Best View & Rooftop Restaurants in Dubai

Giovanni Papi's Italian on the lobby level of the Armani Hotel inside the Burj Khalifa — not technically a rooftop but the only Italian fine-dining room with a window directly onto the Dubai Fountain. Michelin Guide listed, Gault & Millau two toques. AED 750 a head with wine. For a view-led dinner the play is the 9pm fountain choreography: book window banquettes 12-14, order the orecchiette with lamb ragu and the langoustine tortelli, time the dessert to the fountain. The view is shorter range than the high-rise rooftops on this list, but the fountain-and-Burj-Khalifa composition is the most cinematic mid-elevation view in the Emirates. Anti-rec if you wanted altitude.

At.mosphere on Levels 122 of the Burj Khalifa — 442 metres above Downtown Dubai, the highest restaurant on Earth measured from ground level. Nicolas Lambert (ex-Caprice Hong Kong) cooks modern French. AED 1,000 a head, AED 1,500 with the window-table surcharge — and on a view-led dinner the surcharge is non-negotiable. The view runs from the Dubai Mall directly below, across the city to the Persian Gulf in the distance, and you can see the curve of the Earth through the picture windows on a clear day. Book a window two-top facing west for sunset or east for the 9pm fountain show under the table. The view is the entire purchase.

The Beach House on the East Crescent of Palm Jumeirah at Anantara The Palm — a low-rise Mediterranean room with a barefoot-on-the-sand terrace looking back across the Gulf to the Dubai Marina skyline. The whole charcoal-grilled sea bream, the lobster linguine, the wood-fired flatbreads; AED 450 a head. For a sunset-view dinner this is the warm, ground-level alternative to the high-rise rooftops — the Marina towers lit up across the water at dusk, tea-lights along the shore, the Gulf rippling underfoot. Book the 6:30pm seating for the light. The view is wide-angle rather than vertiginous. Skip July-August humidity.

CÉ LA VI on Level 54 of the Address Sky View in Downtown — the Singapore Marina Bay Sands rooftop brand, twin towers connected by the world's highest cantilevered swimming pool. Executive chef Howard Ko plates modern Asian: miso black cod, Kobe-truffle dumpling, wagyu fried rice. AED 600 a head with cocktails. For a view dinner this is the most direct competitor to At.mosphere — Burj Khalifa eye-to-eye through the dining-room window, the Dubai Fountain show at 9pm directly below. The Skybar after dinner is the natural sequel. Book a window two-top facing west, not the bar tables. Most photogenic Downtown rooftop dinner.

CLAP — the Riyadh-Doha-Dubai contemporary-Japanese group — runs its DIFC outpost as a brutalist concrete rooftop with an open-fire robata grill, a sushi counter and DJs from 10pm. Chef Hugo Lebrun's salmon yuzu-truffle nigiri, wagyu skewers and lobster tempura are the social-media-ready orders. AED 550 a head. For a DIFC rooftop view dinner this is the play: an open-air terrace looking across the financial centre's glass towers, the open-fire robata pit in the centre of the room. Reserve a booth on the terrace November-March. DJs from 10pm; if conversation is the brief, eat by 9pm.

Niko Romito's three-Michelin-star Casadonia in Abruzzo gets its modern Italian doppelgänger at the Bulgari Resort on Jumeirah Bay Island — head chef Giacomo Amicucci, two Michelin stars. AED 1,200 a head for the tasting. For a view dinner the Bulgari terrace is the asset: Antonio Citterio designed, looking across the Bulgari marina to the Burj Al Arab in the middle distance. The absolute cauliflower with anchovy and saffron is the signature dish that shows what the kitchen is doing. Book the terrace edge at sunset. The view rewards the spend. The most painterly Italian-view dinner in the Emirates.

Indya by Vineet — the Vineet Bhatia (one-Michelin-star, Rasoi London) Dubai outpost, on the rooftop of the Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort in Dubai Marina. The lobster malai curry, the wagyu kofta and the Goan prawn curry are the kitchen's tells; AED 480 a head. For a Marina rooftop dinner this is the underrated play — a sea-facing terrace, the Palm Jumeirah lights to the south-west, the Marina skyline to the east. The room is calmer than the Pier 7 rooftops and the kitchen is genuinely serious. Vineet Bhatia himself visits quarterly. Book the terrace two-top at sunset.

Gastón Acurio's La Mar at the Mandarin Oriental Jumeirah — the Lima-Michelin-listed Peruvian group, executive chef Carlos Cebrian. The ceviches, the tiraditos, the anticuchos on the open fire; AED 580 a head with Pisco. For a Gulf-facing view dinner this is the most serious Peruvian kitchen with a sea view in the city. The terrace runs along the Mandarin's private beachfront; ask for the open-fire counter where Cebrian works the anticuchos on coal. The Pisco list is the deepest in the Middle East. Book the 6:30pm sundown seating.

Solemann Haddad cooks 12 covers a night on a Satwa rooftop above the Mama Shelter — Moonrise is the only Michelin-starred restaurant in the world plating cuisine he labels Dubai (Japanese-omakase technique on Emirati and Levantine larders). The 14-course chef's-counter tasting runs AED 950. The standouts: the cured-mackerel zaatar maki and the camel-milk caramel close. For a view-led dinner this is the unusual rooftop play — Satwa is low-rise Old Dubai, the rooftop view is over the neighbourhood roofs and minarets to the Burj Khalifa in the distance, the antithesis of the Downtown-high-rise rooftop default. Book on Instagram monthly. 12 seats only.

Nobu Matsuhisa's Dubai outpost on the 22nd floor of the Atlantis The Palm — the original Japanese-Peruvian playbook (miso black cod, yellowtail jalapeño, rock-shrimp tempura) running here since 2008. AED 600 a head with one cocktail. For a Palm-facing view dinner this is the longstanding default — the dining-room and terrace look across to the Marina skyline and back over the inner crescent. Order the miso black cod (the dish that launched a thousand imitations) and a yellowtail jalapeño. Book the terrace at sunset April-June. Service treats view-tourists with practised efficiency.

Pierchic at the Madinat Jumeirah — Italian-leaning seafood at the end of a wooden pier extending 100 metres into the Gulf, the Burj Al Arab silhouette filling the western horizon. Executive chef Mauro Ladu plates branzino al sale, lobster linguine, the seafood platter. AED 750 a head with wine. For a sunset view dinner this is the city's best-known pier-end seat — over-water dining with the Burj Al Arab as the backdrop. Book the western edge two-top at the 6pm seating in winter, 7pm in summer. The kitchen has been here long enough that the cooking is honest. Most photographed proposal-and-anniversary view in Dubai.

Roberto's Dubai — the Roberto Mancino London brand's outpost on Gate Village 1 in DIFC, with the rooftop terrace overlooking the financial centre's glass towers. Head chef Francesco Guarracino plates Italian classics: truffle tagliolini, vitello tonnato, branzino al sale. AED 580 a head. For a DIFC rooftop dinner this is the orthodox-Italian alternative to CLAP and ROKA — the terrace at sunset with the bank-tower lights coming on, white-jacket service, the most Milan-Italian-on-a-balcony register the city offers. Book the corner of the rooftop at 7pm. Cellar carries 200+ Italian labels. Best for a DIFC team dinner that wants view without spectacle.