I was roaming downtown after a night of cocktails and in search of a hookah bar when Al Hayat popped up on my Yelp search. What can I say? Sometimes I get nostalgic of college days and decide to indulge.
Al Hayat was pretty hard to find though, I wish there was more clear signage. My Uber driver was almost going to just take me back to where he picked me up from! The Hookah hostess was pretty patient though and stayed on the phone with me until we finally found the location.
Al Hayat is tucked away in a (not going to lie) kind of sketchy little plaza. I'm not very intimidated by sketchy seeming places though, so I remained aware of my surroundings and figured I'd still give the place a shot.
The hostess/hookah server was so nice! What excellent service! She even asked if I had a preference in music and opened up the option of selecting the music that was playing. I was given a menu that had an assortment of flavors and finally decided on one. I've been to quite a few hookah bars and this one was about in line with the others in terms of flavor variety. I also ordered some tea which wasn't anything special, but nice to sip on during my solo hookah session.
The only complaints I have is the location and signage and the seating... there's plenty of seating but not comfortable options. I wish they had more variety to their seating arrangements. That may be because of the hookah bars in my hometown spoiling me with plush chairs and couches... but hey, if you're going to be sitting somewhere for a while it should probably be comfortable. Also, with the location some random car rolled up and it kinda took the sketch to another level... may be a good idea to keep the front door shut at night?
I'll probably swing by this place again and see if it's a little more lively on a weekend!