Moroccan Soup Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

OK, so let’s go beyond the hype. Firstly, contrary to what most people are claiming, the food here is pretty average. Yes, it was nice to get meat-free versions of this type of cuisine, but personally I don’t think dumping a bucket of salt in your tubs of mass-produced stew makes for anything amazing. Don’t get me wrong, I do like fast food, but don’t be under any illusions that you’re getting anything else here.

To make matters worse, the service was pretty dire. After the initial confusion about how ordering worked...silly us for not being ”in the know”...when the waiter finally arrived she proudly proclaimed the “menu free” status of the restaurant (totally mind blowing) and proceeded to quote the prices of their “banquet” options. Our request to know whether we could simply order a few mains was met with something between irritation and anxiety - the best we could get was some vague statement that it was possible to select from some ill-described, unpriced dishes. So we, like everyone else it seems, gave up and settled for the cheapest banquet option…which seemed to make the waiter extremely happy, presumably as she’s been schooled to strongly push the banquet, presumably as their business model relies on everyone chowing down on the same stuff. And for all this talk of cheap prices, the 28 bucks each is actually not a particularly sweet deal. You get lumped with some dip that I’d expect from a Coles container, 3 or so dishes of bland and largely similar rice-based fare, some lukewarm flavoured water passed-off as tea, and your stock-standard ”middle eastern inspired” sweets. Most people seem to show up with a container to stow their inevitable leftovers...again, “you gotta be in the know man or you miss out, because our refusal to give out a cardboard box is proof that we’re like, saving the world”…but I don’t buy the argument that the price is justified on the basis that you get a rubbery microwave heatup the next day. In any event, by the time the next day came around - along with, how shall I say, the runs - the last thing I wanted was to look at that muck again.

However, what really disturbed me, and what is ultimately the source of the 1-star rating, was the whole “community justice” messaging the place seems to push. What, so you PAY your “migrant” cooks and table clearers to wait on the 20-something, white-as-snow, hipster-uniformed Fitzroy set? Wow, that’s like, so ethical and progressive.

Pull the other one….you’re running a slickly-marketed cashcow serving up slop to rich kids who don’t know better.

My verdict: give this...

Came here with my two daughters for a birthday dinner. It's a vegetarian cafe. We opted for the $25/head banquet. One of my daughters eats here occasionally and says it's good for takeaway. She laughed that there's no soup, no bar and quite a few people have claimed that the food is not genuine Moroccan . I have to say that I was a bit underwhelmed. Anyone who's eaten in the myriad of cafes/restaurants on Sydney Rd between Brunswick and Coburg is familiar with the experience of dining on fresh, tasty food from a wide variety of ethnic cuisines. Plus, it's very good value for money. I couldn't say that what we were offered was in the same ballpark. The portion sizes for 3 of us looked exactly the same as those provided to tables of two. As you sit down you are given a small glass of sweet peppermint flavoured tea, which is very nice. The dips, flatbread, olives and pickled vegetables were OK and were followed in short order with 3 smallish plates of 'mains'. The famous chickpea bake (primarily chickpeas and yogurt) was not as good as I'd hoped it would be, but the inclusion of roasted pita chips in the otherwise bland dish was a master stroke. I was expecting some nice couscous and at least some some fresh vegetables or dried fruits. There were tablespoons of rice, lentils, a couple of pieces of cooked capsicum, eggplant, boiled carrots and potatoes, but I was longing for the missing spices (paprika, cumin, saffron etc). The addition of some of the more unique Moroccan dishes like Kalinti (a sort of flan made with eggs and chickpea flan) and home-baked bread to soak up the ingredients in a tagine would lift the calibre of the food. The dessert was a small bread plate with a selection of pastries, some of which were nice but the ones that looked like rum balls were quite weird. Unfortunately there is no menu so you don't know what you're getting! Will I be back? No. Apart from the food being disappointing the cafe is really loud (sit outside on the street if you can). For $75 three people can dine at much better places...

Ah what a shame these guys moved premises. Went to dine here at the previous address down the road pre Covid. It was exceptional. We aren't vegetarians but thoroughly enjoyed the experience at this restaurant. It was actually good to dine minus the alcohol. This new venue was disappointing on a number of levels. We booked as a group of 10. The other 8 had never been here before. Unfortunately as a larger group it just wasn't the same. The food that came out was mainly dips and nothing really to compliment it...like a flat bread for instance. There was a little eggplant and felt more solid vegetable based dishes would've been nice. The toilets are located around the back of the building. You need to exit the front doing area and walk around the rear and through another part of the restaurant set up for smaller group bookings. Very inconvenient. Funny as well...as I walked to go to the toilet I did notice tables that had a pita type flat bread....also interesting as well because all the food was eaten. From our previous experience there was so much food you simply couldn't eat it all. They actually provide take away containers (at a small cost) so you can take home what you don't eat. The majority of diners took take away containers. Anyway, if you're going to try this place, maybe let it be just a small group. I'm certain the other 8 friends we went with won't be going back but we may give it another go to the restaurant a chance to redeem...