Mazel مزال Cafe — Restaurant in Marrakesh Prefecture

Ticked all the boxes for good food, nice atmosphere, friendly staff, good location and even options for me, someone who has a gluten issue. There are two Mazel cafes, ones near the main square where I was staying, and one at the Mellah. I went to both, but was quite ill in the second one so can't really talk about that.

Mazel near the main square had loads of options for vegetarians, including very good falafel, bowls, burgers and pitta. I had the quinoa bowl as that's one of the few things I could actually have.. without wheat/gluten/

Food was really good, refreshing, and the ice tea was absolutely delicious too. I went once in the evening and had a dessert also which was decent. Some kind of light ice-cream with nuts and chocolate.

The first mazel I went to was just next to Jemaa el-Fnaa, making it super convenient. It has a lovely roof garden which I'd recommend sitting in, but mind your head on the loo. I smashed my head...

The other one is slap bang in the middle of a square and near markets, right next to the Jewish quarter. I don't know if any of the staff understood that Mazel is a Jewish word, especially at the restaurant right next to the Jewish quarter. There was certainly no references to any Jewish link there.

Prices were pretty standard, nothing to complain about, but not really...

We had really high hopes for this place because the ratings were so good. But they didn’t live up to it. We got fries a falafel pita and the lamb pita. Everything was quite bland. The pita and falafel were very dry and had no flavor. The lamb was tender but the whole thing was lacking salt. The saddest thing was the creme brûlée. I LOVE creme brûlée. If it’s on a menu I’m ordering it, and this was by far the saddest creme brûlée I have ever come across. It was covered in uncooked sugar. So it was just a layer of thick sugar across the top that was cooked in some places but was mostly just sugar thrown on top. Creme brûlée should have a layer of crisp caramelized sugar on top, so it cracks when you tap it with a spoon. This just had raw sugar moving around. The custard also was not good, the taste, the texture, it just wasn’t proper creme brûlée. We each had a bite and stopped eating. They didn't charge us for it, which was nice. Lastly if you don’t like cats. Don’t eat here. There were dozens of street cats everywhere begging for food, trying to crawl on our table and trying to eat our food. It was quite sad and a little gross. Oh and they have water misters! They weren’t on at first, but towards the end of lunch they turned them on and they were running constantly. It was...

I really wanted to like Mazel as it offers a good alternative on days when you don't want to eat Moroccan cuisine, despite the higher prices. However, yesterday was the last time I will visit Mazel, and I will no longer recommend it due to a series of unfortunate events:

A few months ago, a waiter decided on his own tip and only gave me part of my change back. A few weeks ago (at Mazel Laksour to be fair) I was asked by a waiter why someone as pretty as me was dining alone which is clearly inappropriate. Yesterday, my husband did not receive the dish he ordered (Pitanjia). When we asked the waiter about it, he insisted several times while laughing at us that my husband had ordered Pita Chicken. Misunderstandings happen - no problem, but apart from telling us we are liars, it makes no sense to make someone eat (and pay) something he doesn’t want. And even when we were paying with a different staff member, there were absolutely no efforts to address the issue or make a regular...