After 8 Hookah Cafe

Came here on a random Wednesday night. Extremely nice venue. As you can imagine not many people on a Wednesday, but if you have a large party and need a place to go this is a cool spot. And staff is extremely nice and great service.

I was coming here for a few years, weekends and weekdays alone, groups, birthdays etc. Owner knew me I knew him. I got the asshole vibe from him but he never acted like that to me, I saw him act like that to his workers and other customers. Anyways the last few times I came I was treated horribly I came with a friend on a weekend when they have live music and belly dancers and got seated all the way in the corner when there were avalanche seats a little closer. After I came with friends who were visiting from Canada and my cosuins we got squeezed all 6 of us to a 4 people table. I was standing the whole time! And the last time I came the owner himself placed us at a table that said reserved right next to the dance floor where the belly dancers were performing, I then came with friends again group of 6 we placed our hookah and food orders right when they came he says we need to move you bc the ones that reserved here came! well you brainless person how about you dont seat us here in the first place! I didn’t want to get up he got security he said pay the bill I was like no I didnt even get a chance to eat or smoke hes like yes you did I’m like no hes like fine I don’t want your money I’m like fine with me, every since didn’t go back found better cleaner hookah lounges closer to me like red oak in Brooklyn! It deserves a zero 0– but their chicken shish kebabs are nice juicy and tender! thats why they deserve the 1. The 1 goes to the chef! not for anything else

Great place, fun crowd and friendly staff! They have multiple live singers and belly dancer show. Hookah is really good and lasts a long time, food tastes awesome. Table of 10 enjoyed our time!

I if I can start by giving zero stars, I wouldn’t even give it a thought. Let’s start off by saying that they were extremely rude to ALL their customers. They all had different information regarding pricing, minimums, and basically all information you need as a customer. They kept pushing us to buy things and after agreeing to buy the minimum of 3 hookahs for 5 people, they said now we have to buy drinks. We decided to leave after getting the first hookah and paying for it, but THEY FORCED US to tip them. They were the most rude human beings. They don’t even know the simple meaning of customer service. They just wanted us to give them our money regardless of how horrible the service was. I advise all people that appreciate human decency to stay away from this place. The food sucks, the people suck, the hookah sucks. I don’t think there is anything you can get out of this place. This is the second time I’ve been here and nothing has gotten better. I recommend all other hookah places around Steinway other than this one. What a piece of shit.

The owner of this place has a very aggressive angry attitude. He was very rude to the customers and the workers. The hookah wasn’t the greatest. The bathrooms were disgusting. Who the hell pukes in a sink. Nasty girls. Ambiance is nice but the owner gives off a negative vibe. I will never ever go again. Go spend your money else where. That owner needs to change his nasty attitude.

There are a lot of hookah bars in this area but this place has great music, good deals on drinks and actual room to dance. On the weekend you have to deal with the jerks at the door. They’re not the worst but they’re the typical goons that make you not wanna go to places like this. If you’re with girls that wanna dance though, you might have to vote l bite the bullet and deal with it

this is one of very few decent hookah places left on steinway thats not infested with under age kids trying to smoke hookah. staff is super nice and hookah good. happy hour till 10pm. That reminds me time to go smoke hookah

Nice décor. The place is larger now. I did not have any food here. The hookah was good and I enjoyed the live music on Saturday night. Drinks are a little expensive. I wish we had gotten bottle service instead…

this place renovated to make more room as if they ever had customers overflowing? I see no need for a bouncer when there it’s always a empty. I’ve been dragged to this place with a couple different groups of friends and there is always a few people that are seated by the wall and it’s awkwardly empty in the middle. They like to think they are a club on Fridays so they boost the prices without telling you, since when did a Snapple peach cost 8 $? And they overcharge the hookah and inclusive tip because it’s the damn weekend. As if there is a difference from the other days, it’s always dead. Don’t be fooled by the decoration. Rather go to a cheaper place down the street.

My friend had her bday after party at After 8 last weekend and everyone had a GREAT time! Arrived around 11 but this place gets packed around midnight! We had a group of 18 but getting a table wasn’t a hassle since they seated us near the wall and put three large tables together. Our waiter was friendly and attentive despite such a large group– the drinks were strong and well priced at $ 12 (they also have beer, buckets and bottles at very reasonable prices).
The hookahs were pretty good and the coal they use lasts forever! We were there for about 3 hours and had 9 hookahs going for the entire time so I’m pretty impressed. The atmosphere is trendy/​modern and so is the music; I love that their music selection is diverse– you’ll hear everything from Spanish music to Arabic music to Top 40s. Can’t speak to the food because only one person in our group ordered chicken wings haha but it looked delicious. I had their sahlab once on a first date years ago and I really enjoyed it so their middle eastern cuisine is probably really good! See you soon After 8!
Service– 5 stars
Hookah and drinks– 4 stars
Atmosphere– 5 stars
Price– 5 stars

