I consider myself a healthy person. I don’t really eat fast food regularly. I usually save my fast food indulges for a Friday afternoon/evening. Even when I’m on vacation I try to keep a healthy diet and only eat out a few times a week depending on my situation. Nonetheless, when I do eat out, there are some restaurants that I enjoy. In this article, I’m going to be going through My Favorite restaurants in Marrakesh.
I’ve been traveling to Morocco and more specifically Marrakesh since 2013. Since then I’ve eaten at many places throughout the cities. It is a big city so you will find your typical fast-food restaurants like McDonalds and Pizza Hut. In my opinion, the food in these establishments tastes the same no matter where you are in the world. If you’re willing to take a chance on some unknown restaurants you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Here are My Favorite restaurants in Marrakesh
Although the list above are My Favorite restaurants in Marrakesh, I don’t typically find myself visiting each of these places on every trip. One of the reasons is due to the price but mostly it’s because of the fact that I very much like the street food. Typically street food in Marrakesh is grilled meats with a side of fries, olives, bread, some hot sauce and assorted salads (some places don’t give you the salads). This is my favorite thing to eat every time I’m in Marrakesh and typically I don’t miss eating the street food at least once on my trips to Marrakesh.
Note about payment
My favorite restaurants in Marrakesh allow you to pay with cash or credit, however, cash is the most common form of payment and it is usually the form of payment that most restaurants want you to pay with. If paying with credit card don’t expect to be “tapping” with your card or your phone. You will be providing the waiter with your card and they will use this old fashion machine to print your card number on this carbon paper and then you sign the paper and get a copy of that paper. For those of you who a familiar with using credit cards before people were using the machine to automatically debit your credit card, you may be aware of how this process works. My advice, if you’re going out to eat take cash with you. This will avoid the problem of the restaurant not accepting credit cards and asking you for cash (there are a lot of restaurants that operate this way in Marrakesh).
Gelati Dino
Opened from: 9am – 1am
Phone number: +212 5244-39888
Address: Avenue Mohammed V, angle Rue Sebou-Gueliz – 40033 Marrakech
Recommend dish: Banana Split or Fruit platter.
Gelati Dino is a Desert cafe type of restaurant that was founded by Dino Pavese who wanted to create ice cream that had a unique taste. He created his first ice cream parlor in 1978 and now has multiple locations in Spain as well as locations in France and Morocco. This is a restaurant that is on shari3a Mohamed V, right in the middle of Gueliz and Jma3 el Fna. If you’re like me and like walking, this is a perfect place to grab something either before or after your visit to Jma3 el Fna. The restaurant is famous for its gelato ice cream but they also serve all sorts of milkshakes, crepes and other desserts. I do recall seeing some actual food being served at Dino’s but for getting some actual dinner, this may not be the ideal restaurant but I still recommend this restaurant because the variety of deserts is so overwhelming, especially on the hot Marrakesh summers. On those hot summer days (or evenings), I would recommend the banana split or pizza gelato. In addition, they also have a breakfast menu in the mornings so if you’re looking for eggs to go with your crepes there is that option for you.
La Grillardière
Opened from: 12pm – 12am
Phone number: +212 5244-32943
Address: 15 Rue ibn Hanbal, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
Recommend dish: Mixed Grill and Assortement de salades Morrocaine
If you’re looking for some Moroccan fast food but in a better setting than this is the place for you. As the name applies. La Grillardière specializes in grilled dishes. Aside from the normal burger and fries, La Grillardière offers kebabs, lamb chops, sausages, shrimp and many other things I can’t remember. They offer both patio and inside seating. Most fast-food restaurants offer only patio seating. The reason why I like the idea of inside seating is that with patio seatings you will almost always end up with stray cats hovering around your table. While these cats don’t do anything to harm you, I sometimes prefer to eat without having to look at these cats wishing that you would just drop some food for them to eat. I have eaten at this restaurant several times. I find the prices to be good, the food to be delicious and the service to be great. Normally, if I decide to eat at La Grillardière at the beginning of my vacation, I’m going to want to eat something that I will only find in Morocco so I usually choose the “Assortement de salades Morrocaine” and the Mixed Grill. This will give you a cocktail of salads and a cocktail of meats. For some reason, I will always get this food when at the beginning of my trip to Marrakesh. Now I feel I have to eat this on the first day of my trip to Morocco. I should warn you though, these two selections are a lot of food. If you decide to choose these two dishes, bring someone along. It will be enough for both of you. For the middle or end of my vacation, if I visit La Grillardière, I will normally get a burger. They taste great and it doesn’t give me that upset stomach feeling like when I eat McDonalds or KFC.
