Restaurant Marrakesh Dinner Review
Restaurant Marrakesh, located in the Morocco Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase, is a table service restaurant that serves Moroccan cuisine. Recently, Brandon, his mom, and I had a spur of the moment dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh. Brandon had never been, and I hadn't been in years, so this was a great chance to see what special diets options were available to us both.
*This gluten free dining experience took place in August 2019. It includes information about dairy free options and information about fish/shellfish, peanut, and chicken & turkey allergies.
Dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh
Restaurant Marrakesh, located in the Morocco Pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase, is a table service restaurant that serves Moroccan cuisine. Recently, Brandon, his mom, and I had a spur of the moment dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh. Brandon had never been, and I hadn't been in years, so this was a great chance to see what special diets options were available to us both.
Atmosphere
If dining at a restaurant with lots of unique theming is something you're interested in, you can't get better than dining at Restaurant Marrakesh. The restaurant's beautiful exterior and interior make it a great place to enjoy a meal.
Restaurant Marraskesh Entrance / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
The restaurant is situated pretty far back in the pavilion, making it a beautifully hidden spot in the park.
Restaurant Marrakesh Sign / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
From the moment you walk up to the restaurant, you'll find yourself transported to a Moroccan oasis.
Restaurant Marrakesh - Interior / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
As beautiful as the exterior is, the interior is even more beautiful. I love all of the intricate details, and especially all of the detailed tile work throughout the restaurant.
Restaurant Marrakesh - Interior / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
From floor to ceiling, you can see beautiful patterns and designs that reflect Moroccan style.
Restaurant Marrakesh - Seating / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
I also love the brightly colored walls and carpet that surround each table. Everything is beautifully and artfully presented.
Restaurant Marrakesh - Seating / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
Though we had seats at a standard table, I loved the tables with benches built in. The bright fabric and design looked very inviting and cozy.
Restaurant Marrakesh - Musician / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
Of course, one of my favorite parts about Restaurant Marrakesh is the live entertainment. It's changed over the years (and has sometimes included a full band). On this visit, there was one musician along with a belly dancer who came out once during our meal.
Brandon took a video of the belly dancer and live music for those who might be interested in seeing the entertainment highlights from our visit to Restaurant Marrakesh.
The Food
Restaurant Marrakesh is not owned and operated by the Disney Company, which means they don't currently offer an allergy-friendly menu. But, they will have a chef come and talk to you about special dietary needs options. Our server also seemed pretty aware of gluten free options that might be available too.
Restaurant Marrakesh - Menu / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
Both Brandon and I took a look at the menu and had some questions for the chef which we discussed when he came to the table. I have had hit or miss experiences with chefs at the Morocco pavilion in the past -- both at Restaurant Marrakesh and Tangierine Cafe. But, on this visit the chef was very helpful and accommodating.
Restaurant Marrakesh / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
Both Brandon and I were served a bread service before our meal. I was served Ener-G gluten free and allergy-friendly rolls, which are also dairy free, vegan, and free of the top common allergens. This particular brand of roll really needs to be heated well to be tasty. And, thankfully, on this visit, they were extremely well-heated and very tasty. The only thing I was missing was hummus. On our next visit, I will definitely be asking for a side of hummus with the bread service!
Restaurant Marrakesh / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
Brandon was served the regular bread service and was told that this was peanut free. He said it was quite good. And, both Brandon and his mom seemed to enjoy it.
Restaurant Marrakesh / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
On this particular visit, I had my eye on the Chicken Kabobs which came with grilled chicken breast, olive salad, and yellow rice (instead of the couscous that normally comes with the dish). This is both gluten free and dairy free.
I very much enjoyed this dish. While the chicken was a little on the dry side, the flavor was excellent. I also loved the marinated olives and the yellow rice served with it. This is definitely a dish I would order again. If you're curious about other dishes, I have also had the Lemon Chicken Tagine on previous visits and also enjoyed it too.
