Dar El Medina — Restaurant in Hassan حسان

Dar El Medina is a delightful Moroccan restaurant tucked away on a narrow side street in the heart of the old Medina of Rabat. Touting itself as a place where “taste meets originality”, this traditional café/restaurant serves a variety of national and local favorites, some reinterpreted to combine authentic Moroccan flavors with modern gastronomy.

After a walk in the medina, my two friends and I settled in to a cozy table on the edge of the open courtyard to enjoy our lunch. We were impressed by the originality of the menus, not just in their offerings, but in the fact that it is printed on pieces of leather. Truly unique. The restaurant design is exactly what you’d expect in Morocco, archways and colorful accents.

This is a great place for a romantic dinner, or just relaxing with friends. The service we received was impeccable. The manager greeted us and made us feel truly welcome. The staff was attentive to our needs and our dishes arrived promptly. We ordered the starter mix of Moroccan salad, Zaalouk, and taktouka, which was a great introduction to the Moroccan cuisine.

I ordered Kefta briouats, which were crisped perfectly and delicious. The meat filling was tender and seasoned to perfection. These were a delight to my taste buds. I snuck a taste of my friend’s brochettes, which contained beef, sausage, and chicken, grilled to juicy tenderness and a mix of Moroccan spices kicked it to the next level. Our other friend raved about the pastilla, complimenting on its authenticity and homemade taste. Each layer of dough was flaky and the pastilla was spilling with filling.

For dessert, we enjoyed Moroccan knufe, which features layers of filo pastry, filled with sweet cream, raisins, crushed nuts, and honey. Just a tad bit sweet, with the flakiness of the dough for texture – this dessert was worth the trip alone! I highly recommend Dar El Medina for authentic traditional...

Ok why is my review so different...so low....

I am beginning to believe that there is a distinct possibility that a restaurant in a highly tourist area with high reviews or ratings is automatically suspect. Why? Well the reviews are typically done by tourist themselves who are experiencing a new cuisine as compared to the reviews of local people familiar with the local food.

Tonight we walked into the restaurant and were seated immediately. All guests at tables were obviously not local. Point of concern one.

We ordered four vegetable salads - all of which we have had multiple times on this three plus week trip in Morocco. The carrot salad was too sweet to eat - more like a dessert that would be shared by many with a coffee. The tomato and pepper, and eggplant salads were lacking...mediocre at best. The beet root salad was the only salad we finished. It was good. So keep in mind...these are small vegetable salad portions shared by two people...we only finished one of them.

The finale was a chicken with Lemmon and olives tagine...served with French fries on top. We ate less than half and said enough. As one that cooks tagines at home...this one did not measure up to what it should given the Moroccan kitchen.

So in effect...a snack not a dinner...of which I ate very little. So no dinner tonight. Apricots, walnuts and dates in my riad for a evening snack and to bed.

My advice...go elsewhere. This was the worst dining experience we’ve had in Morocco - a country with incredible food. Rather than walk in here for a meal...walk 5 minutes through the Médina to where grilled meat and veggies are made into a sandwich...for about 10 dirhams you’ll have an amazing...

I upped this review to a two-star rating because some people would like the live music, which was very good, however, it was quite loud for dinner music, and they hardly took a break at all. (I’m sure others would have loved this). We caught up with friends over dinner but could not hear what people were saying for much of the night.

We waited for an hour before the mains appeared. A vegetable targine had to be sent back because it was badly burnt, and the waiter tried to tell us that Moroccan food was like that. (This was our third trip to Morocco, and we have been in Morocco this time for two months, and I think our friends knew what targines should be like). The beef and plum targine that replaced it had far more fat than beef in it.

One of the targines was very good apparently.

The fries served with two meals were soggy and limp, and were not hot at all. They were inedible. We have dined in multiple restaurants in Morocco over the last two months, so we know that about 40% of them know how to cook them properly.

The chicken skewers were really dry, and the minced meat skewers were only a little better. I left the place still hungry.

When the tables were cleared, nobody asked why some plates had so much food on them. It seemed that nobody cared.

They don’t take credit cards either. Add on the fee and make it easy for your travelling customers! Why make it difficult?

We were so looking forward to a good night, so it was very disappointing; especially when the place looked as nice as it did, and the staff were...