My second visit to Paprika left me a little ambivalent. I was coming to try the Bastilla so I decided to order two appetizers to make it more of a meal. The other thing I ordered was the hummus/baba ganouj/falafel combination platter. Service was very friendly, though I felt a little like a was being shamed for not ordering a drink (trying to stick to water more these days for health reasons) as both the server and the owner pushed to try to get me to order the mint tea. I'm sure it's good, but please take "No thanks, just water" for an answer! The Bastilla was everything I had hoped it would be - tender marinated chicken mixed with eggs and nuts wrapped up in flaky Filo dough like a savory Mediterranean quiche, topped with sugar and cinnamon. It was absolutely fantastic! The combo platter unfortunately did not fare as well. The falafel was actually one of the better I've tried (had a unique greenish tint and herby flavor), but I can't comment much on that since I don't particularly like falafel. The baba ganouj was just okay - it had a nice smokey flavor but lacked the richness and nuttiness I've enjoyed at other establishments. I was neutral on the pita as well - it was warm and soft but seemed to be of the pre-made variety. The hummus, unfortunately, was just plain bad. It was watery and almost completely flavorless. Seriously, I've gotten better hummus from the grocery store! I think Cafe Paprika is just one of those places where you've got to dig around the menu a little to find the gems. I will definitely return on the basis of the Bastilla - hopefully the rest of the wrinkles get ironed out soon because I'd really like to see this place continue to succeed! read more

The food is AMAZING. Apricot lamb dish melts in your mouth. Best hummus I've had in a really long time, you can't find hummus like that in the store. Charming atmosphere and staff as well. read more

Cafe Paprika - Kebab plate - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

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Came here with my friend Janice, who is surprising. She's over 50, kind of short, a little padded (yah, well, me too, OK), very quiet, very nice, ordinary looking - y'know, looks like that older single lady in the unit next door who works every day and comes home and closes the door until she opens it in the morning to go to work the next day. Except Saturday, when she goes to the museum. She was telling me about her THIRD balloon ride ... in Egypt ... which was better than her second, when the balloon got caught in a fierce updraft over the southern Rockies and turned sideways, dumping out some important balloon-flight accoutrements - but not the human occupants, fortunately - then caught fire. She seemed grateful that they put it out, but they lost a little control and loft and wavered closer than necessary to some power lines. I don't think she stays in her apartment all that much. Janice is OK. (And pretty cool.) So who else to try a North African restaurant with? Turns out you don't have to be all that adventurous to try this place. The food is familiar and homey, tuned a bit and accessible to American tastes. It was yummy, if not excellent. I had apricot chicken. It was sweet but not at all obnoxiously so. The chicken was a little dry and the rice a little mooshier than I prefer, but the flavor was good. Janice had chicken couscous. I liked this a little better. The couscous was al dente, the chicken was more moist. The spices were again a little understated, probably to please a diverse range of customers, but it wasn't bland at all. We had to try dessert. M'hencha was ordered. It came. It was devoured. It was delicious. The service is very, very good; very friendly, attentive, able to explain the dishes on the menu easily. The north African decor is very attractive. I loved the plates - not plain old food service ones, but interesting, patterned plates I'd imagine in an Algerian market restaurant. Clean and quiet, with friendly patrons including kids and apparent north Africans. No beer or wine. Easy to get to and find, just off the interstate a few blocks in a strip mall. Go there. read more

The good: The staff was nice, attentive, and filled the mint tea about a zillion times. It was clean, well lit and quiet. The falafel was really good, and I normally don't like falafel. The meh: Nothing had much flavor. The gyro meat was dry. The hummus, baba ganoush and tziki sauce all tasted about the same. EVERYTHING had too much cinnamon on it. It wasn't a little bit for an exotic flavor boost, but saturated the rice, the potatoes, the meat, and I believe it might have been sprinkled on the hummus and ganoush. I think the cinnamon could have been balanced with salt, which was sorely lacking in everything and not readily availble on the table. All in all, a mediocre experience. I'd drive the distance and go to Jerusalem's over by DU if given the choice. read more

