Fez Restaurant

This place looked open, but it could be the hotel next door that is using the space. Don’t know, didn’t go in.

We started our dinner by sharing the moroccan meatball with poached eggs. The meatballs were reheated and dry. The tomato sauce is clearly made from canned tomatoes. Nothing special about this appetizer. The pita bread brought from the oven was warm on the outside and cold on the inside. This lack of fresh food is NOT like moroccan cooking.
Next, I ordered the chicken tajine. A single word to describe the entire dish: BLAND. How do you remove the natural flavor of thigh meat and replace it with nothing? The potatoes were not seasoned at all. Complete lackluster disappointment.
My wife ordered the lamb tajine and finally had an experience of moroccan flavor. The meat was moist and was just short of a little seasoning.

Great Place with really good authentic food !
The staff is very friendly, the location is very central (Espanola way) and the atmosphere is perfect for couples ;-)
Stop by if you are around.

One of the best restaurants in Miami. Hookah, incredible food, great service. Cant even believe I was a block off of Collins… try the lobster couscous and the octopus. Hands down an amazing dining experience

Let me start by
Ordered the lamb and chicken tagine.
I wouldn’t order the meatballs with tomatoes.
Their sweets were pretty good.
If you prefer authentic Moroccan then you have to ask the sever because their menu is Americanized.

Went there for Miami Spice and had a totally awesome experience. There are quite a few restaurants we wanted to try, so glad we picked this one.
First all, kudos for a good Spice menu which includes many dishes on the regular menu, not some salmon/​pasta dishes created just to fit the budget.
Highly recommend:
–lamb belly is divine, the melt-​in-​your mouth fat and the crispy charred meat together created an orgasmic experience. The celeriac purée on the dish is quite interesting too.
— lamb shank: My hubby loves lamb shank so I’d say we’ve tried plenty of them, and this is hands down as the best we’ve ever had. it is flavorful and still maintain a tenderness and juiciness missing from most other.
— Orange blossom panna cotta is light and refreshing.
The complimentary mint tea is slightly sweetened and a perfect ending to a wonderful dinner.
The restaurant doesn’t have a big wine list. Just a page long, mostly of lesser-​known producers, $ 50 or below except for the bubbles. Don’t expect a premium Bordeaux or Napa cab, but the ones we tried are not bad for the price. We especially enjoyed the Ca’Momi cab which paired well with the lamb shank and short ribs.
Now, what makes me rate this place is a solid 5 is its service. Our waiter and other staff are very nice throughout. At one point, my friend dropped her fork. I turned around intending to get a waiter to bring us a spare, and saw him running towards us with a tray of cutlery already! Any faster service and he’s either a psychic or a vampire!

I had dinner at fez last night. Amazing food and very good, relaxed service.
Fez is the best kept secret in the quite side of Espanola way !!!

Pros:
Food was very enjoyable. I made reservations on OpenTable and noted we were celebrating a special birthday. They were good at acknowledging it as soon as we were seated by asking who’s birthday it was. Very quickly they arrived back at our table with complimentary glasses of champagne to help us celebrate. We tried the Miami Spice menu and was very happy with the food options. For appetizers we tried Bastilla (duck egg roll) which was delicious. The ran out of the lamb belly and offered the Moroccan meatballs as a substitute which was very tasty. And it was my first experience tasting octopus which I did not care for but my husband said it was good to him.
For the main entrees I tried the lamb tagine shank and loved it! My party choose the short rib and they loved it. For dessert I tried the orange blossom pannacotta (first time trying this too) and was happy with its light yet rich flavor. My party tried the chocolate crunch bars and they were just as pleased. They also brought out one of the desserts with a candle. So pleased with their gestures to help celebrate a special occasion.
Food was ⁵⁄₅.
Cons:
Service was very friendly however very very slow and lacked attentiveness. This was so disappointing. This is why I knocked off one star. After we waited for about 35 – 40 minutes to get our appetizers, we had to wait another hour to get our main entrees after we finished the appetizers. Dessert took another 20 minutes to get to our table after we placed our dessert order too. Total dining time (and not by choice) was 3 hours.
Attentive/​Timely Service was ²⁄₅

Food is delicious and reminiscent of my recent trip to Marrakech! Lavender aviation cocktail quite unique and yummy. Grilled octopus was one of the best I have had. Lamb tajine and beef short ribs excellent as well. Panna cotta was the perfect ending to the meal. Service was great!

