Moroccan Bites Tajine

Reviews 4

BR

Brad Seehawer

I love getting the opportunity to broaden my edible horizons and try new cuisine from other parts of the world. It was in a strip mall in Leon Springs where I got the opportunity to sample some of the goods that come from Morocco by way of Moroccan bites, a new place catching the attention of the San Antonio press through positive reviews in The Current and Express-News. Its a little more than a cafe with a few indoor seats and fewer outdoor seats. They were mostly full on the Friday evening I visited, though it never got so bad that people were waiting to be seated. The floor is manned by one poor overtasked server who was trying her best to serve everyone, but was ultimately slowing things down - I grabbed an open table as soon as I walked in, but I waited at least ten minutes before she got around to me. Before I ordered I was served come complimentary appetizers - small bowls of lentils and chickpeas in varying tomato-based sauces. They were very similarly flavored, with consistency and a hint of spiciness being the only differentiating factors, far as I could tell, but they were tender and good. They were not the last lentils of the meal, as I ordered an appetizer serving in an onion and beef broth, which was a more familiar presentation of the legume and ones which I munched throughout my meal. They proved to be almost too much to handle when considering the main course, the lamb and cous cous dish, prepared simply with a wonderfully braised lamb shank surrounded by a mountain of cous cous and topped with well-cooked carrot, zucchini, and potato. The cous cous was almost an impossible yellow color, thanks to a drizzling of olive oil, I think, over everything. I made short work of the vegetables and meat, though a good portion of the cous cous was left for the trash. Its a meal thats only served on Fridays, but its worth scheduling the time - this restaurant sat on my bookmarks for over two months before I found a free Friday on which to visit. Moroccan Bites is small - more the size of a cafe, but theyre dishing out big flavors and their authenticity cant be beat. Theres not a better Moroccan place in town, partly because there isnt more than two other restaurants in the city, and partly because theyre very good. Sure, there may be a bit of a wait when its busy, but when you can clearly see everyone working hard to meet demand, its worth it.

GR

Greg Guzman

When we got there we were greeted by a women who brought me and my friend to the back of the restaurant and on our way was yelling to a table across the restaurant very loudly. We waited there for a solid 10 minutes before we were even approached about what we wanted to drink. I ordered a lamb kebab sandwich at 7.99 (it came with no sides so I had to pay an extra 2.79 for fries) my friend ordered the lamb shank w/cinnnamon and apricots. His plate was quite good but a bit pricy at 14 dollars but the meat was so tender it fell apart so I think he was happy with his plate. When my plate got here I was so underwhelmed by the portion size. I had a handful of fries thrown on my plate and a small sandwich with about 6 quarter sized pieces of meat inside of it. The whole time I felt like I was eating bread and onions and lettuce and whatever was inside the sandwich with the OCCASIONAL bite of meat. I asked for a bit of tzatziki sauce and she brought me a whole bowl of it which I thought was unnecessary at the time but cool, I guess I have more for if I should ever need 8 ounces of it slathered on my sandwich. When it came time to pay the bill I found that the tzatziki sauce cost me an extra 1.99. If the restaurant owner is reading this, please do let people know when youre going to charge them extra for sauces :). My measly sandwich and handful of fries and a bowl of tzatziki sauce ended up costing exactly the same as my friends lamb shank with rice. His was of higher quality and quantity and mine left me still hungry and disatisfied when I left. When I asked about the sauce the woman shrugged and said that it clearly stated on the menu that the sauce was extra. Even though I was clearly bothered about it she did nothing to rectify the situation. I like to think I know a a bit about Mediterranean food, but this place was very displeasing to me. For 6.99 you can go to Cedars Mediterranean grill and get a huge gyro sandwich and a PILE of fries and all the sauces you want (and they actually make sure you get a drink and plenty of refills). I will never return to this establishment and I suggest you the reader to never come here. If you read all the way, thank you and I hope you have a great day.

DA

Dana K

My husband made a reservation here for my birthday. He asked if there was anything special they could do, & they suggested to him to reserve a small "room" (really a booth). They didnt mention that this room would cost anything extra. When we got there we were told the room (again, booth) came with three appetizers. We were Surprised And didnt order Immediately. We also noticed on the menu there was something called the "agadir" special , meant for 8 people, which Included three appetizers. so when the waitress came back we asked her Specifically "Is this deal required to use this room? we are clearly not 8 people and we dont want this deal." the waitress said "no you dont need that deal. You can order whatever you want." So we ordered and finished up. The food was bland and very watered down but we tried to enjoy It. When we came to pay, we see a $50 charge on our bill. So I ask the woman at the counter "what is the charge for?" She responds "for the agadir special." I told her I specifically asked about this special and said we didnt want It. She responded that we had made the reservation and It was clearly listed on the menu that the "room" required the special. Except there is nothing to Indicate on the menu that the agadir special Is required to sit In the booth. not to mention the fact that we made a reservation prior to coming in and seeing the menu, yet she never mentioned this on the phone or otherwise. and finally - I ASKED THE WAITRESS AND SHE SAID NO! she kept insisting there was nothing she could do In a very rude manner. Even her mother, the owner, told her to cut It out since we clearly were not at fault, but she insisted. my husband paid only because we had another event to get to. But this is outrageous, a scam. We made a reservation and she didnt mention we were reserving A useless $50 Special on top Of our meals. She didnt mention it when we sat down. The menu does not specify this special is necessary to sit In the booth, and when we asked the waitress, she said It wasnt necessary. Absolutely despicable.

SA

sabrina karachiwalla

We went to have dinner there tonight and were so so so disappointed. We had an awful experience. Food was terrible and staff were extremely rude. As soon as we sat down we were told we had to order a starter and couldnt share an entree. We thought it was a little strange but didnt think too much of it. We placed an order for their eggplant for starters and couscous chicken and lamb tajin. We were served a completely diff starter.....Morroccan hummus....I went to speak with the manager that I think theyd made a mistake on my starter...this wasnt what Id ordered....the response I got was....I dont know who took your order do u know? I pointed at the girl who had taken our order (I later learned her name is Haajar) she came over and said she knew what we had ordered because she took it and thats what we had ordered. I said no, and her reply was well u ate what I gave you so why are you complaining. As this was our first time eating Morroccan I didnt know what we were having until I questioned why there wasnt any eggplant in the food. Anyways I said Its fine and went back to my table...next thing I know another lady stormed out from the kitchen and shouted at us...if u want to eat something else tell us, but dont say we served the wrong food. That behavior was totally unacceptable and horrible and shocking. As a customer we felt very uncomfortable...I even said, I cant believe you treat your customers like this. We didnt get an apology instead they slammed the plates we were to eat on, on the table. Needless to say we will never be going there again. The food was horrible and service even worse. Our advice to anyone thinking of going there is, save your money and go someplace where the food is good and service is good.