40 Best Restaurants in The Southern Atlantic Coast, Morocco

Set among gorgeous gardens and featuring a menu of local produce, Dar Zitoune is worth the visit from Taroudant. Serving a refined Mediterranean-style menu, it's a favorite with locals as well as with passing tour groups. Sit outside under citrus trees or inside in the large dining room and make the most of the opportunity to eat steak tartare or a Roquefort cheese–and-endive salad. The staff is courteous and speaks English well.  Reserve in advance, especially for special dishes such as couscous, mechoui (spit-roast lamb), or pastilla.

A few miles outside town on the edge of thuya and olive groves, owner Abderrazak welcomes you warmly to his artisanal cheesery and open-air restaurant. Enjoy a fixed-menu lunch of salads topped with local goat- and sheep-milk cheeses, followed by (for nonvegetarians) a mechoui (lamb spit roast), and wine to complement. You'll find it hard to move after the feast.

Small but buzzy, this cash-only salad-and-crepe bar offers great-value healthy snacks and small meals, including DIY salads, quiches, and panini. It attracts local office workers, foreign residents, and tourists for its healthy food, excellent Italian espresso, and fresh juices and smoothies. Take a form and pen and design your own salad, picking the size, base, ingredients, and dressing to suit. It's often packed by midday, but service is fast.

This chic eatery, formerly Le P'tit Dôme (and still sometimes referred to as such), offers an impressive menu of Moroccan specialties and local seafood, with a large Moroccan and French wine list—champagne included—to boot. Sit on the terrace or in the black-and-white dining room. All bread is freshly baked on the premises.

Taroudant's oldest family-run riad prides itself on its restaurant for good reason. While Habib greets the guests, his wife, Latifa, works wonders in the kitchen to produce a spread of salads, pastilla, tagines, or couscous fit for a king, not to mention the best pastilla du lait (a dessert of fine, crispy phyllo pastry layered with pastry crème) in town. Book in advance for lunch or dinner.

A long-standing favorite among locals, expats, and tourists, this authentic Italian restaurant serves the best crispy pizzas in the medina, straight from a wood-fired oven. The menu also features home-cooked pasta dishes. Diners eat in an eclectically decorated dining room or upstairs on the enclosed terrace. Wines and other alcoholic drinks are available.

This restaurant and bar with a Mediterranean menu is the place to be in the evenings. It's named after the wind that blows off the sea, which you can feel firsthand if you're having cocktails on the terrific rooftop terrace with views of the port. The menu includes seafood (try the Oualidia oysters when in season), hamburger, and roasted Camembert. At night a band or DJ plays on the roof to a hip crowd. On chillier evenings on the terrace, ask the staff for a poncho.

Tucked away along the skala, this chic restaurant is a real treat, offering a daily changing menu—prepared in an open kitchen—that blends seasonal and local ingredients with French savoir faire. The airy restaurant draws in a clientele of expats and tourists with its muted dove grays, glossy white furniture, and quirky art touches, such as a gorgeous Gnaoua mural. Be sure to try the goat cheese from a women's co-op in nearby Meskala; you also can't miss the chocolate fondant with salted caramel ice cream.

Behind a small blue door in an unusually buttressed wall, this quaint restaurant welcomes diners with a fig tree–shaded courtyard (hence the name) and Moroccan dishes, including a fish tagine, spiced chicken, beef brochettes, couscous, and pastilla. The menu changes regularly, as everything is freshly made. This can take some time, so don't be in a hurry.

A good stop in the center of town, this popular bakery serves a wide range of breads, cakes, and traditional Moroccan pastries for breakfast, lunch, or a light snack. Highlights include buttery croissants, indulgent cakes, savory panini, and sandwiches. Enjoy them on the street-side terrace of the attached café and watch the world go by.

Fantastic camel tagines remain the highlight of the largely international menu at this beachside restaurant, as the name suggests. Like its neighbors, it caters to all audiences with candlelit tables, flat-screen TVs, live music, and a wine list. The restaurant also has a private beach area where you can rent a sun bed and get food and drinks delivered. It's not a great option for vegetarians, but everyone will enjoy watching the evening promenade along the beach.

This popular, renovated riad filled with the artwork and collections of its host, artist Didier Spindler, offers an imaginative menu that is a fusion of Moroccan, European, and Asian flavors. The decor is an eclectic mix, with Buddha statues, pop art, and palm trees. There is nightly entertainment in the form of a band or fire eater, as well as a great wine list. The trio of desserts is the perfect sharing dish to conclude your meal (and often features more than three sweet delicacies).  It's recommended to make a reservation for dinner, particularly during peak tourist seasons.

If you want to stick within the city walls for some no-hassle Moroccan food, you can't go wrong at this father-and-son joint established in 1950. The menu features standards such as couscous, harira, and pigeon pastilla (order in advance). The decor is nothing special, but you can climb up to the roof terrace to get away from the busy street.

