First time ever to Shish. I am Lebanese, so when I saw the Groupon for Middle Eastern Food, I bought it. The food did not disappoint.  In fact, the Baba Ghanoush was as good as my Grandmothers and the Kibbi was fantastic. There was a jazz band playing, which made my night out with my daughter even more  special. We met the owner, such a personable young man. Very impressed. Wish him continued success. I will definitely spread the word!
Review Source:We didn't go for the nightlife, I had a Groupon for dinner. we arrived at 6 pm on a Thursday. The place smelled of mildew and stale beer. There were a couple of bored-looking guys drinking on stools at the bar. No one greeted us or even looked up. Finally, someone seated us in the separate dining room. No one else was in there and no one else ever came while we had dinner. We were left with the menus for more than 20 minutes. I finally got up and went to the lounge on the other side of entrance to find our waiter standing behind the bar chit-chatting. The Greek salad when it finally came, was bitter. The menu is very limited. There was no lamb, at least not pieces of lamb. There WERE 4 ways to get ground lamb. I settled for the ground lamb kebab. It took forever to come, and when it finally did, it was overcooked and bland. If there was any marinade, I couldn't taste it. I couldn't tell the lamb from overcooked ground beef. The rice tasted plain and flat without any sauce, and they didn't serve any kind of bread, flatbread or otherwise. All this for New York City high prices. We skipped dessert. I left a minimal tip and vowed never to go back again. I think all the 5-star reviews here were written by cronies of the restaurant. People could disagree with me. I mean, I could be wrong, but not THAT wrong. There wasn't even one good thing about the experience, and the complete lack of other customers tells me that others agree.
FOLLOW UP TO YOUR RESPONSE
You answered me off line with a lot of reasons to explain why I had inattentive service and unpleasant food. I answered you in private that none of your "reasons" changed the fact of my bad experience. Now, your public response suggests my review had something to do with my Groupon, despite the fact that I gave very specific reasons in my review for why I was unsatisfied. I have no way to verify your claim that the restaurant is very full tonight. Perhaps you are busier on a Friday than on a Thursday. None of this changes the nature of my experience last night. I don't want to extend this conversation any further. If you wish to post more comments on Yelp to deny, spin or alter the perception I have left, you are free to do so, but any lack of response from me beyond this one will not be because you have changed my mind or changed the facts. My review stands.
What a surprise! Typically go to the center but decided to try shish out. Got in around 8:30 on saturday with a group of 6 for a bday. They sat us in the dining room . Dinner was delicious. Definitely try the empanadas. After dinner we went to the bar and had a blast dancing! Def a great spot!
Review Source:Went to Shish on Friday 26 April 14 at 7:30pm to see Nat Reeves, great bass player. The host, Julian, was most cordial and came to the table a couple of times to see if everything was okay.We had the lamb empenadas that were excellent as was the shrimp flatbread. The chicken wings were mediocre at best. The service was literally non existent. The bartender took our order and delivered our order. There was a waitress there who spent most of her time at the bar. When we finally got our check, they had automatically included a 20% gratuity charge. I don't mind tipping 20% for great service, 18% for party of six or more. It's unacceptable to be made to pay 20% tip for non existent service. Upon complaining they admit to having problems. If you choose to go BEWARE OF AUTOMATIC GRATUITY!!!!! Will never return.
Review Source:Wed nite - Swing dancing was so much fun here! $5 cover for lesson and dance from 8pm to 11pm or 11:30(?). Great crowd and nice dance floor and good music. **Free and plenty of parking across the street from Shish, past the gas station.
Thur nite - Salsa dancing was pretty bad. Barely anyone was salsa dancing and the crowd was pretty declasse. Three girls got in a cat fight, pulling hair and broke glasses and beer bottles. Not an environment I want to be in. Unless you REALLY like dry humping to latin music, I'd say avoid Thursdays at least for the time being, but that may change. **Free valet parking and coat check!
I've been here only twice now, but I really like the staff including the valet and coat check and of course the bartender. They are some of the nicest staff I've run into in a while in America, and I've lived in several different states. Also, I did really like the dance floor and the decor.
