Saffron Moroccan Cuisine

This was my husband and my second time here, and it was a delightful experience. We had a great meal while watching a belly dancer, but I must admit: I’ve seen better belly dancing. Needless to say, we had an attentive waitress.
We ended our evening with 2 cups of Moroccan tea and shared a strawberry flavored hookah on their patio. The ambiance was perfect. As we smoked and sipped, we felt transported into a Moroccan patio filled with vines and fountains. A great evening was had.

This was my second time here, but the first time was so long ago I don’t remember anything about the place other than it was small.
We came on a Tuesday and the place was empty. This was our first experience really with Moroccan food, so we didn’t really know what to order. We got the baked goat cheese ap, the lamb and ground beef kabob, and a tagine dish (i think it was lamb). Everything was reaaaally really good. I was wary of the spices because I’m not a big Indian food fan and I wasn’t sure if the spices would be similar, but they were heavenly. I’m also not a fan of lamb. It’s usually too gamey for me and tends to me tough, but this lamb for very well seasoned and tender. Our server was really helpful in describing the dishes for us and was very attentive throughout the whole dinner.
Booze is limited to wine and beer, no liquor.
I will definitely be back… but will probably choose to come on a weekend night so it feels more lively lol.

I thought about giving Saffron two stars because the ambiance is so nice, but the food was just so bad I don’t feel I could ever recommend it to anyone. If I have to get Taco Bell afterwards, I think a restaurant deserves one star, particularly at the prices Saffron charges. That said, the walls are a beautiful shade of red, the ceiling is punched tin, and ornate mirrors and lanterns abound. It’s a beautiful little space. But then there’s the food.
My dining partner and I each ordered a salad to start. My greens were not terribly fresh, some bruised and wilted, and the braised fennel on mine did not taste like any fennel I’ve had in any form (and I love fennel!). I had to look back at the menu and make sure I’d received the dish I ordered. Both salads were ultimately mediocre — I could easily have made better at home without spending much at the store. We also ordered the potato cakes, which were pretty good, and definitely the best thing we ordered all night.
For entrees, I actually just ordered another salad, which was described as a rice salad. What a disaster. This composed salads consisted of another pile of sad wilted greens, with overcooked carrots, strips of beet, a pile of rice doused in mayo and overly sweet, and a side of potato salad. I think the potato salad was the most offensive vegetable I’ve ever been served at a restaurant — overcooked little potato cubes just doused in mayo. I don’t even dislike mayo in general (sometimes I’ll put it on fries) but this was flavorless, thick, poor-​quality mayo and there were no other discernible ingredients in the dish. I am from the south, so I’m accustomed to mayo-​based potato salads (though I’m not a fan), and I would have preferred to pick something up from the Kroger deli case. After a bite of that potato mess I couldn’t eat another bite of anything there.
The dining partner ordered the chicken with 7 vegetables couscous dish. It smelled like cafeteria food, and when I mentioned that, he said the food at the military academy where he went to college was better than this stuff. There was absolutely no seasoning on any of it — not even a bit of oil or a dash of salt. He said it was the blandest food he’d ever eaten in his life. It was nearly as bad as hospital food. I can’t believe someone would send something so pathetic out of the kitchen.
So, overall, I would not recommend this place to anyone who likes good food. Maybe if you are dying for good ambiance and some bellydancing, and you don’t care too much about the food, this would be a good place to go. Personally, I would prefer to go to a hole-​in-​the-​wall type place with excellent food than some place that’s all style and no substance. I’m thankful I came here with a groupon!

We went to Saffron to celebrate my friend’s birthday. The atmosphere is definitely different and the belly dancing shows (7:30 and 9:30) adds some umph.
For appetizers we tried the ceviche and the baked goat cheese. The ceviche was alright, definitely a generous serving. The baked goat cheese was absolutely delicious. I probably would have rather had two servings of goat cheese instead of the ceviche.
We ordered the Lamb and Kefta Kabobs, the Mrouzia, Couscous Malaki, and Riad Tagine (all lamb options). They were all decent lamb dishes, but the favorite of the table was the Lamb and Kefta kabobs.
Entrees range from $ 13 – 20. Serving sizes are large and can probably feed two.

