This is a bit of a long story! My husband and I booked out Dar Mimosas entirely for both our families for three days last September to have our wedding ceremony there. In order to give a fair synopsis of the entire experience I would have to divide this review into the good, the bad and the really disappointing!

The good:
Dar Mimosas is really and truly a beautiful haven of tranquillity and luxury. The gardens are amazing and lush, the suites and villas are all differently decorated and unique. We had 24 people staying and it didn't matter who stayed where as everyone was happy. The service staff were mostly really nice and helpful, excellent service and very willing to help. They really pulled out all the stops in setting the place up for our wedding and had loads of great ideas in relation to the decor etc. This was the first wedding they had catered for and they did a great job in organising it.

The bad:
In general, the food was very expensive and not so worth it really. (€10 for a sandwich!) There were a few other things that were not so great, we had specifically asked for all ice cubes to be made from bottled water for our stay, which we would pay for, as we have had bad experiences in Morocco before. We were assured this would be organised but alas we discovered on the last day that this was had not been carried out and three of our guests had become very sick on the second day and remained so for the duration of our stay there. When we voiced our concerns, we were told that no one there ever needed to use bottled water for ice cubes and had never been sick and management would not entertain any further discussion on this matter.

In relation to our wedding we had put a bar tab of €1500 and asked the hotel to let us know when this was almost finished so we could review the situation. They didn't do this and our bar tab ran to €3000! We are not rich people and in fact are a young couple, stretching ourselves to have had a bar tab at all! Also we discovered that one of our guests was being charged all night for drinks as well! There were a number of other issues we were not happy with but they may be down to personal taste and so not to be petty I will leave them out!


The really disappointing bit:
The really upsetting part of the whole affair was on the last day when it came to pay. As I said there were a few things that we were not happy about but seeing as there were so many great things and most of us had such an amazing time in Dar mimosas we decided that overall we were going to rise above the negative and would not make an issue out of it. We had been organising the event with the hotel for almost a year in advance and had been in regular contact with them via email in which we had outlined in detail what we wanted and had negotiated a detailed price for everything. We had really stretched our budget to the max. When we went to settle our bill we were shocked to discover that not only had they run the bar tab to double the limit but that they had added a whopping 21% tax onto the entire bill!

We checked all of our emails and this charge had never been mentioned ever! We had always clarified 'so this is the final price then is it?' and 'yes' was the answer! As you can imagine we were gutted and we are still paying it off! When my husband tried to discuss this with the most senior management the response was that this was normal in Morocco, we tried to explain that we are Irish and when we get a quote in our country, it would say exclusive of tax if that was the case, the final price is the final price! We wanted to at least negotiate so we would maybe both split the difference but no way, we felt that the reaction we received was extremely rude and very aggressive. As we were not prepared to get into a big argument on our wedding we just paid and left, feeling that we would carry onto our holiday and try to not let this ruin our honeymoon (good ole credit card). However, I now feel that we should just let our experience be known so that maybe it will prevent other people from getting stung in that way.

So to try to end on a somewhat positive note, overall it was a brilliant day, the hotel was a wonderful location, and the majority of our 50 guests did have a ball. Just beware of all the hidden extras and scams!

Dar Mimosas is a great resort on great grounds, but somehow manages to disappoint anyway. I have a tough time putting my finger on why, except to say that the grounds and buildings are dated, the service less than great and the warmth lacking...given the costs. As a resort, I'm still rating it with five stars, but just barely. If you think that this is your Moroccan five start splurge because of the cost, I suggest that you splurge at Riad 72 or Riad Fez.

Our room was nice and roomy. Everything worked fine and was a grade A experience. The parking attendant and butler/manager/head waiter was helpful, but we had to sort of track him down when we wanted something...could have been more proactive, especially given the cost. I expected more. We were the only guests at the hotel, so perhaps it was just that they were bored, but you would think that we would have even better service as the only ones there and not worse.

The pool was pretty, but very cold (we were there in February). There as a library of DVDs, which was a nice feature. After several weeks on the road with no TV entertainment, it was fun to watch a couple of movies at night.

We had dinner there (and wine) one night and it was one of the best dinners of the trip. The grounds were pretty with gardens and animals. I think that a family might be really well served here, because the kids would have a lot of fun exploring.

The town of Essaouira is a beautiful seaside resort in the spirit of Med-Europe. The town, while small, is charming and has a fair amount of life in it for Morocco. The hotels in town seemed potentially better and their clientèle seemed more interesting. If you need an out-of-town-quite-get-away, this might be your place, but if not, despite my high rating, you might want to dig into a place in the town.

We spent a week over Easter at Dar Mimosas. It is difficult to write a review of this place as it is not really a hotel, more an upmarket B&B, which I think the owner imagines is an exclusive boutque hotel. The prices would be fine if it was - as we expected - a luxurious and restful little hideaway hotel, which is how it promotes itself.

