Hookah Lounge Directory Archive

Name: Mystique Hookah
Location: Westbury, New York (Long Island location)
Owner: Mag
Theme: Egyptian Modern
Website: www.mystiquehookahlounge.com

For the first time in many months, I have decided to give one of the homegrown Long Island hookah lounge businesses a try. My abstinence from hookah came around the time of a rough economy where many of the hookah establishments I enjoyed frequenting were going out of business. The economic downturn was not only a hurdle to climb for business, but consumers as well. My crave for "Blue Mist" and my very favorite Vanilla/Winterflower blend were turning more into a fading pastime rather than the weekly indulgence. Finally, with the economy showing a glimpse of favor and consumers slowly beginning to feel confident in their spending, what better way to spend a day's pay than on a night of catching up on an 8-month long hookah abstinence? Only one hookah place on Long Island caught my eye: a little place in the heart of Westbury, NY called Mystique Hookah.

From the outside of Mystique Hookah, you would think it was an exotic house party store with the garden overhead and West Indian fence decour. Inside, however, is a chic lounge with an inviting atmosphere, a cool look, and a comfortable feel. The very first thing that I was impressed with was the space -- literally, the space that each available area gives to its guests -- featuring leather sofa chairs, various fauna to give that natural ambience, satin sheets draping the canopy, and long wooden tables that have a better quality than IKEA brand furniture. I was greeted by a young man by the name of Tony, a polished and friendly gentleman who was very welcoming to my presence. He interested me in "Blue Mist" (Starbuzz with a touch of mint) with an ice base out of my two other potential selections. It was hard to go with "Blue Mist" after seeing the menu with such a vast repertoire of flavors. Reading the menu was like reading an alphabet of flavors from Apple to Vanilla, and interesting combinations as far as the pages could fit them ("X on the Beach", "The Godfather", etc). The shisha itself was a 19" Egyptian pipe with a relaxing inlay floral patterned hose. Very little maintenance required on the shisha as it appears to be preened and polished to perfection, barely needing a house call to clear any stale air from the base or adjust the ball bearings. The coals were all natural compressed blocks that stayed lit for a great amount of time, and if a change was needed (only one change out of an hour long smoke) they were readily available with little to no wait. And what better to top off a great hookah flavor than to drink a piping hot pot of natural Mint tea with crushed mint leaves and a dab of honey? Truly a fantastic combination with any hookah in my experience of smoking.

The next hookah, which was on the house by the owner Mag, was the Chino Special: a blend of orange and lemon with an iced juice base. This is by far one of the best citrus mixes that I have ever come upon, a cornucopia of fruit flavors that is a great choice whether you're looking to introduce yourself for a single hookah or transitioning to a new flavor. My sever, Claudeene, was very helpful in selecting this flavor along with the manager, Tony. To sync with the hookah I ordered a Stawberry/Mango drink. My only caveat with the drink was that it was not pulpy enough, but that's just a personal preference. The combination between the beverage and the hookah itself had a mutual relationship: both excellent and very fitting with each other. As I passed the time with my laptop and the music, more people started to pile in and the place was starting to pick up. Even with the other guests you feel like you are in your own realm -- the large space makes you feel like you are the only one there -- and the service is very fast and personable to every guest. In the end you feel a little closer to everybody (literally if you decide to cuddle up with your smoke buddies).

My arrival was at 7:00 PM, and right around 7:30 PM on a Friday night is when the crowd begins to roll in, so be sure to arrive early and catch their "Hookah Happy Hour" every day between 6:00 p.m. ? 8:00 p.m., which gives a $5 discount to all hookah orders. I must admit that I have never come across a promotion like this before from any hookah lounge. Guests eager to catch this great deal should take advantage of this offer. If you're bold for adventure, try some of their premium flavors that go for a modest price of $16-$18. Outside beverages and food are allowed but a clean up fee is required. However, judging from the cleanliness of the lounge you could tell that the staff aims to keep the lounge tidy and attractive.

Mystique Hookah offers a variety of special events posted on their website, including Thursday night Belly Dancing, Friday and Saturday night "Dress to Impress", and Sundays are movie night. Additional features are free wireless Internet, an optional bar with a full line of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, a great variety of music, and an attractive staff that would make the Borgata Casino servers look like Denny's in the boondocks.

If you're in the Long Island area and want a genuine hookah smoking experience, then Mystique Lounge is the place to go. Mystique Lounge is in a league of its own and boasts all the qualities you want: a great hookah selection, a modest price, friendly wait staff and management, a relaxing environment, and an overall style that many other hookah lounges seem to be out of touch with. You won't find a better hookah lounge than Mystique Lounge, located in Westbury, New York.



Atmosphere: Clean, inviting, and attractive.

Service: Fast, efficient, and friendly. You won't find a better service.

Price: Catch their "Happy Hookah Hour" and enjoy the discounted price. Go for broke and sample their premium flavors, but be prepared to pay a little extra to get closer to some heavenly flavors.

