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Marrakesh has arguably the largest selection of restaurants in Morocco, which serve equal parts Moroccan and international cuisine at varying price points. Restaurant dining, once reserved mainly for the wealthy or very special occasions, is now part of the norm for virtually all Marrakshis. Options vary from inexpensive snack bars, cafés, and fast-food restaurants to the more pricey French bistros, sushi bars, and sophisticated Moroccan fine-dining options. In restaurants where alcohol is served, meal prices tend to be high as licenses are expensive. Home entertaining, however, with lavish meals to impress visitors, is still very much part and parcel of the old Marrakshi way of life. To get an idea (albeit a rather expensive one) of traditional yet sumptuous Moroccan entertaining, treat yourself to an evening at one of Marrakesh’s popular riad gastronomique restaurants in the medina. Morocco is a Muslim country, so don't assume that all restaurants will serve alcohol. Licenses are expensive and, inside the medina especially, are very hard to come by.
You can also eat well at inexpensive sidewalk cafés in both the medina and Guéliz. Here, don't miss out on a famous local dish called tanjia, made popular by workers who slow-cook lamb or beef in an earthenware pot left in hot ashes for the whole day. Food is cooked and served from an outdoor street-kitchen with shared tables, but it's a hearty meal with locals for around 30 DH.
Most restaurants in Marrakesh tend to fall into two categories. They're either fashionable, flashy affairs, mostly in Guéliz and the outlying areas of Marrakesh, which serve à la carte European, Asian, and Moroccan cuisine, or they're more traditional places, often tucked inconspicuously into riads and old palaces in the medina. Both types can be fairly pricey, and, to avoid disappointment, are best booked in advance. They also tend to open quite late, usually not before 7:30 in Guéliz and 8 in the medina, although most people don't sit down to eat until 9 or 9:30. In recent years a third dining category, the dinner-cabaret, has become a popular format, attracting tourists, expats, and well-heeled Moroccans for their entertainment value, if not necessarily for their cuisine.
There's no set system for tipping. Your check will indicate that service has been included in the charge; if not, tip 10% or 15% for excellent service.
Serving some of the best à la carte Moroccan food in the city, the affordable menu here includes tasty tagines, tender brochettes with saffron rice, couscous topped with caramelized onions, succulent tangia, and sweet-savory pigeon pastilla. There's an extensive choice of Moroccan wines, too. The restaurant can be noisy and crowded with slow service if there are large party bookings.
A nonprofit center established this lunch-only restaurant to help women from difficult backgrounds learn culinary skills and earn an independent living. The result is this friendly, brightly furnished restaurant and garden terrace, which attracts locals and expats for its excellent Moroccan and international dishes. Friday is couscous day, but make a reservation in advance! No alcohol, but lots of freshly squeezed juices are served.
One of the few jazz bars and restaurants in the medina that's packed every night, Le Bistro Arabe has a local house band and serves Moroccan food with a Mediterranean twist. The service and cocktails are also fantastic. Tables are limited (particularly if you want to be seated by the band), so it's essential you make a reservation in advance. Live jazz sessions start every night at 8 pm.
The Al Fassia name has become synonymous with fine Moroccan cuisine in Marrakesh, and with tables hard to come by in Guéliz, this branch at the boutique Hotel Al Fassia near the Agdal Gardens lives up to the same high standards set by the older sister restaurant. The atmosphere is elegant though casual, and the restaurant is more spacious and tranquil than its city-center counterpart. On a warm evening a table on the outdoor garden terrace is very romantic. The menu offers the same traditional fare as the Guéliz restaurant, and the kefta of fish with ginger and herbs comes highly recommended. Vegetarians will enjoy the array of delicately flavorsome Moroccan salads as a subtantial starter.
The shaded entryway of this pretty little restaurant gives way to a small dining area lovingly decorated with comfy seating areas and lots of plants. It's a local favorite, especially for brunch.
An outpost of Fez's popular Cafe Clock, this so-called cultural café combines a fun vibe with tasty contemporary Moroccan cuisine. Signature dishes include camel burgers, a blue cheese and fig salad, veggie platters, and homemade ice cream. There's also a menu of cultural activities: exhibitions, live traditional gnawa music, local bands, cooking classes, and al halqa (traditional storytelling). No alcohol is served.
It won't win prizes for design, but this cheap joint is perfect for a lunchtime or evening pit stop. Locals and visitors alike frequent this friendly little canteen just on the right before the road opens into Djemâa el Fna. Tagine pots stand two rows deep on the street stall outside, and a barbecue sizzles away. There are much more interesting specialties available on the menu than some of the other little snack-restaurants, including spiced aubergine tagine, sardine tagine, and pastillas. It's cash only and there's no alcohol.
Slightly more elegant than its hole-in-the-wall branch in the souks, Chez Lamine has a reputation for the best mechoui (whole roasted lamb) in town and couscous on Friday. Its street-side tables in Guéliz are regularly filled with Moroccan families on Friday and weekends; there's also inside seating. Apart from mouthwatering tagines, try the restaurant's other specialty, tangia marrakchia (lamb cooked very slowly for hours in earthenware jars). No alcohol.
Although the row of severed lambs' heads out front may not be everyone's idea of culinary heaven, Marrakshis love Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha, and you'd be missing out not to try it. English TV chef Jamie Oliver chose this spit-and-sawdust street restaurant in a filming trip for a gutsy example of Moroccan roast lamb specialty, mechoui—it's served as a simple sandwich or as a laden plateful priced by weight.
