Habibi Lounge

05/23/11

A dump... run by a$$holes.

by Medulla Oblongata

It gets worse...

Some friends of friends ended up here, so we stopped by around 3am. Aside from our group, the place maybe had 10 other people in there. So, we notice the manager walking around to other people without drinks trying to shake them down, demanding they order something or leave. Maybe he needed money for the Halal truck at 4am, or something, but demanding paying customers to buy more drinks seems a bit much.

I go outside to make a phone call, and notice the same manager come outside to talk to the bouncer. He's ranting about money, and says "if anyone else shows up, we now have a $10 cover!". During this fiasco, someone actually showed up, and the owner questioned him asking if he's here for a party, and what the name was. (*Reminder: The place was dead, and it was past 3am.) So, the guy says he's meeting friends, at which point the owner tells him to call "his friends" to come out. A girl came out and vouched for him, at which point the owner demands the new $10 cover. The guy pulls out his wallet and apparently didn't have enough. The girl said there was no cover earlier, at which point this manager became more irate. The manager tells this guy trying to meet his friends, that there's a ATM across the street, and if he wants to get in, to GO GET MONEY!!!

I went back inside, and our friends apparently were getting the same "shakedown" treatment as the others, so we left. It wasn't even just the manager, the waitresses were pretty bitchy too. It seemed like everyone working there was looking for money and a fight. I think they might be in the wrong business.

If only I could give 0 stars.

05/21/11

Worst Place Ever

by MattC314

This is actually the first time I've ever felt the need to write a review on citysearch and unfortunately it's not positive. I met up with some friends who had a table at this place late around 2am. It's very small, which is fine. I have no interest in hookah but was meeting friends there.

After about 10 minutes standing with a drink in hand, the owner comes up to rudely tell me, there is a 1 drink minimum. Note, nothing was said to us when we walked in, and our friends have already been there paying for a table. I explained to him that I had a drink and showed him, and he asked about my friends, one of which who had driven that night and was not drinking. The place was empty. He walked away without a word and left the waitress, who demanded we order drinks. I said, look, they aren't drinking my friend and I will buy an extra drink to cover. My friend said he was driving and not drinking, so she snapped at him saying he was being rude to her. She said, why would you come to a bar then, if you're not going to drink. Completely unreasonable, meanwhile I already said that we would cover the extra drink for them. Mind you, this is aside from the 15 other people we had met up with who had been buying drinks all night.

When I left, I saw the owner and asked if I could have a word. I explained to him, that I felt he was rude the way he came up to us and he immediately starting getting mad at me. He walked me to the front door, of where I was already leaving, and told me to get the f*ck out, no one tells him he's rude he says. I calmly said, I just don't think the way you went about the situation is the way to run a business and especially now you're bring extremely rude. In which he tried to shove me out of the door. The bouncer didn't disagree with me, and did nothing, standing there just to make sure no one broke into a fight, which was the last thing on my mind. The owners friend pulled him back inside with him yelling at me.. I should punch you in the f*cking face.

I've never met a ruder more discourteous person in my life then this man, who says he was the owner of this bar. I ignored the overpriced drinks and bad atmosphere before he rudely interrupted me and my friends, but after the way he treated me and tried to get physical with me, I can't imagine anything else about this place being run like a real business.

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH, how you should stay away from this place. there are plenty of other hookah bars in Manhattan if that is your thing, this is definitely not worth it.

01/23/11

Never Again.

by gzelenin

The best thing i can say about this place is that the hookahs are great.

Unfortunately the staff is terrible. Guy at the door acts like it's the hottest club in nyc. Seats aren't comfortable and you feel packed in. Get ready to get to know whoever happens to be next to you.

Worst part is the owner, complete jerk. My advise, go somewhere else. Anywhere else.

02/25/10

Terrible Service, Overpriced Drinks, Crazy Staff

by DarthEquitas

Went here on the advise of a friend on a saturday. Got there at 2am. Guy at the door was a jerk, place was half empty and he wanted to $5 per person to enter (at 2am!). Spoke with a rude manager named Max, and got a small cramped table. Waitress took 20 minutes to take the actual order, and messed it up. (2 hookas, 1 long island, 3 heinekens). 40 minutes after getting there we finally got the order. One of the hookas was very good, the second was just ok. The long island tasted weak. When we asked for the check it took another 20 minutes to get to us, and was incorrect, for some magical reason we were charged for two long islands, and 4 beers. Lo and behold there was also a gratuity included in the check. When we pointed this out to the waitress she stormed off and came back with "Max" the manager/owner. With major attitude he corrected the mistakes. While we were still sitting around waiting for this quagmire to be resolved the lights go on, and other staff grabs our hookahs practically bum rushing us to the bar. The guy at the door actually has the nerve to approach and yell that we didn't pay out bill! - This while we're waiting for it to come back.

Final Verdict: The hookah was good, but considering the terrible service, there are so many better places. Avoid this one.

• Pros: Hookah was ok.
• Cons: Service, Staff, Owner, Attitude.

10/06/09

best happy hrs in nyc

by aldo mo

ppl i cant belive it this place has a happy hrs no one in nyc has it i realy meant its like 3 shots for 10$ ,,,hookahs r 5$,,,,,2 for 1 drink and alot more u have to go but just tell them u heard about them from here and they will give u ahot on the house lool

• Pros: best cheap hookah i ever had