Located in the heart of the medina, this unpretentious Moroccan restaurant is spacious and cool. Hidden among the extensive menu of couscous, tagine, and pastilla variations are a few refreshing surprises like a grilled zucchini short-crust tart or a marinated fish kebab. Wash it down with a zingy freshly squeezed lemon juice with ginger. Along with good food and decent prices, there's also a kids' menu. No alcohol is served.

Just when you thought you couldn't get Yorkshire pudding in Morocco, you come across this street-side bar, café, and restaurant. You can also get a full English breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs, and beans, and, of course, fish-and-chips. British soccer games and other major sports events are broadcast on 20 television screens; there are also pool tables and nightly karaoke. British and international beers are served in pints alongside a range of wines and spirits.

Come here for the best coffee and the best ice cream in town; its location on the main square is also great for people-watching.  Pick a shady seat on the inside of the terrace under a parasol to avoid the passing street hawkers.

The French-style cuisine here draws mainly from what's fished fresh out of the sea each morning but changes regularly according to the chef's suggestion. The restaurant's panoramic views of the beach and the sea are an added plus, as is the great-value lunch menu. Located at the southern end of the beach, among the strip of resort hotels, it attracts locals, too, thanks to the French wine and pastries.

The menu here is classic tourist fare (omelets, tagines, soups, and salads), but the quality is excellent. Try the vegetarian tagines with prunes, nuts, and plenty of veggies, or sample the house specialty, Kalia, a Saharan dish of thinly sliced beef and vegetables.

Come to this Moroccan restaurant for a selection of tagines with flavor combinations you don't often find, such as tagine of beef with honey and dried fruits or saffron chicken with almonds. It has an excellent selection of seafood dishes and desserts, along with a selection of Morocco's finest wines. The dark-wood decor is highlighted by colorful lanterns. 

At one of Agadir's finest fish restaurants, you can enjoy excellent quality seafood including lobster and John Dory; there's also a tasty duck breast for those who prefer meat. It's ideally located across from the beachfront strip of resort hotels. A free shuttle service is available for those staying farther away.   The view from the terrace is decidedly uninteresting, so enjoy the atmosphere inside for a top-class dinner.

With a broad menu of pizzas, homemade pasta, and Italian desserts, this Moroccan-run Italian eatery is a favorite among locals amid the string of Italian restaurants that line Avenue Hassan II. They can also deliver, should you crave a quiet night in, but they don't serve alcohol. Credits cards are accepted, but only for meals more than 250 DH.

Occupying a former warehouse of the sultan's Jewish traders, this is one of three Madada brand businesses in Essaouira. The restaurant and bar offers fresh seafood prepared imaginatively and according to the seasons, such as a monkfish tagine with caramelized apples. You can also pop in to enjoy tapas and a cocktail. There is live music on the weekends. While pricier than other establishments in the area, Madada's enduring popularity with residents of the local upscale hotels proves it's worth every penny. Be sure to reserve a table ahead of time, especially in summer.

Often overlooked in favor of the smaller, lounge-style restaurants farther along the street, Le Mogadorien has a similar menu but a lot more style, with decor that reflects Essaouira's Amazigh, Arab, Jewish, and Christian heritage and gives you a choice of low-slung Moroccan salon seats or regular chairs and tables. Chef Najiba prepares a range of Moroccan classics and local seafood. The vegetarian tagine features no less than eight vegetables; ask for it with tfaya (caramelized onions and raisins) for an authentic twist. Alcohol is not served.

Moroccan cooking comes with a twist at this French-run restaurant; for example, fish tagines are made with pears, apples, or prunes. The small tables are set around a large, starry lantern, and the deep-red walls, white muslin, and candles create a romantic atmosphere, although it's a little too dark for gazing into each other's eyes. There is a decent list of local wines.

At the edge of Agadir's trendy Marina district, Les Blancs is a shiny, white, modernist retreat serving colorful Spanish paellas, including black squid ink rice, green rice with veggies, and red king prawns. In addition to the contemporary indoor dining room, an informal bar-cum-restaurant with boardwalk-style flooring and huge windows overlooks the bay, as does the outdoor terrace with woven seagrass umbrellas. 

Located in Tamraght, a small surf village 15 km (9 miles) north of Agadir, this oasis of mostly plant-based and wellness-oriented foods is an unconventional experience for Morocco. The bright space is decorated with traditional artifacts and plants, and the menu consists of vegan breakfasts, gluten-free pancakes and pizzas, rice bowls, and vegan and fish tacos with homemade harissa. Recently Ismael, the owner, has opened a second dining room and added meat dishes to the menu, reflecting his experiences traveling and living in Australia. 

One of the better choices among the many Moroccan-style Italian restaurants in the area, Little Italy is a little more subdued in decor and laid-back in style than others on the strip. You'll eat pasta and pizza surrounded by black-and-white photos and dark wooden banisters.

This local institution off the main square dates back to 1929. Prices are very reasonable, so you can start your day with great coffee and breakfasts; you can also take your pick from the French and Moroccan pastries baked fresh every day.  Take away some cakes and coffee in the late afternoon and eat them at one of the cafés on the square—it's what the locals do.