Xhale Hookah Lounge

This is the only Hookah spot in Forest Hills I visit– decent hookah and they offer the ice tips.
CON: Being asked to throw out your drink when you enter. I had a coffee with me when I entered the other day and the waiter came around to tell me I had to throw it out. Naturally, the finance devil in me did not want to throw it out and having had just bought the drink, I chugged it. I don’t know why it’s not allowed but I guess it’s to make sure no alcohol are sneaked inside.
Whenever the bf and I visit this lounge, we pay a little extra for the ice tip and order the Pan Masala mint. It gives you the perfect feeling where you’re on cloud 9 after the first inhale yet it’s not harsh because the ice tip is easy on the throat. The hookah also lasts a pretty long time compared to other joints I’ve been to.
Service isn’t that bad really — there’s someone walking around most of the time with coals so they’re changed periodically. I’m sure if you ask, they’ll cater to their customers and change it for you too. The staff are pretty nice — I had to charge my phone one time and they were able to charge it for me behind the counter.
Music — they’re usually playing some type of Indian/​Punjabi hip hop. I didn’t mind it but I don’t think my bf is too into it.
TV– a couple of Tvs are hung on the wall so patrons are able to watch the game anywhere from the seats.
Food-I’ve only tried their hashtag fries. Your typical American fries that can’t really go wrong. Not over fried, salty and just perfect with the hookah.
There used to be a cover charge during certain events but I’m not sure if that’s still going on. Gratuity I believe is also included so you won’t have to calculate the tip when you pay. Credit cards are accepted.
Overall– pleasant experience and will be revisiting next time.

Worst hookah lounge I have ever been to. The people that works there should learn about customer service. Their attitude stinks, plus they don’t change the coal until you ask them. Had the worst time ever. I wish I can give this place a negative rating, one star is a little to much for them. Shitty place shitty people.

This place wasn’t so bad at all. Now, I normally do not frequent hookah establishments, but I thought the servers were nice to us (and we were being very loud and obnoxious the whole time — and kept dropping our hookah all over the place and just being very annoying), and that the price was good (ended up paying like 12 bucks). We also bought outside food and drinks, and they were okay with us having our drinks but not the food — and even gave us some time to put it away rather than yelling at us.
So, we were told we have to order 3 hookahs because we were a party of 6 people. I was completely wasted and do not remember the flavors, but they were good flavors. I didn’t like the music, and we requested they put some other music on — and they listened to us :)
I thought the staff was nice, but I do think they need better lighting for selfies (drunk me wanted to snapchat major — but the lighting was making my pores look bad), and that maybe if they added some comfier furniture and paid more attention to our coals — it would be perfect.

This place was alright. The service was not that great for the fact that they took forever to change the coals for the hookah. The food was alright but the smoothies were delicious. They also have board games and card games which were pretty cool.

Really surprised by the horrible reviews some Unilocalers left on here. I’ve been coming to this hookah lounge for about 3 years and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself every time.
I’ve tried most of the hookah flavors they serve, my favorites being vanilla chai spice with paan, lemon drops, spongebob and meetha paan. The pull is thick and smooth and they last you a pretty long time.
They get their food from two doors down at a little restaurant called Munch, and it’s amazing! The burgers, wings, fries, are all great.
Love the music they play. I personally enjoy the punjabi music, and they also play mainstream songs which almost caters to everyones preferences.
The only reason I wouldn’t give them 5 stars is because I feel like they can work on the aesthetics of this place. The wall paint looks worn down and the most of the tables and cushions on the booth are worn down. I’ve been going to ignited for the past year (which is a fairly new lounge) so every now and then when I come here I seem to compare the cushions and tables to the new ones in ignited.
Other than that, it’s a great place and I would definitely recommend it!

