Top Rated Pizza Joints in Casablanca That Locals Swear By

Finding the Top Rated Pizza Joints in Casablanca That Locals Swear by

Casablanca is a city that survives on contrasts. You have the old medina rubbing shoulders against towering Art Deco facades, and then you have the smell of freshly baked dough drifting through streets where nobody expected to find a decent slice. I have spent the better part of six years eating my way through this city's pizza scene, and I can tell you that the top rated pizza joints in Casablanca are not always the ones with the flashiest facades or the loudest Instagram presence. Most of them are down side streets in Ain Diab, or half-hidden inside the Quartier Gauthier, or sitting modestly along Boulevard Mohammed V where office workers have been filling the same red plastic chairs since before the food bloggers arrived. What follows is not a list of recommendations written from a laptop. These are places I have returned to again and again, places where the owners know my order, places where a bad pizza night has never gone unpunished in my personal rankings. If you are looking for the best casual pizza Casablanca has to offer, or hunting down the local pizza spots that residents actually trust, this is where your evening begins. The only rule I follow is simple: if a place has regulars, the pizza is good. If the regulars have been coming for years, the pizza is exceptional.

The Legendary Coal-Fired Crust at Pizzeria La Fayette in Maarif

Pizzeria La Fayette on Rue Rafiq Boussikaya in the Maarif neighborhood has been quietly doing one thing extraordinarily well for over a decade. They cook almost everything in a coal-fired oven that sits at the back of a room so narrow you might walk past the entrance if you were not watching for it. The pizza here leans thin-crust Neapolitan in texture, but the toppings are unapologetically Moroccan. You will find merguez sausage laid over mozzarella and a thin spread of harissa, or a vegetarian option piled with roasted red peppers, olives, and a local goat cheese that tastes sharper than anything imported from France. A personal-sized pie runs you between 35 and 55 dirhams depending on toppings, and they do not take reservations, so the best bet is arriving before 8 PM on a weekday. Thursday and Friday evenings are packed because the Maarif after-work crowd claims every table by 7:30. Most tourists do not know that the small back room, which looks like it was added as an afterthought, has a separate entrance from the side street. If the front is full, squeeze through that back door and ask for the "salle derriere." I once spent an entire rainy November night here eating a four-cheese pizza while the owner, a Casablanca-born Italian-Moroccan named Karim, told me how his father brought the coal-oven technique from a small town in Liguria in 1987. The place connects to Casablanca's broader identity as a city that absorbs influences from everywhere and calls them its own.

Where Office Workers Queue at Lunch: Iloli on Boulevard Zerktouni

Iloli sits along Boulevard Zerktouni, deep in the commercial heart of the city, and it serves pizza that is fast, consistent, and cheap enough to make you wonder how they keep the lights on. If you are hunting for cheap pizza Casablanca, this is the first name locals in the business district will mention to you. The margherita comes in at around 28 dirhams, and the pepperoni, loaded with actual sliced pepperoni rather than the processed rounds you find at some competitors, is roughly 35. The crust is American-style thick, slightly doughy in the center, with a golden-brown edge that crackles when you bite into it. The lunch rush between 12:30 and 1:30 on weekdays is brutal. I have stood in a line twenty people deep on a Tuesday and still thought the four-cheese calzone was worth every minute. What most visitors do not realize is that Iloli operates a delivery-only window on the side facing the side street. If you do not want to sit inside, which honestly feels more like an airport terminal than a restaurant, you can order at that window, walk five minutes to Mohammed V Square, and eat on a bench with a view of the courthouse gardens. The place has been feeding the office workers of the quartier since the early 2000s, and its survival through Casablanca's rapid modernization says something about the city's stubborn attachment to comfort food that works.

