I was in town on a Sunday night with a friend looking to check out hookah places for my birthday and I was looking forward to checking out Cafe Khufu, but when we got there, they were closed. So since I had a coupon to Cozy Cafe, we decided to check it out. It's a pretty typical hookah place; it's small but dark with plush decor and red lighting and a flat-screen tv playing Arabic music videos. It wasn't too busy, so we were seated right away. However, we were seated at the very back right underneath the ventilation system, and it was freezing. Not very cozy for its name, but understandable.
They had a pretty interesting menu, with all the typical flavors and drinks you would expect from a moderately upscale hookah place. However, the two things that stuck out for me were the strangely-named "Viagra Hookah" which the "Shock Hookah.' The first used wine instead of water in the hookah vase, and the second apparently used liquor. We ordered a viagra hookah with watermelon shisha, even though my friend was still weirded out by the name. Our mint teas were served quickly, but mine arrived in a leaky teapot, and it was a chore pouring it. I opted to not drink it and instead let it sit prettily on my table.
When the hookah arrived, the first thing I noted was the pineapple on top. When I looked around I saw that everyone else had melon or some other type of fresh fruit-halves on top of their hookahs as well. I thought that was kinda cool. Our mouthpieces didnt fit over the hose, and they were pretty opposed to us smoking "unprotected", so they took one of ours and held it over a flame and stuck it on until the melted plastic couldnt come off. I couldn't tell whether our hookah was really filled with wine or not since they used an opaque vase, and I couldnt really taste a difference either. We couldn't really make any heavy smoke clouds or exhale O's since we were right below the fan, but I did get a good buzz after awhile. I'm not sure if it might have been caused by either the supposed wine or the nicotine content of the shisha. I'm used to smoking either herbal or low-nic shisha so that was a bit of a different experience for me.
When it came time for the bill, I showed our waiter my coupon but he had no idea what it was. He showed it to the owner, who personally came over to us to thank us for coming and that he hoped to see us again soon. I had gotten the coupon from this website for 10% off our bill, but the owner went a step further and slashed a $45 bill to $30, which is a HUGE DISCOUNT. I think he realized that if I gotten it from here, I must have read all those not-so-great reviews and he was probably trying make a positive impact. He was pretty nice when I asked him about having a party at his place, and although I admit I was skeptical when I first walked in, I didn't have a bad experience there at all. I still want to check out other hookah places around the city before I book a party but I wouldn't rule out the coming back here with friends.
Pros: Creative hookah setups, decor
Cons: One drink minimum per person, one-hosed hookahs
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