"Ignite Hookah Lounge & Café"
July 13-15th 2013
Although not as vibrant as the lounges I am used to in the New York area. Ignite Hookah Lounge and Café succeeds in provide a quality smoke, along with a variety of freshly prepared finger foods. It's perfect for kicking off the night, or capping it off.
One of the many things I liked was the variety of shisha choices, especially from brands like Starbuzz and Fantasia, and their ever evolving menu always features something new and exciting (ex. I've never heard of a flavor called a Purple Dragon before). The shisha packing and quality cannot be stressed, these people know what they are doing. Although I do wish they would use natural coals more, I haven't had a harsh hit yet. It's very respectably priced as well; my mixed flavor with an ice base ($1) and the bigger capacity "Ignite Bowl" ($2) just totaled under $20 (about $17.29 I think) which is a welcome sigh of relief from the prices of NY hookah joints (upwards of $25+)
As for finger foods, I had the French fries and that's about it, but they were fresh and cooked the right way. I can't say much more on the menu unfortunately.
The gripes are only in the sense that you get a feeling that the place is still coming into its own, the interior styling does need a bit of work. But that should definitely not deter anyone from coming here and enjoying the hookah.
In conclusion, I am a visiting New Yorker who has noticed that mostly Houston is about heat (its humid here trust me) and quality food, and it seems I can add quality hookah as well. For the little gripe I had with Ignite, it still has a homely charm that embraces you, I guess that's what this whole "southern hospitality" is all about, as I've been back there 3x already in the past several days.
A 4 star rating may be a bit of a stretch, but I can't honestly justify anything lower than 3.5.
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Shehryar A. Malik
Twitter: @dj45cal
IG: @ryarhehs