12 Best Restaurants in Rabat, Casablanca, and the North Atlantic Coast, Morocco

Loved by locals and visitors alike, Dar Naji is one of the city's most authentically Moroccan, medina-based restaurants and features interesting dishes more often found in Moroccan homes. Look for trid (soft layers of pastry layered with a meaty sauce) and medfouna (a rustic stuffed bread). Prices are reasonable, and the salads, tagines, and couscous dishes are top quality. 

In the stylish Hotel L'Iglesia, La Capitainerie has tables that spill out onto the esplanade as well as a lovely dining room that highlights local tradition by displaying numerous period objects. The menu revolves around seafood with a Moroccan edge; you can order à la carte or choose a fixed-price menu; both change daily. There's a decent wine list as well as a bar area for evening drinks.

With its beautiful stained-glass ceiling, marble floors, sparkling chandeliers, white linen tablecloths, and sumptuous red-velvet chairs, an evening at the Hôtel Le Doge’s fine-dining Moroccan restaurant is like stepping back into the opulence of the Art Deco era. Perfectly prepared dishes include lamb shank with prunes and almonds and a sinful pastilla drenched with honey and served with orange-blossom ice cream. 

Casablanca's most cherished Moroccan restaurant has been serving up delicious fare since 1958. Its dining rooms have a quintessential Moroccan style and there's a lovely patio where you can dine under a centuries-old tree. The excellent cooking has a refined touch; the salads are delectable, and the tagines bubble away with the most sensational aromas. It serves great cocktails, too. 

Spread over several floors, this cute café serves tasty Breton-inspired buckwheat crepes, good quality coffee, and refreshing fresh juices that are just the ticket on hot days. You can spoil yourself with some divine Moroccan pastries, too.

The Café Maure is a charming place in the Andalusian Gardens of the Kasbah des Oudayas to pause for an alfresco glass of mint tea and local pastries. The shaded terrace is decorated with mosaic tilework and looks across the river to Salé.

On the 23rd floor of the Royal Mansour, dining in this exquisite, intimate restaurant is a singular experience, especially around sunset, when the mirrors, gold, and onyx, catch the light and there are stellar views over the city to the Hassan II Mosque from the floor-to-ceiling windows. The restaurant expertly delivers Moroccan specialties such as the sweet-and-savory royal pigeon and almond pastilla, or veal tagine. There’s also a fine wine list and creative cocktails, and local musicians strumming their ouds.

This charming café in the heart of the Cité Portugaise—opposite the cistern—is spread over several cozy rooms and breezy terraces, all decorated with colorful local crafts and fabrics. Don’t be fooled by the name, they serve traditional Moroccan dishes, such as harira soup, tagines, and couscous. There’s often live music; the owner has banned smoking, too. 

A Casablanca institution, this pretty, blue-and-yellow-theme open-air restaurant is set into the city ramparts overlooking the marina. It may serve the best Moroccan breakfast in town, and a pastry and mint tea make for a perfect break from sightseeing. They also serve splendid Moroccan salads and tagines for lunch and dinner. 

If you're looking for genuine local food, Le Petit Beur (aka Dar Tagine) has it all: couscous, brochettes, tagines, and harira (a chickpea-based soup with vegetables and meat) served in a friendly, casual setting. The pretty tiled walls and painted ceilings add a further level of authenticity.

Tucked down a skinny street in the Quartier Habous, this famous family-owned bakery has been cooking up traditional treats since the 1930s. Satisfy your sweet tooth with cornes de gazelle (crescent-shape cookies stuffed with almond paste and laced with orange-flower water), chebekia (made with sesame and honey), or almond macaroons; there are savory mini pastillas, too. 

This popular restaurant and café sits right next to the rocky beach at Temara, overlooking the sea. It's the perfect place for fresh fish, though meat-eaters are not forgotten. It's open for lunch and dinner and alcohol is served.