Best Hookah Bars In Sacramento
The Shisha Lounge
1912 Fulton Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95825
(916) 486-2569
www.facebook.com/pages/Shisha-LoungeThe Shisha is a small, dimly lit lounge with great service. They don't seem to enforce any maximum number of people per hookah, as there have been as many as eight people there on a given night sharing two hookahs. Patrons will enjoy the occasional live DJ playing top 40 music, but you can request a song if you like. The Shisha Lounge doesn't serve food or alcohol, but it does provide tea and soft drinks. There are also a few flat screen TVs and neon lights adorning the room, providing a nice ambiance. An added plus is the connected smoke shop next door.
The Kasbah Lounge
2115 J St.
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 442-4388
kasbahlounge.comKasbah is a very popular Midtown hookah lounge offering up nightly entertainment and Middle Eastern water pipes. The added draw of this lounge is its outdoor patio, where patrons can smoke and enjoy a glass of wine from the list of more than 500 vintages. The decor, complete with arched ceilings and columns, transports you to the Middle East, as does the small plate menu, which also highlights flavors of the North African regions. No matter what night you visit, you're guaranteed to catch a live belly dancing show or tribal dance troupe performance. There's street parking only, so you may have to walk a few blocks, but for this place, it is totally worth it!
Hookaholics Hookah Lounge
8785 Center Pkwy
Sacramento, CA 95823
(916) 753-2119
www.facebook.com/HookaholicsHookaholics is a little out of the way in an unassuming shopping center in south Sacramento, but it's worth the trek if you're looking for a large assortment of tobacco flavors––the lounge offers more than 40 varieties of flavors and mixes. Hookaholics has live DJs and a belly dancer on select nights during weekends. The average price is about $15 for three people on one hookah, and if you have four people, you'll usually be asked to add a second hookah. No alcohol is served here, but they do serve food, making this a good spot to visit if you don't want to travel downtown.
Aladdins Cafe and Hookah Bar
9600 Fairway Drive, Suite 190
Roseville, California 95678
(916) 774-0110
www.facebook.com/aladdincaferosevilleDepending on where you live, this place is a drive, but worth it. Aladdin Cafe serves one hookah for every two people, so you won't be cramped around a communal. You'll find creative flavor blending in one of the only places to offer "frozen hookah," which is a nice change of pace from the throat burning experience of places with coals that become much too hot to handle. The Roseville spot usually packs a crowd on the weekends, with DJs and various theme nights like lingerie night. There's also a Rancho Cordova location.
Layalina
1596 Howe Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95825
(916) 923-3400
www.facebook.com/LayalinaSacramentoThis place gets crowded early on weekends, so check out their Facebook page to text for a guest list and avoid the cover charge. You'll always find great drink specials and usually 2-4-1s, but the specials vary depending on the night. Layalina offers more than 50 hookah flavors, plenty of VIP booths and bottle service, in addition to DJs and dancing on the weekends.
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As a hospitality professional Andy Soto has worked every facet of the industry. He currently leads the team at Spectrum Restaurant Consulting. He started writing a hospitality blog in 2009 and restaurant writing for Sacramento Press in 2010. In 2011 Andy became a Sacramento Restaurant Examiner for Examiner.com. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