Restaurant Marrakesh / Photo Taken by Gluten Free & Dairy Free at WDW
Both Brandon and I were a little concerned about options for his special dietary needs at Restaurant Marrakesh. But, we were able to find an option that worked well for him. Brandon is allergic to fish/shellfish, peanut, hazelnut, cabbage, and chicken & turkey. The proteins were the biggest concern with cross-contamination. And, luckily, the dish he was interested in was a safe option.
Brandon ordered the Grilled Beef Tenderloin Shish Kebab. This is normally served with mixed vegetables and yellow rice. But, Brandon asked if he could substitute the rice for roasted garlic mashed potatoes instead -- which the chef said he was happy to do. Brandon said this was an excellent dish, and he was still raving about it days later too!
In addition to being safe for Brandon's special dietary needs, this was also gluten free too. The potatoes contained dairy, but you could easily order it the traditional way with rice and vegetables for a dairy free option.
Overall
We were both pleasantly surprised by how accommodating Restaurant Marrakesh was on our visit. And, even better, the food was quite good too. I wouldn't say it's our favorite place in the World Showcase, but it's a solid option that we both said we'd like to go back to again soon. As an added bonus, there is often a lot of availability at this restaurant for walk-up dining if you don't have a reservation too. We were both glad we got to go on this visit and get to check out the current options for guests with special dietary needs.
Have you been to Restaurant Marrakesh? What did you think of the options there?
Restaurant Marrakesh -- Dinner -- Table Service -- World Showcase
*This dining experience took place in August 2013 and includes a gluten free & yellow food coloring review.
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| Inside Restaurant Marrakesh |
Dining at Restaurant Marrakesh in the World Showcase at Epcot makes you feel like you've been transported to the Middle East. From the decor to the food and even the live entertainment, it's not hard to see why. This restaurant is tucked away in the back of the Morocco Pavilion and is often one of the most overlooked restaurants in the World Showcase. You can easily get in to dine at this location, even without a reservation. On this particular visit, we found the restaurant to be very quiet (even for a Saturday evening).I had not been to Restaurant Marrakesh in several years, so I was excited to head back. Some of my friends had been several times recently (one of whom is gluten free & also allergic to yellow food coloring), and they had been really enjoying it. So, I joined them one night for dinner. One of the things that had changed from the last time that I went from this time is that the chef did not come out, but rather the server worked with you on special dietary information. While I always prefer to speak with a chef, this actually was fine because the server seemed very knowledgeable and was willing to get the chef if we needed to speak with him. I will say that the first time I went, I had some difficulties with the chef due to a language barrier and I often find this to be the case at Tangierine Cafe (you can read a recent review of the quick service location HERE). The good thing is that most Middle Eastern food options have gluten free counterparts or are naturally GF. And they don't really use dairy either.
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| Live entertainment at the restaurant. Traditional music & belly dancing |
Both my friend and I chose the lemon chicken (I almost got the kebobs but decided to try something different). Our table also shared the Moroccan Salad Combo For Two - which contains green pepper and tomato, marinated olives, carrots, potatoes, and cucumber salad. Of course, this was enough for the 3 of us at dinner, so it was great. Both my friend and I got the Ener-G rolls (one of the few locations on property that still carries them) with it. Overall, my favorites were the marinated olives (the same ones at Restaurant Marrakesh), the carrots--surprisingly flavorful and very tender, my body can't handle crunchy carrots in large amounts--and the potatoes. The cucumber salad was very bland. It needed salt (which my friends tried and said made all the difference). The green pepper & tomato was a bit like a tapenade but just not my favorite, really. If I were a vegan or vegetarian, this would be a terrific option as an appetizer or even an entree with some other sides!
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| Moroccan Salad Combo: from L to R Green Pepper & Tomatoes, Marinated Olives, Carrots, Potatoes, and Cucumber Salad with Ener-G rolls |
One of the other things I got was the mint tea. Omigoodness!! This was THE.BEST.MINT.TEA.EVER! Can you tell I really liked it? Also, the way they serve the tea is a show in and of itself. Truly. Here's a little video clip showing you what I mean (It's a wonder they don't spill the tea from that distance!)[embedplusvideo height="380" width="700" editlink="http://bit.ly/1cuScME" standard="http://www.youtube.com/v/c5FcanViq58?fs=1" vars="ytid=c5FcanViq58&width=700&height=380&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=" id="ep4121" /] And, of course, I somehow managed to not get any pics of the mint tea by itself; however, here's a great photo (thanks to my friend's layout) of the appetizer, Ener-G rolls & the tea. You can get this tea hot or cold (I asked for cold but got hot, which was fine) It uses green tea and fresh mint. So amazing. Can't get any better than that! And you get as many refills as you want--that's a win!
