Café Moka

Mall café with a suspiciously wide selection of food 4 Reviews

© ITP Images

If a café has been running successfully for years (and opening new branches across the city) as Café Moka is, you’ve got to assume that it’s got something going for it. But we’re at a loss to discover what it is. It looks like a smoky, spacious mall coffee shop, but the menu has a dizzying spread of options, listing page after page of Asian, Italian, Mexican, Oriental and Arabic dishes. None of what they serve is terrible but neither is any of it memorable – more like bland, but effective, refuelling for your shopping session. Staff are eager to please if a little on the nervous side, and the food is overpriced. When it’s only a few steps between this spot and the myriad other dining options in Marina Mall where you get more for your money, it’s hard to fathom why you wouldn’t do so.

By Time Out Abu Dhabi staff
Time Out Abu Dhabi, 11 August 2011

• Previous reviews
  • 01 November,2012- reviewed by Time Out staff
  • 03 January,2009- reviewed by Time Out Abu Dhabi staff

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Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.

User reviews:

Posted by: Alex on 14 Apr ' 13 at 13:42

Edited by TimeOutAbuDhabi.com

Moka is better looking than many mall café's, but that's about it. We tried to eat there on a recent Saturday afternoon, even though we should have been put off by the tired-looking brunch buffet sitting out in the public corridor. We asked for the a la carte menu, which seemed to surprise the staff (most of whom were standing at the counter chatting), and tried to order. When they proved to be out of chicken, duck, and fish, we decided not to press out luck and moved on. How can a place that doesn't appear to want to serve the public and then proves not to have half its menu in stock expect to stay in business?

Posted by: Alex on 14 Apr ' 13 at 13:41

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

Edited by TimeOutAbuDhabi.com

Moka is better looking than many mall café's, but that's about it. We tried to eat there on a recent Saturday afternoon, even though we should have been put off by the tired-looking brunch buffet sitting out in the public corridor. We asked for the a la carte menu, which seemed to surprise the staff (most of whom were standing at the counter chatting), and tried to order. When they proved to be out of chicken, duck, and fish, we decided not to press out luck and moved on. How can a place that doesn't appear to want to serve the public and then proves not to have half its menu in stock expect to stay in business?

Posted by: Upendra Tiwari on 07 Sep ' 10 at 13:43

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Family friendly
• Would you go back to this restaurant? Yes

I like Moka Cafe

Posted by: Tom on 03 Feb ' 10 at 16:19

OverallDecorService

FoodAmbienceValue

• Best for: Business lunch
• Would you go back to this restaurant? No

There's a branch in the new Al Mamoura building, where I was working, which made it convenient for lunch. Every time we went, I had the salad and soup buffet for only 35 dirham. There was quite a spread, with lots of items, including hommos, moutable, and samosas, along with a large variety of salads and soup. The appetizers were good, but the salads were weird and had ingredients of poor quality. Almost all of the salads were based on really beaten up, soggy, wet iceberg lettuce. The soups also were never that great. They were usually very thin and lacked much of the main, advertised ingredient. I never would have gone here more than once if it wasn't so convenient to work.