BYOB and they allow you to bring food in. $5 charge per person but it's not bad. They will give you small plastic cups with ice but they have a small ice maker so ice is limited. The owner always lets us connect our phone so you can play whatever you want to listen to, he rotated it with the groups in the place. Great hookah! They also have coffee, hot chocolate and juices. Located right on South Street so we usually pregame here and then head out later. Be wary of the crowds that tend to be on South Street, usually younger groups of people especially when school is out. read more

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I'd say Sphinx is more of a 3.5-star establishment overall, but I rounded up for the great service from their friendly owner and team. Sari A. pretty much covered our experience and what you can expect in her review, I found the prices to be fair for the stop here -- about $17 pre-tip per person. That includes a $5 cover charge, but they offer you a free water bottle, soda or Snapple as part of the deal, so it almost evens out. Sphinx is a good place to go if you want to feel young and vibrant but don't want a night of drinking. In other words, it seemed like a good chunk of the clientele here would fall on the lower end of the 18-24 age bracket. While this is very much a lounge-type atmosphere, late on a Saturday some people stood up from their perches on couches/chairs and danced in place. It was kind of weird, but whatever. The hookah itself was great. We compromised with the grape flavor and it wasn't ever harsh. Sometimes when I smoke (which is rare!), I'll feel a constant need to cough thanks to asthma, but this wasn't the case here. We replaced our coals once, and the flavor lasted a good amount of time. Things got a little sticky at one point but were later resolved by the owner. You see, I wanted to catch the train at a certain time, so I got in line for the bathroom. It was a single stall and there were two people ahead of me. When it was my turn, a young girl announced that she needed to vomit, pushed ahead of me, and puked all over the stall. Um. I asked for my check and said I needed to go elsewhere to find a bathroom ahead of my train, but the owner told me to hold on and they'd thoroughly clean the stall. They did so quickly, which I appreciated. All the while, the girl thanked her friends for worrying about her....as she stared me down with her feet on the couch and went back to smoking. Seems like a normal thing to do after making a disgusting mess and inconveniencing someone. Aside from that incident -- which was out of the business's control -- it was a pretty nice place to stop for out-of-the-box Saturday night fun. Keep in mind that the music is pretty uncomfortable (re: rap with lots of curse words and weird statements), but otherwise you should check it out if you like hookah! I'd go back if I was in the area. read more

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This place was a nice little surprise, tucked away on South Street. I hadn't had hookah in years, so I definitely enjoyed myself. The service was really nice, thanks to the very polite and very attentive owner. There weren't many people there at 2am, so the service was very quick. I tried a combination of pineapple and watermelon... I must say this was a winning combo. I'm not sure if it was just me but after just a few hits, I was floating nicely!! It almost felt like there was a little something extra in that pipe...lol On Saturday's they are open until 4am, so you can truly relax and stay as long as you like. I would definitely recommend this place for a nice hookah experience... read more

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Last Saturday, Kathleen D. and I decided to go to a hookah lounge, so we tried to find a spot around us. After consulting Yelp (of course!), we ended up at Sphinx, as it was fairly close to where we were at. I was kinda skeptical of the other five-star reviews, something was suspiciously glowing. Now, as someone who used to smoke hookah on a fairly regular basis, I had many sub-par hookahs elsewhere; either too harsh and/or burned, or couldn't detect the flavor. However, I have to admit, Sphinx hookah was great and smooth. When it comes to smoke a good hookah, a couple things to keep in mind. One, smoke out of a good shisha (hookah) pipe. Sphinx has authentic Egyptian Khalil Mamoon Hookahs. Two, smoke a premium tobacco brand. Sphinx serves Al Fakher brand, which I personally prefer. Side notes: - $5.00 admission fee (includes free water, soda or snapple). - You can bring in your own food, and your booze ($3.00/ person). - Prices start at $16.99(+ tax) for two people/single hose hookah. Add extra $5.00 for a third person. - Many hookah flavors to choose from, and you can mix your own flavor (mix & match). - Although I don't recall them mentioning this to us, but If you asked for extra coal, after the first free refill, you'll pay $2. - Sphinx stays open until 2am on weekdays and 4am on the weekend. - For those who are wondering what "Sphinx" means: It's a mythical creature, with the head of female monster and the body of a lion. In Arabic, it's called "Abu al-Hol" which translates as "Father of Terror". Yelpers, pause your Netflix, put down your remote. Get out and enjoy some good hookah. Four Yelps. read more

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Don't waste your time coming here. The owner needs to revamp the business completely. My experience: 1. The Hookah is very low quality. The flavor is bland and the pipe does not pull well. The Hookah is overpriced. 2. The Smoothies are just crushed Ice with water. 3. There is a cover charge for $5 or $10 if you bring a bottle. Again, please do yourself a favor and find another Hookah lounge. read more

I am truly disappointed in the devolution of this place. I came in October while visiting my boyfriend and was so pleased with my experience! The owner and I carried a conversation in Arabic and he gave me unlimited tea. Now I acknowledge that that was a nicetie that I was not entitled to; however, tonight I had a waitress that was less pleasant. She was making up rules as she went. She had no sense of good customer service and I will make sure I find another hookah bar to frequent read more

Worst customer service ever. This place is a joke. The guy as we walked in asked for $5.00 cover charge even though today is Tuesday. We paid and sat for 15 minutes and no one came and asked us if we're ready to order. When we told the guy he said y'all can leave but he's not refunding the $5.00. Complete joke. Thieves. Disrespectful. read more