I love this place and I don't care that I'm almost thirty! Â I also went there sans makeup and I wasn't kicked out...lol! My boyfriend loves dancing there and he's already 30...lol! This place is surprising very welcoming to all people of all ages! Â Drinks are da bombs and if you come before 10:30, they're half-priced and no cover charge. Â If I was college-aged around here, I would be here more often! Â The DJ tends to spin some 90's jams, which brings me back to my high school radio-listening days.
Review Source:I think this review would be most helpful if presented as a series of bulleted tips. So here goes...
-Pro: If you arrive before 10PM, there's no cover charge.
-Con: If you arrive before 10PM, there will be NO ONE there. It's a bit eerie when you show up to an empty club... you feel like a real nerd.
-Pro: The specialty cocktail menu was half off until 10:30. And MAN did those drinks have a ton of booze in them... Try the Robin Hood or the Summer Breeze.
-Con: The regular prices of these drinks. Most are $8-10, not for the faint of wallet.
-Pro: Some of the food was pretty good for a nightclub. We enjoyed the lamb empanadas, dates stuffed with cheese, and flatbread pizza.
-Con: It took forever and a day to get our food. Kind of puzzling considering we were there so early.
-Pro: Nice staff, waitresses, and bartenders.
-Con: Questionable DJ. The selection of songs is good, for sure. But he'll play 90 seconds of a great song, then crossfade into another one before we've had our fill. I've had about enough of the "Attention Deficit Disorder Remix" syndrome that seems to have infected most DJs and cover bands these days...
-Pro: A very impressive girl/guy ratio...
-Con: I have a girlfriend... (Just kidding honey, love you!)
It was a better experience for us than originally expected. If you do a little planning, you can have a fun experience at Shish without breaking your wallet. Arrive at about 9:30, order cheap drinks, and wait for the crowd to come.
This place is WAAAY better than Cuvée, the other West Hartford lounge just down the street.  It actually has an atmosphere of fun and spirit, and the patrons don't just sit around acting like they are Masters of the Universe.  People dance and let go a little here. Â
I was expecting it to be a little pricy, being that it is only 2 blocks from Blue Back Square, but it was surprisingly not too bad. Â I spent about $40 total on 5 drinks, which I think is pretty reasonable for a bar in that location.
And it was $40 well-spent because they DO NOT SKIMP on the alcohol. Â Maybe it had something to do with the fact I went without eating for about 4 hours in advance but 5 drinks there practically put me flat on my back! Â I fell asleep in my car and woke up and it was 4:30 AM.
They have free parking on site, free admission before 10:00 (so go early), and a free coat check, which came  in handy because I parked about 10 min away and it was quite windy and cold. Â
I went last night and there happened to be an engagement party with a bunch of people in their mid-20s. Â One of the guys there was dancing pretty wildly and he kept bending over in front of me and shaking his butt at me (I think to mock me), but then he acted really shocked when I took a few liberties and slapped him on the arse! Â I think he was straight because all of his friends said, "WOAH!!" and he took off right away.
I don't agree though with the other poster who said the DJ was terrible. Â The DJ was beyond terrible. Â He was THE BALLS. Â I think he may have had a bad case of ADHD because he wouldn't play more than 2 minutes of any song and then he would switch to another one right away. Â It's a very sad way to run a dance night because it makes it much more difficult to get into a good rhythm. Â I requested a Lady Gaga song and he played it for maybe 2 min. and then switched it up. Â What is the point of having a whole song remixed if you only play snippits of it?
There's simply no place like Shish Lounge in central Connecticut.
Enjoy a night with a great DJ, great food and also some great dancing on a huge dance floor that is always filled with beautiful ladies. You'll be sure to have a fun night at Shish Lounge.
The couches are also very comfortable.
If you don't like the music in the main room, there is another room with another DJ on the weekends. Open Thurs-Sun night.
There is also free valet parking and excellent security.
Thursday nights is Latina night.. so many hot girls show up and do this Salsa dancing thing..
You're probably wondering, "Bob, you've Yelped a couple of clubs... are you a lounge lizard?" No. More like a "disco duck."
An old, fat guy like me just isn't going to have the same kind of time that the kids do in a place like this. However, the kids (not my kids -- young friends) just love me and pulled and tugged and begged me to come here. So here it is...
