Marakesh Restaurant — Restaurant in Parsippany-Troy Hills

Go for awesome experience ( Belly dance) which you cannot get anywhere in the tri-state area. food was okay, not great…

We are living in this area since 2014 but never been here. Heard about it lot from friends and colleagues but still, it did not look promising to me from outside ( ok, ok, I should not judge a book by its cover). Finally got a chance to come to this place last Friday ( one of our buddies was going to India for good, so it was his farewell). First thing first, call beforehand and book your reservation, cause on Friday and Saturday there is belly dance performance and all table gets fully booked by the reservation basis only. Belly dance happens only on Fri-Sat so rest other days it should be fine. It was a cold night, got the parking easily. The moment you enter and you feel like you are not in the USA anymore. This is a typical Moroccan style restaurant. Ambiance, sitting arrangements, painting on the wall, architecture of this place, their table is one big rounded plate, so all of it makes it perfect.

They have 2 options, either go for Ala-carte or chose their buffet which is $34/Person. We chose ala carte and ordered below items-

Chicken Kabob (Garlic, Marakesh spice blend, olive oil) Baby Lamb Tagine (Saffron sauce, toasted almonds) Tunisian Chicken Moroccan Grilled Chicken (Moroccan white honey, stone ground mustard) Sharmoula Mediterranean Salmon (Cilantro, tomato, lemon juice, garlic)

Well, I won’t be focused on food, cause food wise I had very high expectations after reading the reviews on various platforms, but I found it just okay. Salmon was very blunt, rectangle pieces of salmon with tomato and garlic. Don’t know what it was. Baby lamb was kind of okay but again, expectations were too much I guess. Tunisian Chicken was a very rubberish type. All the entrée comes with salad and bread. Portions are also okay, not huge, enough for one person. And did I mention, they have BYOB. So yeah get your poison with yourself and enjoy.

I believe they know their USP was belly dance and not food. At 9 PM, dancers came and performed belly dance with various props. It was for good 25-30 minutes performance and it was a fabulous, beautiful experience. Music-dance- dim light ambiance, it was a great atmosphere. One dancer balanced the whole tray of candles and danced beautifully. Dancers will come to your table and will ask you for dance. Many patrons enjoyed the dance with beautiful dancers. Don’t forget to tip them.

After 10 PM, this place is like an open place for dance. Hahaha… you can leave your table and dance in the middle. It was like a crazy dance floor. 10-20 folks were dancing and when they played Bollywood song, I could not resist myself and danced out there with my beautiful wife.

They also charge $2 per person for belly dance and it would be included in your bill. The place is very loudly, no you can’t have a peaceful conversation here, forget that. Lol. So overall experience was terrific and if the food was good enough, it would have been 5 stars. But its 4/5 for me. Yes definitely recommended. Not every day you see belly dance in restaurants....

My partner and I went here for a night out and it was by far one of the best restaurants I’ve been to :)! We came on a Friday for the belly dancing show during the dinner (book for 7:30pm if you wanna have dinner during that), and the dancer was very interactive with the crowd which was a pleasant surprise! The atmosphere was great - very authentic decorations. The restaurant seating was set up like a real Moroccan home, which couches along the walls. The service was some of the best I’ve received at a restaurant. Our server was very kind and very accommodating. My partner is allergic to nuts and mustard seed, and despite our waiter taking care of so many people and even taking orders during, she still noticed that a dish contained nuts and immediately had them redo the dish. Also, my partner is vegetarian and I’m not, and she allowed us to mix and match the vegetarian options for the Sultan’s Table dinner (they have a fixed menu for weekends) which was very kind! The portions were very good! We had 4 appetizers: Garden salad (dressing was DELICIOUS), veggie Moroccan cigars, Mediterranean dip with pita bread, and dolma. All were amazing. For entrees: Falafel platter and lamb tagine. Both were great and very well portioned. At the end, we also got the Moroccan mint tea

For 2 people for the Sultan’s Table did Ed menu dinner, the belly dancing show fee, and 20% gratitude added automatically, the total came out to about $134. Very well worth the price! It was amazing!!! I will definitely becoming again. If you want a taste of Morocco, I highly recommend coming on a Friday or Saturday...

It's surreal when you step inside Marrakesh. Outside is a small, somewhat older strip mall on Route 46, inside, you're in Morocco! The lavish decor and the ambiance are amazing. The wait staff is super friendly and attentive, and the belly dancing show is fantastic. The atmosphere is super festive and loads of fun. It can get loud, especially with the music so if you're looking for a quiet, more intimate date night place, this isn't the best option. But, make no mistake, it's a really great experience. The food ....meh. We both ordered the $39 prix fix option (what were we thinking - it was a lot of food!). My chicken tagine with preserved lemons was - and I'm really sorry to say this - just awful. The chicken was so dry - even the drumsticks, it was almost inedible. The sauce was OK but there wasn't much of it. So I couldn't moisten up the incredibly dry chicken meat with sauce. I've had far better chicken tagine elsewhere and I can make better chicken tagine than this place! So, I was extremely disappointed in the entree. The rest of the meal was OK. No complaints. My husband got the mixed grill entree and he said all of it was good except for the beef grill. It was very dry, too. I tried a bite and basically, you had to cut it into very small pieces, otherwise your jaw would taking beating just chewing it. The flavor, however, was food. My take - this is a fabulous place for a great night out and it's totally worth it for the atmosphere and experience. The food, at least what we had, was OK. Not fantastic but not terrible, except for the chicken tagine which was...