Casablanca Sylvia Park — Restaurant in Maungakiekie-Tāmaki

Used to love this place but its gone seriously down hill. Today we ordered the Nutella French toast and Chicken and chips from the kids menu and the lamb lunch and falafel lunch from the main menu. Let's just start with the NUTELLA French Toast which should really be named bread with chocolate whip. There was no Nutella to be seen, instead it came with two awful blobs of melting chocolate cream whip (the supermarket stuff) which by the time it had reached our table was almost a complete pile of slop. The "French Toast" only had egg on one side and wasn't soaked through, so was essentially just bread. My kids who usually love anything chocolate, took one bite each and we ended up leaving almost a full plate. The chicken and chips which was just described as "pan fried chicken" turned out to be spicy marinated chicken. It was actually tasty for an adult but had I known it was not plain I wouldn't have ordered it for my 3yr old. Even if it just said "Moroccan chicken" that would have been better. The waitress did eventually swap it for meatballs but not after trying to tell us we were in the wrong. If you want to put spicy chicken on your kids menu that's fine but lable it as that so we are not misinformed. My mum and I ordered the lunch plates they were avg at best but what really put us off was the amount of liquid coming out of the tabouleh, so much that it covered our plate and turned the "Turkish pide" aka supermarket wrap, soggy (I really wish I thought to take photos). All in all very disappointing. Goes without saying we will never be returning here. A shame because this place used...

Early birthday dinner celebration for me and I chose Casablanca purely for the Taramasalata on their menu as I haven’t been able to find anywhere in Auckland besides places in CBD that have it on their menu. We arrived early for our reservation and were given a choice of tables. The ambience is nice and seating in 4 different areas with different vibes, we were in the indoor outdoor area which looks like it’s amazing during summer time with open area. Staff were very helpful and attentive. I loved the “Morroco mule” their take on a Moscow mule and it was delicious, my second one came out looking different very pink but still yummy. I finnally got my taramasalata it was tasty but it was salmon instead of the traditional cod roe and very acidic. We ordered a kebab platter to share but the kebab meat was all very tough the bread and dips were good though. We also had a lahmajun a Morrocon Lamb pizza which had some amazing flavours. My niece also ordered Chicken Dolma stuffed red capsicum which she said was surprisingly flavourful. My highlight of my night was my Iskander, slow cooked lamb on top of the most crunchy toasted pide with lashings of yogurt and capsicum on top it was MOREISH and I finished ever crumb on my plate. For a table of 4 where we all had a main and shared the platter and some other dishes we still had leftovers to take home. Would defs come again just for the taramasalata and Iskander. Special mention to the lovely waiter from Jordan that was serving our table he saw me struggling to take leftover meat off skewers to put in our takeaway containers and he came...

There is something about the ambience of a restaurant and attentive servers that makes a meal into a wonderful dining experience. Casablanca did just that for our party last night. Our party of 3 had pre-booked, and we dined at 6pm on a Friday evening. We ordered a few cocktails, "Rock the Kasbah," and a grazing platter. Our drinks and platter arrived in what felt like moments but probably was about 15 minutes- super fast for a restaurant that was half full. First course: Grazing platter - generous portions, smoky hummus, refreshing labneh accompanied with pulled lamb, meatballs, calamari, prawns. Flat bread, salad of cucumber, tomatoes and crunchy mesclun. Absolutely delish! Drinks: "Rock the Kasbah" cute name! (Think apple liqueur and vodka) Second course: 3 x lamb tagines - delectable lamb shanks in a rich, aromatic sauce with fluffy couscous. Drinks: "Here's looking at you kid" This was a team favourite; creamy, frothy with a side of passionfruit. A bit too cough medicine flavour for my liking but still seriously good.

As for dessert? Well, guess what? Our decent meal portions left us completed satiated, and we were too stuffed to order pudding. Unbelievable, I don't think that's happened for us - ever. So we had 1 x apple tea and 2 x pomegranate tea, which was the perfect palate cleanser, fragrant and sweet. Final thoughts - I reckon Bogey'd enjoy a meal here, I'll definitely be coming back and bringing friends.

Amenities: Great Mediterranean decor and squeaky clean Parking: Free and lots of it

Family-friendly dining - kids more...