Casablanca Cafe

Hookah’s decent, but way overpriced.
Been there twice, and both times they didn’t honor the Beer Special they were advertising… They happened to be out of the beer they were offering for the price. How are you out if no one is ever in the place?
Anyways, there are too many great hookah lounges in the City; no need to go to this one, ever. Not sure why I went a second time a few weeks ago. I guess I like giving a place a 2^nd chance before giving a one star — usually the 2^nd time won’t be as bad as the 1^st… not in this case.
Sorry. «Me thinks not»

I think they closed! After walking by last night with the intentions of grabbing a late night pitcher at our favorite local spot with my wife, we were devastated that the windows had newspaper covering them.
This is/​was our favorite local, a really laid back place owned/​operated by a friendly husband and wife combo. The one bad hookah experience was after they hired some help that didn’t know how to set it up correctly. Other than that, we loved their cheap pitchers that rotated in a good selection, the Moroccan mint tea was amazing and the food was indisputably fresh, with an open air style kitchen that felt like they were cooking for friends at home. Although we mostly came in for appetizers and beer/​tea with the occasional hookah, their gyros were tasty and they live belly dancer every Friday and Saturday night was great for something different. We’ll be incredibly sad to see this place go, I hope they just relocated!
Not that it matters at this point if they’re closed, but I wanted to add an observation based on the other reviews. They didn’t run this as a pristine cleaned, trip over themselves customer service establishment. It’s more of a local joint that sometimes requires a little patience but is well worth it for the relaxing entertainment inside and people watching from the outside tables. Go in without expectations or assumptions, a good idea when trying a new place, especially if it’s based on a culture different from your own. They were pretty causal and always made sure to take good care of us, but we did see our share of people get all huffy and leave. I guess not having to put up with people’s unnecessary attitude and developing a more concentrated, loyal customer base is the perk of running your own place.

My husband and I love this place! Our first time here we tried their Moroccan Mint Tea and it was amazing. That stuff relaxes you more than a beer.
My husband has not found tea like this since his trip to Europe. Combine that with good food and cheap beer and hookah you can’t go wrong. They have a good beer selection and a large hookah selection so come give them a try!

We came in here before catching a movie for a beer, and were enticed by the sign in the window advertising $ 6 Miller High Life pitchers.
We sit down and order one only to be told they were out. We ordered something else that wasn’t priced on the menu and it turned out to be $ 14. Got hoodwinked. Won’t be back.

Now I don’t really know too much about hookah and hookah lounges but this place was a lot fun. We ordered a hookah with their special blend of sweet tobacco. And I have to say that I really enjoyed their flavor over the overly candied fruit flavors that I have had in the past.
I didn’t try any of the food but from the other reviews, I might steer clear and stick with the hookah and beer.

Hungry after happy hour my friends and I decided to get dinner. I Unilocaled on my iphone for Mediterranean and we decided on this place. I should have listened to my intuition, but didn’t. The first red light that should have listened to was that it was café. For some reason we were expecting a more restaurant setting and not lounge setting. The second red light that I should have listened to was that we kept on asking, «do you want to eat here?» «We can go to the place down the street.» But as fate had its way, we stayed.
My friend and I ordered the lamb gyro and it was nasty. Sour. sour. sour. I don’t know if the lamb was marinated with spices, but all I could taste was vinegar. And not good vinegar too. Good thing my taste buds, and my friend’s, were numb from the happy hour, as I think the taste would have been overwhelming if not.
Maybe my visit would have been better if it was just for the hookah. But as the food was bad, I unfortunately won’t be coming back.

