Marrakesh

The food at Marrakesh is very average to me. I find it to be pretty hit or miss in terms of freshness. The ambiance and atmosphere here is what really makes this place interesting and worthwhile. The inside is very well decorated, and the belly dancers make it a fun experience.
The servers here are nice, but pretty slow and inattentive. The meat came somewhat dry, and really wasn’t worth the money to me. We came here on a Friday night and it was pretty much completely empty. We wondered why, but once the meal began, we quickly began to realize.
All in all, my experience here was alright. The above average ambiance made up for the subpar food and service. I’m not sure if I’d recommend this place, just to be honest. I’m sure there are better spots out there for you to enjoy. This restaurant gets a PASS from me.

The closing of this place comes as a real shock. I guess there was a time when Moroccan food was a sought after cuisine in greater Los Angeles. The décor in ALL of the good Moroccan places was ambient like a Berber tent. There were belly dancers and uniformed waiters and the meal was a feast — set up with certain dishes in certain orders that made every meal feel like a celebration.
And this was the only place worth its salt in the San Fernando Valley. I have been here with my family and with of town guests at least 20 times.
Now it is closed — along with that great Moroccan place in San Pedro — and Djerba-​Greb on Sunset Blvd. which was the best of them all.
At least the first one that I went to is still alive: Moon of Tunis — also on Sunset.
I guess I will see you there.

Took my mom here for her birthday and she loved it! Being that she was actually born and raised in Marrakesh she had high expectations and they delivered! The food was amazing and the service was friendly!

I ate here 9.13.15. Celebrated a friend’s bday with a party of 7. I’ve been coming here for special occasions over the years. The food is so tasty and a delight. Between my group we had the chicken Tagine, lamb tagine, lamb and vegetables, fish tagine and the kebobs. Most got the Pre Fixe menu which comes with a ton of food including lentil soup, trio of salads (carrots, cucumber and eggplant), my absolute favorite Bastilla a true treat, endless bread and baklava and tea for desert. We had three bottles of wine. Came to around $ 50 per person including tip. Best group dinner price for all that and the experience you can get. Most group dinners with that much food and wine cost me close to $ 100.
The wait staff was beyond nice and accommodating.
Only bummer was there were no belly dancers. We were there on a Sunday night. But it didn’t matter we had the best time.
Marrakesh never disappoints. Such a great experience with friends.

Big fat MEH.
I was excited. I was super excited to try this place out. I was even more excited when I walked in and saw how cool the décor was — not to mention that the waiters wear those awesome Apu hats!
Meals are all pre-​fixed and expensive (around $ 34 per person for the feast and $ 24 per person for the mini feast).
I got the lamb tagine mini feast and my husband got the lamb couscous.
My lamb tagine was ok for the first few bites because I came here starving, but after a few bites I couldnt eat it anymore. It was too chewy and not what I expected.
On to my husbands couscous. His lamb that came with the couscous was even less edible than mine. They also skimped out on the couscous. I think he had a total of 4 couccous bites and the rest was covered with veggies.
Overall the food was terrible. The only redeeming factor was the belly dancer that taught us how to belly dance.
I hate writing bad reviews, but the food here was awful, esp given how much we paid.

Face it, you’re only here for the experience. And it’s cool… once or twice. It is billed as a authentic Morroccan dining event and the goal should be to go as a big group, basically let the head waiter bring out the appropriate food for the number of people dining and then start ordering drinks to have as the food comes out. The service is good overall, our party was about 15 people there for a birthday party, and they rolled it all out. Had the alcohol ready and waiting whenever we needed more, brought the band out and then finished off with the belly dancer which is always fun and puts some people in an awkward position and gets everyone laughing.
The food: Very «meh». It started off good with an interesting mix of vegetables and then got better with a tastey fried doughey/​crispy pocket that had chicken in it but was bizarrely sweet in flavor and quite sugary. Imagine baklava but with chicken inside and less honey/​liquid sugar or sweetener. The main course however was a bit of a letdown. It was some very nicely marinated lamb, but kind of fell flat on flavor and also didn’t really sit well with me.
Everything else is pretty typical, although the restroom is oddly small for a restaurant this size and there’s valet parking only unless you parallel it on the street (Ventura Blvd.)