Eh. It’s a pretty limited menu. The place itself was cool looking, modeled after what I would consider a Morrocan restaurant to look like… dark ceilings, deep red walls and glass lanterns scattered about.
My experience overall was pretty weird. Our waiter told us they stopped serving wine and liquor that day? (Expired liquor license?) Then I ordered a dish that was supposed to be roasted chicken over egg noodles with a sauce… It came out a lot like chicken pieces and a vodka sauce over broken speghetti pasta. I was unimpressed. Also, we ordered a baked goat cheese appetizer for the table… It came out with three large pieces of toast spread with an olive-​esque substance, a curried raisin sauce in the middle and a cold scoop of goat cheese on top of that. Where was the baked element in this equation? Your guess is as good as mine. It was good… Enough for three people, maybe… if you’re a good sharer.
Two people I was eating with ordered the lamb and _​_​_​_​_​_​_​_​kabobs and they looked awesome. Both said they were «crazy good» and enjoyed the rice concoction that came in between the three large kabobs. Another person I was eating with got the lamb shank… This would be good for a cave man. It came out of the plate as, well, a lamb shank. It was a large bone-​in piece of lamb. The eater said it was poorly spiced for being Morrocan. I’d say that about most of the food I ate. I was expecting well-​spiced, can’t get it anywhere but here kind of food and that’s just not what I got.
Jessica approved: the front door… If you visit here, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s unique.

Back in late Feb I had a bday dinner here for one of my gfs… we had the lil room to the left right when you walked in. Party of 8 maybe.
I remember the service was horrible. It really really was. Food took forever to come out and waiter never really came by. BUT, the food was magnificent. I cant remember what I ordered, probably beef something. All the ladies thought their food was delicious. Small portions. like…their chicken breast is smaller than your palm.
The valet guy was extremely nice, free valet btw, just tip.
I remember pitching in 40 w/​just water and no appetizer.
I actually found out about this place ~5 yrs ago and heard it was a GREAT GREAT place. Where they had belly dancers and you sit on the floor with pillows to eat, fun, interesting place. I guess they changed that whole concept… or Im just mixed up with another Saffon thats in the area.
I wont be back… theres plenty of places that are much cheaper with food just as great.

Went here for a birthday with a group of 10+ people. We booked the private room and the waiter was fantastic, kept us laughing and focused on ordering. The food was mediocre. Maybe visiting Morocco got my expectations up but the chicken tagine was gummy instead of tender, the «saffron dip» was just ful mudammas, and the mint tea wasn’t minty. Apparently being a Moroccan restaurant means just having Moroccan-​style food? I’m not sure, but wtf is a Moroccan mojito?
The main reason I’m bumping this place down is because they don’t understand how a credit card POS system works. Right before we were ready to leave the manager told us that we could only split the check 4 ways because their credit card system didn’t allow for more than 4 swipes. It is absolutely ridiculous to spend ~$ 500 in a large group and not be able to split it.
Would never go back, you shouldn’t either. There are better places in Houston.

My husband and I went there on a Saturday night after I purchased the groupon for it. It took us a while to find the place after parking… the restaurant is connected to Mia Bella. The front door for Saffron is a huge slab of wood and we kept walking past it.
Once we found the place, we were seated promptly to a wobbly table. We both really liked the decorations and ambiance of the restaurant, although it is quite small.
We ordered the goat cheese cakes for the appetizer, along with mojitos. Both loved the goat cheese, the mojito was ok. A little to small to be $ 10.Tasted more like mint tea than a mojito.
Next, we ordered our entrees. My husband got the lamb tangine with apricots. The apricots were really great– sweet, savory, and spicy all at once. The lamb, however, was nearly all bone and left little to the imagination. Basically payed $ 20 for some good apricots.
I got the beef couscous. HUGE serving… I ate maybe a fifth of it. However, it tasted like something I would throw together for a busy weeknight meal… even though it was a lot of food, I don’t know if I will even eat my leftovers. It’s not that it was bad… it was just boring. The flavors didn’t really go well together. Just a hodge podge of couscous, garbanzo beans, vegetables, and beef bits. I feel like the chef went to his pantry, took everything out that he had, and threw it on a plate for my dinner.
We also bought a bottle of wine to take home after I tried a glass of it. Some Moroccan wine called Amazigh. The wine was amazing– dry and spicy.
All together, with the 2 entrees, 1 appetizer, 1 mojito, and 1 $ 32 bottle of wine, we spent $ 80…so it would have been $ 120 without the groupon. Not worth it, in my opinion.

