DAR RAFTI — Restaurant in Fez

Unfortunately I can’t list many positives things about Dar Rafti. We notified several times about our late arrival and yet we were left out waiting in the middle of the night with no one to open to us. Luckily we were helped by some neighbours that managed to contact someone.. They said the person in charge had some “troubles”.. Fine, we thought. It can happen.

We found the room and the place in general very tidy and clean which I very much appreciated. Well located and calm.

The attitude of the stuff though, was pretty off most of the time. They were occasionally making weird and annoyed expressions when asking for some basic informations or requests (I speak French and English perfectly and use simple words) like to have some boiling water in a glass with some mint for instance. One day there was no one at the place to eventually attend us, apparently it was a sort of holiday but we never got notified of. Hussama was very helpful at the beginning of our staying but at one point he literally knocked at our door at 7pm insisting to be paid for some henné made by a girl on my hand, after he cleared stated that it was a present..! And during the little drawing session I even already bought several products from her and specified that I would have come back for more stuff and pay something for the henné as well (he heard all of that) not to mention that we were going to stay at the place 3 more days, so that request was very misplaced. He apologised after I expressed myself but I decided to go to pay the girl directly, who btw looked unaware of it all. At one point, they start to loudly fight between each other beside us, it was pretty uncomfortable. Lastly, they offered to book the taxi to the airport and somehow mismanaged it, letting us loosing energy and time because the taxi driver wasn’t supposed to be our ride or something and he didn’t want to bring us there.. Luckily we were much in advance for our flight. To sum it up, the place and the terrace is nice but I would have expected a better treatment, we felt that they were faking kindness most of the time and even bothered them just by staying there. I travel often and I’m always respectful and never have these kind of problems so I wasn’t even sure how to take all of this…

All considering, I wouldn’t say that the price we paid is worth what we experienced there. I think 4.6 score is...

Oh I really wanted the low star reviews to be untrue for this place but they are true :/ Long wait times (we waited 2.5 hrs for food and we arrived well after Iftar, when people had returned to work) and for mediocre (tasteless, really) food. I had to add salt to my falafels (something I’ve never had to do). When we (finally) paid for our meal, we saw the kitchen which seemed too small to serve the size of the restaurant. The front of house should really refuse new customers or provide them with a realistic wait time before staff seat customers and take food orders. Good points: Nice ambiance, good view from the terrace, and the fries were tasty. The serving staff were friendly enough and apologized for the wait. However, from the reviews, this long wait time seems to be a recurring theme. Sorry to say, this place is not worth your time…Unless you have the time. … and to answer the owner’s response, below, we do respect the fast, of course! This is why we arrived at 8pm. Fast breaks at sunset (6:45). You would know by 8pm if the food were coming out too slowly for customers. Sorry, but this one’s on you. Also this review was immediately followed by a 5 star review by someone who has not reviewed...

We enjoyed many aspects of Dar Rafti! I would rate 4.5 stars if that was an option. We ate late in the evening on a Friday. Just off the main street, there are people ready to usher you in as the restaurant is tucked away and could be a bit tricky to find (though there are many signs pointing you in the right direction and Google Maps would’ve gotten us there just fine). Inside the vibes are cozy and chill. The service was attentive and prompt, very friendly and the staff is very fluent in English. We had the chickpea salad and the harira - both great! - and the chicken shawarma - just okay. The wrap felt like it lacked filling and the sauce was a bit bland (though I am no shawarma expert). We would totally eat here again if we had more time in Fes - it provides a different perspective on...