Fez is a great find down Hispaniola Way, just south of Lincoln Road. The food is nothing short of extraordinary. The other reviews have it right! My wife and I tried this place as it was on Miami Spice’s list, but once we got seated, our waiter made excellent recommendations that we chose instead of the fixed Miami Spice menu (which seemed to include many of their recommendations anyways).
The dates wrapped in bacon and cheese, the lamb belly, the beef short ribs and the scallops were each a culinary masterpiece. They were all accompanied by delicious sauces and I only wish there was more. My wife and I cleaned every plate we were served, and the truth is that the wait staff are very pleasant and encourage sharing amongst couples. With three small plates and one large, we left delighted and satisfied but not overwhelmingly full, but that’s how great gourmet restaurants tend to be. I can’t emphasize how excellent the customer service was, which is very rare in Miami.
Moroccan food is not common in Miami, so that makes Fez extra special, and it’s worth the price, parking and traffic to experience it. The ambience is beautiful and very comfortable, tasteful candles and classic movies projected over the bar. I will say that a dinner at Fez is on the more expensive side, but it’s worth every dollar.

My wife and I enjoyed a terrific meal at Fez. I let the restaurant know when I made the reservation that we were celebrating our five year anniversary and when we arrived, they seated us at the best table in the house and provided us each with a glass of champagne. Fez offered some of the best customer service of any restaurant I’ve experienced in my three years living in Miami (a city where good customer service is hard to find). On top of that, the food was outstanding. We enjoyed the lobster couscous, scallops, ceviche and dates, and both the food and wine menu were all reasonably priced.
We’ll definitely go again!

This place is incredible. Intimate, chic and different from so much of the riff raff on ocean drive. The food was really good too. I recommend the octopus as well as the bacon covered dates. The flavor will make you say ‘wow’! We washed that down with raspberry mojitos that were legit — muddled to perfection with an alcohol kick… not too sweet either. We also enjoyed the lamb shank and the sea bass, both of which I recommend highly. That might be one of my favorite sea bass dishes I’ve ever had. We finished off our meal with a mint tea (too full for desert) and it really hit the spot. Would definitely come back when I come back to south beach.

This place is amazing. I’ve been to a couple of Moroccan restaurants in nyc and my boyfriend is Moroccan and we must say this restaurant has true authentic Moroccan dishes.
Everything we got was finger-​licking good. We tried their feta and tomato, Moroccan meatballs (to die for), the couscous, chicken tagine, and assorted Moroccan pastries.
The staff was super friendly and attentive.
We couldn’t have asked for a better meal.
5 stars!!!

Just finished my first experience at Fez, there will be many more to come!
A colleague and I stumbled upon this place while wandering Espinola, looking for a dinner spot. I started with a Chilean Pinot Noir which was exceptionally smooth. I ordered the Seafood Tagine and was not disappointed, it was fresh and incredibly flavorful without being too rich.
I’m not a desert person at all but when I saw the coconut rice pudding on the menu, I knew I had to give it a try. Rice pudding is one of the only deserts I will go out of my way to try, so my hopes were high. I am not exaggerating when I say this was the best rice pudding I have ever had! It was served in a coconut husk over a bed of cinnamon/​sugar; beautiful and SO tasty.
To top it off, every server, as well as the hostess, was welcoming and friendly. I will be back every time I’m in Miami!

