After our lunch at La Cava, we managed to tour, er...stumble, our way around the WS before our 5pm dinner ADR at Restaurant Marrakesh.
We checked in right at 5 and the host said "Yes, 2 for the Candlelight Processional package?"
For a brief moment I actually considered saying, why yes, that's us! But I definitely did NOT book that, just dinner! My conscience quickly took over and I said we just had dinner reservations. The host then INSISTED we had the CP package! I told him we did not book that, and didn't want to take someone else's spot. He looked at the computer again and finally found our real reservation.
We were shown to our table right away. The belly dancer was just finishing up a routine as we were seated so I was a bit dissapointed that we would miss the show.
According to the check, our server was Zakaria, but really, there seemed to be several of them throughout our meal. Team effort, I suppose? I will say that it worked, and we were never waiting for drinks to be filled, or having trouble getting anything we wanted. All of the CM's in the restaurant were very friendly and always smiling.
Mark, of course, had to have something with alchohol. So he ordered a glass of Moroccan Red Wine. I'm not sure what it was called as the receipt says "Amazir Mtir" and the wine list isn't available on the Disney website along with the menu.
They serve a pieces of foccacia-shaped bread in Restaurant Marrakesh. It looks like the same stuff they serve at the counter service, Tangierine Cafe. It's just a basic white bread...not much to it, nothing special.
Neither Mark or I felt like appetizers so we went straight to entrees.
I knew whatever I was going to order had to involve couscous, so I settled on the
Roast Lamb Meshoui.
This was a large Lamb Shank served with couscous and assorted vegetables. There was some sort of sauce on the lamb, but I would have preferred more of it to mix with the couscous. The lamb itself had a nice flavor, but it was somewhat of a greasy meat (like dark meat chicken as opposed to white). I enjoyed it, but some people might not be in to that. The vegetables were cooked nicely, not over or underdone. A decent dish overall, but I would try something else next time.
Mark had a Lamb Shank dish that was a special, so I don't know the exact name.
The lamb and sauce was exactly what my dish was like. But the special came with an eggplant...goop. It was like a baba ganoush, but with a TON of raw garlic. I love garlic, but I couldn't eat more than few bites of this stuff. It was sooooo strong. I think it would have been really good if they cut back on the garlic some. Mark didn't even try it. All he looks at when ordering an entree is the meat. I don't think he even considers the accompaniments 95% of the time.
What can I say, he's definitely a meat and potatoes guy.
I knew I definitely wanted the Moroccan Symphony dessert, which is an assortment of baklavas. Mark agreed he would split it with me, so we ordered one of those, and Mark got another glass of the same wine to go with dessert.
I decided to try the Mint Tea for some reason. I don't drink a lot of tea because living in Florida, I don't feel like having hot beverages very often. But I was very glad I did, because it was fantastic! The presentation is entertaining too. They come out with a small glass on a saucer, with a few mint leaves in it. The server has a large silver tea pot and takes the glass and saucer in the other and pours the tea in to the glass. As he is pouring, he draws his hands farther and farther apart. Kinda cool.
The tea is described on the menu as a green tea, but it tasted a lot different than the green teas I've had before. It was very good though, and I liked this version better.
You can see Mark's wine in this photo of the tea:
I somehow missed getting a photo of our Baklava. There were 3, two-bite sized tiny pieces, and I thought it was quite skimpy for $6.95. It was good Baklava, but nothing special. Mark was definitely diggin' his wine more than the Baklava. He's not that big on really sweet stuff, and Baklava is like, half honey. Fortunate for me, though (see DR title!).
While we were having our dessert, the belly dancer came out for another set. The music is provided by a couple of live musicians. It seems she comes out about every 45 minutes, so you should catch her unless you eat really fast! Part of the time that she's not performing, the musicians are playing.
That was the view from my seat, but I had to turn completely around to see her.
The restaurant itself is really pretty. I love the tile mosaic work inside. If it weren't for all the tourists, it would really seem like you're in another country!
Overall, I thought Marrakesh was a decent eat. I would have no problem returning, but it's not on the top of my list. I want to try other places I haven't been to first. If you can't get in to Le Cellier, Restaurant Marrakesh is a decent second choice.
I'm giving it a rating of 6.5.
Next installment: Breakfast in the End Zone Food Court at All Star Sports.