You need to clean up your place and ensure staff treat people fairly and not in a illegal manner. That is the law. You cannot deny service based on race, color, creed, sexual orientation, and gender.
These people are racist toward non-​Indian/​desi people and their staff act like thugs. They call people racial slurs. The black people in the store were upset. I don’t know why the staff are angry and miserable people and look down at non-​desi.
We accidentally spilled water. They locked my wife and I in the store after-​hours and demanded we clean the water off the floor. We called the police on them for locking us in the store. Several minutes they blocked the exit of the store. They had no justification since we paid. Do not give these people business. Read the other posts here. These people are racist and criminal.
They called me racial slurs too. I called the police on them for locking me in the store and for trying to hit me. Do not go to this place. You will be treated badly. They had horrible service and they locked us the restaurant for no reason. This is criminal behavior. You should watch out if you go in there. The local Forest Hills police agree this is a bad place and they told me they had numerous calls there over time. Do not go here! Boycott Racism.
You tried to violently attack us and you physically blocked our exit after we paid. This is a criminal act. Evidence is not on your side sorry: Cameras, police call recording, our statements to the officers. 911 calls can be accessed with a lawsuit and are public records. Yes the cameras will show you blocked our exit after we paid. It recorded everything. You are an ignorant liar.
We do not lower ourselves to your level or garbage. And we spoke to the Forest Hills police around the corner, we had to leave the immediate area because you were violent and they told us about you.
Husbands and boyfriends do not take your significant other here. #Unsafe. Anyone would leave if two men with sticks were yelling at a woman. This is the USA, you cannot talk to people or attack people, this way without legal consequences. The truth is on our side. You should know the law instead of trying to be slick on the internet or laugh. Criminal assault and battery on paying customers is not a joke. Violation of racial discrimination laws is not a joke.
We asked owner to apologize. Owner is unwilling to apologize; sad. You should be ashamed; let this issue rest instead of being a deceitful liar. If they dont want to be nice to people or give good hookah service they should not take people’s money. #Expensive, #rude and #classless.
Do not go to this establishment. *Enter at own risk*

Best smoothies and hookah The mood killer was they were taking long to bring the charcoal I’m Arab and I use hookah at home it doesn’t take 20 minutes for it to turn up… We had to remind the waiter 3 times but I’ll still go here well just sit closer to where the waiters sit which is towards the end with their backs towards us…

OH SNAP. I WENT HERE ONCE. TOTALLY FORGOT.
Sometime last summer I stopped in here after doing a bit of shopping. I’ve been warming up to hookah and while I know that there are PLENTY of places to get your smoke on in Queens, it’s just too much of a hassle to go there for my leisure.
It was happy hour, so it seemed like a good call! There are SO MANY DAMN FLAVORS. Like at least a good thirty? And I believe they were 15 dollars during happy hour? Good freaking call indeed. There’s also a solid selection of items to eat. I was torn between the pizza or the burger, but I don’t trust pizza everywhere, so burger it was. And, mmm, that sucker was juicy! Crispy, hot fries too.
My peaches and cream hookah tasted great, had solid smoke consistency, and was tended often. Many hours were spent smoking away. Nice.
But no alcohol! I understand and respect this choice, but… nah dude. I wanna drink something lol. I can’t see myself going back any time soon because of this. Also, I’m just not much of a fan of the blaring hip-​hop/​rap music. I know that works for many, but I’ll pass. Especially if I CAN’T drink.
But hey, if you’re in the area, go. Servers are nice, place is clean, food is tasty, and hookah is sweet.
Edit: Thanks to the owners comments, I would like to state that if this establishment had alcohol, I would still not give it five stars. I give stars based off of my overall enjoyment, the service, the atmosphere, the content, how convenient the location is, if I would want to take friends there, and if I would want to go back. Though I did enjoy myself, I wouldn’t make plans to go back because there is nothing that stands out about this place. Especially to make the trek from upper Manhattan to Forest Hills. It’s very run of the mill, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it gives me no reason to go out of my way or suggest it to friends. Granted, I would go here than Parlay (which I can WALK to from home) if I had to pick between the two, but I have other, easier options. The reason why I walked in was because I had matters to take care of in the immediate area and after those were finished it seemed like a nice place to go to.
The décor (which I didn’t talk about in the review) isn’t even anything that I would call worthy of being defined as a lounge. It’s not intimate, or spacious, or comfy, its not even middle eastern. It’s merely there. Also, as stated prior, I’m not a big fan of the music selection which also keeps me from giving this place five stars. I think hookah should be relaxing and I CANNOT chill with the ever so boisterous tunes of whatever is playing on Hot 97 or Power 101.5! For me it does not mesh and takes away from the experience. If they play other kinds of music I cannot speak on that because it was not part of my experience.
It’s not merely because they don’t serve liquor, which I am WELL AWARE is a cultural choice. A choice that I RESPECT and don’t think should change! While it IS a selling point for me, it is not the ONLY one and to insinuate its keeping me from granting five stars is offensive. Last I checked, I was the only one that knows my inner thoughts and criteria when making these reviews. This isn’t even a scathing, negative review at that! I still recommended the place if you’re in the vicinity! I will not take a star off in spite of this, because I really DON’T want to. I just don’t think it deserves two. Let’s hope it stays that way and I don’t have to explain this further.