Queen Atlantic
Opened from: 8am – 2am
Phone number: +212 5244-23163
Address: Marrakech Palaza, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
Recommend dish: Calamari or Lamb Tajine
Located in the heart of Gueliz, this is probably the most romantic restaurant I have ever eaten in. I first came here a long time ago with my then-girlfriend. The restaurant is sort of dimly lit which adds to the romantic ambiance. There are two floors and unless you’re not shy I suggest you go to the second floor. The reason I say this is that they have live singing in the restaurant. It’s mostly American songs from the 80’s but I’ve noticed they will put the microphone in front of people on the first floor and you’re expected to sing. On the weekends they will have a belly dancer dancing to a couple of Arabic songs and they will sing Arabic songs. On each table they candles and flowers. As for the food, Queen Atlantic specializes in seafood. They also have some traditional Moroccan dishes like tajine and some Italian food (like lasagna). I’ve had the fish, the calamari and a fruit ice cream type of dessert. The price is expensive, but I think the idea is that you are also coming for entertainment as well as the food. To be perfectly honest, you will find better seafood at Jma3 el Fna but the atmosphere of the restaurant itself is enough reason as to why this restaurant made my list. Be careful though, if going on a date with someone, the ambiance, the singing, the flowers and candles on your table may make you fall in love.
La Grilla
Opened from: 11am – 1am
Phone number: +212 5243-14061
Address: Route de Casablanca, Marrakech, Morocco
Recommend dish: Beef fillet
I stumbled upon this restaurant when I was doing my normal walkabout through Marrakesh. I was walking from Gueliz to Marjane (Morocco’s version of Walmart). I noticed this restaurant across from McDonald’s and I thought it looked nice from the outside. It’s not as busy as some of the other restaurants in the city center mostly because it is further away (probably around 3-4 km away). I must have passed by this restaurant at least half a dozen times before I decided to eat here. From the outside, you can tell the restaurant is one of those grill restaurants. When I went, I was the only person in the restaurant. For some people, this may be weird but I liked being the only person there. You can talk with who you’re with and not feel that you have to raise your voice because of the other people talking. The food was good and the portions were big. I decided to have the filet de boeuf (beef fillet) which I recommend if you decide to eat here. Because I was the only group in the restaurant the food came out pretty quickly. The price was good as well. I think because La Grilla is a bit outside of the city center, this is why the price of the food is cheaper. Regardless, the food is delicious and if you’re looking to eat some Moroccan barbecue dishes in an indoor setting, this is a perfect spot.
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Chez Ali
Opened from: 7pm – 11pm
Phone number: +212 693-049521
Address: Medina Marrakech, BP9797، Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Recommend dish: Couscous
Finally, from the list of My Favorite restaurants in Marrakesh, we come to Chez Ali. This will be the most expensive place you can eat but if you have the money this is a place you have to visit at least once in your life. This is basically dinner and a show. In order to attend Chez Ali’s you must make reservations and buy a ticket to attend. Because they only have one show per day, the hours are between 7pm and 11pm. When you do buy tickets and enter Chez Ali’s, you are welcomed by people singing. You can take pictures with them if you want. Then you enter some sort of old building that is also a museum. I love museums so this is just great for me. There you see the history of some of the traditional tribes, their wardrobes and tools, and cookware. Once you pass this part you enter some simulated caves with mannequins dressed as traditional Moroccans and you see some other artifacts. Once you pass this, you will be taken to an open area with a background of the ancient buildings. You will also see a bunch of people dressed in traditional Moroccan tribes. They will be singing as you pass by them. They may pull you with them to sing with them as well. Then someone will take you to the restaurant portion. This looks like it’s a large tent but I think it’s designed to look that way. At last, you can eat. The food here is all Moroccan food. You order the food when you make the reservations so when you’re seated, you get the food fairly quickly. I’ve had the couscous which was delicious. They give you so much food even if you go with 7 people, you won’t be able to finish the food they give you. Remember those people who were dressed as different tribes? Well while your eating, each tribe will be playing music by your table and singing. Some of them will pull you to dance with them. When you finish eating, you will start to walk out to the center of Chez Ali’s. They have sorted some stadium type seats for you. At this time it will be dark and the place will be lighted or I should say illuminated. Really the place will look so good when you go out there. The show will consist of men riding in horses and shooting shotguns in the air. I think the guns they use are fake but the sound is so loud. You will also see a belly dancer and finally, some of the riders will do some tricks on the horses. The show will end with them playing some music on the speakers and people taking pictures outside. Really if you’re only planning to go to Morocco once in your life, you need to check out Chez Ali’s.
Some places I don’t like
In Marrakesh, there are a lot of restaurants for you to choose from. I’m not going to list the restaurants that I hated partly because I honestly can’t remember the name of them. Also, I don’t want to give them a bad reputation even though I didn’t enjoy them. Instead, I’ll list some points to think about when choosing a place to eat.
- Fancier isn’t necessarily better
- Pricier isn’t necessarily better
- Some of the places serving alcohol are created specifically for tourists but most times I found the food was terrible and overpriced
- The places closest to the city center are usually not that good
Jma3 el Fna
Jma3 el Fna is the main market in Marrakesh. The place is host to both locals and tourists and you can buy almost anything in this huge market. Here you will find snake charmers, those monkeys with the little hats, and other types of performers. Aside from all the things you can buy, Jma3 el Fna also has a huge selection of food to eat. In a section that reminds me of a food court, you can buy all sorts of things. I have eaten here a few times. Besides the price of the food being really cheap, the food is delicious. If you are in Jma3 el Fna and are hungry I recommend getting the fried fish which is at stall 42, if my memory is correct. They serve this with fries, pretty much like fish and chips but much more delicious.