Wow! Best Mediterranean / Moroccan food! The hummus is creamy/light and tasty! The lamb is ridiculously delicious and tender, and the food savory and rich! Hands down the best baklava I have ever had. The portion sizes are very generous. The booths are so comfy! The owner is nice and welcoming! read more

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This little "Hole in the wall" is definitely a hidden gem! The bastilla and lamb shanks are a definite must! Service was top notch and very personable! Very impressed with this place. Will definitely visit again when I'm back in Colorado. Thank you for an excellent experience! read more

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Could stand a face lift, but the restaurant business is tough. I get it. As far as food, the Soup is incredible, I had to take some to go it was so good. I really enjoyed the hot tea even if it was out of a glass, a bit unusual. Falafel was tasty, hummus was fresh but would have preferred a seasoning in it. My friends had a sandwich & really enjoyed it. Very eclectic from the tea glasses all the way to the nice owner. It's different & Rady, I will return. read more

We've lived in the neighborhood for a couple of years and we've frequently passed by this restaurant. We kept saying, "We should try that," and we're so glad we finally did! Cafe Paprika is tucked away in the corner of a small shopping center, but it is far from being a "hole in the wall." The interior is small yet intimate, with beautiful decor and friendly staff that make for a truly warm and welcoming environment. We had the immense honor of being waited on by one of the owners, Chakib, who greeted us with a big smile, made pleasant conversation, and recommended the best items on the menu without being pushy. At Chakib's recommendation, we enjoyed the Middle Eastern Combination appetizer (hummus, baba ghanouj, and falafel), two tajines with saffron rice for our entrees (the kadra with lamb, potatoes and garbanzo beans, as well as the vegetarian with olives, artichokes, and assorted vegetables), and m'hencha for dessert (puff pastry phyllo dough stuffed with almond paste). What really made our meal special was the Moroccan mint tea, which we'd never had before, but we each ended up having several glasses and now can't imagine how we'd ever dined without it. All of the food was expertly prepared and I've got to say that the tajines were by far some of the best culinary experiences I've ever had. The flavor profiles were impeccable and since the meal is a type of stew, I do recommend splurging on the extra rice to soak up all of the sauce. Our evening at Cafe Paprika made for a memorable date night and was worth every penny. If I could have done anything differently, it would have been to either 1) come with a bigger stomach or 2) order more of the lamb because it was so tender it literally melted in my mouth. Thanks, Chakib - keep up the good work! read more

What an experience! Whether you are a seasoned Moroccan / Mediterranean eater or you are adventuring - this little gem is a must try. It's a small, family owned, quant establishment that has been there for 23 years! The food is AMAZING and the service is even better. I would recommend ordering the Lamb Tajine, or the Couscous Royal. Don't forget dessert - the Baklava is unlike any other - in the best ways! Thank you, Cafe Paprika for a delightful experience. We will definitely be back. Yummy! read more

Cafe Paprika - Couscous Royal - a little bit of Moroccan paradise:) - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

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Best Middle Eastern food in Denver PERIOD The hummus is phenomenal and the falafel is tied with the best I've ever had (including from Israel). Moroccan owned - just an absolutely solid place with over 25 years of history it's easy to see why they've been around so long. We drove 25 minutes in the snow to get here and we'll be doing it again. read more

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What a wonderful find!! This hidden gem in the heart of Aurora is worth the trip. The atmosphere is warm, welcoming, and comfortable. The owner is magnanimous and made me feel as if I were a welcome guest in his home, not a stranger off the street. The Bastilla is a must try and a real treat! My husband and I each ordered a lamb dish (shank for him, tajines for me) and the meat was so tender it fell apart at a touch. The flavors and spice were a perfect blend and the hot mint tea was refreshing and soothing. We meant to order dessert but filled up on the generous portions! (For incredibly reasonable prices!) We will definitely be back for more, often. Please come support this family run treasure. read more

