Earlier this month, me and Susy wound up on South Street in a birthday situation, in which a giant slice of doughy pizza or a twenty minute wait in the freezing night for a cheesesteak simply would not do. This was an occasion that called for decadence, celebration, and many, many courses.

Fez serves just that. It’s a Moroccan joint on second that hams up the “exoticness” factor to an E.M. Forster degree, and it’s got a menu option called the “Fez Feast” (”fit for a sultan”) that totally delivers. It’s $25 per person (with a minimum of two people) and dang if it isn’t exactly eight courses long - harira, tangy bean and vegetable salads, bastilla (a sweet chicken pie), a chicken dish, a lamb dish, fruit, and tea with desert. The fruit course is just a fruit basket, and desert is just a piece of baklava, but it’s not an issue by the time you make it that far. The dinner courses are so rich and sweet (lamb with honey and almonds, comes covered in honey; the bastilla is sticky with confectioner’s sugar) and endless that they preempt any desire for more of anything by the end of round five or six. Definitely only do this if your hunger is something real, but know that it will definitely satisfy.

PS: There are belly dancers here on Fridays and Saturdays.

PPS: You can smoke a hookah while you eat. Check out their rad website intro and try to tell me this isn’t where you want your next birthday.

Fez Restaurant
620 S 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 925-5367