Marrakesh or Rose & Crown?

[Honeibee]

I can't decide.

I've never been to either of them.

 

[MHopkins2]

I would definitely vote for Marrakesh. I enjoyed my meal at Rose&Crown, mostly due to our fabulous server, but the food was nothing special. (Note: it wasn't bad, per se, just not memorable.) The food at Marrakesh, on the other hand, is amazing!

 

[magicmommy]

We had dinner at Marrakesh for the first time last week and we really enjoyed it!

 

[Jackie H.]

My first response: Why not do both!?!?!

But if you absolutely must choose, I also go with Marrakesh.

At Rose and Crown we had a great time: sat on the patio and watched Illuminations and my then 7 year old daughter "started" the fireworks and got a certificate from Mickey.

At Marrakesh, the belly dancer came over and 'entertained' my then 13 yo son - the pictures I have are priceless (I may be able to use them later to blackmail him ).

At both places the servers were fantastic and interacted with us well and talked with us about their homelands.

What puts Marrakesh over the top is the food is out of this world delicious! The food at R&C is good, no complaints, but Marrakesh was on another level of wonderful!

 

[jimmalru80]

We prefer Marrakesh. It appears to have a greater variety of choices.

 

[vicb]

I have done both and while I am glad we ate at R&C, we don't have plans to return any trip soon. Nothing really bad about it, just didn't thrill us. On the other hand, DH and I did Marrakesh as our adult dinner one trip and plan to take the kid for our upcoming trip.

 

[bugbugmom]

Never dined @ Rose and Crown. REally, enjoyed Marrekesh...my DS4 really liked dancing with the bellydancer. Great atmosphere and the food was really good. How often do you get to eat Morrocan food.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

My vote is for Marrakesh. Our experience at Rose and Crown for lunch last fall was horrible. Although there were very few guests in the restaurant, we were given a horrible table, received slow service, and the food was just awful!

At Marrakesh last week, we received the friendlies service we've gotten anywhere! When my 4 yo hit his head against the table and started to cry, 2 of the CM's took him out to the Kidcot station to make a mask. When he returned to our table, they brought him a bowl of ice cream. Throughout the entire meal, different CM's stopped to talk to our 2 younger children, calling them by name. The food was very good, too. I was surprised by how much our older (12 yo) ds (who arrived after we had started our meal) enjoyed everything. I offered to share my plate with him, and he ended up eating almost everything on it. Still, we were both full at the end. 2 yo dd really enjoyed the belly dancer. After her performance, she posed for pictures with some of the kids in the restaurant. This was our first visit to Marrakesh, and we definitely will be returning in the future.

 

[Honeibee]

Thanks very much everyone!

Good idea about doing both but I have every other meal planned! I guess I'm compulsive like that. We are on the last of the old Gold Plans, so I'm hitting every top notch restaurant on the property.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Marrakesh is my favorite restaurant at Epcot. I never skip it on any trip.

 

[twojo21]

definetly restaurant marrakesh in morocco. our food was great (alittle exotic for some) & the entertainment was loud but fun with the bellydancer.

 

[aengus]

I can't decide.

I've never been to either of them.

We couldnt decide either so we have PS's at both LOL

 

[MickeyMacks]

I'm really looking forward to eating at Marrakesh. My Mom really wants to try the fish and chips at Rose & Crown and my Dad wants the beer sampler so what I'm suggesting to them is that they join us for dessert at Marrakesh afterwards! I'm reserving a table for 5 to accommodate our combined parties. Hopefully they don't get the really slow service at R & C that another poster mentioned.

 

[kennancat]

I've tried both a couple of times and would recommend R&C. Marrakesh is okay, but I personally found the food to be a bit bland. If you want good Middle Eastern in Orlando, I would recommend Cedar's off of Sand Lake Road over Marrakesh.