Horrible service, $5 charge fine... especially for a Sat night, but they demand payment up front as soon as they bring you a drink or hookah.... who the hell does that? The hookah was disgusting and sets you back $20, cappuccino was nasty and practically undrinkable... we ordered a tea and the waitress flat out told is that they were busy and we had to wait ( we never got the tea) never coming anywhere near this hellhole again even if everything was free!! read more

We stopped in here randomly. Im glad that we did. We had lots of fun and the owners were really nice and accommodating. We sparked up some conversation with a couple of people from Delaware and we had a great time the owners allowed us to use the bluetooth to switch from their house music to beyonce and bryson tiller ect. That was really cool of them. Again the prices were reasonable and their was lots of things to do in the immediate area. I would go back. read more

Pros: Very nice decor. Very attentive staff. Pretty good Hookah. Big clean bathroom. Cons: A little more expensive than Hookah House. One must travel through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. Verdict: A good alternative to Hookah House and Beirut, especially when the unwashed masses are swarming Hookah House on weekends. read more

Came here on a humbug by searching hookah in Philly while searching Hookah on South Street. Slightly new establishment (by new I mean less than a year). I was already aware it was BYOB prior to arriving so I stopped at the liquor store which is a 10 minute walk prior to reaching the establishment. Upon arrival on a Saturday night there was only about one other party. They have over 50 different flavors and there is something for everybody. The owner has a Bluetooth speaker that allows you to control the music...if you are the only table there...or maybe it just was this one occurrence. The owner was very kind and attentive to your needs in terms of filling your coals or getting you more ice. Me and my bestie controlled the music for three hours and had a blast. There was people who brought in their own food as well. We initially got there around 8:30 and by 10 or 11 have of the lounge was full. We got our bill and it was about $57. This included our hookah and he charges $3 per person for BYOB as well. I still thought this was pretty reasonable. If you are looking for a chill and laid back atmosphere for smoking hookah I would recommend this spot. read more

Definitely the worst place I have been too. We were waiting on some people to join us so even to sit down while we are waiting they charged us $5 cover charge and then when we decided to leave they said too bad. We don't do refunds. I said, " this is now how you do business" the owner says, well we have signs posted everywhere. Cool. Have a good fucking night. read more

Great spot at the top of south st. The establishment is customer centric.. and the vibe.. as the name suggests, an immersive experience of Sphinx, the Pyramids and Egypt . read more

One of the best hookah place in Philadelphia. Everything was perfect and You must try the Special Egyptian tea it's really good with hookah! read more

Sphinx hookah lounge - The amazing grape hookah! - Hookah Bars Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This is robbery, yes all that money and you still have to pay to coal I'm from NYC and they have the best hookahs and they charge less

Don't waste your time. Worst hookah. 90% of the time the "waitress" if you wanna call her was trying to fix the cheap hookah they had. Before you even get in you have to pay $5. That's before you get to see the inside. Completely dead. They didn't even reimburse us for anything. They saw us barely getting any smoke. She was saying how we have to use our lungs but we're getting light headed from pulling so hard, and getting nothing. We left as soon as we could and paid $30. They also charge $5!!!!! For a drink. Just overall experience was a big what f***! read more

WORST SERVICE, DISGUSTING PLACE. The hookah was unbelievable harsh and disgusting. EXTRA COVER CHARGE. Do not come here! The customer of this place was extremely rude and arrogant to us. Me and my girlfriend came in and the arrogant owner was disrespectful and did not seat us and wanted to charge us extra cover charge. The place SMELLED DISGUSTING. Do not come here please!! Many better places read more

I've been going to Sphinx for a few years and the best hookah hang out on south street. It's way more affordable always great service and Leon the owner always treats customers in a great way it's a nice chill atmosphere he allows customers to bring food from outside. They provide beverages hot and cold. read more

Nice vibe, the guy was super chill and let us put on our music. Nice relaxing hookah place to have a conversation, highly recommend

I come here a lot with my bestfriend. Literally it is the best Hookah place I've ever gone too. I've been going for over a year ago. The people that run it are extremely friendly and the prices aren't to bad. Its a nice place to go for the night out to hang out with friends. I 100% recommend going. Also its a wonderful spot on south street. I love the different smells of each hookahs that people use too. Its great! read more

Pretty nice owner, good hookah, good atmosphere, will come again.... one head and BYOB for two people was about $40 can't complain with that... Again music is a factor for me and once someone is connected to Bluetooth it is to their discretion but overall, I liked it. read more

I was at this place a couple of weeks ago. Ordered a hookah and a soda: the listed price for the hookah $16.98, soda $2. When I was about to check out, the bill was almost $30. This place is a ripoff, and very dirty (dirty floors, dirty bathroom, etc.). The hookah quality sucks: they put all kind of flavors on the same hookah, which makes it flavorless. Typically, Apple-based flavors should be put on the same reserved hookahs. The same thing for mint hookahs. Anyway, avoid this place, it's a ripoff. read more

Bad vibes. Uncomfortable seating. Only one worker always and I'm pretty sure he's the owner. And is way to overpriced

i went to this hookah lounge last night and it was a new owner ship . the new owner leon is very friendly and knows the hookah place is nice clean the hookah is clean and tasty and its a byob too only $3 for byob will sure come again read more

Love this place !!!! Great spot to chill, friendly staff; a must everytime I hit up south street !