My wife and I visited Marrakech on Monday and we were the only party in the restaurant.

We started off the meal with an order of the "Moroccan eggrolls" called briwats. A couple minutes after ordering we could heard the beeping and whirring of a microwave in the kitchen. It's hard to say for sure, but as far as we could tell the owner/waiter was also preparing our food in the kitchen. The briwats were excellent, the highlight of the meal. The phyllo wrapping was nice and crispy and topped with honey and powdered sugar. At first the dish smelled like a dessert, but the sweetness played really well with the earthy, chunky chicken stew on the inside, making for a delicious start to the meal.

For entrees we ordered the lamb tajine and the couscous. A couple minutes after our appetizer plates were taken away we could hear the beeping of the microwave again. I eat microwaved food all the time so I didn't see this as a deal breaker, but they should probably do a little more to shield the sound from customers. Regardless, the large hunk of lamb was excellent. Not sure why, but recently I've had a couple pretty bland preparations, which is surprising considering how flavorful lamb can be. The lamb at Marrakech was full flavored and tender, falling clear off the bone. The prunes and walnuts on the side complemented the rich meat well, but the sauce had the texture of slime. It was too bad because the sauce really had good flavor, but the texture detracted from the dish. I pretty much ate the lamb without the sauce, which was ok because it was very good lamb.

The couscous, on the other hand, exhibited all the worst characteristics of microwaved food. Dried out ends, hot spots, shriveled , mushy vegetables. The couscous was cooked in a flavorful broth, but really was quite plain. In this case, even if it had been prepared fresh, I'm not sure how much better it could have been.

I enjoyed my first trip to Marrakech and I'd like to go back when it's busier to try some more of the menu.

turkob wrote:I enjoyed my first trip to Marrakech and I'd like to go back when it's busier ....

It's a big space, and would be a great location for the 2012 GNR awards dinner. Based on my experiences, that might be your best hope of seeing it busier.

Groupon today for Marrakech. $15 for $30 worth of food -- good for one year.

http://www.groupon.com/chicago/deals/marrakech-cuisine-chicago-1?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=uu4150827

Tip for folks who haven't used their Groupon at Marrakech yet: you have to bring a print-out of the Groupon. They won't take the number from a Groupon smart phone app. They lost a few parties tonight because of this. One party left their beer, went home and came back with a print-out. We chose to save our Groupon for another visit.

Lamb shank tonight was as tender and flavorful as always, though the raisins in lieu of prunes were disappointing. An overly poached egg was brought out only after we inquired whether the tagine was still served with egg. It seems the Groupon rush has worn on the patience of the staff. Just kind of irritated and not friendly.

happy_stomach wrote:Tip for folks who haven't used their Groupon at Marrakech yet: you have to bring a print-out of the Groupon. They won't take the number from a Groupon smart phone app. They lost a few parties tonight because of this. One party left their beer, went home and came back with a print-out. We chose to save our Groupon for another visit.

Lamb shank tonight was as tender and flavorful as always, though the raisins in lieu of prunes were disappointing. An overly poached egg was brought out only after we inquired whether the tagine was still served with egg. It seems the Groupon rush has worn on the patience of the staff. Just kind of irritated and not friendly.

sad to hear, hopefully it was a one time incident. I've always loved this place. PLus i purchased 2 groupons!

Had it not been for Groupon, I would not have known about this place. I then followed up by reading the reviews here and then purchased the Groupon based upon those reviews.

So last week I made my inaugural visit. Initially, I was put off when the owner told me that we had to pay in cash if we used the Groupon. I understand the costs of using credit, but that was not part of the advertised deal (of course). Otherwise, service throughout the evening was efficient and graceful.

Food however generally fell short of expectations. The best item of the night was baba ganoush - thick but creamy, charred and smoky flavor and served with fresh, charred pita. I liked the crispy phyllo exterior on the Briwat rolls with chicken, but the filling did not offer much flavor and there was a lack of spices.

The lack of spices was also an issue with the Chicken Bastilla - the crisp phyllo crust was nice, but the only noticeable spice was cinnamon. The Atlas Tagine (chicken) featured a decent roasted chicken leg, rice and some unevenly cooked vegetables. Nothing at all stood out about the dish, and only upon returning home and reviewing the menu did I notice that the Tagine was supposed to be served with a saffron sauce, and the sauce is pictured on their website. The sauce was completely absent on my plate, leaving me with a chicken dish that was more fitting of a below-average American diner.

The restaurant was largely empty, and I can only wonder if the lack of business was behind the unwillingness to use saffron. I can't explain the reasoning behind the lack of other spices. Nonetheless, other than the baba ganoush, the food at Marrakech really underwhelmed me. And having been to Andalous in the past and found nothing special, I'm guessing I will not be eating Moroccan food in Chicago anytime soon.

