ViaVia Marrakech — Restaurant in Marrakesh Prefecture

This is a detailed review of our experience at ViaVia Marrakech. We visited on NYE 2023. We chose this restaurant based on the many good reviews here.

Our encounter with this establishment started on 10th December 2023. I messaged them on WhatsApp to inquire about menus and prices for NYE. They replied promptly stating that they will have a booking system up and running in a few days. On 16th December we booked and sent payment via bank transfer as this was required to secure booking. A couple of days later I received an email confirming receipt of payment. Fast forward to 31st December 2023......booking was at 9pm. We arrived at 9pm sharp and were seated a couple of minutes later. So far so good......BUT that's just about where the good things end!

After several attempts to catch the attention of a waiter we ordered drinks. After several reminders drinks were served. Menus were handed and we ordered food. Starters arrived at 10.40pm, one hour and 40 minutes after we entered the restaurant. You might think "ok.....let's enjoy the meal". BUT, and this is a BIG BUT......that was not to happen. One of our starters was chicken wings......guess what? Chicken was undercooked......red at the bone. Now any one who has ever cooked a simple chicken dish at home should know that undercooked chicken should not be served. It's a major health hazard. I complained to the server and food was changed to another dish......10.45pm.

Moreover, one of the briouat, which was my starter, was cold. Clearly this was not warmed up before being served. This was also the case with one of the briouats which came instead of the undercooked chicken wings.

10.56pm......finally the mains arrived. After almost 2 hours from when we were seated.

If I had to rate the food on a scale from 1-10: 5.5. The food, when cooked properly is edible. You cannot say it's bad, but nothing to write home about. I'm not fussing about this however as taste is subjective......what is mediocre for me could be the best meal for someone else.

The waiting staff was amazing as well. Clearly they were not to fault for these shortcomings.

The total cost of this meal was €170 (or the equivalent in MAD).

This review is being written after having complained to our server and both the owners of the place. Of course they apologized, their main reason being that they have lots of covers for the day. They asked us what they can do to rectify...... what can I ask for? More food? NO THANKS. And why should the client be made to ask for a rectification? Don't you have enough experience to notice when things are going wrong and rectify there and then? They gave us a 50% discount on drinks.....that is 200MAD (~€20). That's how much they valued a ruined evening So we paid €150 after the small discount.

Now, I'm assuming that the owner will comment on this and ask what they can do to earn more points: Make sure that your human resources can handle a full restaurant. Make sure that your infrastructure (kitchen) can efficiently handle a large volume of people. Clearly, yours can't, or your kitchen is understaffed. Do not take too many bookings.....keep it quality not quantity. It's not about making a quick buck on NYE but having a client who, like me, knows his food, writing a good recommendation instead a damning detailed report of a bad experience. Adjust your prices to reflect your quality. €50 per adult (excl. drinks) is way overpriced for what you are offering. You are in Marrakech serving rice with chicken, which can be excellent if cooked correctly, but in this case was, at best, average. I've had glorious meals from prime locations in ROME which were similarly priced - IN ROME. We had excellent meals in Marrakech averaging €15 per person which is what one expects when considering the standard of living of Morocco. Being NYE is not an excuse and frankly the client does not care. It's the management's duty to gauge the capacity of the restaurant and cater accordingly.

You can do...

We have got a table at rooftop before sunset, the atmosphere is good there. But unfortunately it is the only good thing about the place.

We ordered 2 banana juices (the waiter clarified for us that these gonna be fresh banana juices, while orange juice would not be fresh). So we expected to have a juice, but instead they gave us tasteless milkshakes and when we complained, instead of apologizing he tried to prove us that this is fresh juice with milk (and it is not milkshake because there’s no ice cream). I’d like to highlight that in the menu the drink we ordered is under “juice category”. What if someone is lactose-intolerant?

Also the atmosphere has been spoiled by some guys doing branded photoshoot at the table nearby at sunset while we were having dinner. So there were 6-7 people roaming around us preparing model for photos and taking these photos. One of these guys was smoking cigarettes near us, which also was not nice.

Food - we ordered chicken lemon tajine and chicken eggplant tajine. Both were not something special. In chicken lemon tajine there are just 2 pieces of chicken with few olives. You can’t get full with this dish which was not cheap (at reasonable price).

We went to ViaVia with high expectations, however the reality was disappointing for (1) milk shake instead of juice; (2) incorrect response from waiter after complaint; (3) small portion of mediocre food; (4) ruined atmosphere because of strangers who came to make Off-white photoshoot and who didn’t care about restaurant’s clients obviously.

I am attaching photos of...

It is really great when somewhere with a 5 star rating really delivers; and Viavia really does. We went on a chilly, February evening. Being hardy Brits we had booked to eat on the terrace. The patio heaters were taking off the chill. Firstly we were seated on the lower, more windy level but were soon moved to the upper more sheltered one. 10/10 for customer service. The food was EXCELLENT!! We had been on a food tour the night before so had some ideas what to expect but this was so good. The chicken tagine and the vegetarian pastilla were simple and tasty. Good ingredients cooked well and perfectly seasoned and spiced. Chicken that tastes of chicken; a rarity in compared with mass-produced UK fowl. Desserts of chocolate cake and mint tea with Moroccan pastries followed with extra free mint tea as our chosen dessert was not available. Overall the quality of the food, the ambience and the great service by the very friendly staff made for an excellent evening. And all for the price of a very average pub meal...