After suffering though some days of bad and questionable food in Essaouira, we were glad to make a break for Cafe des Arts on this leg of our evening and sitting near the window, listen beautiful music from upstairs and enjoed the food. Food was pretty good.

Restaurant has a nice ambience due to the design of the place. Cozy and just a nice place to chill.

The decor was also really cool and interesting. In addition, the staff were all really cool and a delight to chat with, particularly Abdelwahed Elhajjam.

Thank you and see you next time!

The food was pretty blah. But the experience and music was well worth it. The band was fun and they knew how to entertain a crowd. It was a lot of fun to watch the waiter as he alternated between waiting on tables and playing the 9ra9eb (the Darija spelling of: krakeb ... the gnaouwan cymbels.

After I had dinner with some friends I decided to return to the Hostel while they went to Cafe des Arts. As soon as I arrived at the hostel I realized it was a stupid idea and when I finally got to the bar I could hear from the street the sound of the music and the claps.
When I entered the room, about 20 people were there gather around singing and dancing, while the band played. The performers played a lot, always making sure that everyone got involved. At the end they also let me and some other guys play some intruments and sing, which was pretty cool.

Cafe des Arts is a quaint Cafe located on Istiqlal ave. (hadada street). Twenty of us from various riads/hostels got together to take in a fantastic evening of gnawa and music of the world. The performers played for hours making sure that everyone got involved with musical instruments, with our voices and by clapping our hands. The energy was fabulous and everyone had a memorable time. A great spot to meet the lovely locals as well as other fellow travellers. Many thanks to Youssef, Rachid, Hicham and the rest of the staff. Beslama ... Amagi