Sounds like Marrakech has a case of the groupon-regrets.. I often wonder if restaurants sometimes have different portions (and in this case spices) for the non-groupon using public. Of course this would defeat the purpose of using Groupon to drum up interest in a place.

Well, since I've got a Groupon for Marrakech, I'm glad to know about the cash-only restriction. It would be really disappointing to drive to the city and then have to leave the restaurant because I didn't have enough money.

May I ask about how much over the value of the Groupon dinner for two might be?

Entrees prices are around the $10 price range. Appetizers and sides are around $3.

My Groupon was for $30 (paid $15) ... We spent about $50 (not including tax or tip) for two appetizers, two entrees, and various drinks/teas.

I'm grateful for the recent posts, as I was under the erroneous impression that this place had closed.

Thanks,

=R=

Just had dinner at Marrakech Cuisine this evening. It was a wonderful experience. The food was good, but the warmth of the hospitality exceeded even the quality of the food.

To start, had Zaalouk:slightly spicy grilled eggplant mashed with tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Fabulous.

The place is byob, but we opted for the mint tea on the menu, since that's what we generally drank with our meals when we were in Morocco. Exceptional -- and charming, served in a small tea pot and little glasses, as it would be in Morocco.

Had Fez tagine (lamb shank with prunes and cinnamon) and Atlas tagine (chicken with vegetables, olives, and saffron). Both were excellent, though the lamb was a bit more to my liking, but mostly because I love lamb -- and I love that sweet with meat element of Arab-influenced cooking. Both tagines were served with rice, which was a key element to sopping up all the great sauce/juices.

My friend and I both enjoyed the meal thoroughly, and had fun chatting with the host. Even though we had a Groupon, he expressed delight that we were there (though he did explain somewhat sheepishly that, since most bills were pretty small after the Groupon was deducted, the fees for using a charge card would consume any money they would make on the meal -- and I told him we had been forewarned and had come prepared with cash).

I could tell that our host was really delighted that we liked the food. There was a kind of humble joy in the service that made the place seem quite special.

A truly delightful evening. I hope that do well.

Cynthia wrote:I could tell that our host was really delighted that we liked the food. There was a kind of humble joy in the service that made the place seem quite special.

A truly delightful evening. I hope that do well.

Right on. Glad you made it and that it resonated with your very relevant experiences with the cuisine; I was there last month for some zaalouk and harira on a rare chilly day, and it warmed the soul.

I think Bstilla is usually pretty bland isn't it? (to the person noting the dominant spice is cinnamon).

leek wrote:I think Bstilla is usually pretty bland isn't it? (to the person noting the dominant spice is cinnamon).

Bland as in not spicy, but very rich, owing to the multi layers of phillo-like dough and butter.

I just got back from a meal at Marrakech.
I really hate to post negative reviews about small family run restaurants... But I think I owe the forum a fair warning since I had previously written a good review.

Though we still liked a couple things, the baba ganoush was good, though not as smokey as I remember, and had more garlic. The sausage did suffer, as Turkob noted, from a significant reheated-in-the-microwave quality. I'm almost certain it was cooked, frozen, then microwaved, as it had a mushy/chewy texture which I recognized as that. The lamb meat in the Fez Tagine was flavorful and tender, though perhaps smaller than I remember. The poached egg in the Fez Tagine was so overcooked (I'm assuming also precooked then microwaved) that the yolk literally crumbled into a powder when I sliced into it. On my previous visit i remember the yolk running into the sauce.

On top of all that, the prices have just about doubled since my last visit a year ago, and portions seemed smaller. The Tagine was $16.99 (used to be $9.99) The Falafel, Hummous, baba ganoush, etc used to be in the $3 range were closer to $6. The Groupon Effect kills another decent restaurant. R.I.P. Marrakech.

laikom wrote:I just got back from a meal at Marrakech.
I really hate to post negative reviews about small family run restaurants... But I think I owe the forum a fair warning since I had previously written a good review.

More than all that the prices have just about doubled since my last visit a year ago, and portions seemed smaller. The Tagine was $16.99 (used to be $9.99) The Falafel, Hummous, baba ganoush, etc used to be in the $3 range were closer to $6. The Groupon Effect kills another decent restaurant. R.I.P. Marrakech.

I'm glad to learn that the prices went up -- not because I like paying a lot, but rather because so many folks had commented on the great prices, but without listing prices, that I thought you must all be making a whole lot more money than I am to think those were low prices -- or maybe you were comparing it to Alinea. My recent trip was my first trip, so I had no previous exposure to the original Marrakech. But at least now I know that what posters meant by good prices wasn't the current $16.99.

I still think my food was excellent -- and I loved the waiter/host -- but I did think the prices were a bit steep.