Chef Fez introduces Floridians to a delectable traditional, home-​made Moroccan cuisine. Fez restaurant is unique in its soft, exquisite Moroccan décor. The classic movie «Casablanca» is projected on the wall during dinner, reminding the public of a gilded age in Morocco where intrigue filled the air. The restaurant is very intimate and a jewel on Espanola Way.
Their traditional Moroccan/​Algerian Couscous and pomegranate-​glazed lamb reminded me of the Berber traditional style of seasoning lamb. You can savor the freshness of the vegies, herbs, and undertones of saffron.
Our waiter described every ingredient on our dish, and showed a mastery of royal service. My guest had the tender Seabass touched by a hint of ginger-​pomegranate marinade and the grilled octopus flavored with fennel and black garlic aioli. There was an inventive twist in every dish, so expect to be surprised. The orange water desert and Mint Tea was light yet refreshing. Fez is inviting, leaving you wanting more.

After my memorable dining experience, when a friend suggested going to Fez, I did not think twice. I contacted Faycal «Fez» the owner, and chef, of Fez, for recommendations, which he was happy to provide.
Based on his recommendations, we went along with the lamb belly appetizer, a seafood tagine, and the couscous. My friend liked the décor, and considering he had lived in Fes, he was looking forward to the meal. We sat at our table and watched person after person taking a picture with the camel statue by the door. Coincidentally, «Lawrence of Arabia», a movie I had watched with my friend some weeks back, was being projected on the wall.
We started off with a glass of red wine. Although they did not have Moroccan wine yet, we were told they’d have it soon. The wine was good, and we also got the complimentary pita and olives while our appetizer was being prepared. The lamb belly came and it was great. Very tender, and although lamb is tricky when it comes to spices, because if you overdo the spices then you lose the flavor of the meat, this was seasoned in a way that allowed the flavor of the lamb to emerge. The purée underneath provided a soft, delicate balance with the onion jam that surrounded the meat.
Next up, we got the seafood tagine and the couscous. The seafood tagine came with shrimp, snapper filet, mussels, clams, and a couple of strips of potatoes. The sauce was very flavorful and plentiful, and there was a decent amount of seafood. We ordered the vegetarian couscous in order to keep the meal light, since we had already consumed red meat and seafood, so a side of veggies seemed in order. The couscous and root vegetables had the right amount of butter. The vegetables consisted of squashes, zucchini and carrots, and I would assume these were organic, as they had a strong flavor, unlike other places where the vegetables are watery and flavorless (and probably frozen). We thoroughly enjoyed our fresh, flavorful meal and consumed every last bit.
For dessert, we were treated to the panna cotta and the crème brûlée. It goes without saying that these were also excellent. The orange blossom in the panna cotta along with the berries and syrup give it a delicate aroma. The crème brûlée was light, and he did not go overboard with the glazed sugar, which seems to happen too often at other places. The complimentary mint tea was delicious. The place at this point was bustling, yet somehow, Fez was able to balance things and hold down the fort. He even came out to greet us, even though he is a one man show. I don’t know how he is able to cook so well and for so many people all at once without burning the food or adding too much salt. I cannot for the life of me even cook for myself!
Faycal is obviously proud of his accomplishment in opening Fez. It isn’t too often that the owner of a restaurant also happens to be its chef, carrying all the weight of the restaurant on his shoulders, but the attention to detail shows. He has the experience and passion to make a memorable, delectable meal and work his magic in the kitchen. Perhaps this is the formula for having an excellent restaurant: caring enough to not just manage a restaurant and make a profit, but to stand behind your own food while having control of the final product, which is a reflection of the owner and the name behind the restaurant.