I, who years ago wasn't willing to wait on line to get in to Studio 54, was asked to "wait a moment" by the doorman, who actually had a cute little red velvet rope about four feet long that he used to keep the crowd at bay. Me, the three young folks, and two other parties -- a couple of ersatz hipsters and three young ladies who squealed, giggled and tittered as if there were small animals running around in their clothes.
The "House" music boasted isn't house at all. The dee-jay the night we went had a pretty solid following, but he disappointed the crowd several times by slowing things down a bit. He did nothing but harm the vibe in the place.
Drinks were expensive but not at all short on the liquor. The bartender didn't know how to make a negroni so I settled for a gin martini. It was large and made with care. The olives were too small, however.
I couldn't help but notice the people all around me trying so terribly hard to be hip. They were just trashy twenty-somethings who shop for clothes at the mall. I'm so very glad that I've lost any and all need to be self-conscious in an environment like this.
There are a couple of really great places to enjoy this kind of music where the crowd is actually cohesive, friendly and into a good time - those places are in New Haven and Hartford. The uber-competitive, West Hartford entitlement vibe of this place was a humongous turn-off for me. Again, I'm sure if I was about thirty-five years younger and perhaps on the prowl, my perception would be more forgiving.
The club is very pretty. It's clean and parking's safe.
After looking around different websites of restaurants, we decided to try dinner here. Wow. Were we surprised. Despite how nice the website looks, don't be fooled. This is not a restaurant. This is a club/lounge/bar that serves food. In broad daylight, this place looks sad. If you omit light and add some music and liquor, I'm sure this place looks a lot better.
The food, itself, was decent. We got a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> certificate so I didn't mind. Had I paid full price? I would not have been happy.
A side note: I got a Guinness while waiting for my friend to show up. Had to send it back (and rarely do I ever send anything back). It was flat. Next beverage of choice was out of the bottle for me.
Not bad...
I've been here twice, both times for Randy Boyer shows.
Last time I was here, the girl at the door collecting covers didn't thoroughly check the guest list and charged me and my companion $10 each (even though we were supposed to get $5 reduced admission). My friend (who manages the dj) came back and sorted things out for us (as she was the one that put us on the list) and we got some money back. It's not a difficult job to read names off of a list, so that was annoying.
Overall, I've enjoyed myself here. It's relatively spacious so you always have room to dance. There's seating areas if you want to rest your feet. The bar is big and drink prices are decent for a club, but still relatively pricey. They also have food, if you're hungry, which is sort of nice and convenient.
It's a club, so you just need to be aware that you're going to spend money.
They are only getting an extra star because our drinks were pretty well made, with that said...We wont be back.
I have previously heard some buzz about this place so I figured we give them a try. Then they  had a groupon (<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgroupon.com&s=dddd6d4a067849d455557df3f740429e9a4df76571dab2a2356ac944fa74372c" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://groupon.com</a>) a while back where you would buy a $20 groupon for $10. I thought that at the least we could use it for some drinks whenever we decided to go. We came here on Friday night for Happy Hour, and there was not even a single random customer in this place. There was only one waitress and the bartender and I assume a cook. We each had a drink and ordered an appetizer to share, just so we could use the groupon and get out of there!
This place is located under what seems to be not the classiest hotel around, yet conveniently located a few blocks away from Blue Back Square. The place just seemed a little odd. Maybe they have quite the crowd later in the evening, but I'm not willing to stick around and find out.
Don't let my 3 stars deceive you. It should probably by a 2 but I am adding one because of my bias against these sort of clubs.
Here is the thing: if you like expensive clubs and house music, you'll like this place. That said, there isn't really anything special about it. Here are the main things I noticed...
1) I crazily paid a $15 cover (which I have rarely even done in NYC) for some no-name DJ to spin stuff my grandma could put together.
2) Drinks were expensive, but good.
3) The couches, if you can get one, are comfortable and great for people watching.
4) The people are attractive, also great for people watching.
5) There is more fake fog in here than Lazer Quest, so be prepared for some dry eyes.
It may be harsh and a bit whiny, but there's the truth. I don't think I will be going back again too soon.
Two other things! Free parking and free coat check are actually pretty awesome. I guess this place is actually a safe 3 stars.
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