A recent venture into the city for the College street festival found my friend and I street stranded without a suitable place to rest while we wet our whistles. Like a mirage in the middle of the Sahara, we came across Paaeez. No line up, plenty of available seating and of course Hookah pipes and shisha to go along with our much needed drinks.
For those unsure of that a Hookah or Shisha is, allow me to elaborate. A Hookah is a specialty Middle Eastern water pipe used in the smoking of shisha tobacco. Shisha tobacco being a molasses coated flavored tobacco that is ignited with a lit disc shaped coal. Most Hookah bars have switched away from the tobacco based Shisha in favour of its herbal substitute due to indoor smoking laws in Toronto.
Paaeez is an intimate location, dimly lit, narrow and long. The bar is towards the rear and limited seating is available through the front of house. It's a great spot for groups of 4-6 to chill out, order bottle service and rent a Hookah for the evening. The rental of the Hookah and a bowl of shisha goes for $20 and Paaeez allows you to mix any number of flavours (we chose watermelon and peach).
One concern I had was that their bar was severely under stocked for such a busy street festival. My friend and I attempted to order several different drinks, only to be informed that they were out of the ingredients required to make them (BOOOO). We begrudgingly settled on more basic drinks (gin and tonic and a basic cran-tini).
Other than that, the staff were animated and friendly and the music was loud and kept us bobbing in our seats. There was a mistake made with our bill and they charged us twice for our rental, however were quick to apologize and make amends once I flagged it.
Is this the best Hookah bar I've been to? No. However, I would go back in a second with the right crowd, as this is my kinda chill out spot and Toronto (and the GTA) need more of them.