The Slice Counter That Became an Institution: Casablanca Road's Pizza by Slice on Boulevard Anfa

Casablanca Road on Boulevard Anfa started as a tiny counter where you could grab a single slice and a glass of fresh mint lemonade, and it has since grown into something the Anfa neighborhood considers semi-sacred. The local pizza spots Casablanca residents argue about most often usually include this one because of the "Road Special," a thick-crusted square slice topped with ground beef, fresh tomato sauce, a blanket of melted cheese, and a drizzle of something the staff will only describe as "our sauce." Whatever it is, sweet and tangy with a subtle heat, it transforms the whole thing. Slices start at 18 dirhams and a full rectangular tray runs about 70 to 85. The best time to go is late afternoon, between 4 and 6 PM, when the after-school crowd has thinned but the dinner families have not yet arrived. Weekends after 9 PM are when the place transforms into something closer to a social club, with groups of friends sharing trays and arguing over football. The detail most tourists miss is that the original counter-only location is still there, even though they expanded into a proper dining room next door. If you want the authentic experience, eat standing at that old counter. I have been coming here since I was a student at a nearby lycée, and the counter is where you still feel the pulse of the neighborhood most honestly.

The Quiet Corner in Bourgogne: Bella Italia on Rue Idriss Lahrizi

Bella Italia on Rue Idriss Lahrizi in the Bourgogne neighborhood is the kind of place that does not advertise, does not have a website worth mentioning, and yet has lines out the door by 8 PM on a Saturday. It is a family-run operation, and the dining room seats maybe thirty people across cramped tables covered in plastic checkered cloths. The pizza is Sicilian-influenced in thickness, with a crust that is somehow both airy and dense, and the tomato sauce tastes like someone spent hours reducing it, which they probably did. The seafood pizza, topped with shrimp, mussels, and a light garlic-olive oil base rather than tomato, is something I have not found anywhere else in the city and costs around 65 dirhams. Expect to wait twenty to thirty minutes on weekends, and bring cash because cards have been "coming soon" for as long as I can remember. The insider tip here is simple: ask for extra harissa on the side and a squeeze of the lime they keep near the kitchen pass. Most people eating here are Bourgogne locals who have been coming for years, and the atmosphere feels like a neighborhood gathering more than a restaurant. The area itself, with its mix of French colonial architecture and working-class tenements, mirrors the split personality that defines much of western Casablanca.

Where Stylish Meets Substantial: Sqala's Courtyard Oven in the Old Medina

Sqala, the restaurant inside the old medina's fortified bastion near the port, is not primarily a pizza place, but the wood-fired pizzas that come out of its courtyard oven on the weekend brunch menu are among the most surprising things I have eaten in this city. The setting is extraordinary. You are sitting inside an 18th-century Spanish-style fortification overlooking the Atlantic, with bougainvillea spilling over the stone walls and the call to prayer drifting over from a nearby minaret. The pizzas here lean gourmet, with toppings like roasted eggplant, preserved lemon, local argan oil, and fresh herbs from the chef's own garden. Prices are higher than anything else on this list, with most pizzas landing between 75 and 110 dirhams, but you are partly paying for the courtyard, the ocean breeze, and the fact that the wood they burn gives the crust a faintly smoky sweetness. The best time to visit is Saturday or Sunday between noon and 2 PM, when the brunch oven is at its busiest and the courtyard is fully alive. If you arrive late, past 3 PM, the pizza oven often closes and you are left with the regular Moroccan menu, which is also good but not why you came. Most tourists visit Sqala for the tagine and never make it to the pizza section of the menu, which is tucked at the back. This spot connects directly to Casablanca's layered history: the bastion was built by the Portuguese, the building served as a military post through multiple colonial periods, and now it serves Neapolitan-influenced pizza to Moroccans eating under the same walls their great-grandparents walked past.

