Chicha Shack

This place is absolutely a den of idiots and horribly disgruntled individuals. Sure it is the only place in ames that provides this service and because of that you have snotty brats running and/or working there. I go there every now and again, mostly to  enjoy the company of a few friends who frequent the place. Though the moment you are not with a regular they treat like utter shit and find the only joy in their otherwise mindless work to be as slow, cold and all around useless as humanly possible.

While dealing with drunk 18 somethings on a usual basis would drive anyone mad, as they all seem to flock to the one location that will let them in near the otherwise pukefest that is welch avenue , but for the love of everything that is holy their demeanor and rudeness is so profound i wonder how they still go to their jobs every night. But then i quickly remember, its to be dicks to customers who have been dicks to them. Terrible customer service, atmosphere of a chucky cheese and don't even think of trying the food.

Decent hookah joint.  Glad Ames has a hookah place!

I'm a huge fan of hookah and have gone to a few other cool Hookah places outside of Ames before coming here. For me, I'm using to doing Hookah in a very lounge-y ambient environment so it was a big adjustment to come here because I find it a little on the grungy bar side.  It's nice that they have their own kitchen and serve food here.

Environment

There is usually a good crowd in here. In my experiences, I would say this place tends to cater towards college-aged males.  There's a bit of a grungy bar-like feel to this place, considering there is actually a full bar here that serves alcohol. I would prefer couches over regular chairs and tables because I think part of the Hookah experience is feeling relaxed in an ambient environment.  I like that this place is a social environment where you can drink, eat, and smoke hookah all at the same time.

Hookah:

I've had better Hookah.  Comparing the Hookah here to other places, it's hard to inhale the hookah for a longer period of time without feeling kind of suffocated. You also can't really hear or see the insides of the Hookah container bubbling while you're inhaling if you like that. I found myself coughing a lot because I was used to inhaling for a longer amount of time. It's nice that they refill your coal for free if you want. Overall, I find it very sub-par

The Ames location is great! But, went to the Des Moines location tonight and had the worst experience ever!!! The host, Ben, was a complete rude and a jerk! He gave me an attitude from the start. His demeanor seemed like he was too important to talk to us. And on top of that, refused to take my friends money for a dollar bottle of water because she wanted to pay in change instead of having to charge it to her card and them charging her and extra 50 cents... There should be a sign if you refuse change.. He then proceeded to tell her that if she doesn't pay for the water in an alternate way, she can leave because he has the right to refuse service to anyone. He came around to change the coals once every hour and kept loud obnoxious music on the entire night. Aside from the jerk host, the place is decent but it has definitely lost its originality and charm for me. It used to be a great chill place to hang with  friends and have a conversation and has become more of a freshman pregame hangout...