Nueva Bella Vista is a cafe and restaurant in the Malabata area called Bella Vista. It has been in this location for at least 30 years, and from the cafe you have a panoramic view over some villas of the Bay of Tangier and can see ships in the port.
I have not been to this place in many years, but the day after a heavy rain I decided to walk all the way to this cafe from downtown. I had to ask directions because it is located up a hill from the upscale Hotel Cesar in a quiet residential area of older villas.
I had also wanted to see the new location of an antiques and furniture business, LM Depot Vente (a.k.a.) Luciano Monte, which had moved from another location earlier this year. It was closed so I walked into the cafe and saw that few people were there.
I told the waiter that I wanted a just a coffee and sat at a bucket chair that had a good view of the ocean and port in the distance through a large plate glass window. The waiter promptly brought my coffee and the bill, and I noticed that it was fairly expensive for Tangier: 25 dirhams. (Most cafes charge anywhere from 8 to 12 dirhams, but some others can be as much as 40 in the Hotel Minzah, or even 60 Dirhams at the very expensive and exclusive Villa Josephine in Sidi Masmoudi on the Old Mountain.)
I noticed that the place had numerous flat screen televisions but that none were turned on. The cafe is located on the ground level, and the restaurant of Nueva Bella Vista is upstairs, but apparently it does not open until 5 o’clock.
I looked at the menu and thought it a bit overpriced, just as I think 25 dirhams is too expensive for a coffee. These are New York, London and Paris prices. There is very good WiFi, however, so I was able to check mails and do some work while enjoying my coffee.
Since this place is somewhat isolated, located quite a distance from downtown, one must either drive in your car or take a taxi. On my return to the Place de France, after quite a while trying to find a taxi, the one-way fare on the meter of the petit taxi was about 15 dirhams, plus a 2 dirham tip.
For the money, I think one could easily have a better view of the beach or ocean at other places inMalabata such as the Café Panorama., RR Ice, and others. However, I wanted to see Bella Vista cafe again and write this review. I did not eat anything and only had one coffee. I looked at the restaurant menu and the food items range from omelette and hamburgers to steaks.
The cafe has a refrigerated display case for ice creams, but it was completely empty. It seems like they don’t have enough business, at least in the daytime, to keep it filled. Perhaps upstairs in the restaurant there is ice cream, but I doubt I will ever eat there.
There is another display case for cakes near the entrance, but it too was empty. The entire place is somewhat stark inside, and there is almost no decoration. It is very quiet and there were very few customers in the mid-afternoon when I made my visit, but some men at one table were smoking with a hooka.
Several of the black vinyl cushioned bucket chairs had slash mark damage. The café and restaurant upstairs, presumably, is heated and air-conditioned, which is a plus. The men’s toilet near the entrance is modern and clean.
Nueva Bella Vista has excellent WiFi. Just ask the waiter, who will give you the passcode.
I used to like coming in here despite it being overpriced, because it's far from traffic and somewhat secluded, in other words, perfect to get some work done while sipping a cup of coffee, until they had this "brilliant" idea to ban laptops then it's no longer worth the visit anymore...
