This place is absolutely beautiful. The lounge gave me those fancy London lounge vibes the second I…read morewalked in. Unfortunately, the experience didn't quite keep up with the decor.
Our adventure started before we even sat down. A gentleman came in to pick up his takeout order, and the lady behind the counter appeared to be sitting on his food bag. He wasn't too happy about it, and she kept insisting she wasn't sitting on it, just very, very close to it. At that point I thought, "Well... this evening is going to be interesting."
Then, as soon as you walk in, the first thing that greets you isn't the music or the beautiful decor... it's the smell from the bathrooms. We looked at each other, laughed, and decided not to test our luck by going in there.
The lounge was almost empty when we arrived around 11:00 p.m. on a weekday. My sister has a fractured back, so we politely asked if we could sit at one of the many larger tables. The waitress kept saying those tables were for big groups. We looked around at all the empty tables and thought maybe the big groups were just running fashionably late. She eventually let us sit there, saying we'd have to move if a large group arrived. I told her that was completely fine. Spoiler alert... we never had to move.
Now, the hookah. I ordered my usual double apple, and my niece ordered the same flavor she orders everywhere we go. Somehow, both arrived tasting like... perfume. The gentleman who said he was the manager was wonderful. He replaced both hookahs right away, but unfortunately the new ones tasted exactly the same. My niece finally gave up and returned hers. When he asked about mine, I told him it still tasted like I was smoking perfume instead of shisha. He actually tried it himself, agreed something wasn't right, and kindly removed both hookahs and one of the drinks from our bill. That level of customer service was genuinely appreciated.
I only tried the drinks and cheesecake, and I have to give them credit where it's due the presentation of the drinks was beautiful. They arrived on a tray with dry ice creating a rolling smoke effect and a little bonsai-style tree. It looked elegant, unique, and definitely got everyone's attention. My traditional virgin mojito was actually delicious. My sister's virgin strawberry margarita, however, seemed to be having a little identity crisis. We kept looking for the strawberry, but it never introduced itself. As for the cheesecake... it was okay. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that made me say, "Wow, I need to come back for another slice."
This place honestly has so much potential. The lounge is beautiful, and you can tell someone put a lot of effort into creating the space. I think with better quality maasal and someone who really knows hookah, this place could become a favorite. As a Middle Eastern customer, I know how serious people are about shisha, and with a few improvements, I think they'd have people coming back for both the atmosphere and the experience.
The funny part? After we got home, I started reading the reviews online and was genuinely surprised by how many people had experiences similar to ours. Apparently, we weren't the only ones!
And finally... thank you, ChatGPT, for recommending this place. I guess even AI has an off day once in a while.
Would I come back? Maybe. I'm a big believer in second chances... just not third chances for perfume-flavored hookah. The lounge itself is gorgeous, and the manager genuinely did everything he could to make things right, which I really appreciated. I truly hope they make a few improvements because this place has all the ingredients to become an amazing spot. I'd honestly love to update this review one day and give them five stars.