Went there with a large group of 7 people. The menu is pre fixe. We were strongly recommended to get food by the waiter beyond what was needed (I guessed that right at the outset). But nonetheless given that the group was visiting from Europe I didn’t want to sound rude by asking less. Sure enough the food was truly in excess. The service charge was 18%. The food was below average.
Update:
The manager called and was truly apologetic and very nice. She mentioned that corrective actions would have been taken if we had brought it to the attention of management. Given that I was paying for my visiting friends I didn’t want to embarrass them or create a situation. We were also in a rush to leave for another location, so trying to fix things like undercooked chicken would have been a bit time consuming given that the restaurant was a bit busy.
Anyways the manager was kind send offered some complementary dish next time. I will visit them again.

Suzie Q’s Fun Facts:
Marrakesh (the city in Morocco, not the restaurant) was founded in 1062 AD. Today, Marrakesh has the largest traditional Berber market (souk) in Morocco, with some 18 souks selling wares ranging from traditional Berber carpets to modern consumer electronics.
=≅≅≅≅≅≅≅≅≅≅≅≅≅~
It’s really sad when you remember a restaurant in its heyday — and base your expectations on that experience — and then, are so terribly disappointed by what it’s become.
The last time I was here (6 years ago, maybe?), I recall the restaurant being absolutely packed with customers in a festive, almost nightclub-​like environment. The food was great, belly dancers swirled to upbeat music, and a great time was had by all.
Fast-​forward to a Sunday night in summer of 2015. My friends and I, a party of 7, arrived at 5pm. Granted, this was early — but the place was dead as a doornail until long past 7:30 pm, and the dancers and music never made a single appearance.
While our waiter tried his very best to please us, the owner had other ideas. To name a few problems:
— Although the «prix fixe» meal came with mint tea (according to the menu), when a friend and I ordered mint tea before we’d ordered our food, the waiter charged us extra for it without warning us that he’d have to do so (or comping us after the fact).
— Only about half of our party wanted to order food, as we were mostly just getting together to socialize. To our surprise, the waiter sheepishly informed us that the $ 8.50 sharing fee on the menu applied to EVERYONE who didn’t order food… not just the folks who were sharing a meal with someone else. (Translation: The owner wanted to charge the non-​eating members of our party just to sit there.) If the belly dancers had showed up, I could understand the surcharge… but since there was no entertainment, I couldn’t believe this attitude.
Only after our party of 7 complained did the owner acquiesce and allow the «non-​eaters» to order something off of the «a la carte» menu, rather than having to pay $ 8.50 for no reason.
— Oddly, the street entrance to the rather large parking lot was chained to prevent anyone from parking there — including its customers. (I was blissfully unaware of this until I tried to leave; the alley entrance to the lot was flanked by orange cones, but I was able to drive through them and park there.)
— As for the food, it was just fine, if not that memorable. But the owner’s unfriendly attitude, the lack of parking, and the absence of the promised entertainment overshadowed it completely.
In short: I wouldn’t return.

I love the couscous! The atmosphere is very believable (I went with my Moroccan friend). The service was great from the hand washing at the start to the mint tea at the end.

In a part of the world where nothing is remotely authentic, Marrakech is a refreshing change from Disneylike restaurants and other fake French, fake Greek, fake anything.
The food is honest and unpretentious but still on point. You can tell it’s been done in an almost naïve manner.

I came here for my birthday last weekend and had a great time! The music, ambiance and belly dancers were great but I have to say that the food was not up to par. I love Moroccan food and have many friends that are Moroccan so I guess I have high standards. I ordered the a few salads to start, a vegetarian dish, and the fish tagine. Everything was ok, not great. I was expecting much better from a Moroccan restaurant.

