Visit #1 ·
★★★★★Came here partly for the hammam, stayed longer than planned because of the rooftop. Riad Dar Saad sits tucked into Dar El Bacha, and you'd walk past the entrance twice before you found it — which I did. Once you're in, the riad layout does what riads are supposed to do: closes the street noise out and opens upward.
First visit, so I'm still reading the place. Ordered mint tea, a bastilla — the sweet pigeon and almond one, not a shortcut version — and a lamb tagine with preserved lemon and olives. The bastilla was the thing. Crispy warqa pastry, properly dusted, and the filling had depth. That's not something you rush. Somebody in that kitchen knows the sequence.
The tagine was good without being great. Lamb was tender, lemon came through, but the olive-to-sauce ratio felt off — too many olives crowding a sauce that needed space. Minor, but I notice it.
Tea service was deliberate. High pour, right amount of foam, sweet but not aggressively so. The server didn't hover, which I respect.
The rooftop itself overlooks the medina roofline. No music, just ambient city noise filtering up. That absence was the right call.
What I'm watching on return visits: whether the bastilla stays consistent or if it's a best-day item. Tagine execution when the kitchen is busier. And whether the service holds that calm, unhurried quality or if it's just an uncrowded Tuesday afternoon thing.
First visits tell you potential. I saw enough here that I'll come back and let the place prove itself. Receipt's filed. We'll see what visit three looks like.