Bistro Essaouira — Restaurant in Essaouira

I visited here last week on a day trip to Essaouria. It's in a little square just off from the medina; I used GPS to get there. It majors in burgers, wraps and things. The staff speak English and indeed are English, so there's a guilt factor involved - why did I go to Morocco to visit an English restaurant? am I turning into an ex-pat? - but you just have to learn to overcome that. I have no idea if you're supposed to tip or not, so I just rounded up to the nearest 10dh and ran away before they could offer me change.

I had a vege-chilli burger with two cups of pretty good milky coffee for 80dh (60dh for the food, 10dh each for the coffees), about £5.70. The burger was pretty big, there was a tonne of salad, plus more salad, it was my only meal that day and I didn't feel hungry the next day. You get crisps instead of chips, e.g. potato crisps, Walker's / Lay's crisps.

It's across from a couple of other restaurants. There were a number of stray cats, but they deliberately ignored me in a particularly cat-like way. Towards the end of the meal a local band popped up at the end of the table and started playing, and I deliberately ignored them. NB There's also a La Cantina in Marrakech, but it's...

Moroccan cuisine with a modern touch. I just ate here yesterday with my friends and met one of the owners, Miriam, I think. She came out and explained how she made the cheesecake and how all the food prepared is super local. We got the fish and chips, vegetable wok, and fish tagine. All were great with some WARM bread. The cheesecake at the end was great, made with some fresh Goat's cheese and lemon zest and fresh strawberries. And the owner gave us complimentary cookies she made that morning! Warmest servers, very accommodating (we had a vegetarian). And, while we were eating, there was a painter sitting next to us that painted a beautiful scene of the square. It made for the perfect afternoon in Essaouira. Thank you!!!...

One of the worst meals we've ever had. Waited for almost an hour for the food, and the food was barelly edible... We ate just a small piece of it and gave the rest to the cats on the square. The day after we were sick because of this meal. The small square where it is located is quaint, but thats about the only good thing about it. Avoid this restaurant...