My first time there, the waiter was informative and full of suggestions. The food was fantastic and unique. They served us tea moroccan style, suggested fantastic cocktails and provided a great experience. The entertainment was great.
The second time at saffron, the waiter was ok. The tea was served, with no flair of the «high pour». The food was delicious and unique (except the shrimp in the appetizer was so bad I still remember it), and the entertaiment was great.
Last night I returned. The waitress was very nice, but did not have the knowledge or skills you would hope for at a place like this. She tried, but she needs some training. There was not tea, no suggestions and the bartender was no bueno.
We started dinner with the Potato Cakes Maakuda appetizer. The potato still had a chill inside, which was NOT the way it was supposed to be. The shrimp was over-​done, but good. The sauce was spicy and very good.
For the main course, I ordered the Merouzia (Braised lamb shank with sweet cinnamon black pepper sauce and roasted almonds.) It was fantastic. I have never had a bad entrée at Saffron, and the record stands. I will be learning to make this myself.
During this course, the belly dancing began. She did a great job, and it was fun to watch her show a mom and her kiddo how to dance a little.
Then, dessert came. This was really lame. It was a phyllo cup, with apples tossed in a bit of cinnimon and sugar, topped with exotic blue bell ice cream. (bad move on our part)
So, I recommend you go just to check it out. It is still fun and unique. To the managment on Saffron, please kick it up a notch. You have a gold mine there, but train your staff! They should be full of suggestions and looking to provide a taste of morroco in Houston. I can not think of a better menu to upsell customers who want to try something new!

Saffron has made the list of our favorite restaurants. From the moment we walked in to the very beautifully decorated dining room to the unique and tasty food and great service, we were impressed. The lamb with apricots was fantastic with the meat fall off the bone tender and the sauce sweet. At the end of our meal, we even watched a belly dancing show which was free. If you are looking for a nice date place or just a unique dining experience, you won’t be disappointed with Saffron.

I came here on a Tuesday night for a friend’s birthday. It was a table of 8. I called to make reservations and requested a private room. I was told by a friend they were beautifully decorated and that it would make for an intimate birthday celebration.
When I spoke to the host taking the reservation he said Tuesdays were pretty slow so the private room would definitely be available. When myself and the birthday boy arrive (the place is completely empty) there is a large table of 12 (not the requested 8) in the middle of the large dining area that he has reserved for us. We asked why we were not able to sit in the private room and he said that he’d rather us in the main dining room so the place doesn’t look empty. Sorry dude! That’s not our problem. After some convincing he finally set the table for us in the private room.
The private room was so beautiful and intimate and we enjoyed it. We were served some small dips and snacks while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive.
Shortly after being seated we realized how this evening was going to unfold. This was not a party of 8 visiting with each other. This was «The Russell Show» aka our waiter Russell was hanging out with us and telling jokes the entire meal. At first it was funny and cute, but shortly after our appetizers we were all looking at each other with wide eyes wondering when he was going to leave us alone!!!
This being all of our first time to eat Moroccan food, we let Russell, our waiter choose everything that we ordered. We simply old him anything we don’t want and he took the reigns. Overall the group was happy with the food. We all left full and satisfied.
After we were done eating and had already declined dessert, Russell shows up with a fish dish that he had ordered for us long ago that was just now finished cooking… and he still put it on the bill!?!
I don’t think I’ll go back here. Especially after writing this review…

