Ingredients, Eastern Mangroves Hotel, Abu Dhabi , UAE
Restaurant Review
Last week I was able to enjoy a lovely lunch at the Eastern Mangroves Hotel Restaurant, named Ingredients. We were a large group of over 40 ladies, since it was a weekday lunch, there were little to no other parties in the restaurant. The staff was kind enough to guide us from our conference room to the Ingredients Restaurant. Once we arrived, I felt like I had to seat myself and no direction was really given on which tables were reserved for our party.
The Buffet
The buffet options was enough for lunch. They have a large freshly baked arabic bread display, a live sushi bar, and a few different kitchens ranging from arabic mezzes to indian food. They also have an extensive salad bar. I enjoyed the sushi bar the most. However, it was limited to 3 types – there a tuna nigiri, salmon nigiri and a tempura avocado roll. I had gone back for seconds and our table had to stand there while we waited for the chefs (2) to make more sushi. We ended asking the chefs for sashimi to limit the wait time which they happily agreed.
Service
The service was good during the lunch service. We were brought fresh juices alongside our meal. Watermelon juice is amazing! They were quick and prompt at taking our dishes whenever we were complete with our plate.
Dessert Time
Dessert is my favorite part of any buffet meal. They had SO many dessert offerings ranging from puddings, to cakes to chocolates, pastries, you name it! However, at the dessert bar there was no staff there to assist. I had to go behind the counter to grab the desserts from the displays. I am not quite sure if they wanted the customers to self-serve, but it definitely looked like so since there were plates at the side. During the time I was behind the display, I was approached by several other customers asking me for specific desserts, they had mistaken that I was working there! After the correction, I still happily agreed to assist them anyhow.
Furthermore, I became late for my next event at the conference room so I was told we could bring our desserts to the room to finish. However, once I was leaving the waitress advised this was not allowed. So embarrassingly, I was sitting there (thankfully 2 other friends were with me) to finish our desserts and quickly leave. The staff were not very attentive or helpful as they only generally pointed us in the direction of where the conference room was. We ended up getting lost and went back to the restaurant to ask for more direction.
Recommendation
Overall, this meal was good but I felt was very limited in options. Particularly disappointing since there were only 3 sushi options. I loved the dessert bar but due to the mishap with the lack of staff there, my experience could have been way better at this beautiful hotel.
