Dine Restaurant is a favourite amongst the residents of Dubai Marina for the club sandwich options available on the menu – large portions at extremely affordable prices. You can also go for the curries and naan or rice – all large portions!
- Location: Opposite Marina Byblos
- Prices: approx AED 110 for two people
- Contact: +971-55-685-3999
- Timings: Open 24 hours
The Meeting Point
The Meeting Point is a cafe in Dubai Marina that offers Amsterdam-inspired dishes on the menu – akin to the picturesque cafes near the streets of the Netherlands.
The Meeting Point prides itself on their shawarma, claiming it to be one of the best in the city. If you’re looking for Dutch food or Surinamese snacks, head over to this cute cafe to try dishes like nasi kip met bot (Nasi chicken drumsticks with vegetables), broodje shawarma, kapsalon, and more for super affordable prices!
- Location: Marina Diamond 5A, Dubai Marina
- Prices: approx AED 140 for two people
- Contact: +971-54-508-0031
- Timings: 11:00 am – 01:00 am
Operation: Falafel
With multiple branches across Dubai, Operation: Falafel is a falafel restaurant in Dubai whose name that you can easily recognise. One of the cheap restaurants in Dubai Marina, Operation: Falafel is located in JBR’s The Walk, alongside various popular retailers like Brands For Less, Adidas, MyVapery and Mumuso – making it the ideal dining stop after some budget shopping.
Operation: Falafel’s mission is to ‘revive’ street Arabic cuisine by combining it with 21st-century cooking styles, creating dishes that are filling and easy on the pocket. Favourites include the freak and falafel salad (an obvious one, since the name of the restaurant has falafel on it), chicken shawarma salad, and the O: F falafel special in Pita (which is super tasty)
- Location: The Walk, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai Marina
- Prices: approx AED 110 for two people
- Contact: +971-432-910059
- Timings: Open 24 hours
Once you’ve reached your financial goals, you could try checking out one of the upscale restaurants in Dubai Marina.
FAQs
Where can I buy ingredients to cook food at a cheaper price?
When you’re super tight on a budget and can’t afford to eat out, cooking at home is a smarter option. You can head over to one of the cheap supermarkets in Dubai to source your ingredients at discounted prices. Places like Baqer Mohebi have sections that clear items which are closer to their expiry dates at crazy cheap prices – mostly snacks and chocolates. Viva is a great supermarket option to find brands that aren’t really popular, but have the same quality.
Can you shop in Dubai on a budget?
Dubai isn’t just a shopping destination for the glitzy Rolexes and Armani, you can also find various places for cheap shopping in Dubai. Brands for Less comes to mind, for the plethora of branded clothes, accessories and shoes available at budget prices (less than AED 100). You can also visit BBZ, a store similar to Brands for Less with four branches in Dubai (including City Center Deira, Dubai Hills Mall, Sahara Center, and Dubai Festival City), where you’ll find statement clothing and great makeup at unmissable prices. Brands like R&B and Affordables are also great for unique budget shopping options, so you can stand out a bit without blending in the crowd. And after you’re done shopping, you can head to dine at one of the affordable restaurants in Dubai Marina.
Being on a budget in Dubai isn’t really that hard in Dubai with the right resources. Stay tuned to MyBayut, the region’s biggest property blog, to discover more ways to save money and make the most of life in the UAE.