Came here for a birthday with a large group of about 30 people. We had a private section with small chairs and tables somewhat secluded from the rest of the restaurant. Down the onset of this restaurants is pretty nice and correctly depicts what it stands for. From the beginning when you walk in everything is Moroccan. From the decoration to the hosts to the waiters. The service was good; we had one major server and despite our large group and many orders he did a good job and getting the food out in a reasonable time and nothing came out wrong. The drinks were also fairly good: their specials were a little bit on the sweet side. Mainly the food; my lamb was good, above average. It didn’t come with anything on the side just a beef on a plate and although the decoration and presentation was good it’s still looked empty and was somewhat dry. A small side salad or mixed rice would’ve gone very well with this lamb. The beef skewers were on the dry side and although it was presented in a plate of rice it’s still seemed like something was missing from their plates maybe something green. Same thing for the chicken skewer, although spiced well a little on the dry side. The tea we were given after dinner was really good with a perfect hint of rosewater and mint.
Overall the restaurant represented a good evening and good food but with the competitive nature and restaurants in Los Angeles it didn’t really stand out in my mind

We came here for DineLA (Jan 2015).
We enjoyed a yummy 5 course meal with plenty of leftovers! We had a giant salad platter, chicken, lamb, rice, a type of chicken pie-​like appetizer, and mint tea.
They had a belly dancer for entertainment. I really liked the interior décor. It made me forget I was in LA.
Fun place for a unique dining experience. Can be a fun dinner for a small group, birthday dinner or a fun date night.
For parking, you have to use Valet or try finding a meter.

Food is always great
belly dancers are always fun
no complaints

Fantastic!
We stopped Marrakesh during DineLA Restaurant Week, and I’m so glad we did. I haven’t had Moroccan food in a very long time.
The service was pretty excellent and they made tons of recommendations based on our dining preferences. We shared all of our food, but we still had TONS of food leftover.
They even had a dancer and music playing during dinner; although it did get kinda loud.
Typical for the area, it was valet parkign only.
I loved their lamb dishes and I can’t wait to come back!

I was a little disappointed when we walked in and it was pretty quiet. I was expecting it to be loud/​fun (kind of like Carousel in Glendale). Oh well, it was only 8pm so maybe it got better later. Nope. We were seated in a room which probably had a total of 12 tables and about 6 — 8 of them were full (mainly couples). After it took a while to bring us menus and take our drink orders, the service was great. We ordered the chef specials which came with the salad trio, soup, stuffed filo dough pastry, chicken tagine. lamb shank, and 2 skewers with couscous. The belly dancer was semi-​entertaining but it was kind of awkward since it was only 1 and most of the other patrons weren’t too in to it. The food was pretty good though:
Lentil soup: creamy and tasty. A slight hint of sourness but not in a bad way.
Salad trio: cucumber/​tomato salad, eggplant, and pickled carrots. All pretty good but the eggplant was my favorite. Went well with the bread also
Chicken stuffed filo dough: it was interesting. Good but perhaps too sweet/​dessert tasting. It was filled with a blend of what I believe was meat and eggs/​seasoning but the filo dough was too much like dessert and so was the powdered sugar and cinnamon it was topped with…
Chicken tagine: Very good. The chicken was cooked perfectly and it was juicy!
Lamb shank: My favorite part of the meal. It was huge and done just right. It was a kind of stewed/​braised shank that reminded me of my mom’s persian cooking.
Shrimp and filet skewers: Meh. Nothing special but the couscous it came with was nice!
Mint tea and baklava: I’m not into baklava but the tea was excellent!
Parking was $ 4 for valet. It was an okay experience but I guess I was just expecting more of a fun atmosphere. There was one point where the music was off for about 10 — 15 minutes and it was way quiet and awkward for everyone there.

