Casablanca Bar and Grill

by Taylor P.

I have recently become a fan of Middle Eastern food and Casablanca was completely satisfying.  The garlic paste and sesame sauce brought with pita bread before the meal was great, as was the Tabbouleh.  The chicken shawarma had great flavor.  The beef kefta kabob lacked the flavor that I have grown to love. By no means was it bad, it could have used a bit more seasoning.The restaurant has a good atmosphere. I can't wait to go back in the spring to sit on their patio.

by Raul P.

I was looking forward to some Mediterranean food and I thought, why not try a restaurant in the new Packing House at the Claremont Village expansion project.  It's a great location and they are doing an incredible renovation of the entire area.  The architects did a great job on the design of the building and the restaurant has a warm and classy appeal to it.  However, when we were finally seated, they put us at a table that blocked the rear exit and rested below the very loud air conditioning unit.  Additionally, I was a disappointed with the service at Casablanca's and unfortunately, I can only say the food was ok.  I ordered Baba Ghanoush, which turned out to be the best I've ever had; however, the Tabbouleh was drenched in lemon juice and was not well prepared.  Also, we ordered a shrimp kabob plate that was supposed to come with rice and steamed vegetables, but perhaps they forgot to tell the kitchen to steam the vegetables before sending  them to the table;  yup, they were still frozen.  They've only been open a few weeks and I'm hoping they are just trying to work the kinks out as their other establishment is quite good, i.e. Aladdin's.

by Jon K.

I've been here many times for dinner. The dishes are a little pricey, but i think that the flavors are quite good. The atmosphere is nice and the wait staff are friendly. I've never been in a rush when i am there, so i have never noticed the wait time for the bill. I usually order the Duet Kabob and have had the lamb there also. Both are good, haven't had other dishes. The garlic butter spread for the pita bread is absolutely delicious.I will go back.

by kristy e.garbanzo b.Johnny N.Taylor P.

I took a date here, since the thai place down the street that we were going to go to was too crowded...I am so glad I did! My date asked for somewhere "cozy" to sit, and they seated us accordingly. The food was delicious and while we were canoodling, we hear this music go on, and a belly dancer comes out to entertain us. She was cute, a little too vegas-y for me, but it was entertaining and was a good conversation piece. Me: "Maybe I should take belly dancing lessons. "Him: "Yes. I think you should. Mmm"...commence PDA. :) Anyhow, this is a good place to take a date on a friday or saturday night. Good ambiance, tasty food ( I had chicken kebabs, he had something called sharamala, it was yummy with the pita bread..) I hope this place gets more business, as I will totally go back again.So, can we say poor service? Can we say poor service? The food was ok-nothing to write home about- but the service- horrible .There was a group of 8 of us, and the waiter could not come by to refill water, when we had empty plates, nobody would pick them up, and if we waved them down there was no response.The place wasn't too busy and I guess I can see why.SERVICE WAS HORRIBLE.Man, what happening??  So we phone in our order like we normally do.  We go pick up the order, armed with a take-out menu just so we remember what was ordered.  The guy sees the menu and very rudely says, "That menu is out of date!"  I guess the prices changed... big deal, at least be polite about it.  Here's the fun part... with 8 orders, the bill topped $200.  Price change indeed.And the food tasted... not how it normally tastes.  We really need to try Saca's.  There may be only one last chance for Casablanca for us. Ok, I think the issue may be one particular waiter who "takes his time" when it comes to service.… I have recently become a fan of Middle Eastern food and Casablanca was completely satisfying.  The garlic paste and sesame sauce brought with pita bread before the meal was great, as was the Tabbouleh.  The chicken shawarma had great flavor.  The beef kefta kabob lacked the flavor that I have grown to love. By no means was it bad, it could have used a bit more seasoning.The restaurant has a good atmosphere. I can't wait to go back in the spring to sit on their patio.

by Keiko T.

It has a nice atmosphere ... but I think that's what you're paying for mainly ... because our waiter wasn't that nice to us and the food is just ok (Mirage is better)...  we waited for about 20mins after finishing our meal for the check and ended up having to ask three waiters passing by for it. We finally got it about another 30mins later. So we had to sit around for an hour just wanting to leave.

by Jesse O.