Cafe Paprika - This hand-painted mural brings warmth and openness to the space. Must see!! - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

I've always enjoyed this comfortable restaurant located right off busy Mississippi in a nondescript setting. The food is absolutely delicious. Bastilla... great appetizer. Lamb Tangine is a really tasty entry. The hummus and falafel plate is a fine way with the Bastilla to get into the meal or with a nice salad, make an entire meal of it. The way the dried fruits are incorporated with the cooked meats and vegetables along with the spices and herbs, yields a great balance. Always the service is professional and we've come away satisfied and... full. The food is SO good! Highly recommended. read more

We came here based on Yelp reviews and the place didn't disappoint. We had hummus and falafel for appetizers, lamb couscous for entree and flan for dessert. All were top-notch. And a very friendly owner and his son. read more

Great Moroccan food. The owner does a wonderful job getting food freshly made and tasty. He does catering also. Very authentic food and great place to visit. Service was great. read more

Closed , web site dead. Ect wasted time trying it out sign on door is take out only for times they are closed

My wife and I come here as often as we can. We usually start off with the bastilla which is remarkable. You will want to devour it. My wife usually orders the tangine dishes which burst with flavor. I usually order the kabobs. We have yet to be disappointed. They vegetables they use are fresh. They make their own hummus, which is mouth watering. One of their best dishes is the apricot lamb. They do not use canned apricot and you can taste the difference. Great place, great atmosphere. read more

Cafe Paprika - Baklava for my wife and me. It is wonderful! - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

I had a very nice dinner here shortly after landing at DEN. Was with a colleague and we ordered the hummus/falafel/babaghanous app. It was wonderful. The pita that came with is was pillowy-soft and chewy, perfect to scoop it all up with! Opted for the soup vs. salad and it was really good- totally on point with big flavor yet light. Used the few left over pita strips to dunk. I had the lamb shank over rice and it was delicious. Not fatty at all and the veggies and sauce all worked together to make a beautiful melange with the rice. My partner had the apricot chicken over couscous and I (of course!) Sampled it- that was very tasty and honestly the best couscous i've ever had. The mint tea and coffee were excellent as well. Food and service are excellent. The location is strip mall and it's nothing fancy. It is pleasant and quite so ok for casual dating. Again, not much ambience or even music however it is great food with wonderful attentive service at very reasonably priced choices. If I lived there I could see myself being a regular. Oh, and they also do take out! read more

We caught a late afternoon lunch on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend and really enjoyed our time. We were the only folks in the place, and were able to have some nice chats with the owner (20+ years in business). We watched a food/travel show on Tangiers, so had searched for tagines, and this place came right up. At first I thought I had misplayed it, as the lunch menu did not include the tagine, but the owner assured me that they could do it. I opted for the lamb tafaya tagine, and my veggie gal opted for the mediterranean sampler with those excellent falafels (green chickpeas!), and a really good baba ganoush. My tagine was just excellent - I opted for the rice base, but was tempted by the couscous too (next time!). The lamb was cooked *just right* and easily pulled from the large leg bone to dance with the mild spices. You could tell that this restaurant adapted to the older, more limited palate of Denver by muting some of the spice profiles but that the methods used to prepare the food were evergreen. We topped things off with a very tasty housemade baklava and more of that excellent mint tea. The place is quite small but nicely lived in, with cool murals. I bet it would get quite loud when full of families, but that would be fun too. Overall a really solid option out in the very interesting belt of ethnic restaurants in Aurora - kudos to the owner for keeping it going all these years! read more

This is place is such a hidden treasure! Not only is Chakib a wonderful person, but the quality of food he serves is equally amazing. We frequently have the kebabs, tajine, harrira, and the salad maison. The Moroccan mint tea is also lovely. The ambiance of the restaurant is charming and it's so great to support a family owned restaurant. Check this place out, you won't be disappointed! read more