We celebrated new years here with an amazing evening of food and entertainment. The ambiance was very ethnic, clean, and I felt like I was in another country. The service was right on. My champagne glass was never empty, and the courses were brought out within 5 – 10 minutes after the previous ones were cleared… very precise on timing! The ethnic dancing was tasteful and completed the Moroccan feel of the whole evening.
As we enter, we are warmly greeted by the staff and taken directly to our table (we made a reservation). A complimentary bottle of champagne is immediately brought to the table and poured out. We are given the menu to decide what we would like for each course. There were a couple of choices for each course, each having a gluten free option.
Our amazingly delicious choices that we would order again:
Merguez Moroccan sausage and potato with cilantro:
–wonderful spicy flavor in the sausage, the creamy starchiness of the potatoes went really well, reminded me of a Moroccan meat and potatoes version of Indian tikka masala
Hout Mallah (cured salmon salad):
–salmon was incredibly delicate and melted in my mouth, nicely placed on top of some spring salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, topped with granny smith apple slices… very refreshing
Harira (Ramadan soup):
–this was like a hearty/​spicey minestrone soup, minus the pasta, plus lentils/​chickpeas and small chunks of lamb that go POW… very warm and comforting
Lamb tangine
–MINDBLOWINGLY tender and moist… I didn’t even need the knife, because the meat fell right off the bone… the brown sugary/​caramelized onion/​apricot/​carrot sauce was the perfect compliment for the meat… I will definitely go back and order this for my individual entrée
Strawberry and banana custard with caramel drizzle
–the staff was nice enough to make me a gluten free option for dessert… I just said to do something yummy that was gluten free… it was a very refreshing way to end the meal… it was light and soufflé like
Moroccan mint tea
–the tea was hot, well brewed, and a perfect finale

Really loved the Lamp Chop dish here — and I usually don’t like lamb chops. The belly dancer that night was great as well. She even showed me some dance moves.

I really want to like Saffron, because I love the little bowls of vegetable-​based spread and olives that are offered as an amuse-​bouche while you wait. And I really like the spinach pie appetizer. But both times I have been here, my vegetarian entrée hasn’t been very good. After my first visit I held off reviewing because I thought… well, maybe the vegetarian tagine just isn’t my taste. But after the second lackluster meal, I’m afraid I have to come down on the three-​star side.
My problem with the veggie tagine (I can’t recall the precise name of the dish) was that it was really sweet. The raisins in it seemed to have dictated the overall flavor, and although I tried to spice it up and blunt the sweetness with a bit of the appetizer sauces, it didn’t work. I concluded that this wasn’t Saffron’s fault, but mine because I tend not to like sweetness clashing with my savories in most dishes (Ask me how I feel about mole sauce sometime *shudder*)*
Second time around I tried the vegetarian couscous. Jim and my entrees both came with the sauce on the side, and a big bowl of couscous with steamed chunks of veggie on top– and I do mean chunks. Instead of being cut up among the couscous, the big pieces (one of each veggie) were arranged on the top. Not a problem– I like mashing up my own food.
But although Jim found the sauce that came with his beef couscous to be tasty, mine was a lemon and butter that just sort of tasted like butter… again, I found myself mixing in some of the delicious red appetizer sauces to try to get some flavor from the dish. It really was quite bland without this tinkering.
The Moroccan mint tea was delicious– sweet and served in a lovely decorative metal pot. While we enjoyed it, and tried to ignore the woman sitting at the table next to us who kept squealing LOUDLY and clapping her hands like a seal, we were treated to a short but well-​executed bellydance performance. This was a different dancer than we saw last time, but she had the abdominal moves down cold. This is so much harder than it looks. My uncoordinated butt has tried it.
p. s. Manners people. They’re not (just) artifice, they’re about respect for your fellow diners. Drunken antics might be fine in a club or dive bar, but they’re tacky in a nice restaurant. And your 2000 photos with the camera flash on hurt our eyes.
*I’m probably not explaining this preference well, but I’m at a loss.