Pitiful.
I guess it had to happen at some point. So here comes my first one star…
After a great day of wine tasting, we decided to cap the night off here and when we entered, the place was a cemetery. Plain dead.
The 4 of rested in the corner, ordered a hookah, a pitcher and let the circus begin. The owner and I have always been friendly and come to know each other by name, so when she walked in, as always, we greeted each other and were cordial.
She immediately went into a spiel that a new ‘City Ordinance’ required us to purchase another hookah because a hookah could only be for 2 ppl. I told her that we were pretty much finished with the first one and on the way out and she declared she would charge us for the second anyway.
I couldn’t believe it.
a) I’ve been to plenty of hookah venues in SF that have no idea about this «City Ordinance»
b) As a frequent customer who has always been respectful of her and her business, I was astounded that she would charge me for something we didn’t order and throw a ridiculous claim originating from her Cuckoo mind.
This could be one of the worst run venues in the city, with an owner who doesn’t believe in hiring. Anyone.
She attempts to cook, wait on tables, man the bar, and set up hookahs by herself and I’ve always been patient about it, but this ridiculously sad excuse of a venue should be outlawed.
I am an optimist and give people the benefit of the doubt, so on a previous occasion when my friend had to fill up pitchers and hand out beers to guests because we had been waiting for a half hour, I shrugged it off as comical.
Now I see this establishment as flush worthy and a joke. How one could even fathom being a part of the service industry with her lack of customer grace and down right disgusting attitude is a disservice to all the wonderful men and women in the industry.
Those of you who follow my reviews, will hopefully recognize that I give praise when it is due, and luckily have not doled out a 1 star, but this place isn’t even worth the 1. The other 1 star reviews of this place are pretty spot on.
The stingy floors, the pathetic décor and the lackluster degree of what they call ‘food’ is a nightmare even Tim Burton would fear.
When is trash pick up on Polk?

I tried to go here last weekend and had a similar experience to that of Theresa M.
I was with a big group, and we were trying to bring good business since the place was fairly empty. We tried to order the enticing hookah + beer special, but the owner started placing all these stipulations on it. Only a couple of people in our group wanted to smoke hookah, but she said it didn’t matter and that EVERYONE would have to pay. It was pretty ridiculous. To add to the fine print that the owner was relaying, she was quite rude. To say the least, we immediately left and went elsewhere.
I’ve been to Casablance a few times for take-​out, and I really like the falafel and gyro wraps (they’re served with well seasoned eggplant)…so I had to give them one star. Even when I order take-​out, the service is really bad, and I have to wait at least 30 minutes.
If you’re looking for drinks and/​or hookah, I definitely suggest going elsewhere.

It was a Friday night and the place was empty when we decided that indeed Casablanca would be the perfect place to grab a hookah and a few drinks.
Disclaimer — I try not rant and rave too much in reviews because it can get old very quickly, but here is a recap of our experience with Casablanca’s customer service:
–The lady told us we would be required to order a hookah for every two people no matter what. This is not common and many other places in the city will happily let you share a single hookah with about 4 people. Whatever we gave in and moved on.
–They have a beer and hookah special but we were informed that due to their vendor set up you are not allowed to pick the flavor of the hookah if you get the special. It’s cherry and not very good, deal with it. So we did and moved on once again.
— We shared a plate of hummus that didn’t come with much pita bread and asked for a few more pieces. They charge $ 2 for additional bread. This rule was not that bad I guess, but it was adding to our frustration.
–Paying the check was a nightmare. If you want to spilt between multiple cards they charge each additional card $ 5! That’s seriously absurd! Our waitress refused to spilt all the checks and or take multiple cards so we all had to shuffle money and go to ATMs.
It seemed like the entire night our waitress was trying to find «house rules» to make our experience as difficult as possible, which makes no sense from a business stand point. The rules were ridiculous and the service was unfriendly.
I will never return to this establishment, nor will I be recommending it to anyone I know. There are many other hookah bars in the city that will graciously serve you and make sure you have a wonderful time.

I have been to my fair share of Hookah bars, and this was by far one of the worst experiences ever. First of all, when we arrived the owner (who was very rude!) explained how they were out of almost every type of beer. Negative right there.
The hookah isn’t that great — the person who served us (I guess the owner) was not pleasant, and it’s pretty pricey — $ 22 a hookah. Not to mention they put on gratuity — a tip we DEF would never have left. Save your money, and have a WAY better time at Cairo Nights — the owner there rocks, and actually cares about his customers!

