The Best Place To Eat Mechoui and Street Food In Jemaa El-Fna 2025

If there’s one experience that sums up the feeling of visiting Marrakesh for the first time, it’s watching the food vendors set up their collective stalls in the Jemaa El-Fna square just at dusk. Before the day turns to night, the heart of the Medina transforms before your eyes.

Local travelers and tourists alike make their way from the souks to follow the sounds and aroma of the kitchens coming alive.

The savory fragrances of spice and grilled meats, the steam dancing in the air from the massive pots, and even the row of sheep head – the whole scene is enchanting and alarming at the same time.

Make your way through the crowd of people, motorbikes and cars and sit down at one of the endless stalls serving up everything from merguez sausages and harira soup to succulent lamb tangia and mechoui.

Jemaa-El Fna in the evenings is a quintessential part of a visit to Marrakesh to experience Moroccan cuisine if you know how to avoid the tourist traps.

My Quick Thoughts On Food In Marrakech

I’ve been visiting Morocco since 2010 and I love Morocco cuisine. But there are so many restaurants offering the same tired set menus and tasteless tagines and couscous dishes, that it can be frustrating to try to find an alternative. I will never order a set menu, no matter how tempting the price.

It’s honestly hard to trust online reviews, too, because, inevitably, there’s always someone that writes that some restaurant served the ‘best tagine of their entire trip.’ I doubt it, but maybe it was the ‘best’ because every other tagine was horrible.

Since most visitors also stay where they cater to tourists, it’s hard to escape this. If you’re on a group tour, 10/10 times you’ll be taken to a restaurant serving dry, tasteless food where the driver or guide is earning a commission. Try to break from the group and eat somewhere else and see what happens.

Where To Eat And What To Avoid In Jemaa El-Fna

I’ll start by telling you where to avoid eating at the Jemaa El-Fna square. It’s perfectly normal to be overwhelmed the first time you enter this alleys of food stalls. And the hawkers, unfortunately, try to take advantage of this, blocking your way to get you to sit down at their stalls.

Always avoid the aggressive touts.

It’s one thing to forcefully show you a menu, and another to aggressively step in front of your path or put their hands on you. It’s really unfortunate, because this behavior will overwhelm anyone. It still happens to me all the time.

But don’t let this turn you off. Just be firm, say ‘no’ and keep walking.

Order directly from the menu and don’t agree to suggestions.

The big stalls with the aggressive touts try to get the unsuspecting tourists. Most will walk past, but some will sit down. It’s a numbers game for the touts. I’ve reluctantly tried these places a couple of times, purely for research purposes. The food was bland, they try to give dishes you didn’t order and charge you more at the end. Most tourists won’t bother to argue. 

The most common annoyance is running up a higher bill. They’ll casually suggest some side dishes.

If you say yes, they bring out a bunch of small dishes and charge you some random price for it. If you want a particular salad or soup, just order it exactly from the menu and specify the quantity. I would avoid Stall 35. 

It’s annoying to have to be so direct and clear, but it’s one of the things you’ll just have to deal with as a tourist in Morocco.

Eat Where The Locals Eat

Conveniently enough, the stalls filled with locals are the ones that aren’t trying to get you to sit down. Sometimes, I’ve had to wait or ask if I can squeeze into an empty spot on the bench.

They are usually smaller and specialize in a few dishes like snail soup, chicken stew, or sheep head. Stall 44 is a good option.  

When you find a busy spot, look for an empty space on the bench beside the locals. Don’t be shy. Use your best high school French, hand signals or maybe ask the person next to you what they are having. I’ve had some of the most flavorful and enjoyable meals at these places.

Unfortunately, there are fewer of these good stalls and prices generally gone up since my first visit back in 2010.  On my last visit in 2025, I’ve seen fewer locals eating here, and the ones that do, are Moroccans visiting from other cities.

If you don’t want the experience but don’t want to deal with hassle, I recommend this foodie’s evening of adventure. You start with some of the best local spots in the market and then sit down for a complete Moroccan dinner experience. There also a cooking class with a market visit that gives you a feel for the local ingredients shopping experience.

Lamb Tangia and Sheep Heads In Jemaa El-Fna

I love lamb and I will always be drawn to the stalls with the sheep heads. Honestly, it’s the only reason I still come to eat at Jemaa El-Fna, other than to take first time visitors to Marrakesh.

These stalls will usually have a row of sheep heads, a giant metallic pot where the lamb is steaming, and clay pots filled with tangia, a delicious lamb stew with a tomato sauce cooked in a sealed clay pot to preserve the richness and fattiness of the lamb.

I’ll order 1/2 a tangia and 1/2 a head or 1/2 kg of steamed meat to share between two people, along with a moroccan salad, aubergine, and a couple of mint tea. But there’s also something here that keeps me coming back.

If you’re adventurous, try the brain or cerveau. Here, they serve it steamed and sliced up. Try it with salt and cumin and use the bread to offset the richness of the brain.

Is Mechoui Alley Still Worth Visiting?

One of my favorite things to eat in Morocco is lamb mechoui – roasted lamb, marinated and slow cooked, often in a clay pit oven. The meat just melts in your mouth.

