13 Best Restaurants in Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco

Loved by locals and visitors alike, Dar Naji is one of the city's most authentically Moroccan, medina-based restaurants and features interesting dishes more often found in Moroccan homes. Look for trid (soft layers of pastry layered with a meaty sauce) and medfouna (a rustic stuffed bread). Prices are reasonable, and attention to the quality of the salads, tagines, and couscous dishes is unrelenting. 

In a palatial medina house, this atmospheric restaurant serves gourmet versions of traditional Moroccan cuisine, with live Andalusian music as a charming backdrop. Well-signposted from Avenue Laalou, it's in the medina close to Kasbah des Oudayas; in the evenings, a man with a lantern waits at the nearest medina entrance to guide you to the restaurant. Alcohol is served.

In the stylish Hotel L'Iglesia, La Capitainerie has tables that spill out onto the esplanade as well as a lovely dining room that highlights local tradition by displaying numerous period objects. The menu revolves around seafood with a Moroccan edge; you can order à la carte or choose a fixed-price menu; both change daily. There's a decent wine list as well as a bar area for evening drinks.

Located right near the Corniche lighthouse, you approach this restaurant through a pretty, candlelit garden and inside you'll have spectacular ocean views: you can look down from a window seat onto blue rock pools as you savor delicious fish dishes. The menu focuses on fine Mediterranean cuisine, with a lively tapas bar that draws a cocktail- and champagne-loving crowd until the early hours.

For fine dining or drinks with a fantastic view, the super-elegant Petit Rocher is just the ticket: its unrivaled position lets you gaze over the sublime Atlantic waves and the Hassan II Mosque. Enjoy delicious Mediterranean cuisine and good wine in the restaurant area, or settle down at the bar where fabulous cocktails are poured and a DJ often spins.

Another offering in the buzzing district of Gauthier, Le Rossignol is billed as a French restaurant but has all sorts of interesting dishes thanks to a chef who has worked all over the world. You'll find Lebanese meze and mac 'n' cheese with truffles, excellent salads, fish dishes, and a very upmarket burger, not to mention great breakfast options. 

Sliding glass windows run the length of this restaurant, and open onto the beach between Temara and Skhirat. The inventive menu features Oualidia oysters, fish or prawn carpaccio, and plenty of fresh fish, as well as some Spanish dishes such as paella and fish fiduea (sort of a paella made with noodles instead of rice). There's a tapas bar, too---more rustic than the main restaurant---serving cocktails to the after-work crowd.

The setting at Lily's is quite magnificent, with carved wood screens, butterflies on the ceiling, bamboo growing through the wooden floors, and spectacular sea views through every window. The food is pretty spectacular, too, featuring Japanese, Thai, Korean, and Vietnamese dishes.

A branch of the popular French café, bakery, and restaurant group, this Paul location is in the beautiful Art Deco Villa Zevaco, with a fabulous garden. The milk shakes and desserts are decadent, and the rustic breads are beloved throughout the city; for something more substantial, the pastas, burgers, steaks, and fish are all good, too. 

This boat-shape fish restaurant next to the port is the most famous place to eat in town. The splendid food isn’t cheap, but it’s worth every last dirham because the chef insists on using top-quality ingredients and each dish is crafted with imagination and sophistication. If you’ve got room after sumptuous starters and mains, don’t miss the heavenly desserts. 

Set among verdant gardens, this enchanting eatery offers a menu that encapsulates the Brittany region of France: think luscious salads and buckwheat crepes oozing with all you can imagine, as long as it's (mostly) French. The experience is made even better by the fantastic service and the pleasant, knowledgeable staff. Alcohol is served, and if you're looking for picnic fare, there's a wonderful array of charcuterie and cheeses on your way into the restaurant.