Brass Monkey Is Finally Coming to Abu Dhabi
Good news for everyone in Abu Dhabi who got tired of driving to Dubai just to bowl. Brass Monkey is opening at The Galleria Al Maryah Island. Q2 2026 is the target. No exact date yet but it is close enough that people should start getting excited now. For the uninitiated, Brass Monkey is the venue that figured out what adults actually want on a night out. Not a quiet dinner. Not a club where you stand around. Something in between. Games, food, drinks, noise, fun and the kind of place where you walk in at 8pm and suddenly it is midnight and nobody wants to leave. Dubai has had two of them for years. Bluewaters first, then City Walk. Abu Dhabi has had nothing. That changes next year.
Inside the Venue
Twelve bowling lanes are already confirmed. The rest of the game lineup has not been officially announced but the Dubai locations give a clear enough picture. Pool tables. Basketball hoops. VR racing. Arcade machines that drain your wallet faster than you expect. All of it wrapped in neon lighting that somehow never feels tacky. The interiors are a big part of why Brass Monkey works. You walk in and you feel it immediately and it photographs well, it feels alive, and it does not take itself too seriously and that combination is harder to get right than it sounds.
Food That People Actually Order
The menu at Brass Monkey is not an afterthought. Tacos, sliders, pizzas, kebabs. Sharing plates built for groups who are distracted by a bowling game happening three feet away. The food holds up on its own but it also fits the setting perfectly. Nothing on the menu requires your full attention, which is exactly the point. Abu Dhabi should get a similar spread. If the kitchen follows the Dubai template it will be busy every single night.
The Location Makes Sense
The Galleria at Al Maryah Island already has Zuma, Coya, Novikov, LPM, 99 Sushi and a handful of other serious restaurants. It is already a destination. But every venue there is a sit down, take your time, order properly kind of place.Brass Monkey is none of those things and that is why it fits so well. It fills a gap that nobody at The Galleria was filling. You can have dinner at Zuma and then walk over and bowl three games. That is a good night. Isabel Mayfair is also opening at The Galleria later this year. Mediterranean food, London roots. The island keeps growing and 2026 is going to be a genuinely interesting year for anyone who eats and drinks in Abu Dhabi.Brass Monkey is the one people will talk about most though. It earns that attention every time.