The Late-Night Rescue Spot: Pizza Princi on Boulevard de Bordeaux

Pizza Princi on Boulevard de Bordeaux in the Beausejour neighborhood is where I end up at 11 PM on a Friday when everywhere else has started pushing last orders. They stay open until 1 AM on weekends, and the after-midnight crowd here is a mix of Casablanca's night-shift workers, students leaving late-night study sessions, and people stumbling out of the bars further up the boulevard. The pizza is straightforward, no-frills, and satisfying in the way that only late-night food can be. The margherita is 30 dirhams, and the "Perso," where you build your own topping combination, starts at about 35 and can climb if you go wild. The crust here is thin and slightly chewy, closer to what you would find in a Roman pizzeria than a Neapolitan one. One real complaint: the ventilation in the dining area is not great, and if you sit near the oven end on a busy night, you will leave smelling strongly of wood smoke and garlic oil. It clings to your hair, your jacket, everything. But honestly, at midnight, that is part of the charm. The insider move is to order the garlic bread as a side. It comes drenched in real garlic butter and is the kind of thing that makes you question every other garlic bread you have eaten. Beausejour itself is a neighborhood that hums at a lower frequency than the flashier parts of the city, and Princi fits right in: reliable, unpretentious, and always there when you need it.

The Surprising Hit in Hay Mohammadi: Taglio Pizza on Avenue des FAR

Hay Mohammadi is not where most visitors to Casablanca end up, and that is precisely why going to Taglo Pizza on Avenue des FAR feels like discovering something the tourist board does not want you to know about. This is one of the city's most densely built and working-class districts, and the energy on the street is entirely different from Maarif or Anfa. Taglo does "pizza al taglio," Roman-style by the cut, and it is the only place I have found in Casablanca that sells it this way. You point at the tray, they cut a rectangle, they weigh it, and you pay by the gram. The margherita al taglio runs roughly 12 to 15 dirhams per piece, and I have stood there calculating whether to add the mortadella slice or the roasted vegetable piece and ended up with both. The best time to go is mid-afternoon, between 3 and 5 PM, when the oven has been running all day and the crust has reached that perfect balance between crispy bottom and puffy interior. The Friday midday prayer period is actually a great window because many nearby spots shut temporarily and Taglo's line shortens. I started coming here after a colleague who grew up in Hay Mohammadi insisted it was the best pizza in the city. She was not wrong. The neighborhood roughs the experience up in a good way, reminding you that Casablanca is not just the corniche and the Hassan II Mosque. This is a city of neighborhoods where a five-dirham difference in price matters, and where pizza al taglio is understood not as a novelty but as common sense.

The Italian-Moroccan Bridge: Boulangerie Pâtisserie Milano on Rue Mustapha El Maani

Boulangerie Pâtisserie Milano on Rue Mustapha El Maani in the Racine neighborhood is technically a bakery first and a pizza place second, but the rectangular flatbread pizzas that emerge from its ovens every morning are a quiet institution among the Racine locals. This is a bakery that has been here since the 1970s, run by a Moroccan-Italian family that bakes its bread in the traditional European style and uses the same ovens for flatbread pizzas layered with tomato, cheese, olives, and sometimes anchovies. A flatbread pizza runs about 15 to 20 dirhams, making it one of the cheapest legitimate pizza experiences in the city. The catch, and it is an important one, is that the flatbread pizzas are a morning item. They start coming out around 9 AM and are usually sold out by noon, especially on weekdays. If you show up at 2 PM asking for pizza, the staff will look at you with genuine confusion. I learned this the hard way the first time, arriving at lunch and being handed a pastry instead. The Racine neighborhood, with its art deco residential blocks and tree-lined boulevards, is one of the most architecturally beautiful parts of Casablanca, and Milano fits into it perfectly: old-fashioned, European-influenced, and quietly excellent at what it does. This place represents a strand of Casablanca's identity that predates the food delivery era, when bread and pizza came from the same oven and the neighborhood bakery was the center of daily life.

