Lexington Grill & Bar

A Grill and Wine Bar in Ras al Khaimah's Quieter Corner

The emirate of Ras al Khaimah has long sat in Dubai's shadow when it comes to bar and restaurant culture, but that gap has been narrowing. Where Dubai's licensed hospitality scene operates at scale — hotel corridors stacked with internationally franchised concepts, beach clubs running at capacity on Friday afternoons — Ras al Khaimah offers something structurally different: a smaller number of venues, a lower ambient noise level in the literal and figurative sense, and a dining pace that doesn't feel engineered for throughput. Lexington Grill & Bar, located on Vienna Street in the Al Jazeera Al Hamra district, sits inside that quieter tier. The address itself carries some weight: Al Jazeera Al Hamra is one of the UAE's few preserved pearling villages, a low-rise collection of coral-and-mud-brick structures that predates the federal union. Coming from that neighbourhood into a venue that carries both grill and bar credentials sets up a specific kind of contrast.

The Wine Bar Credential

Among the handful of verifiable facts about Lexington Grill & Bar, the most editorially useful is the Star Wine List White Star designation, awarded in January 2024. Star Wine List, a Swedish-founded international wine guide, uses a tiered recognition system to identify venues where the wine programme is curated with genuine depth , not simply stocked with a standard hotel list. A White Star placement indicates that the selection meets criteria for range, sourcing, and presentation that go beyond the minimum. In the Gulf context, this matters more than it might elsewhere. Licensed venues in the UAE operate within a framework that makes wine procurement logistically and commercially demanding; a strong wine list in Ras al Khaimah is a deliberate, sustained decision rather than a default. Venues that manage it well tend to sit in a distinct peer set from the rest of the emirate's licensed restaurants. For comparison, the broader UAE bar scene , from Barasti Bar in Dubai to smaller concept-driven rooms , spans a wide range of programme seriousness. Lexington's Star Wine List recognition places it at the more considered end of that spectrum within its own emirate.

What the Drink Programme Signals

The combination of a White Star wine designation and a grill format follows a pattern seen in wine-forward steakhouse models across other markets: a kitchen built around fire and protein provides the architectural logic for a wine list that skews toward structured reds and aged bottles. Grill restaurants have historically been among the strongest contexts for serious wine programmes because the food and drink pairing logic is legible to a broad audience, and because the cheque averages support cellar investment. That framing doesn't confirm what Lexington specifically pours , specific list details, signature cocktails, or by-the-glass selections are not available in current records , but the designation itself suggests a programme where wine selection has been treated as a core part of the venue's identity rather than an afterthought. Internationally, bars and restaurants that earn specialist wine recognition , from Kumiko in Chicago to Jewel of the South in New Orleans , tend to share one characteristic: the drink side of the operation is programmed with the same rigour as the food side. The White Star suggests Lexington is working within that discipline.

Placing Lexington in Ras al Khaimah's Hospitality Pattern

Ras al Khaimah's licensed hospitality is concentrated primarily in hotels, with a smaller number of standalone venues. The emirate has been positioning itself as an alternative leisure destination to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, particularly for outdoor and adventure tourism tied to the Hajar Mountains and the Jebel Jais range. That positioning has brought a new tier of hotel development, and with it a wider range of food and drink concepts. Lexington Grill & Bar's dual identity as both a grill restaurant and a wine bar places it in a format that serves two overlapping audiences: guests seeking a full dinner service with a meaningful wine component, and those who arrive primarily for the bar experience. That dual-format approach is increasingly common in markets where licensed venues are scarce enough that any single room needs to serve multiple purposes. For anyone planning a broader trip, our full Ras al Khaimah restaurants guide, our full Ras al Khaimah bars guide, and our full Ras al Khaimah hotels guide map the broader scene across the emirate.

Bars Worth Knowing in Comparable Markets

The kind of wine-forward bar-restaurant hybrid that Lexington represents has found different expressions in other cities. Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu operates on a similar dual-programme logic, pairing a serious spirits selection with considered food. Julep in Houston demonstrates how a bar with a strong thematic identity can carry that identity through to a coherent food and drink pairing philosophy. Superbueno in New York City and The Parlour in Frankfurt show how programme depth translates across very different regulatory and cultural environments. What connects all of them , and what the White Star designation implies for Lexington , is a commitment to treating the drink selection as an editorial statement rather than a commercial necessity.

Planning a Visit

Lexington Grill & Bar is located on Vienna Street in the Al Jazeera Al Hamra area of Ras al Khaimah, placing it away from the central hotel strip and closer to the emirate's historic village district. Current booking contact details, hours of operation, and pricing are not confirmed in available records; prospective visitors should verify directly before travelling. Given the venue's position within a smaller licensed market, and the Star Wine List recognition that implies a degree of curation and programme investment, advance planning is worth the effort. For a broader view of what the emirate offers beyond this venue, our full Ras al Khaimah experiences guide and our full Ras al Khaimah wineries guide cover adjacent categories worth including in any extended itinerary.