Overall: If you want the experience and are on Long Island, the travel is well worth it. Definitely the best I have had in a long time and the finest hookah lounge in the area.

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This is my first post so bare with me I'm from Seattle, and wanted to give some props to the Night Owl Lounge Hookah Bar. I went there last night for the first time and had an enjoyable experience. I'm going to go down the list of what's important to me for a hookah bar, and give a rating for each area of significance (1-10).

Atmosphere: The interior feels brand new with nice couches, awesome spray paint murals on the walls (including a huge sprawling Owl right when you walk-in), great sound system, cool lighting, and a lot of people in my age range were there. I give the atmosphere an 8.

Hookahs, Tobacco, and Coals: The hookahs, tobacco, and coals were all high quality. The hookahs were of premium quality as well as the tobacco. They use the stove heated coals (logs) that provide a clean burn of the tobacco. A multitude of flavors were offered, and I was pleased with my strawberry mango selection. I give the hookahs, tobacco, and coals a 9.

Service: The service was pretty good. The setup is pretty original in that it operates much like a restaurant. You walk in, choose your group's area, and a server comes to give you a menu and take the order. From order to smoke was probably 7-10 minutes when they were really busy. This was definitely manageable. I give the service an 9.

I've been to the other hookah bars in Seattle (before they shut down), and this beats those hands down. The only way the Night Owl is able to stay open is by charging an initial $5 membership fee (so they can claim it's a private club). My friends and I are going to be there this summer so 5 bones wasn't too bad. I'd recommend checking this place out if you live within driving distance of Seattle, and enjoy hookah lounges.

Ben

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First off let me say its about time Spokane gets a real hookah lounge (Azars does NOT count)..... Well lets get started.

Shisha Selection: They offer almost the full line of Starbuzz and Fantasia, they are looking to expand what they offer, and have only been open as a lounge since Friday (I'm writing this Sunday night)

Price: They do pricing based off how many hoses you are getting. Its 15 for a 1 hose hookah and goes up 5 dollars per hose.

Hookahs: Look like cheap chineese but smoke pretty well. They are using those chineese hoses mixed in with some cobra hoses. We'll see how their hookahs look a year from now though

Coals: Cheap Instant Lights. I didn't catch the brand. They weren't awful though. I generally hate quicklights and stay away from them but as long as these were completely ashing they didn't impart any taste in the bowl.

Food and Drink: They are working on getting food up and running, however tonight they ended up giving away quesodias, ribs, hamburgers, and chips and salsa to all of us there so that wasn't too bad. They do however offer Monster, Rockstar, and 2 dollar beers (its some microbrew, I don't remember)

Staff: I think their staff is absolutely awesome! It is seriously like hanging out in someone's back yard their.

Atmosphere: Incredibly laid back. The staff tonight were in the lawn playing beer pong, if you smoke through your bowl you can almost alway convince them they want to smoke and get yourself a free bowl. I paid for 1 bowl and smoked 4.

Overall I really enjoyed the Pharaoh's Hookah Lounge. If you know what you are doing and prove that you know what you are doing they pretty much just give you access to their stuff. I ended up loading bowls and managing heat for the staff hookah by the end of the night. They are using the summer to practice so they are very receptive to ways they can make their place better.

The only negitive that I want to add as a sidenote is that the staff does occasionally talk about NHT. Not really a huge turnoff for me because even though i'm not involved in that stuff I have friends that are..... They don't allow it around though, I just thought I would mention that for people who are turned off by that kinda stuff

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Lounge: Hooked on Hookah
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Refreshments: Water, Soda, Energy Drinks
Hookahs: Everyone was using an MZ
Hoses: SocialSmoke standards
Coals: They were either 3Ks or Belgians... I'm not 100 percent sure which.
Bowls: Mostly small generic Egyptian heads, some SocialSmoke standard bowls here and there.
Shisha: Mostly Starbuzz; not as many flavors as I've seen at other places, but a decent selection nonetheless.
Price: $8.00 per person for the first bowl (one hookah per two people), $6.00 refills. They upped the price by a dollar since I last went, but there's really no reason to complain.
Overall: 8/10
This was my first time going to their "north" location in the Springs. I was very impressed by how ventilated it was by comparison (granted, it wasn't very crowded, but nevertheless lacked the giant clouds of smoke billowing out everytime someone opened the door). Bunch of comfy couches everywhere, with a movie room and ping pong setup further in the back. Bowls smoked pretty well (even for SB...ha ha), although I may have gotten into an argument with one of the workers about the definition of a "fully-lit" coal (he didn't like me much after that, but agreed to go relight the coal in question). The music was all over the place, and I felt many of it completely detracted from a comfortable atmosphere. In reality, this isn't a big deal since I don't tend to go to lounges for the music. We did manage to sit fairly close to the theater however, meaning random explosions would pop up now and again.