Mechoui Alley is a narrow lane of shops, near the north end of Jemaa El Fna square on Derb Semmarine, roasting whole lambs the traditional way in clay oven pits.

Each shop is run by a family who has been doing this for generations. Whole portions of lamb, goat, and muttons are lowered into a giant clay pit built right into the floor. It’s left there to cook for many hours until the meat is ready to fall apart. Ask if you can see the lamb, since it’s easy to miss.

It’s quite a sight to look into the hot pits and watch the vendors hook and pull one out a whole lamb. Once it’s slightly cooled, it’s chopped up and sold by weight. There’s always a crowd negotiating their purchase, which makes for an atmosphere scene.

Unfortunately, a lot has changed in Mechoui Alley after 2021 and on my last visit in 2025, it was not quite the same.

Chez Lamine At Mechoui Alley

Each shop has an area with a few tables where you can sit down to eat. There’s also the famous Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha, with entrances flanking both sides of Mechoui Alley. A lot of good things have been written about this place, but the praise belongs in the past. The restaurant mostly caters to tourists now, and there’s not much competition, so they really couldn’t care less whether you like it or not.

While the other shops charge 260 MAD / kg, at Chez Lamine, you get a disappointing ‘portion’ for one person, which in my opinion is quite overpriced. I also ordered the 1/2 tete de mouton and end up with a small dish of mostly skin and fat. I used to love eating here, but I can’t recommend it anymore.

In my opinion, the best way to still experience Mechoui Alley is to go to one of the middle stalls and buy it by weight.

Join in with the other local buyers. Point to the area on the lamb you like, and specify how much you want. 1/2 kg should be good for 2 people and 1 kg should be good for 4-5. Watch them weigh in up, pay and then choose to take it away or eat at one of the tables.

Try to go around 11 – 2 pm. And note that most of the stalls are not open on Fridays.

Rooftop Terraces Around Jemaa El-Fna

Another great way to experience Jemaa El-Fna especially around sunset, is to sit in one of the rooftop terraces and enjoy the crowd from a distance.

You come for the atmosphere and the view, because the food is generally pretty average and overpriced. Quite a few places will add some unspecified ‘service fee’ or just inflate the bill. Cafe de France is notorious for this.

Zeitoun and L’ancien have good views of the square, but the food is average at best, especially if you go for one of the set menu.

My recommendation is to make a reservation ahead of time for one of the terrace tables with a view at MO-MO. It’s a new restaurant with a modern take on traditional Moroccan cuisine. It’s the only rooftop restaurant around Jemaa El-Fna, where I actually enjoyed the food.

Try the assorted Moroccan salad, the Kofta, and the Virgin Mojito Passion.

along with MO-MO, One of my favorite new finds is the RIAD ROCA with its effortlessly stylish and minimalist aesthetics.

Authentic Street Food On Derb Dabachi

Derb Dabachi is one of the busy streets leading to Jemaa El-Fna and one of the best areas in the Medina to try cheap and tasty street food.

If you are coming from Jemaa El-Fna, start at the Al Jawda pastry shop and work your way through the many different local offerings.

One local specialty is the sandwich stuffed with grilled meats and veggies. They cost between 10-15 MAD and will fill you up. I usually get a liver or mixed sandwich and politely ask for a bit of extra veggies on top, since it’s quite meat heavy.

You can get warm made to order crepes, delicious fried briouats, and freshly blended fruit smoothies for as little as 10 MAD. Locals also love their version of pizzas, so you’ll find a lot of these shops around too.

One of my favorite things is the fried donuts. If I see a stall making fresh, I will stop every time.

Derb Dabachi is not the only place you’ll find local street food. They are scattered around the Medina, so I suggest just exploring and keeping any open mind.

My Favorite Modern Restaurants In The Medina

If you’re tired of the same tagine or couscous, or just want a comfortable break from the noise and chaos, here are some recommendations of more modern restaurants. It’s not an exhaustive list

Naranj does Lebanese with a breezy rooftop terrace. Their hummus and mezze plates are great as well as the octopus.

La Famille is a tucked away terrace that you’d be surprised to be find by looking at the unassuming and easy to miss entrance. They serve a daily changing vegan and vegetarian menu. You usually need a reservation.

Mandala Society is an easy go to spot for good coffee and both an international and a Moroccan influenced brunch menu.

MO-MO is a new restaurant in Jemaa El-Fna with a rooftop and an inspired take on the traditional Moroccan dishes.

L’Mida serves a traditional Moroccan menu, including tangia and mechoui, and just does it well. The restaurant is a nice lunch escape while you’re shopping in the Medina.

Le Mart is stylish cafe that’s randomly out of place in the middle of a souk. Great for lunch if you want something still Moroccan but not the typical menu, or a healthier salad bowl.

La Pergola is a rooftop restaurant and jazz bar that feels like you’re in a jungle oasis. A great place in the late afternoon or evenings for their appetizers and drinks.

A few of the popular restaurants that I found slightly overrated were Nomad, Dar Dar Rooftop, and Le Jardin.

Updated on May 21, 2025