Everyone loves good reviews.

Everything in Dubai is always awesome, service is always super, food is always exceptional.

I don’t like writing negative reviews. A lot of times when we’ve had a not-so-good experience I can’t be bothered writing about it unless it completely pisses me off. I.e, today.

So my dearest friend’s birthday falls this month and I was very happy to had been nominated to organise it.

2nd of December, I rang Ocacti to ask if we could use more than 4 Entertainer vouchers and was told very happily as well that it was okay, which was superb.

So I booked for 8 and added that we will confirm closer to date if we had more.

I sent an email to follow up, and didn’t get a reply. Ah well, maybe this is one of the *only* restaurant in Dubai that doesn’t reply to emails?

6th of December, I called to update the reservation to 10 and was told that it was fully booked. Aw. Sent an email to say if anyone cancels please let me know. Again, no reply.

10th of December, the birthday girl called to update the reservation to 12, and was told it was fine, which was super 🙂 Yay.

As I never got any email confirmations and was getting worried of any potential disputes on the day eventhough they had confirmed via phone, I sent a facebook message to remind that we will be using more than 4 vouchers and they replied stating

“Hi XX, so sorry for the delay in response.we look forward to seeing you at Ocacti on Friday

Thanks
Ocacti Management”

Super, all sweet then.

So we turned up today on a glorious Friday evening today, and was politely told, I’m so sorry but we can’t let you use more than 4 vouchers.

I was in no mood to argue. I was just completely pissed off, to be honest. So many emails, so many phonecalls, and facebook messages and you’re telling me this?  I showed the the correspondences and after discussions back and forth, 15 minutes later they decided to let us use more than 4.

But you know what, it just ruins the evening.

I hate it when things like this happen. There’s a reason why we call. Why we email. Why we sent facebook messages. We want to avoid disputes because disputes ruins an evening, regardless of how awesome your food is.

To be honest, we weren’t impressed at all with what was offered. Service was not great at all. Drinks was slow. Food was below average.

I arrived late but the rest of the girls told me the staff was really rude at the beginning until they attempted to pass on some compliments to lighten things up.

The odd thing as well was it was really empty. It was bizarre as I was told when I rang that it was fully  booked, so we couldn’t  book for 10. So it took us a few attempts to increase the reservation.

On the terrace, probably 60% full. No one was indoors at all! 

The icing on the cake was service charge. 10%! In Dubai, seriously? I’ve never been to anywhere that charged for service!

So guys, just so you’re aware, premium brunch is 395AED. Service charge is 10% which is 39.50AED. So if you were using a 2 for 1, for two people say it will still be 395AED plus 39.50AED.

The big group behind us went through the same issue, we could hear them arguing with the staff about it. Not cool.

Oh wait, just to top if off. Water, is not included. You can have all the wine, sangria, beer, but if you want a bottle of water, they will charge you for it. Absolutely ridiculous.

At last orders I asked for another glass of wine, and staff told me that I have to finish my current glass of wine before they could get me another one. Aw, really? Seriously? At last orders?

Are we going back? Nah.

Go down to Fume, go up to Asia Asia or Atelier M. They’re great. Give Ocacti a miss.

Good thing we had enough positive energy around us to have a good evening despite all this. Still, not worth it though.

And you wonder why it’s empty on a Friday evening.

Next 🙁 

• Ocacti 
• 2nd Floor, Pier 7
• http://ocactiuae.com
• info@ocactiuae.com <– Don’t bother emailing them, I’ve emailed them 5 times since August about various things – ladies night, salsa, brunch, and no one has replied. 
• +9714456699 – You could try and call but if they tell you that you can use more 4 entertainers, it’s not true. So yea, don’t take the risk ay. 
• Premium Brunch, 395AED (for 2, this month with Entertainer Monthly Offers – give it a try and let me know if it’s better than our experience 😉 )