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If you like medeteranian food then you should try it.i have a friend from Morocco who shoved me that place.as ppl say the restaraunt is good if natives eat over there read more

I had the hummus/pita/falafel appetizer. The pita was fresh. The hummus was decent. The falafel was excellent. Entree (chicken tagine) included a small bowl of soup. It was good. For dinner, I ordered the chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemons. Cous cous under the chicken. Boneless white meat, not tough but not particularly tender either. The preserved lemon flavor was interesting. It came with peas and carrots, obviously from a frozen peas and carrots bag. Not many olives. They were the standard green olives with pimentos. Rather overpriced for the portion and quality. Overall, the food was ok but this will not be a favorite. Nice decor and friendly service. Food was a little slow in arriving. read more

A great family run business, friendly, not fancy, very cozy with unique selections. The atmosphere is so welcoming and down to earth that even guests from neighboring tables just became chatty and friendly. Undoubtedly, the best falafel ever!! I would look forward to visiting Denver just to come back to this place!! read more

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LOVE this place! Great food and atmosphere. We've been looking for great Moroccan after our favorite closed last year. Highly recommend this place and the owner is very nice. read more

Charming ambiance, great service and some of the best Middle Eastern food I've ever had. The hummus, baba ganoush and falafel are a must and make sure you try the baklava for dessert. read more

Cafe Paprika - Lamb shank with vegetables and couscous - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

Wow I was amazed!!!!food was delicious very friendly and excellent waiting ...actually the owners take care of customers. Nagyon finom Tamu sana! read more

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Great food. Bastilla was amazing, it's a must. Lamb couscous was perfect. Better food than what I had in Morocco.

Went here for lunch because of all the amazing reviews and it sure did not disappoint. We walked in during a slow hour and were immediately greeted by the owner. He was extremely friendly and chatted with us for awhile, which I really appreciate because it added to the homey atmosphere the place already had. We sat next to a group of four who welcomed us and praised the place. I believe that it speaks volumes when the customers there are regulars and feel comfortable welcoming other customers to the restaurant. Two of my friends and I shared the Middle Eastern Combination for the appetizer because that was recommended by the owner and the other customers and absolutely loved it. The falafel was the most flavorful falafel I have ever had. I generally don't like it because I thought that falafels, in general, do not have much flavor. Now, I think I've just been eating bad falafels. The outside shell was crisp and firm but the inside was moist and smoky. It was honestly wonderful. For my main dish, I had the chicken shawarma sandwich and added the fries because the other customers suggested I do so. The sandwich was pretty much a pita bread with chicken shawarma piled on top. It was worth every cent and more!! The veggies on the sandwich were very fresh and the chicken was hot and delicious. I ended up eating it with a fork and knife because there was too much stuffing for the pita bread to hold (a very good problem in my opinion). The fries were skinny and extremely well seasoned. I thought it was odd for the restaurant to make fries, at first, but I would definitely recommend them to anyone coming for lunch. read more

THEY HAVE SOME OF THE BEST FOOD!!!!! Amazingly nice people and great service always willing to stop and chat. A great local place! read more

Thé couscous was amazing! Thé pastilla was the best I have ever had. Thé hrirra soup was hot filling and fresh. The owner was so hospitable and pleasant. If you are looking for a good home cooked meal this is the place to go. It gives you that home cooked warm feeling inside. Vegetables and meat were so fresh. Moroccan mint tea was poured high into the cup just like traditional Moroccan style. I highly recommend this place. Def a 5 out of 5 read more

Cafe Paprika - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

I've only been here once for a quick bite before heading off to school, but the food here is definitely BOMB, and I'm not just saying that because it has a 4.5 stars rating. Their food is actually very delicious and it seems like they put so much care into making it. The owner guy came and talked to me for a bit, we chatted for a few moments, finished my meal and walked out the door. It was a great experience and if I am ever in the area I will definitely come back to this place for some bomb homemade hummus and some flavored jasmine rice with lamb and veggies. read more

