Kous Kous Cafe

Went here with a group of friends and had an excellent meal. I went with the Cauliflower tagine and was outstanding. Everyone in the group enjoyed their dinner. Would recommend making a reservation if you have more than a couple, as there is only seating for about 20 people in the place.
Most importantly, if you have not been here, hurry up and go before the end of February. They are closing /​moving! Do not miss out on this place!

Too delicious! Gluten free crepes both savory and sweet! Local ingredients from local sources and authentic cooking and cuisine. Small, intimate setting. I would recommend to almost anyone!

If it’s BYOB, it gets 3 stars automatically. :) Kous Kous truly deserves all five.
Sad it took us so long to dine here! It’s a new favorite, not just in the neighborhood, but all of Pittsburgh. We picked Kous Kous for our anniversary dinner, and while it was excellent for a special occasion, it doesn’t need one!
We started with the appetizer platter which included hummus, roasted peppers, and eggplant. We had the lemon cilantro hummus, and it was great topped with the peppers and eggplant. I must also sing the praises of their pitas, I could have eaten many, many more if given the chance.
I chose the special — hanger steak with roasted plums and my husband had the lamb. Both were cooked to perfection, and I am a stickler for medium rare beef. Perfectly done. We shared the chocolate almond cake dessert with french press, and it was lovely.
All in all, a delicious 2 hour meal made all the better by a chef who clearly loves what he does — he went table to table to chat, and our waitress was extremely friendly and knowledgeable.
A must go!

Probably the best lamb I ever had. Everything was just superb. From the mint tea to the salad and the lamb. Small place but very friendly and nice.

Great little restaurant with good food. I’ll admit that I am biased towards Moroccan food since one doesn’t find too many of those outside of Morocco. Staff was friendly too and the prices are reasonable. Good mint tea as well. Gosh it’s been a while since I had mint tea.

This is the first time I have come here for brunch (only open for brunch on Sundays) and I loved it! I got the banana Nutella crêpe and it was FANTASTIC. Great portion sizes and for how amazing the restaurant is, it is well priced. I highly recommend this place, and it’s even better for dinner (Tuesday-​Saturday)!

Always great to be back. It’s a lot like eating at a Moroccan friend’s house with a kick ass personal chef.

Traveling on business and stopped in to try a new place not ga from the hotel.
Good was great and service was good. I would recommend to anyone.

IT IS BYOB! We did not know this when we arrived but it the food was fantastic! It is a really small place 6 – 7 tables in the whole place so be prepared that this is your night. Large groups come in because there is a lot of food that comes your way. The food was delicious, we had a grilled shrimp.

For just under 16 dollars, my mom and I enjoyed traditional Moroccan food made from scratch and drizzled in love.
Kous Kouse has simple décor and limited seating, but from the moment you enter — the staff here will go out of their way to make sure that you feel welcome.
My mom ordered the tomato soup of the day and I ordered the salmon tagine with fragrant rice.
The tomato soup was made that day and my mom adored it. It was creamy and rich with flavor. My salmon tagine was exceptional. It was made in a clay pot and the salmon was tender and soaked up the tagine sauce nicely. There was a great array of accompanying vegetables and the rice — though small in portion was spiced and melted in the mouth.
Leading up to our meal — we could see their chef preparing everything with precision and care. Everything was made there and on the spot — and though it can be a little slow at times — it’s because the food is fresh and not re-​heated.
My mom and I were tempted to order dessert, but being that we were under a tight schedule — we thanked their kind chef and efficient waitress and headed back into the Mount Lebanon cold.
Kous Kous is definitely worth trying. The number of other dishes that I saw being put together while we waited for ours’ all looked delicious and were presented beautifully.
Trust.

I’ve been here a bunch of times, and my experience on a Saturday night didn’t let me down!
We were lucky enough to snag a reservation for immediately following the Mt. Lebo BrewFest 2013, held across the street behind PNC Bank and the Saloon. (which was also a lot of fun, even in the rain!)
We grabbed quick drinks and apps at Walnut Grill before heading over.
The food was again fantastic… This time the Salmon was plentiful and tasty, and the rack of lamb was to die for. I asked for it to be cooked medium, and it came out somewhere between medium-​rare and medium, but it was awesome!
The delivery of the food was somewhat slow, as usual, but it was worth the wait. Read my earlier reviews for more details.
This place is BYOB and make sure to get a reservation! Parking is available in the nearby garage across from Rolliers Hardware.

I’ve only been here twice, but each time has been a memorable experience. The food is amazing! I ordered the vegetarian couscous and my dining partner ordered the cauliflower dish. Both were cooked to perfection. Each of the various vegetables on my plate were cooked to their specific temperature. Something I never do at home because I’m always in a rush.
Be prepared to make a reservation (dinner only on Fridays and Saturdays) and to be there at least an hour. Everything is made fresh and that takes time!

