Sidi Maarouf

This place is AWFUL!!! People — don;t go there please — i am begging you — lol… Seriously — i have been twice now and on both occasions experienced the same thing; POOR service. The waiters are so disinterested in anyone who’s not a young, silly fawning gurl who’ll entertain their crap attempt at flirting and cheap aftershave. I’m not 17 so that meant, i suffered at their hands. Damn! Shisha was rubbish due to lack of attention. Drinks — OMG please, lemme tell you about the alcoholic drinks. My ‘penacolada’ was like pineapple juice with grass blades in it. Couldn’t taste/​feel anything else. My friends ‘margarita’ was actually a Martini. In a glass, that looked like it was for a child. Dinky and grey .Once again — couldn’t taste/​feel anything? So the crap waiters pretty much, ruin your experience cos they dodge you — and you try the duration of your time there, to hunt them down. Then the food (i had a lentil soup) was ok, but cold… My tonic water — was £8. Who the HELL charges that much for a tonic water!!! I know what you’re thinking; why did you go twice!!! It was purely because, the décor is lovely; and its sucks you in. But really, this place is over priced, over rated and poor poor poor. Ain’t experienced anythin this bad in a while — that’s why i am Unilocaling. Please go up the road to Maroush Express, or even McDonalds. Its gotta be more fun. Some people really do have money than sense!

Their hookah is great! Outdoor seating is quite tight but the food makes up for it. Def one of the nicer places on Edgeware rd. I’ve only had the juices, mint tea, hummus, fries and bread but it’s a great place to satisfy your weekday hookah craving with a few bits to eat…

We were meeting a friend and his wife here. It was a freezing night (especially for an American visiting Europe). Me and my friend finally reached this place after a 10 something walk from the metro station. Our friends were seated outside but it was pleasantly warm due to the heaters they had. We were starving so we decided on a fattoush salad and grilled chicken wings. They were good, nothing to write home about but nothing to complain about either. I tasted the mango and grape mint flavored hookahs and they were good too. I have had similarly good hookah in Virginia so it wasn’t something special but was upto par at least.
For anyone visiting London and missing middle-​eastern cuisine, Edgeware Street is known as the ‘Arab central’ as there is a hookah café in every corner and various arab/​turkish stores along the way. Come here if you miss kabobs and hookah!

The food is good, but nothing to make it stand out from the various other similar restaurants in the area. The service was also lacking. It almost seemed as if they were ignoring us. There was also a £2 cover charge per person for what seemed to be live elevator music.

Well, I am a little bit disappointed with all reviews I read about this place. I visited Sidi Maarouf few times and I have to say I was impressed. I felt very welcome and well looked after. At some stage I decided not to look at waiters as they would run to our table asking if we needed anything. First time for starter we had hummus and briwat (Moroccan style spring rolls). Both lovely. Hummus was very creamy and delicate in taste. Briwats were so nice I order them every time I go. For main the lamb tagine is a must. Falling off the bone. Very nice thank you very much. Once I ordered chicken tagine but it wasn’t that good as all the juices were sucked up by potatoes (in tagine) so chicken was a little bit dry but still very tasty. I don’t expect cous cous to be anything that isn’t so unless you love it, it can be a bit boring (my boyfriend calls it Bird food — trill). After main we were stuffed and rejected desert offer. But withing couple of minutes waiter brought some cakes for us (on the house). Very Nice. Not to sweet and nicely sticky (love it). After that we had to loosen up our trousers and … BIG bowl of fruit arrived on our table (on the house again). Very ripened and sweet (hard to come by in London especially strawberries). So over all I am a fan. I even liked décor (many don’t like it). Its a little bit dark but there is warm feeling about the place. Oh and I cant forget about the entertainment. There is a sort of DJ (Moroccan style) bringing a little bit of singing and keyboard to the action. Last time there was a belly dancer as well.

This Restaurant is part of Maroush group, so it’s assumed to be a very good quality place.
I visited this place three (may be four) time and it is always in all these time a good quality food. Their Herrera soup is very good to start with, superb Basteela (with Chicken and nuts yummy), great tajeans and Cuos Cuos. They also have nice tea of course. The food will get ⁴⁄₅ but it’s not my favourite Moroccan food I had, that is for sure.
The downside is the service of the place sometimes does not match the quality of food, I’m not saying it is so bad service, but not as good as the food. The place is not considered cheap to dine in. So that all sadly bring the overall rating of Sidi Maarouf to ³⁄₅. And make the place an OK place.