Yes :-) Christle's review (Jan 15th 2007)

I love this place. The food is great, the ambiance charming and the host/owner, Mamdouh, is wonderful.

It’s definitely an experience.

Yes :-) Dale's review (Jan 16th 2007)

I don’t live in Spokane now, but I grew up here and return several times a year to visit family. Every time I make it in to town, I try to get a group together and go to Marrakesh. The food is excellent, the atmosphere is great, and the owner is a fantastic person. Try the lamb m’rouzia. Superb!

Yes :-) Leigh's review (May 23rd 2007)

This was my first experience with Moroccan food and Marrakesh (even though I drive by it twice every day).The owner was extremely helpful and friendly (and a bit sarcastic/ornery which I love). The ambiance was fun and interesting. Definitely a great place to go with a group.

But great service and setting would be nothing without great food. Fortunately Marrakesh has that base covered. The food was outstanding. I was a little concerned about getting too full with six courses but they are spaced out just right. The portion sizes are still filling without leaving you stuffed (maybe not for the super-super size crowd).

The appetizer courses were all very good. The lentil soup had a wonderful broth and the salad Marrakesh was served with a wonderful fresh bread. I wasn’t a big fan of the bastela royale (a chicken mixture in filo dough topped with powdered sugar and honey). The filling and pastry were each great on their own, I am just not a fan of the combination. *This is just my personal taste, others may feel differently.

For the main course I trusted the owner and went with the special of the day. It was a chicken dish served over rice with vegetables with a flavorful sauce. The chicken was moist & the flavors were truly exceptional. My mom got the couscous Marrakesh with chicken and while also good, it had a much more muted flavor base than my special.

Dinner had a sweet ending with baklava and hot mint tea. This may have been our first trip to Marrakesh, but it will not be our last. Next time we will make sure to have at least a group of four so we can try out the feast.

No :-( 3R Inspired's review (Jan 13th 2008)

We took two friends to a disappointing restaurant last night that we were sure would be a huge hit! I had read numerous reviews in local trustworthy sites that gave this restaurant raves. It’s a Moroccan place, the Marrakesh, that is waaaay tacky from the outside (turns out, equally on the inside). Now, that is never enough to keep me away from a possible diamond-in-the-rough; De Leon’s (a fabulous local Mexican deli) is a case in point. The comments that pulled me to want to dine there were about the generous fun character the owner/server was. Phrases like, “plan on spending the evening”, “we always take out-of-towners here when they visit”, “we love this place”, pulled me in. I wanted some of that.

Our friends are vegetarians so we phoned ahead to find out if they would have a range of options. We were informed that they had plenty of choices so we decided this would be the place we would go. We made reservations and were excited! really. I had heard so many things about this place that I envisioned the place to be dark and dusky. I imagined tired rich tapestries draping the walls and low tables bordered with faded richly woven pillows. I expected the waiter to be jovial and kind. I expected to eat a buffet of food with my fingers relishing each morsel and scoop. I expected hot teas and exotic beer.

Sigh. One thing most people know about me or attribute to me is my optimism. It’s true. But here’s the thing, I choose to be optimistic because I truly believe that is the only way to experience life fully. Yet, there are those times when a situation pulls me to just want to whine and vent a bit before I go back to my usual “rosy picture”. The whole dining experience was mostly a disappointment. The place did have tapestries on the walls and low tables but the entrance reminded me of some bad 80’s home with random Middle Eastern relics. We joked that we probably wouldn’t want to see the place in the daylight. So far this is all fine, like I said; we can sacrifice some atmosphere for good grub.

We were seated once our guests arrived; three of us on the floor, two of us on the cushioned bench. Our guests weren’t used to icy snowy roads and were looking forward to alcohol of some sort. A beer would be great. (Strike 1). After waiting about 10 minutes we were given towels so we could all rinse our hands under some warm water poured into a bowl in the center of the table. This was kind of cool. The dinner started with soup, moved to salad, then an appetizer, the main course and finished with dessert. We were all to pick our own individual main course. As it turned out the only vegetarian courses were Vegetables with Couscous and Vegetables with Rice.

Soup was good, a small but nice lentil. Salad was a sort of vegetable relish you ate by scooping it up with chunks of bread. yummy. Next, came the appetizers. My husband and I got a very interesting ground chicken and egg dish flavored with cumin/cinnamon hints, baked inside phyllo dough and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It was good; a sort of Moroccan Monte Cristo. They were out of eggs so our vegetarian friends were offered a second serving of soup or salad as an appetizer. (Strike 2). All of this was broken up by intervals of fifteen minutes between courses where we had no food at all in front of us. (Strike 3) This created ample time for actually noticing things like the fact that the cushions were completely falling apart, literally busting at the seams and foam pieces were falling out. The bench was interesting in that the underside of the small round table nearly met the top of the cushion which meant you had to put your legs off to the side, not under the table. (Strike 4-wouldn’t have been a strike if the food was better and wait shorter).

It didn’t get much better. We did enjoy ourselves. We joked about the tackiness anticipating the next course to be the glimmering jewel that would redeem the evening. Our waiter was a jovial kind man as I had hoped. He joked with our vegetarian friends calling them, “Discovery Channel.” Like, “Hey, Discovery Channel you like hiking on the weekends, huh? I know your type.” He was entertaining. The thing is the food never wowed and the second bowl of soup was just a little weird. We were served plenty of tea which was tasty enough although my husband later pointed out (correctly) that it had a faint taste of soap. I think this was just a character of the tea though, nothing really negative. The baklava, as a finish, was good. I even licked my fingers.

I won’t hurry back to the Marrakesh but I think it could redeem itself. I believe if my husband and I had visited and gotten the same meal in a timelier manner we would have probably enjoyed the evening. I think, overall, it was the long wait times and sad vegetarian options that really killed it for us. Perhaps… maybe… I set my expectations too high.

Yes :-) S&J's review (Mar 31st 2008)

We just got home from Marrakesh and I have to say we absolutely loved it. It was our first experience with Moroccan food and the owner was funny and great, the atmosphere was good, and the food was awesome. We will definitely go again soon.

Yes :-) A-Gar's review (Oct 29th 2008)

Marrakesh is one of those places you take an adventurous date. Something about sitting close to the ground, eating with your hands, and being surrounded by North African tapestries make you feel as if you are dining in a desert tent.

The atmosphere is unparalleled. The host is funny, and has a habit of giving every patron a nickname. He recognized me immediately when I returned after a year’s time. That’s the type of service I love.

The food is delicious, but the portions fairly small for my liking. The lentil soup and mint tea are both the best I have had anywhere. When I asked where he got the tea from, he laughed and pronounced jovially, “I grow it, buddy!”

It’s an experience everyone should try once.