Genie Lounge Cafe

I love small business and start ups for all sorts.  I also don't like writing bad reviews, however I've never been to a place that has earned it more than this.  This saddens me because I was really looking forward to going here based on the reviews.

Unfortunately, I'm almost positive that many of these 5 star reviews are faked by friends or acquaintances, I went in completely unprepared.  

So here's my story:

My friend and I found a groupon for this place and thought we'd check it out on a Wednesday night.  I don't mind paying for good hookah, but I think they're definitely hard to find here in the Valley.   So I was excited to possibly find a chill hookah place to mix up my usual venues.

We got here at around 9:30pm, 10pm.  There weren't any customers.  I was really surprised of how small it is.  I'd say it's a big as a large living room if that.  They were building a stage of some sort in the corner, so all the lights were on, making it the brightest hookah lounge I've ever been in.  I tried to look on the bright side (get it? ;) ) and focus on the fact that my friend and I would pretty much have the lounge to ourselves for a while and the bright lights would make it easier to do and see smoke tricks, like O's.  

We sat down on one of those ikea $20 futon couches.  I know because I used to own one.  The server came around and took our drink order, a water and an ice tea.  She brought our drinks, she left, we waited, she came back, and took our hookah order, left, was gone for about 2-5 minutes,  and comes back with a table top hookah.

First off, who in their right mind would pay their regular price of $20 for a table top hookah?? I still can't believe it.  Even now, I'm incredulous.

Also, the hookah she brought us had no hose, or coals.  The water in the bowl looked like it had been there for a while because there were beads of perspiration on the top of the bowl.  

Then she left.. for a while I might add.  We obviously couldn't smoke the hookah until she brought us a hose and some coals, so my friend and I just sat there and made jokes about how incredibly loud the music was for such an empty store.  At some point, my friend accidentally spilled his tea.  Even so, it took the server maybe, 7-10 minutes for her to actually realize there was a spill.   All the while we were just sitting there with a useless hookah in front of us.  The people who were building the stage started jumping on it and singing to the music.  Then more people met up with them and they moved to the parking lot to smoke weed right in front of the shop.  I guess that's how you smoked out at this hookah lounge.  Those acquaintances of whoever worked at this place made them look really bad.  

I don't understand why the service was so incredibly slow when we were their only customers!  When the person finally realizes my friend's spilled drink, she grabs a rag to clean it up.

*** The server did offer to replace my friend's tea, which was probably the only thing that resembled good customer service in this experience.  I almost gave another star just for that.

But instead of moving us to another table in this empty lounge, while she cleaned up the mess, so we can smoke some hookah, which we've been waiting for no less than 15 minutes at this point, we got a close up in person show of her cleaning the floor and table.Kind went like this:

She mopped the floor.. went into the back room, came out and mopped the floor again, went into the back room, came back and mopped the floor again.  Now that the floor wasn't too wet and soapy, she wiped the table.  This took about another 5 minutes.

Finally, after this debacle, she gets us coals and a hose, (can I say FINALLY again?).  We opt-in for the ice tip, because we figure it'd be worth the extra $2

I also know my ice tips pretty well.  The best quality is probably the mystic ice tip which will last about 2 hours but it's a bit bulky, and there are the capsule hookahs were you unscrew the top to put in a little frozen gel capsule, and screw it back on.. this will last about 30 minutes.  Their "frozen tip," I'm pretty sure was just a normal hose that they put in the freezer about 20 minutes before we got there.  This lasted one hit each and then was completely done.  The first hit wasn't bad but after that, as short table top hookahs will, the smoke got uncomfortably warm too fast.  Their was too much of a draft caused by the small shop and high ceilings to do hookah tricks.   Not to mention that the music was so incredibly loud still that my friend and I could hardly talk.

I asked if they could turn down the music since we were the only people there.  She said she couldn't because they were having an event.  (what a joke!)  It was a Hip Hop Event and eventually more customers may come and they'll want the music that loud and she can't keep adjusting it.  

Soon after that we left.  We were at this place for probably 30-40 minutes and didn't smoke for more than 10.  What a waste...

First of all, the customer service here was the most excellent service I have ever received and the staff was very welcoming and friendly. Service like that is very hard to come by. The hookah was long lasting and the service was outstanding. The atmosphere was very contemporary and fun. I had a great experience and recommend this place to anyone looking for a fun and inexpensive night out. Will definitely be a returning customer!

Awesome place to go to and relax with friends..I really like this place it's so welcoming and good deals!:)...very friendly ppl:D Awesome Chipotle bean burger, sounds funky but it's delicious! Plus every weekend it's different. Make sure you go!:)