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| Perfect meal, if you ask me! I might just go and order this next time! |
Then it was onto the entree. Since both of us got lemon chicken, I'll add his thoughts in this too. First off, the presentation was lovely. It was a 1/2 of a chicken (bone in), which looks gorgeous on a plate. Personally, I am not a huge fan of bone-in chicken just because it's more difficult to cut, etc. but it does make the chicken more flavorful and tender.
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| Lemon Chicken - braised half chicken with garlic, green olives, and preserved lemon |
As you can see, it was a rather large portion. Yes, we were full by the end (and we got dessert!). Overall, we both liked the dish but I personally thought it needed more lemon flavor. I found the lemon flavor a bit sedate in this dish. We both agreed that the dish needed more olives (I only had 3). The potatoes were very well cooked. The white meat was a little dry, but the darker chicken meat was fall off the bone tender. The biggest win was the sauce. It was soooo delicious. We both felt the flavors needed a little oooomph but overall found the sauce delicious (just not really lemon chicken sauce). In general, we both thought this was a good dish (he's ordered it before and really loved it). Personally, I might go for the kebobs the next time. I think the kebobs, rice, and hummus are more up my alley of flavor profiles (I remember the kebobs to be very flavorful). I do think this was a good dish though and would def. order again. It just probably wouldn't me my personal first choice.Up next, was dessert. My friend keeps raving about this fruit dessert with orange blossom water, so I had to try it. The dessert is a variation of the: Marrakesh Delight - fresh fruit salad topped with mint ice cream, toasted almonds and orange blossom water. My friend can't have the mint ice cream either because it contains gluten, so we both had the fruit. Wow! This was delicious!! And huge! They were very generous with the fruit. My favorite part was the orange juice and orange blossom water combination. To die for! Here's a tip. You can re-create it at home yourself by using orange juice and orange blossom water, which you can purchase at the Morocco Pavilion! (Be warned a little bit goes a LONG way!). I believe the bottles of Orange Blossom Water are $8.99 but will last a very long time.
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| One of my favorite ways to have fruit now! Very unique and delicious! |
Overall, I'm giving Restaurant Marrakesh a solid 7 out of 10. I find the food to be fairly good and the GF/DF even vegetarian and vegan offerings to be decent. It has terrific atmosphere which is a huge plus for this restaurant, and I wouldn't hesitate to come back. It's a wonderful place for families, adults, kids...really anyone wanting a nice meal in the World Showcase!Have you been to Restaurant Marrakesh? What did you think?
Restaurant Marrakesh -- Table Service -- Epcot
Well, I must admit, I had my doubts about eating at this restaurant. I had heard such terrible things about the service, lack of variety, and general service. But, I was very curious and thought the menu, in general, looked appealing. I'd also received some correspondence prior that indicated that I could eat the hummus and have GF/CF bread. (turned out to be tapioca rolls, but anything smothered in hummus is really tasty!) Upon arrival, we were greeted with live music and belly dancing--great ambiance!
A view from our table of the belly dancing and musicians.The one thing that proved difficult at Restaurant Marrakesh was the service. It was much more slow paced. On a normal day, this would have been fine. However, we had a picture session (which turned out to be canceled on us, but that is a different story!) at the Wilderness Lodge and so we weren't sure we had time to be very leisurely (our lunch was at 2 p.m.). When the food came out, our server said they had messed up and they gave me an unsafe meal. So I had to wait another 15 minutes for my meal. Fortunately, I found it very tasty when it arrived. I would say if you are interested in a unique meal, this is your place. However, don't expect to be in a hurry, this is a slow paced restaurant.
Chicken Kabos with rice, hummus, and a tapioca roll.