Romantic Casablanca-Settat: Real Options
Rick’s Café did not appear in the 1942 film that shares its name, and knowing that before you book a table changes the evening for the better rather than worse.
Rick’s Café, the honest version
The movie Casablanca was shot entirely on a Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank; no crew ever filmed here. Rick’s Café is a real restaurant opened in 2004 by a former American diplomat, built inside a 1930s courtyard mansion near the old medina harbor with curved arches, brass lamps, a baby grand piano working through “As Time Goes By,” and an upscale French-Moroccan menu. Treated as what it actually is, a deliberately atmospheric homage rather than a preserved film set, it holds up as one of the better candlelit dinners in the city, and knowing the real story ahead of time means nobody at the table is caught out by a guide or a waiter correcting the myth mid-meal. Reservations and smart-casual dress are effectively required, not optional.
El Jadida is the coastal escape that also has a golf course
An hour and change southwest of Casablanca, El Jadida pairs its UNESCO-listed 16th-century Portuguese fortifications with a genuinely modern luxury option: Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort, a Gary Player-designed course, private beach cabanas, and a traditional black soap hammam ritual built for two. It reads as a proper overnight escape rather than a day-trip add-on, close enough to combine with a walk through the Portuguese Cistern the next morning. Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort is the one property on this stretch of coast built specifically around that combination.
Sunset, from the Corniche side
Back in Casablanca, the Aïn Diab Corniche is where the evening usually starts: oceanfront lounges like Le Cabestan Ocean View, La Réserve and Skybar all face directly into the sunset, with the Hassan II Mosque’s illuminated minaret as the backdrop once the light drops. None of these need advance booking for drinks, though dinner reservations at Le Cabestan fill up on weekends. Visit Casablanca’s official site keeps a current list of what’s open along this stretch, since restaurant turnover here is faster than guidebooks usually catch.
La Sqala for something older and quieter
For a meal with less crowd noise, La Sqala sits inside an 18th-century stone sea bastion, Andalusian gardens and fountains included, with live acoustic oud music some evenings. It trades the Corniche’s ocean view for genuine history underfoot, brass cannons from the original fortification still mounted along the walls. The courtyard fills gradually rather than all at once, so a later reservation, closer to 9pm, usually lands a quieter table than the early dinner slot does.
Oualidia, for the couple who wants a boat instead of a bar
Two hours southwest, Oualidia’s calm lagoon works well for something quieter than a restaurant table: a small wooden boat out to a private sandbar, then fresh oysters and grilled sea bass back at a water-edge shack once you’re back on land. A search for Oualidia lagoon boat trips covers the current operators running short private outings on the water.
Verdict: Casablanca handles one romantic evening well on its own, but the version of this trip that actually reads as a getaway rather than a dinner out is the overnight to El Jadida or Oualidia, since neither the Corniche nor Rick’s Café asks for more than a few hours of anyone’s time. For the multi-day version of this same coastline, El Jadida and Oualidia strung together as one loop, see the multi-day trips guide .
Book Le Cabestan or Rick’s Café a few days ahead for a weekend table; both fill before the walk-in crowd realizes they should have called.