1) They serve food and drinks in plastic cups.
2) Coal change takes a long time.
3) They do not accept chip credit/​debit cards and they do not tell you about it before you order. You are lucky if you have cash with you, otherwise you will have to walk to an atm.

I used to go the this place very often and brought all my friends there for the lack of hookah bar existence in the neighborhood though service is bad. Long story short; you have to ask for your coal change and your request might be abandoned/​forgotten. And the most important of all; I gave them my phone and my charger for them to charge my phone since there aren’t any power outlets around the seating area. They changed my Apple charger with another one that isn’t working.

The best, good music, great hookah, Philly cheesesteak was the bomb, and overall great service, the workers are always attentive and do their best.

One of the best hookah lounges out there! You should try out masala colada. That’s my fav!

Hookah is awesome! I come here often and the staff is extremely friendly and accommodating.

Bad hookah bad service ew i hate this place smells discusting baad. I went there cuz its close to my home and i called waiter 1000 times to ask for check or to change the charko on my hookah but he won’t come and he was sitting with his friends like his chilling not working i was like wtf never gonna go again !!!

After further considerations, I can’t give this lounge 4 stars since I always find myself choosing to smoke hookah on steinway. It wouldn’t make sense to rate it higher than the places I frequent more often when I choose to smoke outside of my house. As I’ve said in a previous review, the hookah at xhale is fine, it was enjoyable. But why pay so much when I can pay $ 10 for a hookah that I will enjoy just as much if not more? As I’ve also said in my previous review, there’s no such thing as an excellent hookah when it comes to the nyc hookah scene. So when comparing lounges of equal merit it comes down to price point.
Another reason for my revised review is the fact that the music is unnecessarily loud in such a small venue. It’s personally not my cup of tea and biscuits.
On a side note to the owner: 1) it would not cost $ 50 a hookah if you tried to keep up with the new innovations that the west coast has embraced 2) San diego and San Francisco don’t have higher rents than austin street? Don’t make me laugh. Some places in cali are more expensive than the most expensive parts of nyc. 3) vortex bowls are made of cheap ceramics, made in china. You were probably smoking fumes for the 6 out of 7 hours (ceramic has terrible heat retention so instead of properly baking the tobacco from the bottom up you’re creating a thin crusty top layer too quickly thus preventing the heat to travel throughout the bowl properly). I highly recommend stoneware clay phunnel bowls 4) your responses kind of insulted my intelligence. Al Fakher doesn’t make Pumpkin Pie or Blue Mist… it’s a fact.

Womp, womp. My favorite pomegranate hookah just wasn’t the same this time around. I don’t know why. It if I had to guess I would say maybe it was a new person making the hookah??? Who knows. Maybe this is just a way for the hookah gods to nudge me into trying a new flavor. Haha!

1 hookah per 2 people.
They don’t ID.
Not gay friendly.
We have to get their attention to have our coals changed.
Music is pretty good (if you have a diverse taste).

SpongeBob & green lantern are a must !
Finger snacks are good love the shrimps, a must try their piña colada smoothies. Hookah is good there always checking up and changing your coals. Some nights can be pack. & music –rap and Indian music on some nights sometimes a mix up of different variety.