All in all it was a good experience. I'd been to their south location a few times before, and this newer one certainly didn't let me down. Staff was friendly (again, sans me being finicky about how lit a QL should be), atmosphere was good, and in a town that almost completely shuts down after 9:00 pm, it's a nice place to be able to go. I docked points for the coals and music, but everything else does not disappoint. If you find yourself in town, stop by for sure.

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The neighborhood around here is very nice, being a chicago suburb. The hookah bar didn't seem to fit in though; right next to a mom and pop shop and a dentist. When I first opened the door (It didn't have a handle), I thought I was stepping into somebodies house. There was no attendant and not only that, there were no people there. It was around 9 so that confused me a bit. Finally, somebody came to seat us.

I was impressed by all the SB flavors they had, however, i wasn't very impressed by all the burns and the general upkeep of the place. When the waiter (idk what you'd call him) came to ask us our flavor, we asked about the "back room" that we've heard about. He gladly brought us there.

To be in the back room, which consisted black lights, white couches, and an off-center projection screen, it would cost each person 10 dollars. That also came with unlimited refills. We decided it was a better idea. We sat down and ordered two hookahs, one pineapple and one mojito something...

When the man came with the hookahs, i was astonished. The hookahs were tiny! They weren't in that great of upkeep either. It took a while to get them going, but from the beginning, i could tell this was going to be a bad experience. Off the bat, the mojito tasted bad. It tasted like burnt popcorn. The pineapple was good for all of 5 minutes. Then it went bad. We switched out the flavors, but it wasn't worth it. We left the place 10 dollars left and with a horrible experience.

All in all, the place was very shady. I wouldn't recommend for you to go there.

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Lounge: Amarean Cafe
Location: Stockton, California
Refreshments: Soda, Water, Various Snacks
Hookahs: Magdy Zidans
Hoses: Vinyl Tubing
Coals: Not sure
Shisha: Saalaam, Hydro
Overall: 1/10
This place is absolute shit. They only serve herbal shisha. The place is lighted by black lights and has various black light posters hanging on the walls. They blast techno music and it gets really annoying. The seating was okay, they had couches so it was semi comfortable. It costs $1 to get into the building. After that it is $10 for a hookah and they don't really care how many people are on each hookah. For hoses they used neon green vinyl tubing jammed into the hose port. The tubing didnt have a handle or anything. They have an oxygen bar downstairs and an aqua massage. The only legit part about the Amerean Cafe is the magdy zidan hookahs they use. That is the only reason I gave it a 1 out of 10 rating. They have a young girl packing the bowls and setting up the hookahs and she totally f**ked it up. She overpacked the bowl and loaded way too many coals onto it. Plus they had metal bowls so it held the heat in even more so it was straight up harsh from the get go. Amerean Cafe sucks.

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This was my first real introduction to Hookah. It's a Mediterranean restaurant that has a patio area for smoking. the atmosphere is real chill and the ambient music really sets the mood. The patio sits along a main street but it is fairly calm so you can chill and smoke while you people watch and have a good meal.


Hookah: 5/5
I haven't asked what kind of hookah's they use but they use Nammor hoses, SB shisha, and Coconara coals.

Service (lounge): 4/5
they are really good about keeping track of coals and asking if everything is going good, but sometimes they get really busy which can be a downer if you want more heat or a shisha refill.

Food: 5/5
I simply love the food there. It's set like a fast food joint versus a traditional restaurant. the kabob's are AWESOME.

Price: 5/5
The food is well worth the money and the hookah's are $12.99 with refill's at 4.99.

I am glad it's still open, it's a cool place to hang out at and it's pretty close to my place. We've had several lounges before but they ddn't make it. This is a ULTRA conservative city and they don't like things that are different. Plus rumor has it, the other lounges allowed patrons to use the hookah's for alternative use. Not cool.

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Divine hookah lounge on lincoln road.

Awesome.

I have been going here for 5+ years and love it. Quality shisha, quality pipes. Outside seating on big comfy wicker sofas. I usually reserve one of these with the people I am with, so we can enjoy the florida weather and all the gorgeous women walking by.

10/10

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Any maryland or Virginia heads gone here? Looks pretty nice. Supposed to be going here shortly just looking for a possible heads up from anyone.

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Its a great place to hang out. But they're way understaffed. They use natural coals, which is fine, but the server picks horrible coals. They're too small and don't last more than 10 minutes. And when the coals go out, you have to wait another ten minutes for the server to come by because they're running around to their other 20 tables. Nice place, visually but the service really sucks.

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I just got into hookah recently, and this is the only lounge I've been to so far but I absolutely love it. It's super laid back and chill. It just feels really homey with the random board games, a few TV's and some old couches and pillows. Everyone is super helpful and super nice. The owner is a darling and always willing to help you out. The deals are great! All you can smoke on Wednesdays for nine bucks. They sell hookahs and other things there as well. If anyone is stopping by Rochester, I highly suggest checking it out! :]

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