 <p>you can hide the table before it is initialized and show it after initializing is complete.</p> <p>Use CSS to hide the table.</p> <pre><code>.grid { display: none; } </code></pre> <p>add fnInitComplete to your datatable settings to show the table once it is intililized.</p> <pre><code>enter code here $(".grid").dataTable({ // Your settings "fnInitComplete": function(oSettings, json) { $(".grid").show() } }); </code></pre>