Riad Essaada in Marrakech

Tacky decor. Ridiculously overpriced for distinctly average food. Avoid. Avoid.

I read great things about this cafe and opted to go here, bringing my sister along, over any other henna artist in the city. While my sister's henna ended up being good, mine was smudged while the artist was transferring me over to the drying area and then was half-way fixed after the fact. The older female artist noticed my distress over the messy areas and tried to fix them, but given that it has partially dried, the henna had already stained some. When I asked the owner whether the smudged areas would show he said yes, they would appear a bit messy. I then asked whether it could be fixed and he said that I could wash it off and try again. Not wanting to go through the 45 minute-long process over again, I asked if a slight discount could be taken given that the finished product was less than perfect, through no fault of my own.

He stated that no discount could ever be given and I could either wash it off and leave (the tint already having partially dyed my skin) or I could pay full price. He then, aleady defensive and angry, briefly spoke to the artist in Arabic, who told him that I had moved during the drying (several others there can attest that I did not). Contradicting his earlier statement, he went back and said that it would look just fine once I took it off, not messy at all. We left having paid full-price at a premium rate (given the reputation of the cafe), as I didn't want to further disturb other clients, for henna that was messy. The beauty of henna is that it's imperfect, but clean lines are desired in nearly any form of hand art. This is just shoddy work and poor business practice.