617 New York Ave. NW (202) 393-9393 Hours of Operation and Prices Dinner: Daily 6-11 Full-Course Dinner: $22 Other Information • Cash or check only • Dress: Casual • Reservations: Required on weekends • Parking: Valet (fee) • Nearest Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown • Entertainment: Belly dancer nightly • Handicapped accessible

The festivity starts well before you're seated. A valet parks your car - at a price - then you knock on a wooden door that's opened by a costumed host, who ushers you through a curtain to the dining room. The place vibrates with color, from the intricately painted ceiling to complex patterns on the sofas and pillows. All waiters are in costume, and they begin their service by washing your hands from an etched metal ewer.

The meal is seven courses, served communally and eaten with the hands (spoons are served only with the couscous). Three salads begin the parade, with bread for scooping them. Next comes bastilla, the chicken-egg-almond pie wrapped in phyllo and dusted with powdered sugar. Chicken - cooked whole and drenched in lemon and green olives - follows. For the meat course you must make a communal choice among lamb with honey and almonds, lamb with chickpeas and onions or beef kebabs. Vegetarian couscous follows, then a bowl of fruit and, finally, small, nut-filled phyllo turnovers and mint tea. Somewhere in the middle a belly dancer provides a change of pace. The wine flows (budget watchers should exercise caution about that). The music plays.

Like the decor, the food is a barrage of ornate tastes. This is rich food, heavy perhaps, and no dish is outstanding. But it is all good. Maybe Marrakesh makes you feel like a tourist. Maybe this is a Moroccan version of fast food. But with a seven-course interplay of lemon, olives, cumin, onions and honey, what could be bad?