Marrakesh |
Location: |
Epcot |
Reviewer's Name: |
Ken Hughes |
Reviewer's Email Address: |
khughes@musicplayer.com |
Date of Meal: |
10/9/2001 |
Number of Guests at Your Table: |
2 |
Approximate Cost: |
~$60 total |
Priority Seating / Reservations Made: |
Yes |
Priority Seating / Reservations Comments: |
We arrived early but were seated
immediately due to a nearly empty restaurant. I hope that
anti-Islamic sentiment was not to blame for the empty restaurant.
Truth be told, regardless of world events, they may have earned
their ghost-town status by providing really inept service. |
Time of Wait: |
No wait for seating. The meal, however,
was a different story. It took two hours. unhurried dining is one
thing, and this was quite another. |
Food Review: |
Excellent! Everything we tried was exotic
and delicious. I'll confess a certain amount of ignorance with
respect to Moroccan cuisine. There may be better Moroccan
restaurants around, but as first-timers, we were impressed. We
especially enjoyed the beef brewat and the chicken bastilla, two
dishes seasoned with cinnamon and sugar. Sounds strange, but tastes
wonderful. Vegetable couscous was more flavorful than any couscous
we've ever had, and the beef kabob, although somewhat cold when it
arrived due to inadequate or inept wait staff, was also really tasty.
The kitchen was totally on its game. I recommend the Casablanca
beer. It's not especially distinctive, but drinking one with the
meal completed the transporting experience. |
Service Review: |
Service was very friendly but the staff
seemed harried even though there were few diners. At a table near
us, the waiter brought the wrong entrees *and* spilled a whole glass
of ice water into a lady's lap. I'd reluctantly understand such
ineptitude if the restaurant was packed and short-staffed. As it
was, there were only 8 tables occupied, and we saw only one waiter
besides our waitress. It took several requests to get our drinks
delivered. The manager, who with apparent desperation had been
trying to drum up business on the promenade when we first entered
the pavilion, had to step in and make nice with the increasingly
impatient customers. Later we saw the hostess serving food, which
probably meant that there was no one to greet at the door. I really
hope this restaurant has made its own bed and that people weren't
staying away simply because it was Morocco. |
Atmosphere Review: |
We thoroughly enjoyed listening to the
oud player and another fellow playing a cousin of the hammered
dulcimer. Both musicians doubled on dumbek (drum). The taped
accompaniment to the belly dancer was a little cheesy. The dancer
herself didn't have the ethnic look; her lilywhite skin and black
wig lent a low-rent feeling to her otherwise spirited and presumably
authentic performance. I wondered how the musicians felt about
accompanying a non-Moroccan dancer . . . |
Other Comments: |
Please visit this restaurant. If more
diners come, they'll have to get more help. Show the Moroccan
nationals and college students working here that Americans are not
so stupid that we lump Morocco in with other Islamic nations as
"terrorist sanctuaries." Their culture and cuisine are so
interesting and varied, with so many world cultures having an
influence. From the detail lavished on the pavilion and inside the
restaurant, it's clear that Morocco intended to reach out a hand of
friendship and understanding when it agreed to participate in
Disney's world-showcase plans. Let's not be ugly Americans and spurn
their extended hand.
|
