Restaurants
Four ways of eating in Essaouira. The port grills sell by weight. The small medina rooms serve a tagine for 50 to 90 MAD. The Place Moulay Hassan terraces charge for the view, and the new town cooks for its residents. Pick the neighbourhood and the hour before the name.
Four ways of eating in Essaouira, and the hour decides more than the menu does. The port stalls grill by weight whatever the boats brought in that morning. The small rooms of the medina serve tagine, harira and fried fish, and the menus they publish price a tagine at 50 to 90 MAD. The terraces on Place Moulay Hassan charge for the square as much as for the plate. Outside the ramparts, the new town feeds the people who live here all year.
Only one step up is steep: a licensed restaurant, where a main course and a glass of wine cost 125 to 350 MAD on the menus we read online in October 2026. The rest fits inside a 100 MAD note. So pick the neighbourhood and the hour before the name.
A menu that does not follow the sea
Essaouira is a sardine port before it is a restaurant town. Yet the printed menu does not change when the sea does. In 2026 the port landed far more white fish and far fewer cephalopods than in 2025 (Office national des pêches, July 2026). A menu offering fried squid at sardine prices all year round is therefore worth a question. The fish calendar, species by species, is in our fish market section.
Our rule: ask what came in this morning, not what is printed on the card. A kitchen that follows the auction answers in three words. The others hand you the laminated menu.
Four neighbourhoods, four bills
The port first. The stalls sell by weight, with the price settled before the grill. It is good at lunch, when the boats have just come in, and in the evening the medina takes over. It becomes a trap the moment you sit down without seeing the price per kilo. The procedure, weighing included, is in our fish market section.
Then the medina. Small rooms with no licence and no booking, between rue Laâlouj, rue Mohamed El Qory and the souks. The best value in town, and the worst meal available if you follow a tout. Pavement sardines, snails and msemen are in our street food page.
Place Moulay Hassan is the dearest address per square metre. What you pay for is the terrace and the passing crowd. Our view: sit there for a mint tea or a drink, then eat dinner elsewhere. Our cafés and tea rooms and bars and rooftops sections cover the tea and the drink. The gap in quality does not follow the gap in price.
The new town last, around avenue Al Aqaba. Newer kitchens, menus not written for a two-night stay, neighbourhood prices. This is the part of town the guidebooks skip, and the part still open in January. The detail is in our neighbourhood pages.
Before you sit down
Carry cash, and ask whether a card will go through before you order, at the port as in the small medina rooms. Alcohol is served only under licence. A tagine without wine is the norm here, not a hardship.
Two periods change everything. The week of the Gnaoua festival, when every table is taken. Ramadan, when many addresses open only after sunset. What both do to the hours is on our eat and drink page.
Eating is what Essaouira charges least for. You pay for the view and the licence, rarely the cooking. The ranges are in our budget guide.
Frequently asked questions
Where should you eat in Essaouira?
At the port for the day’s fish at lunch. In the medina for a tagine at 50 to 90 MAD, in the new town where residents eat. Place Moulay Hassan is paid for in view. Pick the neighbourhood and the hour before the name.
How much does a meal cost in Essaouira?
At the port, grilled fish is paid for by weight, with the price settled before the grill. In the medina, the published menus price a tagine at 50 to 90 MAD. Dinner with wine is a different bill. The day’s ranges are in our budget guide.
How much is dinner with wine in Essaouira?
Allow 125 to 350 MAD for a main course and a glass of wine in a licensed restaurant, going by the online menus of four of them, read in October 2026. A drink on its own, and the rule that decides where one is served, are in our bars and rooftops section.
Do you need to book a restaurant in Essaouira?
Rarely. The small medina rooms do not take bookings. Two exceptions. Gnaoua festival week, when every table is taken. The ftour during Ramadan, when many places open only at sunset.
Can you pay by card in restaurants in Essaouira?
Not everywhere. Ask before you order, at the port as in the small medina rooms, and keep cash on you. Draw money before you head down to the port: our money guide says where.
This section is filling up
No page is online in this section yet. In the meantime, here is what is already published in “Eat & drink”.
Other sections in Eat & drink
- Cafés & breakfastA Moroccan breakfast is msemen, baghrir or harcha with honey, olive oil or amlou, and a nous-nous or a tea. Your riad serves it: ask whether it is in the room rate. The port opens first, then the medina, and the new town serves all year round. A laptop is fine in the morning, indoors, never on the square.
- Bars & rooftopsAlcohol in Essaouira is served under licence, and licences are scarce: a few kasbah rooftops, some medina restaurants, the hotel bars on the bay. On four menus published online, a Casablanca beer costs 45 to 80 MAD. In summer go up at 19:00, not 17:00: the wind drops with the sun.
- Clubs & nightlifeClubs, beach clubs and parties: Essaouira after dark.
- Street foodEating on your feet in Essaouira rarely costs more than 30 MAD a plate. Sfenj and msemen in the morning, pavement sardines at midday, a bowl of snails at dusk, orange juice at any hour. One rule against a bad stomach: what comes off the fire in front of you, at the stall with the queue.
- Fish marketAt the port you buy fish from the display, by the kilo, and have it grilled next door. Kilo price and cooking charge agreed before the weighing, fish drained, no ice. We found no published prices: ask before you sit down. The best buy is sardines, the worst deal lobster on ice.
The agenda and the wind, every month
One email a month, and you will know when this section opens.