The Bastilla is the absolute best here! And we really appreciated the friendly owner and staff. We will definitely be back read more

Cafe Paprika - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

Came here for the first time a last night! Wonderful cozy mom-and-pop place. Got the appetizer with hummus, falafel and baba ghanoush with a side of pita and it was amazing. The kebabs were good too- they ran out of lamb that night, which was disappointing but the gyro meat (which is a mix of minced beef and lamb) was still a very good substitute. The baklava is also delicious, and comes decorated on a raspberry-strawberry-orange blossom syrup sauce that was yummy. My favorite meal of the course was the appetizer- the baba ghanoush was so delectable I'm convinced even eggplant haters would enjoy it. The man serving us (who I believe may have been the owner) was very friendly and provided great service. Hes helping put his son through medical school with his restaurant, so definitely check this place out, get some good food and support a local business. read more

The owner greeted us (I see from other reviews that his name is spelled Chakib) and was the one that seated us. Everyone is very friendly and kind. The food is authentic, delicious and so very good. We had the combination appetizer which was a perfect sampling of falafel, hummus and baba ganoush. I had the lamb couscous for my main dish and it was so flavorful and tender. We shared 3 desserts and they were all incredible. I am so happy to have found this little gem of a place and we will for sure be back! read more

Amazing from beginning to end. Clean, good location, polite service. Clearly an authentic family restaurant. Comfortable to bring kids. We will be back. read more

You gonna love this place!!! Great service !!! Great food !!! Best middle eastern restaurant for my opinion and I am from the Middle East Moroccan have the best food and best service You have to try it ,I personally eat there twice a week (: read more

Food taste good. But the more I visit the more I feel the owner is quite a cheap person! If you are by your self with a baby and baby basket and a large bag, he won't allow you to sit in a 4 seat table when there're NO other customers NONE! because you are strictly only one customer! Doesn't provide enough napkin paper you will have to ask for it, then he brings you one sheet. He will highly recommend mint tea for you to sample, so you think it's free sample since it's just one tiny tiny cup. NO it's like 5$ or so and to me the tea not tasting good. I won't go there again! Bye bye read more

This is my absolute favorite restaurant, the food, the service, the atmosphere. This is an unbelievable experience. It has become a monthly ritual to visit Cafe Paprika. The Pastilla is unrivaled, it is unanimous. Everyone who I have tried this, agrees. It is one of the most delicious foods that has ever graced this beautiful earth. Do yourself a favor, try something new. Order the Pastilla, then before you go to sleep say "thank you random yelp reviewer." I would rate this establishment 12/10. Exceeds all my expectations. read more

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This is our first time at a Moroccan and we were BLOWN AWAY!! This place is amazing! My wife had the Apricot Chicken and I had the Tajine Marrakesh. We will definitely be back and often! read more

Cafe Paprika - Tajine Marrakesh - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

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Yes! I would highly recommend this restaurant. I lived in Morocco for a little over a year and have been craving some authentic Moroccan food ever since I moved back to the States. This definitely hit the spot. I was honestly impressed with the harira (truly some of the best I have ever had) and the mint tea! There's nothing quite like Moroccan mint tea. The vegetable tajine was also delicious. I can't wait to come back and try more dishes! Very impressed with the hospitality of the owner and his 25+ years of service. Thank you Shakib and Abdullah! // Chokran Shakib w Abdullah. Mkla dyalkom bneen bzaf! Nchoofkom, incha'allah. -Basma read more

Cafe Paprika - Harira (Moroccan soup), vegetable tajine, and mint tea! - Moroccan Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

Such a cute quaint spot. Yummy complimentary tea. We ordered the middle eastern combo to start and it was delicious. From there we did the Harrira soup and veggie kabobs. I will definitely be back, I was eyeing everyone else's food and can't wait to explore more of the menu! read more