Casablanca Restaurant
Cambridge, MA 02138-3712
Phone: (617) 867-0999
- Price:
- $$$
- Cross Street:
- Church Street
- Best of Citysearch:
- Vegetarian Food 2006
- Hours:
- Mon-Thur 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-11pm, Sun 11am-2:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm
Editorial Review for Casablanca Restaurant – by Citysearch Editors
The Scene
This subterranean restaurant and lounge has lived nine lives since opening in the mid-1950s, and it currently provides the neighborhood's intelligentsia with a suitably smart place to hang out. Whether eating in the relaxed, red-walled dining room or drinking in the upbeat, high-ceilinged lounge, a colorful crowd of academics make themselves at home, as do proficient, black-clad servers. The bar, with its vividly colorful murals, is a great spot for a specialty cocktail or a late-night snack.
The Food
Casablanca's Mediterranean- and Middle Eastern-tinged menu is as varied and eclectic as the films showed at the neighboring Brattle Theatre. A salad with cornmeal-fried calamari, baby arugula, cherry tomatoes, pickled red onions and orange aioli presents an adventurous contrast in flavors and textures, while a seared striped bass with lemon buerre blanc and black trumpet risotto takes the tongue on a wild ride. Ouzo-scented olive oil cake with toasted almonds, honey crème fraiche is but one of the comforting desserts worth indulging.
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Insider Tips
Save MoneyEschew pricey entrees in favor of affordable tapas plates (an assortment of Turkish spreads provides great value and is ideal for sharing).
Know Before You GoThe same menu is served in the dining room and lounge areas, but if you choose to sit in the former, you'll pay a $17 food minimum per table.
ParkingOn busy weekends, the restaurant's validation offer is the best bet: a $6-$8 fee for the nearby University Place or Charles Hotel garages.
The ExtrasAs the restaurant celebrates its 30th birthday in 2008, anyone turning 30 during the year can come in, show ID, and receive a free lunch or dinner entree.
User Reviews for Casablanca Restaurant
07/23/2007 Posted by equity6
Four of us dined here on July 21st and had a wonderful meal. The dining room itself is below street level, but the lighting and artwork make up for the lack of a view. Very creative cocktails here! We had the Basil Martinis, made with Hendricks Gin and infused with fresh basil which were among the best cocktails we've had in a long time. Food is also creative - several interesting salds and tapas to start including golden beet salad, and serrano ham. We had mostly fish and seafood entrees and my diver scallops were great with frisee and other accompaniments like grilled escarole. Service is very good. Prices are in line with the quality. Location is right near Harvard Square
Pros: Basil Martinis, grilled escarole, wide variety of foods
Cons: difficult parking
12/12/2006 Posted by zoechance
The only part of Casablanca that takes reservations is the restaurant, but the decor is like a bad hotel, service is poor, and they have a $17 food minimum per person. (This means 2 tapas per person, which is a lot of food - more than my girls and I could eat.) Wait for the lounge instead, hope for one of the cozy basket tables, but be satisfied with a loud table in the middle of the happy chaos. No food minimum, much better ambience, and better service. On the bright side, tapas and cocktails are excellent in either section of Casablanca. We *loved* the grilled portobello. We also enjoyed the Turkish mezze plate, grilled pear, hummus (not pureed - a novel experience), and artichoke crepe. The Moroccan mule cocktail was iffy, but I should have known it from the description. Our spacy waitress took FOREVER to take our drink & food orders, and both the drinks and tapas took a long time to arrive, so bring some interesting friends and relax.
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