When to Go and What to Know Before You Start Hunting

Casablanca's pizza scene operates on its own rhythm, and understanding the timing will save you frustration. Most local pizza spots Casablanca restaurants do not open for dinner before 7 or 7:30 PM, and the concept of a late Italian-style dinner starting at 10 PM is gaining ground but still far from universal. If you want to beat the crowds at any of the places listed above, aim for 7 PM sharp. Lunch spots like Iloli and Milano follow Moroccan lunch culture, meaning the busiest window is 12 to 1 PM, and after that many places wind down or close for a few hours. Friday midday is its own challenge because of the congregational prayer, and some smaller spots reduce staff or pause operations for an hour around that time. Additionally, cash remains king at many of the best casual pizza Casablanca joints, particularly at the smaller neighborhood locations. ATMs are plentiful along the main boulevards, but the side streets in Bourgogne or Hay Mohammadi may not have one within walking distance. Always carry at least 200 to 300 dirhams in cash if you are planning a pizza night. On pricing, it helps to set expectations. A single-person pizza at a local joint will run you between 25 and 65 dirhams. Mid-range places like Sqala push toward 75 to 110. You will almost never pay more than 120 dirhams for a pizza anywhere in the city, making Casablanca remarkably affordable by European or North American standards. Do not forget to check whether service is included or if rounding up by 5 to 10 dirhams is expected. Tipping culture here is informal but appreciated, especially at family-run spots where the same person who makes your pizza also clears your table.

Frequently Asked Questions

How easy is it to find pure vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based dining options in Casablanca?

Vegetarian pizza is widely available at most local joints, with margherita, four-cheese, and roasted vegetable options appearing on nearly every menu. Finding fully vegan pizza is more challenging because cheese is a default topping at almost every pizzeria, but several spots will prepare a pizza without cheese if requested in advance. For fully plant-based Moroccan dining beyond pizza, dedicated vegan restaurants are still rare, but the medina's olive and spice vendors offer a range of prepared vegetarian dishes. Budget an extra 10 to 15 minutes to explain dietary restrictions at smaller neighborhood restaurants where menu flexibility depends entirely on what the day cook is willing to improvise.

Are there any specific dress codes or cultural etiquettes to keep in mind when visiting local spots in Casablanca?

Casablanca is Morocco's most cosmopolitan city, and there are no strict dress codes at local pizzerias or casual restaurants. That said, modest dress covering shoulders and knees is appreciated, especially in more traditional neighborhoods like Hay Mohammadi or the old medina. When dining in someone's home, which occasionally happens if you befriend locals, removing your shoes at the door is standard etiquette. During Ramadan, eating or drinking in public during daylight hours is considered disrespectful, so plan your pizzeria visits for after sunset during that month.

What is the one must-try local specialty food or drink that Casablanca is famous for?

Casablanca is best known for its fresh seafood, particularly grilled sardines served at the portside stalls near the Hassan II Mosque, which cost roughly 15 to 30 dirhams per plate. For drinks, mint tea served Moroccan style, with a generous pour from a height to create foam, is the ubiquitous local specialty found at every restaurant and café in the city. Many locals pair their pizza with a cold Binqua or Coca-Cola rather than traditional Moroccan drinks, reflecting Casablanca's globalized food culture.

Is the tap water in Casablanca to drink, or should travelers strictly rely on filtered water options?

Tap water in Casablanca is treated and technically safe to drink according to municipal standards, but most locals, including long-term residents, drink filtered or bottled water as a default. Bottled water is inexpensive, costing roughly 5 to 8 dirhams for a 1.5-liter bottle at any corner shop. At restaurants, bottled water is always served unless you specifically request otherwise. Travelers with sensitive stomachs should stick to bottled water for the first few days until they acclimate to the local mineral content and water treatment compounds.

Is Casablanca expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.

A mid-tier daily budget in Casablanca runs roughly 600 to 900 dirhams per person, covering three meals, local transport, and a few small expenses. Street food and local pizzerias keep meal costs between 30 and 80 dirhams per person. A mid-range hotel room costs approximately 500 to 800 dirhams per night. Petit taxis within the city charge between 10 and 25 dirhams for most short rides, depending on distance and traffic. Museum and attraction entry fees typically range from 20 to 70 dirhams. Budget travelers can manage on 350 to 450 dirhams daily by sticking to street food and shared taxis, while comfort travelers spending on nicer dining and private transport should plan for 1,000 to 1,500 dirhams per day.