Aziza

Cuisine	Mediterranean
Price	$$$ (31-50)
Rating	7/10
Last Visit	Sept. 28, 2023
Location	SFBA: San Francisco: West

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General Notes

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Aziza is an upscale Moroccan restaurant situated in the Richmond. It's apparently run by the same team that runs Mourad in downtown. The food is vibrant, and flavorful, as you would probably expect from a good Mediterranean restaurant. It also makes use of a lot of interesting spices / flavor profiles that are more specific to Moroccan food; I definitely tried a lot of flavors that I hadn't tried before. Great food, nice vibes, on the more expensive side but not by too much, definitely worth it; portions are pretty generous and a lot of the dishes are good for sharing.

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Positives

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> As you might expect from a restaurant run by the same team that runs Mourad, the service is delighful.

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Negatives

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> Surprisingly, I actually found a lot of the dishes to be a bit too salty, with not enough counterbalance. This is not something that I feel often about restaurant food.

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★★☆☆ Corn Bread -- harissa butter. Good, but doesn't really add that much to the overall experience. The harissa butter is decent but not very flavorful.
• ★★★☆ Shakshuka -- chickpeas, pickled beans, jalapeno lebni, poached egg yolk, grilled bread. This was really well done; super flavorful, the chickpeas and egg yolk are a nice touch, honestly could use a bit more grilled bread.
• ★☆☆☆ Basteeya -- chicken config, spiced almond, caramelized onion, sultana raisins. This dish is way too sweet for my taste, and it kind of throws everything off balance.
• ★★★★ Whole Branzino -- corona beans, sunburst squash, saffron, cippolini onions, sea beans tomato, fennel. The other components are kind of odd, but the branzino itself is DELICIOUS. Super tender, no bones at all, and I love the flavor of the sauce.
• ★★★☆ Braised Lamb Shank -- farro, celery root, parsnips, moyer prune, herb salad. The lamb shank itself was incredible; so tender, juicy, and flavorful. Gnawing those last bits off the bone was so satisfying. The rest of the dish was okay, the herb salad was a nice touch though.
• ★★★★ Mussels -- vandouvan butter, herbs, marash, grilled country bread. Mussels are cooked beautifully, the flavors are so vibrant. If you have some extra bread or flatbread, consider dipping it in the leftover olive oil sauce.
• ★★★☆ Trio of Spreads -- (1) white bean, black olive, tomato, (2) piquillo, almond, pine nut, (3) dill lebni, smoked trout roe. Served with house made flat bread. The flatbread is good; warm and fluffy. The spreads were delightful; I especially loved the dill lebni with smoked trout roe. Flavorful, nice variety of flavors, and excellent texture.