Right in the heart of JBR – sits a Sports Bar called Offside on the first floor of JA Ocean View Hotel. We’ve been there once, a lifetime ago – when it was called Girders. Remember that place? We return almost ten years later – with our three kids (ages 4, 6 and 8) as it’s meant to be family-friendly as well now. Really? A family-friendly Sports Bar?

Now – here’s 5 Reasons why YOU should head over to Offside with the family. Let’s see if we can convince you.

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1. Family-friendly Indoor and Outdoor Seating

Offside is a Sports Bar – so yes, it does have a lot of high tables and seats at the bar area, but it also has a lot of low tables as well as corner booths. We all know how much kids love corner booths. Fortunately, we parents do too. The easier it is to contain the little ones, right? 🙂

They also have large wooden tables situated on their outdoor terrace, perfect for families and large groups – and guess what? Dogs are allowed there as well !

2. Ongoing Food and Drink Offers – with Pork in the Menu

Offside’s menu is what you’ll expect from a casual sports bar – with a special mention that they do serve pork.

Offside’s pork platter (168AED) comes with pork belly – with that crispy skin and tender juicy meat, BBQ pork ribs, pork sausages and of course – veges on the side. There’s pulled pork sliders (79AED), pork bangers and mash (105AED), or if you feel like just pork ribs (135AED) – you can get that too.

As we were there with the kids as well – we ordered a few things to share.

Nachos is always as family favourite – and they do it with spicy mexican chicken (65AED), a vege version with just guacomole and veges (58AED) and oh – look, they also have a house smoked pulled brisket option (75AED).

We of course ordered a Margherita Pizza (80AED) for the little ones, and you’ll be happy to know they do have Chicken Tenders (70AED) – served with honey and mustard mayo. Note that they currently don’t have a specific kids menu but they have everything kids would want to eat. Works for us 🙂

Got a sweet tooth? Get their Churros (55AED) and Apple Crumble Tart (55AED) – so good wih vanilla cream, cinnamon and almonds.

Have a look at Offside’s Food Menu*

*Tip : Buy 1 Get 1 free off mains, with the Entertainer

As for drinks – Offside has an Happy Hour offer that runs from midday to 8pm Monday to Friday, and until 6pm on Weekends. We’re talking 35 AED Amstels on tap, Wines for 35 AED and Prosecco for 40 AED. Decent pricing, right?

Have a look at Offside’s Happy Hour Menu

3. Access to Outdoor Playground

The highlight for the kids was of course, access to a shaded outdoor playground which is located a few steps away from Offside. There’s a slide play structure, a climbing frame, and a spider web nest swing ( yes – it’s those big swing things that you can throw all your kids on ).

Note that you won’t be able to see the kids from the current seating area – so you will have to go over there with the younger ones. The team did mention that if you would like to move the tables closer – you could. Fabulous, right? 🙂

4. Sports Screens, Darts and Pool Tables

Well – it is a Sports Bar, right? 🙂

There’s screens all over Offside, and they also boast the biggest screens in Dubai Marina and JBR. For those who likes their numbers – it’s an impressive 5.2 metres wide and 2.88 metres high. Taller than you, I’m sure 🙂

They also have a large outdoor screen – all 3.94 metres wide by 1.92 metres high – perfect for watching the sports in the winter months.

What does this mean for families? Well, if there’s an important game on, it’ll be an ideal spot to head over with other families. The dads can watch the game, and mums can have a prosecco while the kids run back and forth from the playground to the restaurant.

And if you want a game of darts, Offside does have two dart boards to the corner of the bar. They run an ongoing offer where you get a free hour of dart with every order of 2 Asahi beers.

Have a look at Offside’s Current Offers

6. Location right in the heart of JBR

JA Ocean View Hotel hotel is a very short walk to the playground by The Beach in JBR. So you can always head over there after food, for more play-time. I mean – you’ve already braved the traffic to get to JBR. Might as well spend sometime there right? 🙂

Here’s all the different ways you can get to Offside :

• For Shams Residents : Access Offside from the Plaza Level.
• For other JBR & Marina Residents : Get off at JBR2 Tram station. JA Ocean View Hotel is a short walk from there.
• For everyone else : Complimentary valet at JA Ocean View Hotel if dining at Offside.

Here’s another little tip. We went there on Sunday for lunch and traffic on the bridge leading towards the traffic light (Al Sayorah intersection) was actually pretty good. I suppose it’s not a ‘brunch day’ ie Saturday, so there’s less traffic. So I highly recommend you head over for a lazy lunch on Sundays at Offside 😉

So……… have we manage to convince you, yet? 🙂

• Offside Dubai
• Level 2, JA Ocean View Hotel.
• Call +971 56 522 0219
• More Details on offsidedubai.com

An overall capture of the venue :

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A post shared by Dubai Family Leisure Guide (@liloneoftheashes)

Disclaimer :

• We were guests of JA Ocean View Hotel to review Offside, with the family.
• This review was one in February 2025. Please double check with venue – current prices, offers and details.