I checked out this place last Saturday. First, we asked to be seated outside because the weather was nice, but they soon closed the front door and forgot about us until we went inside and seated ourselves. The waiter seemed to be genuinely sorry though at least.
I had a couscous plate with lamb and sausage. I really like the moroccan sausage but unfortunately it only had one tiny sausage on the entire plate, with a more generous helping of lamb. There was also a generous amount of veggies on the plate as well. I thought the food was good but not as spicy as I thought Moroccan food would be (although it was my first time trying Moroccan food so I am not sure if that is normal or not).
The food was expensive. $ 16 for my plate and another $ 10 if you wanted to smoke a hooka at your table (outside only).
There was a belly dancer which was entertaining and made up somewhat for the priciness of the food.
Overall I thought it was a nice place. Saffron definitely worth checking out if you want something different, but I don’t see myself going back any time soon (mostly because of the price).

Fantastic customer service is what makes Saffron one of my new favorite spots.
We were treated like VIP. The private room we had reserved was amazing. It was cozy and intimate — great for a group of friends looking to enjoy delicious food and a few cocktails while catching up and/​or celebrating. As a group, we decided to each order a different entrée and then share so that we could try everything. This was our first visit so it was a fun way to get a taste of everything Saffron had to offer.
Jesus is the best waiter I’ve ever had! Not only did he offer great recommendations on the food and drinks, he was also friendly and witty and the service was impeccable. The belly dancer was not only beautiful but also very talented, friendly, and entertaining. I think her name was Sierra? My boyfriend has requested I take the lessons offered at Saffron weekly. haha. :)
The manager, Fernando Garcia, is wonderful at making guests feel welcome, meeting their every need, and exceeding every expectation. He went above and beyond to make it a fun night for our entire group. If you have a special occasion you’d like to celebrate at Saffron or Mia Bella (italian restaurant next door), make sure you contact Fernando and I’m sure he will do his very best to accomodate your party.
The food was delicious. The drinks were potent. The belly-​dancer, the décor, the hookah, all made it an exciting and memorable experience.
Please, check it out for yourselves!

B’Stilla!
B’Stilla!
B’Stilla!
Honestly, I can’t see why people aren’t liking this place.
I worked for Youseff years ago, and he’s really got a great palette for Moroccan cuisine.
I went in at the end of the night, but the waitress was nice and let me sit and have some lovely tapas.
I also had some of their bread with like 4 dipping sauces while I waited.
The fillo with shrimp with an onion confit was pretty damn outstanding. The only thing is that he used bay shrimp. Really? Bay shrimp? Who uses those anymore? Still, the flavor was wonderful.
But the B’Stilla!
You have to understand the intricacies of sweet and savory in Moroccan cuisine. They work together really well. And B’Stilla is one of the best. It’s pastry with almond, cinnamon, egg and chicken all baked inside.
When I worked back at Mi Luna in the days when it was privately owned and… good, it was something that people either loved or hated, and toward the end of my tenure there, it was inconsistent.
This B’Stilla was freaking amazing.
The décor and service was top notch. I recommend this place highly. The man is back.