 

[SolitaryPhoenix]

Wow, I hate to follow the crowd, but I also recommend Marrakesh. Was there on the 4th; fabulous food, beautiful setting, exotic entertainment. To be fair, I haven't yet had the pleasure of going to R&C, but I plan to. I would definitely go back to Marrakesh.

 

[Belle5]

We have been to both 3-4 times. I prefer the food at R&C. Marrakesh is very bland with lots of "beige" food--even down to the baklava type desserts. It is more of an "experience"restaurant with the music and belly dancing. I must admit that the mint iced tea is wonderful. (Fresh mint leaves) Come to think of it-the mint leaves were kind of like a green, leafy vegetable... ...so I guess not everything was beige...

Rose and crown is a very relaxed, comfortable environment with good food.

 

[heathpack]

Looks like we'll be a dissenting opinion here...

We were just down at the world in late September and ate at both places. No question, we'd recommend Rose and Crown over Marrakesh. The Marrakesh food was acceptable, but not outstanding. We had the Royal Feast, which included both chicken and lamb. The lamb tasted a bit muttony to me, and the flavors in the chicken stew tasted a bit dull. Appetizers and dessert were good. The restaurant is beautiful, as people say, but quite brightly lit, so it did not seem romantic to us. There is a belly dancer, but she performs for less than 5 minutes (one dance) accompanied by some live music (quite good). The tables were quite close together and although we were fortunate in that no one was seated immediated next to us, the waiter's butt would scrape across out table as he tried to shimmy between tables (maybe they were 6-8 inches apart). The ceiling was also dripping unobtrusively onto the table next to us, which did not make the best impression (there were literally a couple of dozen empty tables, so no need to have seated us so close to a drip-- not that it affected us other than making a poor impression...).

Rose and Crown was our surprise second favortie meal of the trip (second only to the California Grill, so that's saying something). There were three of us at this meal and everything we had was excellent. Mushroom appetizer-- fabulous! Cheese platter appetizer-- stupendous! Lamb soup-- three thumbs up! Entrees were just as good. Steak and chips-- mmm, mmm good! Curried vegetables with chicken-- vibrant taste, crisp-tender vegetables, excellent! Cottage pie-- what can I say? not one molecule survived my husband's assault. We were too stuffed to really enjoy dessert but did order Guinness cake and apple crumble-- the few bites we could manage of each were quite good, especially the Guinness cake. It was a lovely evening and we sat outside on the patio, dining by moonlight next to the lagoon, so the ambience seemed much better to us than Marrakesh with its bright lighting and dripping ceiling! Our waitress was lovely and funny, as well, and never once ran her butt across our table!

So this is just one other set of opinions to go by. I doubt we'll go back to Marrakesh, but we actually did consider going back to Rose and Crown a second time in that very trip. I would definately work it into my travel plans for future trips!

H

 

[blueangel]

Marrakesh, hands down. We were there at the beginning of the month and were shocked at how GOOD it was. The staff were friendly, the food was fresh, and we actually enjoy light with which to see our food as we eat. There's a steakhouse we frequent at home that we have seriously considered bringing a hurricane lamp so we can see if our food is cooked correctly.

We sat on the second tier, by the rail and the tables were quite spaced out up there. We had a perfect view of the show, too, since nobody was sitting directly in front of us. The entire pavilion has some beautiful art and architecture and I really think that would get lost if the lights were turned down.

All that aside, the food was actually the reason we will return. I loved the beef brewat rolls and the chicken bastilla. We'll go for lunch again so I can get the Sultan's platter-no sharing this time! The skewers were good, but if you are picky like me go for the chicken. The beef was good, but a little pink in the middle. I also had a watermelon drink (non-alcoholi) which was yummy.

Loved, loved, loved Marrakesh.

Edited to include that I have nothing against the Rose & Crown, I just find it to be typical pub/British fare, which I can get at home. Honestly, I find that food to be much plainer than the Moroccan marinades on the meats. Fish and chips are available at the takeout stand, and you can get the beer sampler in the pub just for a drinks experience should you choose to eat elsewhere.