Restaurants Open Christmas Day in Dubai 2026
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The standout Christmas-Day table in Dubai for 2026 is Tresind Studio, the three-Michelin-star Indian tasting counter on the Palm. Also serving on the 25th: FZN by Bjorn Frantzen, Il Ristorante Niko Romito, Estiatorio Milos and La Petite Maison.
Christmas is not a public holiday in the UAE, so the question in Dubai is not whether the good rooms open on the 25th. It is which ones are still standing. Two marquee addresses went dark in 2026: the Burj Al Arab closed for an 18-month restoration, taking Al Muntaha with it, and Atlantis paused seven restaurants including Ossiano and Dinner by Heston. What is left is still a stronger Christmas-Day list than most cities can field. Seven tables that turn the 25th into an event, ranked.
Seven Tables Serving on the 25th
The best table on this list and one of the best on earth right now. Himanshu Saini's fifteen-seat rooftop became the first Indian restaurant anywhere to hold three Michelin stars, awarded in the 2025 Dubai guide, and it ranked 27th in the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025. The Rising India tasting runs about 1,095 dirhams and rewrites the country's regional cooking course by course. It sits at St Regis Gardens on the Palm, not at Atlantis or the Burj Al Arab, so this year's closures do not touch it. Fifteen seats means you book weeks out.
The other three-star, and the one that survived the cull. When Atlantis paused seven of its restaurants in 2026, FZN was on the open list, which matters: Bjorn Frantzen's nine-course room was the first in the UAE to earn three Michelin stars, in the 2025 guide, months after opening in late 2024. The fixed tasting is 2,000 dirhams across twenty-seven seats over two floors, built on Norwegian shellfish and Brittany turbot. It is the most expensive seat here and the hardest to get, so reserve as far ahead as the calendar allows.
The grown-up choice. Niko Romito's Italian room at the Bvlgari Resort on Jumeira Bay Island has held two Michelin stars in Dubai every year since the guide launched in 2022, kept again in 2025, with resident chef Giacomo Amicucci running the pass. The spaghetti with sea urchin and the agnolotti are the dishes; expect 600 to 1,200 dirhams a head. The Bvlgari runs festive menus and its chocolate-shop panettone through the holidays, on a private island untouched by the year's closures. This is the calm, expensive antidote to a Christmas-brunch scrum.
Costas Spiliadis's Greek seafood room is the second Atlantis venue confirmed open after the 2026 pause, and the easiest fine-dining yes on the day. The Milos Special, lightly fried zucchini and eggplant stacked with saganaki and tzatziki, is the global signature; whole fish is sold by weight, with a la carte plates from about 95 to 345 dirhams. It runs lunch and dinner daily at Atlantis The Royal. For a Christmas table that leans bright and Mediterranean rather than heavy and festive, this is the room.
The reliable buzz. LPM in Gate Village has run as DIFC's loudest, most enduring lunch-and-dinner room since 2010, a free-standing venue that owes nothing to any hotel, so it sails through a year that closed the Burj Al Arab and paused half of Atlantis. The salt-baked sea bass is the table order, the burrata and tomato a fixture; figure 300 to 600 dirhams a head. There is no single celebrity chef in the kitchen and that has never mattered, because the Nicoise marque from London and Nice carries it. Book it, and ask for the terrace.
The view play, with one rule. At.mosphere sits on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa, the Burj Khalifa and not the shuttered Burj Al Arab, as the world's highest restaurant at 441 metres, and it absolutely opens on Christmas Day. The catch: on the 25th itself the room runs a festive brunch with Santa and live music rather than its a la carte dinner, the five-course tasting having run on Christmas Eve. The Bresse chicken and the langoustine with caviar are the festive plates. Book it for the spectacle and the altitude, not for a quiet dinner.
The romantic outlier. Pierchic sits at the end of a private pier off Jumeirah Al Qasr in the Madinat Jumeirah complex, a separate property from the Burj Al Arab tower, so the restoration next door does not close it. Chef Beatrice Segoni's kitchen does oysters, caviar and handmade pasta at market prices, dinner from 6:30, and the festive listings put it among the rooms serving both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Given how much of the Jumeirah group is in flux this year, treat the Day booking as call-to-confirm. For a sunset table over the water, nothing here competes.
How to Book on Christmas Day
The 2026 map matters more than the menu in Dubai, so book around the closures first. Avoid assuming anything at the Burj Al Arab or the seven paused Atlantis rooms is open. Tresind Studio and FZN sell out their handful of seats weeks ahead and should be your first calls. Il Ristorante Niko Romito and Estiatorio Milos are easier weekday bookings but still fill on a festive Friday. La Petite Maison takes bookings directly and runs full festive service.
Two specifics worth pinning. At.mosphere on Christmas Day is a festive brunch, not an a la carte dinner, so book the brunch slot if the altitude is the point. Pierchic appears on the festive listings for both the Eve and the Day, but with so much of the Jumeirah group in flux this year, confirm the 25th directly before you build the evening around it. As ever, confirm the specific date, not just the festive week.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because Christmas is not a public holiday in the UAE, most of Dubai's best rooms open and many market festive menus. The strongest confirmed options for 2026 are Tresind Studio on the Palm, FZN by Bjorn Frantzen at Atlantis The Palm, Il Ristorante Niko Romito at the Bvlgari, Estiatorio Milos at Atlantis The Royal, and La Petite Maison in DIFC. At.mosphere in the Burj Khalifa opens as a festive brunch on the day.
Only partly. The Burj Al Arab closed in April 2026 for an 18-month restoration, so Al Muntaha is shut until around 2027. Atlantis paused seven restaurants in 2026, including Ossiano, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Hakkasan, Ling Ling and La Mar, with no confirmed reopening. FZN by Bjorn Frantzen and Estiatorio Milos were named among the Atlantis rooms still open, so they remain reliable Christmas-Day picks.
Yes, for all of these. Tresind Studio and FZN have only a handful of seats and book weeks ahead, so they need the earliest calls. Il Ristorante Niko Romito, Estiatorio Milos and La Petite Maison should be booked a week or more out for a festive Friday. At.mosphere requires booking its Christmas-Day brunch slot specifically, and Pierchic should be confirmed directly for the 25th given this year's group changes.
It spans a wide range. Estiatorio Milos a la carte runs roughly 95 to 345 dirhams a plate, and La Petite Maison about 300 to 600 a head. Il Ristorante Niko Romito sits around 600 to 1,200. At the top, the Tresind Studio tasting is about 1,095 dirhams and the FZN tasting is 2,000. Festive set menus at hotel rooms often replace the regular card on the day, so confirm the format when you book.
No. Christmas is not a public holiday in the United Arab Emirates, where the official weekend is Saturday and Sunday and public holidays follow the Islamic calendar and National Day. That is why Dubai's dining scene runs full service on December 25, with hotels marketing elaborate Christmas brunches and dinners. The constraint in 2026 is not the holiday but the specific closures at the Burj Al Arab and Atlantis, so check a room is open before booking.