Description: During my week in Marrakesh I happened upon two locations of Terrasse des Epices. I had one good experience and one not so good. The first day I was mainly looking for a little cafe to stop for tea during a time of shopping in the souks of the Medina and happened to find the Terrasse which is in the center of the souks by the square of spices and straw goods.
It looked quite inviting with the open-air duel leveled seating with timed mist-sprayers which went off overhead to cool off the guests. I was there with two other friends and we immediately were seated at a small table on ground level. Most of the guests in that room seemed to just be ordering small snacks, desserts, and coffee or tea. We had a few glasses of the famous Moroccan mint tea and were waited on patiently, with no rush to vacate our table but instead encouraged to enjoy our time. Our server even took a photo of us all before we paid (the very fair and moderate price) before leaving. Overall this cafe felt very nicely run, nicely decorated, and clean...somewhat catering to Europeans.
A few days later we made a big reservation for our entire group at another location of the Terrasse des Epices which is in another quarter of the city and quite a bit larger. WE were ushered in and brought up to the upstairs seating which was the covered perimeter of a large terrace. Very beautiful setting which seemed above and away from the chatic and noisy city. Initially we were very impressed and as we lounged on the low couches surrounding our table, the large straw lanterns hung above our heads and cooling mist was being sprayed lightly on the diners.
We all ordered an array of couscous and tagine dishes as to experience the traditional tastes. The food was excellent, as were the drinks. This is where my good review of this location must end.
Our service was extremely slow and with three separate servers all giving us different stories, specials, and prices - our ordering was hectic and confusing. We were given fixed price meal prices with only a meat choice, but since there were over half our group as vegetarians we asked for a vegetarian substitute. Our servers said no problem. But when the bill came we were charged much more for the vegetarian plates (with only 1 course each - and obviously cheaper to prepare than the meat) than the meat plates with 3 courses. We spoke to the manager on end, and he refused to listen to our concerns or work with us in any way. Our Moroccan guide told us he'd had this issue before and the owners are French and don't really understand customer service or care about preserving the reputation of Marrakech. Because of this we will not be going back.
Terrasse des épices
15 Souk Cherifa, Marrakech, Morocco
(0524) 375 904
http://www.terrassedesepices.com/
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