I rarely frequent establishments more than 1 – 2 times a year… but Kous Kous is different.
Nowhere else in the city can you get a reasonable priced, high end meal w/​BYOB and a intimate feel (there are less than 10 tables easily) like here. Its a family business where the chef talks to the patrons and his wife takes the orders.
As for the food, my god. Some of the best grilled pitas and hummus in the city (flavor rotates daily and I recommend the platter app) and all of the dishes feature well cooked braised or seared meats that fall off the bone.
All in all a great date spot.

Very tiny and cramped space, so go early or make a reservation, and hope that you’re not seated near the door, as there is nothing between you and the winter wind when it’s opened. The food here is made from scratch and very fresh, and I very much enjoyed my lunch of house salad and soup of the day, which was a tangy and delicious tomato bisque. The salad is very lightly dressed with a minty vinaigrette and was tasty. I would go with the veggie sampler next time, as my husband ordered ti and it was great. I have had the chicken tagine and found it swimming in a little too much oil for my taste. Great place to go if you’re a vegetarian.

This was my second visit to this tiny restaurant on the main drag in Mt Lebanon. I had been once before a couple years ago for dinner but decided to try lunch while in the area. I had ordered a tagine for dinner and wasn’t in love with it. It was really heavy as I recall even though I had ordered chicken. It was awhile ago but I can remember thinking it was expensive and not brilliant.
I ordered the appetizer platter for lunch and it was absolutely terrific. It had a black bean hummus, vegetable hummus, roasted vegetables and an eggplant dish. It was served with a small side salad minty and lightly dressed and surrounded by a fortress of grilled pita wedges. We were going to go to Aladdins but their pita is thin and looks and tastes like shoe leather. This pita was really nice. It had a grilled flavor and was a quality product. The hummus were great. I loved the vegetable hummus, it was spicy and nicely seasoned. Everything on the plate was delicious.
I would definitely come back and try some more. I should have given them another chance years ago.

I ate here a couple of Saturdays ago with my girlfriend for dinner. This was actually our 4^th time attempting to come here as the first time we didn’t have reservations and the middle two times we were called and told the chef was sick. As such we were excited to finally be eating here. The inside is intimate and I think I counted about 8 tables with an open kitchen and some artwork on the walls.
My girlfriend and i decided to start out our evening with the sampler platter. It came with Zaalouk, TakTooka, House Hummus and Pita Chips. All of the dips were good but I think my favorite part was the still hot pita chips. For my entrée I decided to go with the chicken tagine which came inside the traditional earthenware pot. It consisted of Saffron and ginger marinated chicken breast, preserved lemons, cured olives, tumeric reduction, and potatoes. As the pot was opened I got a full aroma of everything inside and it smelled good. It also tasted good as the chicken was moist and the vegetables were spiced very nicely without being spicy. It was refreshing for my palate to try many different spices that are not usually used where we go to eat.
The bottom line for me is that I would definitely head back here again in the future. The food tasted good and I loved that it was BYOB for a nominal fee.

Note #1: I strongly advise those who read this review of Kous Kous Café to MAKE A RESERVATION before even thinking of having dinner there. Much like Highland Park’s Smiling Banana Leaf or Beaver’s Biba, Kous Kous Café is a small restaurant with very limited seating. It was painful watching scores of patrons being turned away or asked to return later with no guarantee they’d be seated because they hadn’t made prior arrangements. Kay and I ran into this very same problem weeks before and had to settle for Little Tokyo instead (blah. read my review if you care).
Note #2: KKC is BYOB.
Our experience at KKC was not without its glitches, each being a rough enough patch to force me to deduct one star from my rating. I’m wrestling with taking away another, but the food was exemplary enough to prevent me from being too unkind. Allow me to address said complications…
1-​Our server, who was congenial and seemed to be doing her best in the face of a busy evening, only gave us one menu which we had to share.
2-​Instead of being placed at an clearly open and readied table for two in the back of the dining room near the very visible kitchen where everything is made to order from scratch (how entertaining would it be to watch their cooks in action while dining?), we were directed to a table for four towards the front, right near a door that not only provided a dreadfully chilly draft, but was slammed 3 times into poor Kay by those entering and exiting! 2 of the three people who did so apologized. One monied, aging, callous asshole in an ugly sweater with a much younger trophy wife alongside him did not. Well, studies have shown…
3-​KKC is so tiny and cramped that there’s no reception area. When we came in, we walked all the way to the back of the house before we were acknowledged and seated.
4-​KKC was out of at least a third of their entrees that evening. Fortunately, they had plenty of the Duck In Apricot, my chosen dish for the evening.
Following a 45 minute wait (no complaints about that on my end considering the nature of the food’s preparation) DIA is comprised of half a roasted, crispy, luscious bird, asparagus, and a variety of potatoes. Served in a decorative crock with a lid that is lifted upon service, the poultry was so affluently flavorsome that I savored each brittle-​skinned, fatty morsel unhurriedly, ensuring that all of the meat was picked away from every bone.
Striking out twice with her initial choices, Kay was forced to go with the vegetarian Cauliflower Tagine, and what a meatless jubilee it was. Raisins, pine nuts, fresh sauteed spinach, potaotes, argan oil, and apple cream sauce accompanied the roasted cauliflower and with one sample briefly suppressed the carnivore within via its creamy composition and exotically spiced elements. Conjure the djinn and commandeer the magic carpet…
Our starter was Bastilla, a delicate pastry that is essentially a savory and sensational baklava. Chicken, onions, raisins and eggs are simmered in smoldering Moroccan spices, swaddled in feuille de brik (think phyllo dough), and left afloat in a lake of exquisite saffron cream like an abandoned infant king in what is a sturdy raft, surely to be found quickly.
For dessert, we skipped those that KKC buys from outside vendors (my employer’s neighbor, Heineman Foods, coincidentally) and opted for what KKC makes in-​house, that being the simple menace of their Chocolate Mousse.
A raspberry acts as a garnish, or is it a heart, a blood-​besotted, beating heart that sits in the middle of the ebon pool to lure you to oblivion?
Possessed with a mystical coffee-​infused flavor, the thick, heavy mire of cocoa slid down my throat, nearly suffocating me with its wanton, animate depravity.
KKC’s faults aside, they are a worthwhile establishment, their mere presence further diversifying the Mount Lebanon restaurant scene. Their outstanding food will hopefully cement them into the landscape of the community if they can address and overcome their flaws.
P. S. Everything we had was so, so good, I must partly forgive the faults, and they were almost forgotten after our meal was finished. Bismillah, Kous Kous Café needs more space!