I brought my family out here a while back, while looking for Moroccan Food. I loved the vibe and ambience of this place.
The belly dancer was lots of fun and engaging. However, I wasn’t too impressed with the food. We had the prefix menu and tried the lamb couscous along with some other dishes. The food was very mediocre and overpriced!
Overall, I wouldn’t return back back.
Food Grade: B–
Worth The Money: C
Service Grade: C
Ambience: A+
Parking Convenience: B
Overall Impression: C

I went tonight for dineLA with the girlfriends and was excited from the moment we walked in.
I’ve been wanting to try Moroccon food for the longest time and dineLA seemed to be the best opportunity.
This place was fully decorated with multiple large rooms. The décor was spot on and the staff was very friendly.
Our 5 course meal was fulfilling and rewarding. It was even better as we had a belly dancing show halfway into our meal.
Our appetizers had eggplant, hummus, carrots, and cucumbers with bread. We then were able to pick a chicken or beef kabob followed by a honey glazed lamb or chicken dish. We all got the honey glazed lamb and were blown away by the taste. Exquisite.
Although the portions seemed to small for the three of us, they were actually quite filling. My girlfriends and I were stuffed about ²⁄₃ of the way in.
We then finished the meal with mint tea and baklava. A perfect meal with great company. A five course meal for $ 25. My best dineLA experience yet. I could not be any more satisfied!
I loved the atmosphere, the staff, and the food. If I ever crave Moroccon food again, I will definitely be coming back to this place!

I don’t know what the other reviews are talking about when they say the food is horrible. It is not. Not at the least at all! You just have to come here and have an open mind when trying different foods.
Atmosphere: the atmosphere is dark, romantic, casual yet nice for group settings, and comfortable. The couches and chairs looks like a comfortable living room where the tables and chairs are low, but not too low, to the ground. It feels uniquely different. The belly dancer was dancing about and it adds a nice touch to the mood.
The food: we had the 5 course dinela set menu and it was fantastic. The opening meal was the Morrocan trio salad with hummus. The cucumber and the carrot salad was tart and delicious. The eggplant looked like chili but it had the eggplant in it. It was better than expected. The hummus was given to us with bread and it was like any other hummus, well flavored.
The next course was the B’Stilla. It looked like a sweet pot pie. On the outside it had powdered sugar on it and in the inside it contained chicken, eggs, almonds, and other spices. This was a delicious start to our meal. The crust was flaky and sweet with a savory center. Nice touch!
The third course was the kabobs. The two that were offered were the chicken and the beef. Both the meats were huge chunks of meats grilled with spices on them. They were tasty but not fabulous. The chicken was a slight bit too dry.
The fourth course was the main courses. We had the lemon chicken and the honey lamb. The lemon chicken was moist and flavorful. The lemon made the chicken have an umph to the taste. Not too overpowering and not overlooked. The olives gave it a nice salty balance to the lemony taste. Even though both dishes were very good, our favorite was the lamb. If you are not one for the taste and gamey-​ness of lamb, then this is not for you. For us, it was perfect. All the meat were practically licked off the bones. The sweet plums and honey added a wonderful flavor to the natural lamb. I wish we ordered all lamb, but we wanted to try all that were offered. The meat was literally fork tender!
Lastly, the fifth course was the Morrocan mint tea and the baklava. The mint tea was a nice sweet touch to end out meal. The baklava was very sweet and very nutty. It had a flaky crust and sticky, sweet layer to it too.
The service: the service was absolutely wonderful. They first gave us a communal table bowl to wash our hands in rose water. (That smelled absolutely heavenly if you like the smell of rose!) They were polite, courteous, and very attentive when plates needed to be cleared. Our water glasses were filled and it was a memorable experience. I would definitely come back here.

We went here for a party last night, and had a lot of fun.
The pros are:
1) Good food
2) Good service
3) Awesome atmosphere
4) authentic feel
5) great belly dancer
Cons are:
1) The tables are silly low. I am 5’1 and my knees barely fit under the table. The cushioned benches were amazingly comfortable… for me… but anyone taller than me had a rough time getting up from them. The tiny stools had to be lower than 15 inches, max. Just not good for a normal sized adult over 40 years old.
2) They kept forgetting to put out enough forks and spoons out… and we are talking about food that HAS to be eaten with utensils. So, while half the people were eating, the other half were waiting for utensils for quite a while
3) The belly dancer was great, but with snow white skin, and blond hair… not quite the authentic feel that the rest of the place has.
I would give a 3.5 stars if I could, but will go on the higher side, as I had a lot of fun. If I was taller (and therefore had a hard time in their seats), it would be lower.