Marrakesh — Restaurant in Pune

So I came to this place with a school friend. It was her first time in the city and this place being in the vicinity, I rounded up on it.

This is one of the most shabby and unkempt outlets of Marrakesh. There are flies everywhere and the tables are usually dirty with leftover food and soiled dishes.

For full 15 mins noone came to our table. We both had to individually call for someone to atleast clean the table. Water came after the order was taken and the order itself was taken late.

We ordered for- Paneer Makhani Roll & Open Face Falafel. There was no ice tea present- even though mentioned on the menu. We had to resort to diet coke.

Order came considerably late and the wrong one at that! We requested for a change and it was given to us soon enough.

Paneer Makhani Roll- it had diced cottage cheese cubes in gravy wrapped in Roomali Roti. It was well covered & served with onion rings and green chutney. There was ample paneer in the stuffing, the gravy was oily and too overwhelming in taste and flavors. The wrap of roomali roti was thin and good. Overall very filling.

Open face falafel was served late. Pita pockets were hard and almost stale. The filling had- ground chickpeas and broad beans, deep fried and served with tahni along with garlic and hummus sauce, topped with yogurt. We left the whole if it!

There is a hell of lot of scope for improvement for this outlet of Marrakesh. Huge disappointment.

P.S.- You might want to carry a lot of wet wipes cause they don't have a wash...

Let's start with talking about food: Taste: 9/10 Had two types of Chicken tikka which were delicious! The juices were intact and the taste was smokey which is kinda difficult to master! They have cold soft drinks as well to beat the heat.

Preparation and serving: 9/10 We got both the dishes within 5 minutes, which was surprisingly super fast as compared to other restaurants. Wasn't presented in a fancy way but who cares! All we care about is the taste of the food. If the taste is good, presentation doesn't matter.

Ambience: 7/10 It's a low-key open restaurant with sitting indoor and outdoors. Attracts all kinds of crowd, specially college crowd as it's just opposite FC College. No AC and that's a negative point, but again, the taste compensates for all the negatives. Gives an Arabian vibe which suits the name! You get a proper local Arabic restaurant feel. Parking for two wheelers in front. Easily visible on the main road.

Price: 7/10 It was reasonable and not too expensive as big hotels and restaurants charge. Pocket friendly if you're planning to go once a week or two. They accept Zomato Gold offers and we availed a discount of 10% on the final bill!

Overall experience: 8/10 I would suggest trying other dishes too like Shawarma and rolls, and they also have Veg options to cater everyone! I'm definitely gonna visit them again to try the main course in Chicken. Let's see...

The reason why I'm not giving it a 5 star rating is the fact that their "Shawarma's (Chicken ) with its thick Pita bread & fillings which was under cooked on 2 occasions , where I blew them to smithereens..! Having lived in DXB & Bahrain where "quality & quantity " is not compromised ,here I find that most shawarma outlets are way below the mark.! Try Turkish Delight ,Spot on..! (The marination of the chicken is important)...Folks there's still a glimmer of hope here with this outlet.! Their boneless Butter chicken is brilliant .Try it with their Roomali rotis & extra onion's- wow! ..I've particularly liked their dish called "Lahra Gosht" (with Kheema )which by the way is heavy but delectable.! Their hummus is equally enticing with pita bread (I ask for extra olive oil as it blends with the chickpeas etc & olives)..Oh yeah, on the Tandoor side, their chicken tikka, makrana kebab ,murg kalimirch is sublime...! Instead of trotting all the way to "George-Camp" ,I take a brisk walk & pick up what I like to satiate my Mughlai cravings.Mind you that's once in a blue moon ..They used to do a "home delivery " ,recently discontinued..No washing facility which by the way is...