What a strange little place this is... Since I have been in Birmingham this venue has had many…read moreuses. Before it became Meer Shisha Lounge, it was (most memorably) a Spearmint Rhino strip club, but way back in the depths of time it must have been a grand theatre.
I have walked past this place (situated between Cherry Reds and the Victoria) many times, but have often been too nervous to set foot in the door. There are normally some tough looking types sitting outside the venue which doesn't give it the most welcoming vibe for the casual visitor.
A group of four of us (Alex, myself, Jess and Dan) were out and about in the City on Saturday night and after a couple of drinks at Cherry Reds and a hearty meal at Rico Libre, we felt brave enough to step foot in and give it a go. Well, we're glad we did! We were welcomed upon entry and advised that we could sit downstairs in the booths if we wanted food, but if we wanted to enjoy Shisha; we would have to head to the balcony area upstairs.
Now, to give you an idea of what it's like downstairs, I shall do my best to paint you a mental picture... Downstairs is all silk canopies, candles and beautiful spaces where you could happily enjoy a bite to eat (I didn't eat, but the menu looked quite decent and reasonably priced) or a drink and feel a bit like you were in the tent of an Arabian Price (rather than an ex-strip club in Birmingham).
We wandered up and up the stairs looking for the shisha lounge. Eventually we came to a small corridor and headed inside to a worn, but comfortable area filled with all sorts of people. We grabbed a small table and were quickly greeted by a member of staff who bought us menus to peruse over. Now, I am not a big shisha smoker, but we decided this would be the place to do it and ordered an apple shisha, 3 beers and a cider.
Our shisha was bought out to us within about... 5 minutes or so and was very tasty (and traditional). The venue earned top marks for providing little plastic mouthpieces to each of us (to keep the experience more sanitary). We ended up getting another round of ciders in and watching the guys opposite us play dominoes whilst "admiring" (for want of a better word) the music and the videos on the screen above our heads.
Now, this venue isn't posh upstairs and I certainly wouldn't take someone here on a first date, but if you're looking for a late night venue to grab a shisha and a chilled out beer with a group of friends this venue is recommended. It's open until very late and a gigantic shisha (that lasted us 2 hours and was still going), 3 beers and 5 ciders was around £10 each - a price that we really didn't mind paying. Don't walk on by next time, why not pop in and check this out?