I have very mixed emotions.
— Not sure where they placed our Friday night reservations for 15.
+ Found a way to scooch other people to smaller tables so we can have the giant space to ourselves. Even though we were two girls holding the space and got some very odd/​mad looks.
+ The patience of the owner while our party trickled in, half an hour late.
+ Blue Moon pitchers on tap.
— I had a lot of extra time, so I read up on the food on Unilocal before ordering. Decided to be safe and ordered the falafel. Bad idea. No taste. I had four bites and left the rest on the table. Needless to say, I was hungry for the rest of the night.
— Watermelon mojito. Comes in a margarita glass. Taste like cherry medicine. DO NOT WANT!
+ Lively atmosphere brought on by the belly dancer. That part of the night WAS fun.
Props to the owner for being so accommodating to us. No props for bad food and expensive hookah.

It’s really too bad about this place…
Pretty decent food, hookahs, cheap beer. Too bad the people that work there are jerks. HORRIBLE service throughout our dinner. By the look the waitress gave us when we’d ask for more water or some silverware, you’d think we had just asked her to give us her left kidney. Then, when we went to pay on 2 credit cards, she told us we would have to pay $ 5 per card. Ridiculous.

Bamboozled is the word that comes to mind when I think of my experience at Casablanca Café.
We were looking for some late night eats after the bars had closed on Saturday night. Casablanca looked promising as there were a few other tables filled and the atmosphere looked inviting. We were given a warm welcome by someone who I thought was a waiter, but later found out to be just a friend of the owner. He brought us menus, then took them away quickly and said not to worry, he would take care of us.
I really should have looked at this as a warning sign. He asked if we’d like lamb or seafood, and then he was off to the kitchen. A few minutes later, and two platters of cold appetizers came out (from an online menu, I now see half the items were missing.), two pots of mint tea, and a shawarma for each of us. WAY too much food. We wanted one meze plate, but got two; asked for one pot of mint tea, but received two.
Everything happened so fast that I didn’t know how to put a stop to it or protest, so decided to not make a big deal of it. The food was actually good (at least the shawarma, don’t bother with the cold apps), but in the end the bill was well over $ 100, quite expensive for what was supposed to be a early morning snack.
The events of the night still bother me, and I mostly definitely won’t be back.

Honestly, the Casablanca did little to win me over. I came with friends expecting a chill start to the evening with $ 6 pitchers (!) per the sign out front and tasty hookah for my friends.
We found out they have a new beer menu and the cheapest pitcher is now $ 12 (still not bad for Blue Moon). Unfortunately it was a bad pour with lots of head and no oranges either. I don’t hookah, but my friends loved the original blend the server told us to get. The service was subpar as the server wasn’t incredibly friendly or helpful, but there was an attractive belly dancer for about 30 minutes, which was actually quite cool.
I walked by today (almost two weeks later) and saw the $ 6 pitcher sign still in the window and that did it for me. I won’t be returning nor will I talk well of Casablanca.

I just rolled into town and was starving for some grub. I dragged my stuff to my friend’s work so I could grab her keys and crash at her pad. Once I got into her space though I was dying of hunger (a bit dramatic I suppose), and was also in need of some coffee.
I stopped on the corner, grabbed a cup of Joe, then wandered into Casablanca praying that they would have some good shiz. Good shiz, indeed. I took one glance at the chalkboard and new that I had to have the falafel wrap. In 5 minutes flat I had a foil wrapped warm piece of Heaven in my hands. The large serving did not stand a chance. With a perfectly toasted tortilla wrapped around a medley of falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, hummus, and Tahini sauce, can ya blame for for eating the whole thing?
I’d love to stop in here with a casual date, or just a couple gals to catch up on life. The ambiance is chill, but the dim lights add a sense of romance to the spot. The hookahs and comfortable lounge areas help too.
Stop in next time you’re in the hood.

