Aquarium (Dubai restaurant)

This restaurant’s main features are a floor-to-ceiling cylindrical reef aquarium and fantastic views along Dubai creek. Most diners are seated between the fish tank and the windows, and there is often also live piano music.
Photo taken December 2011.

Sounds like a very cool restaurant. I've heard that there are so many aquariums in restaurants and hotels in Dubai, not to mention the one in the Dubai Mall. Why don't they just build a huge grand public aquarium not in a hotel, restaurant, mall or anything? I think it would sound like a good idea to attract more tourism to the city.

Dubai's two biggest aquariums are the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo (in Dubai Mall) and Lost Chambers at Atlantis the Palm.
Both are effectively public aquaria, and are added attractions to both the mall and the Atlantis resort. Even then, only a small proportion of visitors to the Atlantis complex see the Ambassador lagoon (main tank which can be viewed from hotel or aquarium), and fewer visitors to the mall than you might expect pass Dubai's giant tank - let alone pay for entry to the underwater tunnel and the aquarium's exhibits.

I don't think a stand-alone aquarium in Dubai would be able to draw enough visitors, gain sufficient funding or even just be interesting enough to the general public to become a real success, particularly considering the competition these giants pose.