Moroccan Restaurants

Restaurants reviewed on this page:

* Casablanca's

8th April 2004 – Casablanca’s

66, London St, Norwich, Norfolk NR2 1JT
Tel: 01603 624620

Smoking: Yes (upstairs at time of visit)

Parking: No. Nearest parking Castle Mall but still quite a walk.

Expect to pay: £20 (approx) a head for two courses with drinks and £25 (approx) a head for three courses with drinks

We were out for a meal with our friends Jason and Clare again. We were really looking forward to this because of the fantastic meal and experience we had last time. This visit couldn't have been more different. It was quite possibly the worst meal, the worst service and overall worst restaurant experience of my life - and I have had some bad ones! I also think it may have given me food poisoning. I sit here now with stomach cramps, shivers, headaches and you don't want to know how many times I've had to visit the loo today. We were so disappointed and actually quite angry about this. I have spoken to people who have been recently and they said everything was fine so I can't really understand it.
We were met by a quite rude and obviously quite flustered man when we arrived. He told us to sit where we wanted and he'd be with us soon. As there was absolutely nobody there, it wasn't difficult to find a seat. The sofa and the table we sat at to choose our food last time has gone and also the menus have been changed to cheap-looking plastic fold-out ones. There's more things to choose from but "Mum's Plate" has gone, which was really disappointing.
The service was awful this evening. The same man that had 'greeted' us was rude, unhelpful, slow and unattentive. He acted like he didn't want us there and we were getting in the way of something else i.e. closing probably. He took ages to clear our starter plates and also made us wait over 15 minutes for the bill when we asked him for it. He then didn't seem to be bothered about payment because we ended up having to take the credit cards to him because he was pottering around behind the bar.
There was absolutely no atmosphere. There were no other customers and the music was at that annoying level where you can only just about hear it. That really bugs me. It was like there was someone in the room with a walkman on.
The food was absolutely disgusting and I think they should have been ashamed to have served it. I honestly wouldn't have given it to a dog. If it hasn't given me food poisoning, it has definitely made me feel very ill.
Bizarrely, this time the wine was the saving grace. Last time it was awful. We remembered this and stayed away from the Moroccan wines and went for a pinot grigio, which was very nice. Unfortunately, our lovely waiter didn't bother to bring us anything to keep it cool in so it went warm quite quickly.
I have no idea why this evening was such a disaster and why everything was so bad. Maybe the place has changed hands, maybe the chef wasn't working tonight, I don't know. But there are no excuses for bad service and serving food of that quality.

I had: For starter I had the marinated lambs livers. These were absolutely vile. They were so overcooked and almost turned to powder in my mouth. I managed to eat about five pieces before giving up. Stupidly, I didn't complain which I know I should have done. I know it's a very British thing to do but I didn't want to cause a scene in front of our friends. I now wish I'd force-fed them to our grumpy little sod of a waiter.
The main course was almost as bad. I ordered lamb marakesh. It was as if it had been cooked in Marakesh two weeks ago and then flown over for the chef to lovingly microwave and serve to me. The lamb was so overcooked and chewy. Again, I didn't finish my meal. Again, I stupidly didn't complain.
Declined on desert and also declined on leaving a tip. Here's a tip. Learn to cook and get a job you like.

Rating:

Food (no stars) Service (no stars) Atmosphere (no stars) Menu *** Wine/Drinks ****

OVERALL = Avoid.

For older reviews of Casablanca's click here