I love when you come into a restaurant and have a whole dining experience. You’re welcomed by a friendly face; informed about the dishes in a specific way that makes you know they put thought into their dishes; take part in a delicious meal and enjoy a bottle of wine over good conversation. That’s what I experienced here.
For starters, it’s BYOB, so remember to bring your fave bottle along with you! So once you pop open a bottle, you can sit back and enjoy the delicious food they’re serving up. For starters we tried the Platter of Zaalouk, TakTooka, House Hummus and grilled pita. I thought the hummus was good, but it was the Zaalouk (roasted eggplant) and TakTooka (roasted red pepper) that stole the show. The flavors and the way it was cooked just all blended together harmoniously on my pita bread!
I liked that before we put in our order, they explain to you that the food preparation can take as much as 40 minutes. I appreciated that they tell you that up front. I could tell from the way they ran things, it wasn’t for a a frazzled chef to make meals, it was to allow time to make an amazing meal to come together.
For the main course I choose the scallop special. When it came out there were four large, perfectly seared scallops that tasted just as incredible as it looked! It came in a pool of delish butternut squash reduction with large pieces of butternut squash and sweet potatoes. The flavors, again, were bursting in the dish. I was so incredibly satisfied afterwards!
We ordered a chocolate mousse cake. It wasn’t made in house, but brought in by a supplier. It wasn’t too thrilling after a wonderful meal. I’d say just stick with the savory dishes here and let them be your palate thriller for the night!

Ummm hi deliciousness, I’ve missed you! Wow what a great little place with uh-​mazing food. It’s byob — bonus! Has friendly staff — bonus! Has awesome food — we’ve attained the Unilocal trifecta.
We ordered a sampler appetizer dish which had red pepper hummus, eggplanty stuff, and a salad (if I remember correctly) to start since our waitress warned us that the food could take 45 minutes to prepare as they make everything fresh. The hummus was soooo good and so was the eggplant.
For the main course I ordered the beef with plums — WOW! This dish was great, the beef was tender and flavorful (not overly salty) and the slight sweetness from the plums complimented the dish very well. It was a healthy portion and while there was a part of me that could have walloped the entire dish I took some home to enjoy the next day.
We did order the desert which was a chocolate mousse like «cake»…I use the word «cake» loosely as it had no spongy texture. Compared to the other parts of the meal this was just meh. I could have done without it but it wasn’t horrible.

I struggled with whether to give this a 3 or 4 star review. The food was eh, but the service was exceptional.
The Food:
I had salmon tagine, which was strangely runny and flavorless. I felt the apps were so much better than the entrees… Except for the hummus, which was only mediocre. The couscous was good. The goat cheese cigars, however, were absolutely divine! They were very simple, but I would have been happier to just eat a platter of those. .
The Service:
The restaurant is so tiny that it seats less than 20 people. On a Thursday night, there were only two other couples. That said, there was only one server and one kitchen worker – the chef – on duty. They both did a great job of keeping up with the customers’ orders.
The Rest:
While the décor was pretty basic, with some Moroccan touches, I really liked where the kitchen was placed. It’s in an elevated corner, so guests can see the chef working from every table, which was pretty cool.
On a funny note, the server and chef made a big deal once they found out it was another customer’s birthday. A desert was brought out with a candle and pictures were taken. However, it was also my birthday and my date had surprised me with this dinner. Since the other group had already done the birthday thing and my date had forgotten to mention it with his reservation, he was really disappointed he felt that he couldn’t use that on me as it had just been done. I was glad since I hate that stuff, so it was a somewhat happy ending!