....Let's start at the beginning:
I've been to pretty much every Hookah lounge in Austin, a few in San Antonio, and one in San Marcos.
I could further qualify the point I'm about to make by running through all the ways that the management of other hookah lounges conducted themselves, but that would be a bit of a harrowing read.
So I'll just get to it:
This is the best Hookah Lounge in Austin. The only place I can argue is as good as BuzZ is Suck It, which is in San Antonio and terribly named. But for Austin? This place is it. The Hookah is strong, everyone behind the counter is sane and well adjusted, and above all else? The customer service is as it should be. Exceptional. And the customer service is exceptional because the guys behind the counter are good, honest, genuine people. I can't tell you how rare that is to find in Austin's Hookah scene. I can't tell you because it's impossible: BuzZ is the only instance I can think of where I was not giving patronage to neurotics, hustlers or outright ghouls. This place has no competition, because it's not about competition. Or even maximum profit margins. I've seen these guys just hand out free smoothies & frappucinnos because they felt like it. I became their first customer just by walking through the door before they were even officially open for business. I can name tons of examples, but the point is...
These guys aren't money grubbers. They're people oriented. As one of the owners (THE owner?) put it when interviewing the other Robbie, the one that used to work there when it was called Fusion (Yes, That Robbie.)... "Happy customers, happy employees, happy money". There is at least 1 Hookah lounge I can think of that's paying their employees $4 an hour. I can tell you the guys working here are Salary. Money is not an issue, because this is their 3rd location (The others are out of state) and they're looking at the long term. Not the quick bucks.
Even if none of that concerns you, and you just want to know how good the hookah is....
It's pretty much the best I've had it by someone that's not That Robbie. That Robbie has been doing hookah for 6 or 7 years, he's got it to an art. But these guys? Second best. And that is not a put-down in the slightest. Noone in Austin comes close to touching these guys. And these guys are nearly on par with Other Robbie. They have a tremendous selection, and they keep that selection stocked. Their menus actually serve their intended purpose and they list everything they actually have. The shisha is mixed well, packed well, has great airflow from the perforated foil over it, they give you three coals, and if it isn't good, and you don't like the flavor, they will still take it back and let you order something else.
These guys, they're not crazy and they're not stupid. They do good and they do it well. That's a commodity in this city that's rare like Platinum. read more