Walking through a tunnel with walls covered in leafy green ferns and a draped, low-lit ceiling is the first step to being transported away from the bustling Bishop Arts District and the city of Dallas.
The tunnel leads straight to a sign that reads “Casablanca” over large glass doors framed in black. The designers at Casablanca wanted to make people feel inexplicably drawn into the restaurant, like they had been dropped into a bohemian Moroccan dream resort.
With indoor and outdoor seating — which ranges from barstools to large couches — private karaoke rooms and even a cocktail menu that includes boozy tea, a trip to Casablanca is not just a dining experience; it is a full on excursion.
The restaurant opened in October 2021 and is one of the most visually impressive restaurants in Dallas.
Leroy Poignant, the creative director for Casablanca’s parent company Exxir, says he looked at vintage hotels and resorts when brainstorming Casablanca’s design.
The idea for a Moroccan resort-style restaurant was already in place when he joined the project, and “I got to run with it,” Poignant says.
Many of the foundations of Casablanca’s aesthetic — its cohesive tile work and the art prints on the walls — were custom made by Poignant. The tile work in the restaurant repeats the patterns of Casablanca’s logos, creating consistent motifs throughout the restaurant.
Gerald Pearson, manager at Casablanca, says many of the decor elements in the restaurant were imported from Mexico, and others were found in thrift stores across Dallas. He believes the ambiance of the restaurant is 60% of the experience.
“Everything else is just connecting, dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s, to make sure the service and how we present ourselves also lives up to the aesthetic of the place,” Pearson says.
As for food, the restaurant specializes in “sharable bites” with flavors that derive from the Silk Road.
The Mi Goreng noodles, edamame and shishito peppers are some of the most popular dishes, Pearson says. All utilize Asian flavors and lend themselves to a family-style setting with multiple people sharing the same dish.
“All of our dishes, the style of them, are for you to be able to pick them up and hold them,” Pearson says. “So that it is more of a cocktail hour and you have bites available.”
The cocktail program is also aligned with the Silk Road flavor theme of the restaurant. Pearson says the restaurant enjoys experimenting with Asian spirits, Japanese whiskies and chili paste in cocktails.
But if you are looking for real experimentation, Casablanca’s boozy tea time happy hour may be for you.
Serving up to eight people, the boozy tea “concoctions” can be either vodka or gin based, are served in a gold gilded teapot and come with a light and floral presentation to really create an experience.
While the indoor and outdoor dining areas at Casablanca reflect the feel of the vintage hotels Poignant referenced while designing the restaurant, the experience can be taken even further with a trip to one of Casablanca’s five suites.
In the back of the restaurant are private rooms available for rent. Pearson calls them “The Sing-Easys.”
The Sing-Easy rooms can fit as many as 15 people and offer an intimate karaoke experience along with full service from the restaurant’s cocktail and food menus.
“It can be intimidating to get up and sing karaoke in front of everyone,” Pearson says.
However, these rooms are intimate, cozy and completely wallpapered. Pearson’s favorite is covered in red wallpaper with monkeys sipping on beers.
“People are definitely drawn in,” Pearson says. “And you feel transported whenever you walk in. Like, ‘Where am I? I’m no longer in Dallas.’”
