Located on Franklin Street in downtown Richmond amid the enclave of VCU, this Mediterranean and Moroccan-inspired restaurant challenges those coming from the ‘burbs with a place to park. Yet, locals might just as well walk up to the dark-interiored eatery, complete with some otherworld decorations, and find a comfortable table in the noisy restaurant. A bar features prominently along the back wall, although the food is likely what you’ll remember.

I am not sure the identity of Cous Cous. They do serve couscous in several tangine-style dishes, but there’s the Spanish tapas thing going on, more continental flavors going on too, and then some more exotic numbers, like the Greek flaming cheese. That’s popular, I saw several going around the evening that I visited.

Both dishes I tasted were good, especially the warm mushroom salad. This is a great place to go with a small group, to enjoy a variety of smaller plates, talk loud, have a relaxing time. It’d be death for a cozy romantic dinner, unless all you wanted to do was to stare into each other’s eyes over flaming cheese and crispy eggplant.

Service was friendly and attentive at Cous Cous. Any restaurant that teases our senses with less familiar flavors and presentations is a good thing, especially when the options are this tasty.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Restaurant Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.