I’m not one to give a scathing review, however I feel compelled to report on an awful experience I had here that left my partner double over with stomach pains later in the evening. I know of two other people who’s bowels have been haunted by their visit to Casablanca. Oh and did I mention the rude service?
Diner’s beware.

Bad things first, we went in around 10pm and there was only 1 person serving. He seemed to be hard of hearing (telling by how it took too many hand signals to get his attention and a device we noticed in his ear).
Everything else about the place was great. They have a great selection of beers on draught and we got the Trumer Pils. Loved the Pilsner, loved the glasses. We ordered the appetizer plate and wanted some meat, so ordered just the Kefta. Loved the hummus, yogurt and the tabouleh. Loved the kefta. It was the perfect amount of food.
He was playing Western music when we walked when someone asked him to change it to reflect the ambiance. Some people here think the music is too loud. but we loved his selection of Arabic music and c’mon, you cant really hear Arabic music softly at a middle-​eastern restaurant!
+6 stars for the food and music and beer, –2 for one person. Cant wait to go back to smoke some hookah with the pear cider =)).

An encounter with a wicked witch didn’t really sour our moods because we were all drunk… minus two DD who had to deal with the «older mean woman.»
She was rude to my husband who wanted to use the restroom to empty his hose by snapping at him that it’s for customer’s only… Umm. witchy bitchy: we’re the obnoxious group in the corner inhaling and infiltrating our lungs with the hookah that was just purchased from your establishment, therefore we are CUSTOMERS!!!
About 40 minutes later she literally slams our bill on the table… guess someone’s vibrator batteries ran out!!!
Hookah was good, we were drunk so we were oblivious to the rude service and besides we were too busy dancing with the older middle-​eastern men at the table next to us to pay attention to witchy bitchy.

Mmmm, shwarma… [drool] I used to work up the street one day a week and came here for lunch frequently, but it’s been a 2-​year hiatus as I’m now stuck in the FiDi all the time. Was in the area for a special meeting and knew IMMEDIATELY I wanted to come here for lunch afterwards.
In addition to wraps and other quick to-​go lunch food, there’s a moderately extensive menu of Lebanese and Moroccan food. The food has always been delicious, somehow making me even enjoy eggplant, and the staff are friendly and attentive. They are also one of the only places I know to offer Moroccan cocktails and Lebanese wine, the latter of which is quite excellent.
Hookah pipes are available for rent for $ 14, $ 16, or $ 22, depending on your flavor choices. For us lushes, they conveniently offer cognac and margarita options!
Two computer stations are tucked into a corner (fee-​based), and free wi-​fi is accessible. I was also glad to see that the tiny, but clean, bathroom in the very back is open to customers, despite being attached to a storage area.
Trivia: Morocco was the first country to officially recognize the United States as an independent nation!

I’ve long been a Unilocal aficionado, relying on the wise advice of dedicated Unilocalers to help me make informed dining and other decisions. Only now, after perhaps the most unpleasant dining experience of my life, did I feel compelled to warn others of this establishment.
My friend and I went here on a Friday evening, after a long work week, to unwind and enjoy each other’s company. We stopped in lured by the promise of yummy mediterranean food. After we waited to be seated, we were shown a table next to the open kitchen, and when we asked to move to one of the more comfortable tables, were told that they were reserved for larger parties (the place was half empty).
Undeterred, we decided to make the best of it and order. My friend, who is vegetarian, ordered the tomato lentil soup. When it arrived, she took a bite only to discover large chunks of meat floating around her bowl. A tad distressed, she called over our waitress, who I believe to be the owner. Our lovely server told us that she didn’t have time to deal with our concerns, and that «we would have to pay for it anyway.» She continued to go on a tirade about how people should know that all soups have meat in them and that it was our fault for not specifying. She then grabbed the soup and dumped it out in front of us, all but cursing. She yelled all of this at us while she spilled pitchers of beer on or around us.
I will never go back here. I caution those who wish to have a pleasant experience to do the same. It is the one and only time in my life that I did not leave a tip.
Thanks a bunch, you crazy b*tch.