2.5 stars
Hy Lounge is one of the mysterious places I wondered about for quite some time before finally venturing inside to see what it's all about.
To begin, a 'cocktail' lounge is quite uncommon for the uptown area unless one considers Milestone's or the local pub to fall under that category. That being said, hookah which is the other specialty of Hy Lounge is not an anomaly by any means. This would make one assume that they would serve decent hookah to keep up with the competition. If you walk in with this assumption as I did, prepare to be disappointed! Unfortunately Hy Lounge serves up some of the worst Shisha I have ever tried. We ordered 3 for the group and all 3 were below standard.
On to the drinks, the cocktails were all around well received and I even found my own order of blueberry tea spiked with Grand Marnier and Amaretto to be well balanced and very suitable for winter (also only slightly more expensive than Starbucks at $4/tea)!
In fact the variety and price of the drinks offered definitely raise the rating of Hy Lounge and salvage what would have been an otherwise poor experience!
The venue itself is alright and can use some maintenance/cleaning. There is a back area with larger tables for bigger groups and a decent space if you are looking to catch up with friends.
The service is a bit mixed but overall satisfactory. The manager and a few guys who work at Hy put in a great effort to make this an overall satisfactory experience.
Give Hy a thought if you are in the area and want to grab a quick drink but forget about the hookah.