Cafe Mogador

Mixed Platter

Chicken Tagine

So last night I went out for dinner at Cafe Mogador with my friends Kenzie, Jackie, and Blake. Blake had his sister Brenda and brother-in-law Carrie in town from Wisconsin. It's always nice to meet family of friends. Although, I think I creeped out Brenda just a little. I kept starting at her and analyzing her face to find similarities between her and Blake. She must have thought me to be such a weirdo! LOL! I can't help it! Families are so fascinating to me.

Moving on to the restaurant experience. I think we all really enjoyed the food but we left with a bit of a sour taste in our mouth because the service was just beyond terrible. From losing our reservation, to waiting 50 minutes for our entrees and the waiter just checking on us once the entire time we were there, it was just a terrible experience from a service standpoint. To make women go hungry and make them wait so long for food is just a BAD idea! All you husbands and boyfriends know exactly what I'm talking about!

It really was such a pity that the service was so bad because the food was great. It was simple, well spiced and flavorful. As an appetizer we all shared the Mixed Platter: hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh, and Middle Eastern salad. It came with this fluffy, warm flatbread which was so comforting. I mean there hasn't been a carbohydrate I haven't liked!

As my entree I ordered the Chicken Tagine with chermoula and couscous. It was so delicious! I couldn't eat it fast enough. The chicken was so tender and soft and almost fell off the bone. It had that very slow cooked flavor to it. I opted to get it with the chermoula which is a wonderful mixture of herbs and spices. Scrumptious! I also ordered a Moroccan Iced Tea along with my meal. It sounded more exotic than it was. I found out that it was simply iced peppermint tea. Nothing extraordinary. I'd recommend getting the sparkling lemonade, which Kenzie got, and was so refreshing.

So in summary, if you don't care about service (or maybe we just got unlucky - always willing to give the benefit of doubt the first time around) then I can definitely recommend this place. It is also very reasonable priced.

Cafe Mogador

101 St. Marks Place

(between 1st Ave & Ave A)

New York, NY 10009

212-677-2226

Happy eating!!

J