Seriously...three stars?Went here on a recommendation of someone at the hotel we were staying at and were not disappointed in the last. I'd give this place six stars if I could.Food was excellent. Casablanca is Lebanese owned and operated. I ended up going with three Lebanese friends of mine and we were treated like kings. The owner brought us out lamb shanks to try at no cost (I think he wanted to impress us). It's tough to impress my Lebanese buds with Mediterranean food, however they really, really liked Casablanca. Total bill ended up being about $30/each with drinks and appetizers. Not overpriced for the quality of good and service.

by Chia C.

Mediterranean food is SOOO good and it should be more readily available. Luckily for Upland, it is. I would give this place 5 stars, but the service was pretty bad, which was disappointing. I took my Mom on a Saturday afternoon. When we arrived there was 1 other party of 4, by the time we left there were about 6 additional tables seated and a couple at the bar. There were a lot of servers, so there was no reason for the lack of good service. What was disappointing was the fact that there was one waiter who was CLEARLY very invested in the business (tall good looking guy with a beard and a pony tail) who was CLEARLY Med. and knowledgable about the cuisine, but he didn't strike up a conversation with anyone except 1 party (who, from what I could overhear was a club promoter and interested in promoting out of this venue). He was perfectly content to just take our order and move on, and my thought is...the area is new and up and coming...why isn't is chatting with the new patrons and suggesting dishes? It was annoying. Cute or not, the waiter totally made the place lose a star from me.The food though? The food was pretty darn tootin' good. The lamb kabobs were OUT OF THIS WORLD!! By far the best I've had in I don't know how long. I will be going back specifically for that. We had the beef kabob, which was pretty awesome too, and the lamb shank, which was the most expensive thing on the menu and only so-so. Everything came with sides of over cooked veggies and mediocre rice...and even still...the lamb kabobs were so good they get 4 stars.They have hookas on an outdoor deck, which would be nice to do next time. And their appetizers were pretty good - the cheese stuffed, fried things - awesome!...the spinach ones - not so awesome.If the owners read my review: If you guys really wanted to maintain the Mediterranean theme of the place, it would be cool if you guys offered a series of matching themed drinks....like Ouzo based cocktails. There are bars that do that up here with Absinthe now, and even people like me that don't like the black licorice flavor still order the drinks because they're different and made in a creative, delicious way.Would I go back? Yeah...that's the plan...but just for lamb kabobs and maybe an Ouzo cocktail.Good luck guys...I hope you make it.

by garbanzo b.

So, can we say poor service? Can we say poor service? The food was ok-nothing to write home about- but the service- horrible .There was a group of 8 of us, and the waiter could not come by to refill water, when we had empty plates, nobody would pick them up, and if we waved them down there was no response.The place wasn't too busy and I guess I can see why.SERVICE WAS HORRIBLE.

by kristy e.

I took a date here, since the thai place down the street that we were going to go to was too crowded...I am so glad I did! My date asked for somewhere "cozy" to sit, and they seated us accordingly. The food was delicious and while we were canoodling, we hear this music go on, and a belly dancer comes out to entertain us. She was cute, a little too vegas-y for me, but it was entertaining and was a good conversation piece. Me: "Maybe I should take belly dancing lessons. "Him: "Yes. I think you should. Mmm"...commence PDA. :) Anyhow, this is a good place to take a date on a friday or saturday night. Good ambiance, tasty food ( I had chicken kebabs, he had something called sharamala, it was yummy with the pita bread..) I hope this place gets more business, as I will totally go back again.

by Gina H.

GAD this place is good. I love the pita bread with garlic sauce and olive oil they give you in the beginning. I recommend trying their Lebonese beer. I also recommend the lamb plate, although it's the most expensive thing on the menu; $25 or something. It's really good! The other plates are also good, namely the chicken shawerma.. I would not recommend the lebonese sausages- they are dry! The food is very pricey here. But there's a belly dancer... and there is hookah... and the service was excellent.