An airy 16th-century riad turned café turned library turned art gallery, Dar Cherifa is wonderful spot to take a break from shopping for a pot of mint tea. They also have occasional cultural evenings, including poetry readings, traditional music, and storytelling.
You can dine on delicious adaptations of traditional dishes---such as tiny melt-in-the-mouth pastilla (sweet pigeon pie) filled with a vegetable puree---at this lovely restaurant with a reputation for nouvelle cuisine marocaine. Andalusian lutes and Gnaoua music accompany dinner, which is a fixed five-course tasting menu at 650 DH; lunch is à la carte, with a limited menu for children. Alcohol is served.
Come hungry for the five-course traditional Moroccan feast served at this restaurant located deep in the medina. Aperitifs are taken on the rooftop, which has stunning panoramic views of the Koutoubia Mosque, and then you can choose to dine beside the pool on the lanterned terrace, in a vaulted upstairs room, or in the lush, cushion-filled main salon. Dinner, including drinks, costs 700 DH and courteous, discreet waiters in white djellabas and red fezzes scurry about to fulfill your every need. This is an exotic experience in a magical setting.
The menu at the English-owned Gastro MK features exceptionally fine modern-Moroccan cuisine. The menu is a balance of Moroccan and European influences aiming to be light and subtle to tempt those who are "tagined out'"; dishes include cauliflower couscous with raisins and capers or a deconstructed tagine of beef fillet with herb mash and zucchini. A five-course tasting menu (650 DH per person) is available upon request. Complimentary canapés are served 30 minutes before dinner and after-dinner digestifs, cigars, or sheesha pipes can be requested. Arrive early for pre-dinner cocktails on the gorgeous terrace.
The Gastro MK is in such high demand that advance bookings and payment of a deposit are essential.
If you want to eat with the locals, this is the perfect spot, though be forewarned that the menu is meat-only. Everything is ordered by weight and you'll get side dishes of olives as well as a tomato and onion salad. Expect a crowd around meal times but service and dining are quick.
Perfectly positioned just opposite the entrance to the Saadian tombs, this Spanish-owned café is a welcome retreat for those who find themselves "kasbahed-out" at the end of a trek through the monuments of Marrakesh. The menu features Moroccan standards, as well as pizza, salads, and a cool gazpacho. An ornate Andalusian archway modeled on the mosque at Cordoba opens into a three-level restaurant finished with beige tadlak (a traditional, shiny, smooth effect) walls, wrought-iron balustrades, and bejmat tiling. The prices are definitely for tourists (pizzas 90 DH, tagines 130 DH), but the food is fresh and well presented, and the shaded terrace has a great view across to the Moulay el Yazid mosque in this up-and-coming area.
Just off the Rehba Kdima ("Spice Souk"), L'Mida is a pleasant spot serving a fresh, modern take on Moroccan flavors. There are plenty of meaty options, but vegetables get the royal treatment in dishes like a seven-vegetable vegan couscous and pastilla with chickpeas. Be sure to book a table if you want to sit on the terrace and take advantage of the great views.
The prestigious Royal Mansour hotel is home to four restaurants, each with a different vibe, but La Grande Table Marocaine, which serves classic Moroccan dishes with a modern twist, is the one worth a splurge. You can order à la carte but the prix-fixe menu with seasonal variations is the best bet. Alcohol is served and reservations are essential.
With zellij walls, painted cedar ceilings, and white tile floors, this old palace serves up reliable Moroccan cuisine to mostly a non-Moroccan clientele. You can choose from the à la carte menu or one of the set menus, which begin at 280 DH. However, it's the views over Djemâa el Fna's nightly 'circus' that are the main draw; reserve in advance for a table on the top floor with a panoramic view of the square. Indoors there's a floor show with belly dancers thrown in (nightly around 9 pm). Service can be surly, and prices are rather high, but alcohol is served.
This stylish restaurant is a good bet for a special night out, with traditional Moroccan cuisine and live acoustic North African and Arabian music. Try the tanjia, a traditional, slow-cooked meat dish specific to Marrakesh. The three-tiered restaurant is centered on a rose-filled fountain of the inner patio where the musicians play from early evening. The covered terrace overlooking a busy souk is the perfect spot for lunch (order one of the Moroccan salads) or dinner and a glass of wine while marveling at the shimmying belly dancers.
This lovely, small café caters to vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-free diners as well as meat-eaters, with options that range from Moroccan classics like harira soup and vegetarian couscous to fusion dishes such as a tabbouleh couscous or falafel sandwiches with taktouka, a cooked salad of tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, toasted paprika, and olive oil. Fill your stomach and then book in for a henna tattoo if it's on your Marrakesh wishlist—the henna here is 100% safe and organic.
Tucked into a side street off the so-called Spice Square in the souks, Nomad has become a local favorite for modern Moroccan cuisine in a quirky outdoor setting, with cushioned benches and festoons of woven lanterns that light up in the evenings. The menu offers takes on traditional Moroccan dishes as well as lighter options such as a lentil salad with goat cheese and peppermint vinaigrette. The desserts are especially delicious.
After a hectic few hours in the souks, this café is a welcome respite for the frazzled traveler. Just beyond the Souk Cherifa and Souk Semmarine, you can relax in the stylish lounge of this converted old family house and admire your purchases. Colorful textiles, leather pouffes, African artifacts, and old photos adorn the walls; from the small terrace you can gaze over the surrounding rooftops. A satisfying Moroccan menu is served until 11 pm or you can just call in for mint tea, coffee, or a fresh fruit smoothie. Cash only, and no alcohol is served.
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