First all the good points. It is a stunningly designed and lovingly cared for place. From the wonderfully understated entrance through a small door in a huge gate to the beautiful gardens, elegant pool with giant white umbrellas and delightful dining terrace, it just oozes Moroccan chic. Apart from a riot of colourful flowers and trees, the garden has an aviary, rabbits, turtles, tortoises, chickens and a peacock.

When we arrived, the French owner was there and noticed immediately that my husband has a slight walking problem and suggested that the room with a lovely view which he had assigned us would not be suitable as it was up a long steep staircase and that he would have another garden room ready in an hour. This was much appreciated after a tense 3 hour transfer from Marrakech dodging mad truck drivers in a taxi with no seatbelts!

The 3 main staff - a morning and an evening waiter and a receptionist were utterly charming and helpful.

Our room had been newly refurbished and we had a big comfy double bed, sitting area with 2 armchairs, a fireplace (which they layed every day and we used every night) and a pretty little garden enclosed by a high wall. There was also a TV but it was not connected to any aerial (!!) just a DVD player. If we had known we
would have brought a few films to watch in front of the fire. There was a little fridge but it would have been nice to have a kettle as well to make a cup of tea without having to ring the main house and have it sent over. It was cold when we were there and we were very glad the room also had a big electric heater/aircon unit. I think some of the other rooms had no heating and this would have been grim.

The most astonishing and disappointing aspect was the fact that there is no menu (apart from drinks/wine). At breakfast you have to say whether you want lunch and/or dinner and exactly what you want. There was no menu - you just sort of give a vague desrcription and hope for the best. The charge is flat, for a pricy 3 course dinner, whether you want it or not. We never eat desert and really only want one course in the evening. It was explained that they shopped every day and didn't want any leftovers. This might not be too bad if you only stay a couple of days and are out sightseeing all day, but if you are spending longer it is a complete pain. Who wants to decide, on holiday, exactly what they are doing for the rest of the day at breakfast? We mostly had lunch out in town but didn't fancy the grotty taxi ride to town in the dark for dinner and then struggling to find one to come back so we finished up eating much the same thing each night for a ridiculous price. (Not a patch on the Sofitel's beachfront restaurant).

Finally, during our week I think there was only one other couple staying. The rest were families, although I didn't think it was very family-friendly (a distance from the beach and a swimming pool with a 2.3 meter deep shallow end). This wasn't too bad when they were mostly little girls skipping around and petting the turtles but was hell when the boys wth footballs arrived, kicked them all over the lovely gardens and generally invaded the place.
One day I counted 11 small children on the the dining terrace which only has 6 tables. No matter how well behaved they are, this does rather detract from the romance of the place. We had rather hoped for a relaxed house-party type atmosphere but it was more like a smart kindergarten.

Stayed in Essaouira (which I still can't spell properly most of the time) for four nights last year and I think I'm still paying off my credit card bill! It does have stunning stunning gardens with a beautiful pool and a lush garden that probably leaves the rest of the town on constant drought alert with the constant watering that goes on there. You take breakfast (included in the monster bill) every morning under an arched terrace that overlooks the garden and pool - all tres francais - baguettes/croissants/lovely coffee/freshly squeezed juices and perhaps not so francais are the very polite staff. This nicely sets you up to go walkabout on the miles of stunning beach - I have been all over the world and seen some picture perfect beaches but the wild unspoilt and often empty beach if you walk away from the town are truly truly stunning. Or you can kite surf which looks fun but only if you don't mind having your arms ripped out of their sockets/camel ride/horse ride or bike ride. We walked and due to the beauty of the place didn't realise we were exhausted until we returned to our room.

The room - ours was blanc et bleu basically - blue and white and more blue and white stylishly used and again you get a definite sense that Parisians have got together with their Morrocan pals to decorate this place. Huge bathroom (blue and white tiles) with separate shower. About the size of your average London flat. Bedroom (blue and white tiles/blue and white bed-linen/blue and white nik-naks - are you sensing a theme) - lovely bed with moroccan ceramics everywhere. A little sun-terrace for me and the missus to lounge on after eating too many pies. The place is beautiful but one critique would be the price which I think is too much even for somewhere this decked out. The staff are really very good and attentive but there is a feeling of being in someone's home sometimes which may or may not be up your street but I'd have thought for the money the people who run the place should feel like they're in your home instead.

Essaouira is a great place and this is without doubt the best place to stay albeit slightly out of town, but the staff are happy to call taxis or you can walk if your feeling guilty about that extra croissant for brekky. The people are friendly and the place takes on a mysterious air as night draws in and the fog rolls in off the sea. I loved it. My credit card company probably do too and I recommend you buy shares in Mastercard because I'll be paying them interest on this trip until forever.

We never ate dinner at Dar Mimosas but it looked and smelt pretty good - we preferred to explore the town at night. We did eat lunch there which again was pretty pricey if you compare it to local restaurants but the healthy plates of vegetables and funny bean things were excellent even though I am a self confessed carnivore. They probably added a couple of years to my life which will give me more time to pay off my credit card I suppose.