This is one of those occasions that I’m so glad I read Unilocal before going.
I tend to find almost all restaurant food to be over salted. Salt is a simple, easy, _​cheap_​way of combating the notoriously blunt palate of the typical American diner. I don’t cook with a lot of salt at home, and I tend not to season my food at the table, preferring to use other spices and seasonings to bring the food to life. So I tend to be over-​sensitive to this restaurant tactic. The reason I bring this up, is that two reviews here cautioned that the fish tagine was over-​salty. Fish tagine is a dish I’d be very likely to order in this kind of environment. But thus fore-​warned, I was able to steer clear. And I can tell you, it must just be a problem with the fish, because everything we ate tonight was not over salty in the least.
I’ve mentioned my scallop problem recently, and so it goes without saying that I started with the seared diver scallops in saffron sauce. Wonderful. Our appetizers were served with a suite of small spreads and some bread — eggplant, cucumber, a spicy red one, a sweet red one, and a plate of olives. (I was having a lot of trouble hearing the dishes as the belly dancing was going on at this time.) All delicious, although as I have said, olives are all too salty, everywhere you go these days. I think demand is outstripping the capacity to make them slowly and so everyone is using too much salt to cure them quicker. Or not soaking the salt back out long enough, or something. Anyway, again, hardly something you can blame a restaurant for.
For main course I had the couscous malaki which featured braised lamb and a variety of sausage that was narrow, very red, and very spicy. Along with a huge mound of couscous (the tiny, crushed kind) and the meats, the plate featured sweet potato, turnip, carrot, a wedge of some kind of squash or gourd, cabbage, and another item I could not identify. Everything was deeply flavorful, simply prepared, and easy to eat. The lamb was a bit fatty, but hey, it’s lamb. That happens, you know? There aren’t huge swaths of lean steak cuts on a lamb.
Liz’s vegetable tagine was, unfortunately, sweeter than she expected and so wasn’t quite what she had in mind. Thankfully the spinach pie she had to start with vanished almost instantly and so helping me devour the bread and side dishes meant she certainly didn’t go home hungry. She knows next time to try to vegetarian couscous dish.
The obligatory green tea with mint and sugar followed it all up and far be it from me to ever say a bad thing about tea, right?
The belly dancing performance lasted less than half an hour and about half of it was quite informal, with the dancer encouraging women and girls to join her for a couple of songs. I’m certainly no expert, so I won’t attempt to critique her skills. She is, of course, very pretty (although if you like size 0 women, you’ll disagree) and did pull off a routine I have not seen before with a tray of lit candles on her head. On the one hand, having this be rather short was nice, because the loud music made conversation impossible, but on the other hand, they make such a big deal out of advertising the performances, that it is a bit shocking how short they are. I’ve been to places with one performance that starts at 9 and lasts well over an hour. Maybe the late show at Saffron is longer, I’m not sure.
Signature cocktails are tasty and served in unique vessels, but are rather steeply priced. Ours were $ 10 and $ 11 which is typical in Chicago, but on the high side here in Houston.
They have semi-​private rooms with the floor cushions and were also serving a large group with tables all crammed together. In spite of this, service was attentive and friendly.
I think we may wait for warmer weather, not worry about catching the dancing show, and try to sit out on the patio, next time we go. This kind of food needs a tiled fountain and warm breezes.

I went to saffron last year for my friend’s birthday. We had a group of about 15 – 20 people. It was probably one of the worst experiences I have had at a restaurant. Although there was no spewing of chunks of food (see University’s dorm food of 2004) a part of me wished that I did. I should not have let that food process in my system. It was bland and certainly did not quench my hunger. Overpriced? Yes.
The food took about 2 hours to come out after ordering and it took another 2 hours to get our check. Terrible service.
I would give this place 0 stars but I gave 1 for a hot belly dancer.

I took my parents here for their 35^th wedding anniversary. My parents basically only eat Chinese and Vietnamese food, so for their anniversary I wanted to take them somewhere other than Chinatown. I asked my mom if there was anything she was interested in, and to my surprise, she said she wanted to go somewhere with live bellydancing (no idea how she thought of this). Saffron immediately came to mind!
I made reservations for a Friday night 7pm dinner. The place is valet only. We were the only ones at the restaurant for the first half of our meal! We decided to go with the family style 5 course meal for $ 30/​person, which is a soup, appetizer, salad, entrée, and dessert, all of the chef’s choice. We asked them if we could pick our entrée at least and they were kind enough to let us do so. We also got a bottle of wine.
Wow, was this a lot of food. I’ll highlight the dishes I liked. The appetizer had a meat filled pastry, kind of like an empanada. I really liked the shrimp one. The eggplant salad was also delicious. For the main dish, I had lamb tagine (kind like a lamp stew), but I was semi-​disappointed with it because it was kind of salty like other Unilocalers said. My mom and bf had a couscous platter, which I really liked. It came with tons of couscous, meat, and seven types of veggies. I found the Moroccan cuisine to be extremely flavorful and not too heavy as I didn’t feel overly stuffed afterwards. The desserts were all pretty much forgettable, as were the soups. The mint tea at the end was like a super sweet green tea with a hint of mint. It was a great way to end a nice meal.
As for the bellydancing entertainment, they say they have 2 shows on Friday and Saturday. One show is at 7:30 and the other is at 9:30. They don’t really start on time though. The belly dancer had a beautiful costume and voluptuous body and was very talented. My mom absolutely loved it! It’s definitely something worth seeing, but the I don’t think I’d specifically come back for the food.