SO a group of friends and I came here on a Saturday night (³⁄₂₈) a little after midnight. Not sure if it was the cold weather or what it was– but this place was relatively dead. Less than 10 – 12 people were inside roughly, which we didn’t mind at all since it was the 6 of us. Now the seating arrangement here is a bit weird, since we had to split our group with 4 people sitting in one area and 2 people sitting in the one next to us. No big deal though, not too packed and we just wanted a chill night. We primarily came here because a few of my friends were hungry, wanted to smoke a bit and TGIF wanted us to wait about 20 minutes to be seated.
Fast forward about 5 – 10 minutes, one of the guys came up to our group and gave us menus. Cool, 5 minutes later we’re all decided what we want to eat/​smoke. I don’t know who’s genius idea it was to not use pen and paper to take orders… but this is what got to me (continue reading and you’ll understand). One of the guys takes all our orders, both food and hookah. I was the last one who’s order was taken and I ordered both food and a hookah as well, and I’ve got 3 others who sat around me who heard me order my stuff. Even the guy who took our order heard me since he repeated to me what I wanted.
Our hookahs came first and they were alright. Initially it was good but the coals kept dying out quick for some reason. Food came about 5 – 10 minutes later for my friends that ordered but not my food. No biggie, figured since I ordered some chicken it would take a little longer to make or something. 10 more minutes pass and my group and I are wondering what the hell happened– so I ask the guy who took my order about my food and he had the audacity to say «I didn’t order anything». Yup, he said it very straight that I didn’t order any food. The 3 friends around me looked at him like he was stupid, but i’m not one for making a scene in person– so I just asked if he can place the order in then. What got to me is that not only did he blatantly lie to my face, he made himself look stupid in the process as well. How the heck do you take my order in front of 3 other people, repeat it to me and then later go on to say I didn’t order anything?! SMH. Pen and paper good sir, it isn’t too hard to use. Instead of trying to impress some 18 – 19 year old girls at 1am, try focusing on your job instead of slandering your customers.
DJ here wasn’t the greatest. Had a few good hits, but mostly did some weird mixes throughout the night (how does one mix hip hop w/​slow r&b?) Overall– I wasn’t satisfied with my time here. I’ve heard very mixed reviews about this place, and now I can understand why. I don’t mean to bash this place at all, but i’m not going to sugarcoat it either. My first time coming here was whack and it easily all could’ve been avoided if the staff just used pen and paper & did their jobs.

I’m a bit disappointed, Xhale where has thou gone? I’m sadden by the fact that Xhale is not longer what I remembered it to be. This was my spot, the place where I learned to smoke hookah.
This was one of my favorite hotspots, which I was proud of and told everyone to come here. Back in the days (so long ago) I used to work in the area and you can catch me in here every other weekday with a bunch of friends enjoying well-​priced hookah in the company of fun attentive Xhale workers.
I’m not sure if it’s the success was what went to the heads of the managers here or just that they lost their passion. Xhale was one of the first locations away from Steinway where you can go enjoy hookah that prided itself as being better than anything you have smoked in Steinway. It’s overpriced, a normal hookah might end up costing you $ 20 or more. Not only do you get charged tax but a mandatory tip fee, which I think they place higher than 15%! Now the hookah, it’s on par with any other «regular» hookah from unknown locations. There’s nothing special about it that screams «give me five stars», it’s just average.
The DJ booth was moved down to floor level, now you can see a DJ just dance around like he’s crazy even when the lounge isn’t turned up and everyone is just sitting back relaxing, if the listeners can’t hype themselves up then I guess he has to at least hype himself up. That wasn’t the only thing to change. They used to let people bring in food or order from nearby, one of the waiters said they don’t let people eat outside food anymore. I don’t mind buying my drink here but let me at least eat something I want from somewhere else. I haven’t tried the food here and doubt I will. The waiter was nice enough to say it was okay for us to eat the cheesecake slices we had brought from another venue.
There’s still some pluses regarding Xhale’s location. Within a five block radius, there’s awesome places to eat and even a few bars to stop by just for a drink. Let’s not forget the legendary Martha’s Bakery just down the block. During the day, you can go downstairs to see cute puppies through a glass window.
I’m not trying to knock Xhale with my review, I have to be honest in letting people know what to expect. I would hang out at Xhale if I’m already in the area, bored without anything to do, but I doubt I would setup plans with friends just to come and hangout here.