Boyfriend and I were here on a Sunday night. When we got there a tiny bit early for our 7:30 res, there were two other parties. But, people streamed in quickly there after. So, let’s get to the review, shall we?
Atmosphere: intimate without being crowded/​tiny. Clean décor that toes the line with stark, but stays on the warm side. The walls have lovely artwork and the tables sport wooden lamps with a Mediterranean feel. We came it just as «Casablanca» was ending. «Morocco» came on next… these old black-​and-​whites were projected onto the wall over the bar. The owner, with a fantastic French accent, showed us to our table and made our drinks…
Service: Attentive, well-​informed, friendly. There was no hovering nor was there abandonment.
Now…the food: embarrassingly delicious. I feel sorry for you if you haven’t been. Boyfriend ordered us the beet salad and lamb meatballs to start. Both were scrumptious. Red and golden beets in greens, with goat-​cheese filled phyllo… unbelievable. Lamb meatballs in a red sauce that tasted like it was made with tomatoes just picked. Two lovely egg yolks made for a beautiful presentation and even better flavor.
For our entrees, boyfriend got the couscous with braised short ribs and root vegetables. It was absolutely gorgeous and full of flavor. There was a lot of couscous, so he couldn’t eat all of it. But the meat and veggies got eaten. I had the sea bass and wanted it to last forever. It was firm, but not dry. Sitting in sunchokes somehow turned into a foam and some sort of grain. I ate slower than my normal glacier pace in an attempt to savor it.
Seriously people, this is where you need to go, whether you’re local or visiting. You won’t regret it!

NPS = 1
This place was a huge let down.
I went to Espanola Way with my girlfriend to specifically eat at this restaurant and it was a huge disappointment
The people were VERY nice (and by people I mean the one guy that appeared to be the server, and another guy that appeared to be the owner dressed in slacks and a long sleeve shirt). However, it takes more than being a nice person to run a good restaurant.
The food took forever to come out. And by forever, I mean it took an hour after we ordered.
The food is VERY over-​priced for what it is.
Avoid the Octopus. It was extremely over-​cooked and actually tasted like a chicken hotdog because of its rubbery consistency. To top off the so-​called «chicken hotdog octopus», some slices of raw onion and dollops of mustard garnished the place.
I had the chicken tagine… a staple in Moroccan cuisine. However, we received a mediocre piece of boiled chicken with a small sample of potatoes. The meal does not come with anything else and will leave you hungry (well, at least left me starving and it came with a $ 20 price tag).
Aside from the horrible dining experience, I at one point had to get up myself to serve myself water. Looks like the restaurant still needs to work some kinks out regarding customer service.
Other little nit-​picks: the restaurant has taken a beautiful thing (Moroccan culture) and just made it some other generic South Beach restaurant. I would have used Moroccan carpets or other Moroccan pieces to decorate the restaurant and give it a flare that made the restaurant different than every other restaurant on South Beach. Instead, the restaurant has chosen to play «Casablanca» on a projector on the wall of the restaurant. That is like opening a restaurant in a different country, naming it «Miami» and playing a Disney World movie.
At the end of the meal, the owner realized we were having a bad time so he offered us a complimentary dessert. It was a nice gesture, but it would have been better to not have a bad time to start with.
I really hope the restaurant figures out how to fix its problems because the people were very nice.

This is my new favorite restaurant on South Beach! Service is impeccable and professional — which is a big surprise in a sea of restaurants on the beach with a snobby staff catering only to tourists. The manager came over to check on the table more than once without being overbearing and even sent over a complimentary pot of the most amazing Moroccan mint tea. Even the authentically Moroccan chef came out to thank us for visiting. Food is spectacular as well. I’ve been back several times and it never disappoints. Lamb belly, bastilla, octopus, and chicken tagine are must trys! I highly recommend this espanola way star!
Great for groups on the weekends with high energy and for date nights during the week for a relaxed loungey vibe… they even display movies on the wall behind the bar like Casablanca. Love it, love it, love it!

«Two thumbs way up» !!! This place is amazing… Mesmerizing atmosphere… Food’s outstanding, i even wanna say «out of this world». I actually went couple times and had the chance to try few different things and everything was so tasty and so well prepared that we can call that a typical «moroccan restaurant» … Very friendly staff they earned their tips, always suggested some delicious coctkail and wine … The chef is the owner so it makes it even better !!! He came out one day and say hi and offered us a cup of the famous mint tea and we ordered those fabulous homemade moroccan pastries… they’re so yummy … Lamb tagine, octopus, bastilla and foie gras are my favorite just so you know, not really expensive for a restaurant located on the romatic espanola way!
Def a new spot to bring your date. A MUST TRY!!! Great experience…