Where do I begin? Came in last night with a few of my girlfriends, hoping to try something different on Steinway street. To say the least, we left ridiculously disappointed. After we ordered is when we saw a sign saying they take cash only, which is a pain with you’re with a large group considering not everyone carries cash. After our drinks were brought out, I waved down our server who seemed to be the manager as well. I explained to him that we may not have enough cash for the shisha so if he would kindly cancel the order and we would pay for our drinks. Instead of answering me, he called the bouncer inside for him to listen to my request. Umm if you have enough authority to seat us and take our order, why are you going outside to fetch the bouncer? What is the bouncer going to do? Anyway. I explain the situation to the bouncer and without hesitation he immediately says no. He unsuccessfully tries to convince us that every place on Steinway takes cash only. Are you an idiot? I’ve been coming to Astoria for years and have yet to come across a hookah «establishment» that takes cash only. Before I can even get a sentence out he walks away and literally does not make eye contact for the rest of the night. This place is pretty shitty and dingy so there aren’t many places to hide if you’re trying to avoid someone. The rest of the night was just awkward considering how rude he was to us. Our drinks were watered down which I’m not surprised by looking at how unprofessional the service was.
Now let’s talk about the shisha. Wow. Absolutely the worst hookah I’ve had. Like you would not be able to make a more disgusting hookah if you tried. First of all, we ordered a classic grape mint, we did not receive grape mint. It was low quality tobacco with a withered out flavor. My friend who has lungs of a champ took the first pull and was left coughing. The hookah was unnecessarily harsh. We waved down a server at least 4 times to change it. She would go back to tell the guys making it and would return without any help. Um this literally happened 4 times. There were like 3 other tables, there’s no way they were back there making more hookahs. Some dude finally comes out and changes everyone’s coal. Why did we have to wait till it was time for everyone to get new coal? We clearly had an issue with it initially and we couldn’t smoke it until he made time to come out from the back room. Fucking ridiculous. At this point we were just chugging our drinks to get the fuck out of there.
When we got the check they had included tip. How cheap. They clearly know people are likely to skimp out on tips considering how shitty their service and hookah are. Sneaky as hell. They don’t even deserve a single star to be honest.
We paid quickly and got out of there. We tried leaving but the same bouncer had a line formed in the door and was taking his time letting people in. Um the place is empty inside, why is he being a drama queen? When his dense head finally figured out we were trying to exit, he puts on a super high pitched feminine voice and says «oh sweety are you trying to leave? Here let me make room for you». Mind you, this dude is short, pudgy, overweight with dreadlocks. So hearing this squeaky voice coming out of his mouth was surprising. Some girl on line made a comment on how sweet he was being to us and his exact response was «no I’m being fucking sarcast». Ok dickwad, you’ll get very far in life.

Love this place. The best hookah in Queens. The best price for fresh fruit flavors. Watermelon is my favorite and orange next.

Hmmmm… I think I might just have to come back here again to see what all the hoopla is when it comes to After 8.
Granted, I’ve passed by After 8 Hookah Café several times after leaving a nearby hookah café or on my way to Melodys, but I’ve never actually stepped foot in the place. During the weekday it looks very lively, but the place just lived short of my expectations this past Saturday night.
After an afternoon filled with day drinking and bar hopping my friends and I decided to go to a nice hookah spot to end the night. We decided to check out After 8 around 10ish since there might be a good crowd and music at that hour. Boy, were we wrong.
We arrived around 10PM to an empty spot. I think there were about 3 or 4 other tables seated besides ours out of about 20 – 25. The place was comparable to a cemetery, which I found a bit odd since it was a Saturday night, after all.
Nonetheless, a waiter came over right away and took our order. After looking over the hookah selection we decided on a regular blue mist & mint sans the fruit head. We also got a bucket of Stella beers, which were about $ 25, I believe.
Overall, the mint hookah just didn’t pull as much as the blue mist which was disappointing, the music was great, and the service was okay. We were served right away, but after that no one really came to check in on us. During our one hour or two there we tried to make the most of it, but to no avail. You just can’t bring back to life what’s already dead.
Maybe on another day with a lively crowd I’ll decide to check out this spot again.

Much better service!!! Music is good level, food is great, hookah was on point!!! They served us right away, they were on point with the ciao refills. Everything was great! Went with our group of doctors and everyone enjoyed!

Been coming here a couple of times this year and have been pleased every time. Except for the fact that each individual of your party must order a drink. What if I’m not thirsty? Anyway, I got the cappuccino which was ok, and my twin got the Moroccan tea which she loved! And now on to the quality of the hookah, Ive tried a couple of different places around steinway but did not fall in love with any place until After 8. I usually get a paan masala flavor. Its so refreshing and the smoke comes out so smooth. My friend recently ordered paan masala inside a fresh fruit orange and it was INCREDIBLE for only $ 16. We all enjoyed the hookah and the staff was pretty friendly. You just gotta make small talk with them. And to make things better, their playlist has been on point every time. Its a mix of early 2000s pop and hip hop to now. :)

Went here the other night with a group of 14 as part of a friend’s surprise bday party celebration. We came at like 9ish and were seated in the middle at their numerous, very small rickety tables. Mind you, this place is HUGE but having all of those extra tables made it seem as though it was too big. Maybe they’re trying to go for a restaurant vibe because they do serve food (even though we didn’t get any.)
Anyway, it was pretty strange to be seated there. The sides of the lounge are lined with couches so we asked to be seated there since we were such a big group. Our waiter didn’t seem too sure of himself; he was kind of hinting that we had to get bottles if we wanted to sit there (EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE OTHER GROUPS THAT DID NOT HAVE BOTTLE SERVICE.) That irked me however since we were such a big group it made financial sense to get it as opposed to all of us spending at least $ 10 for individual drinks.
So we get seated on the couches yay. Hookah comes around and it’s pretty good. We ordered 7 different flavors. Only downside is that in this very BIG place there’s only one guy coming around with coal refills… so we stopped smoking halfway through since he wouldn’t fill up ALL of our hookahs at once…
That and the music is all over the place. I got the vibe of it being a Latin lounge but they also started playing some soca and even threw in John Legend’s «All of Me» out of nowhere! It was pretty strange and because of all of the stupid tables, it doesn’t make the place very dance friendly which is a big disservice in my opinion.
Overall, this place was MEH for me.

Mehh. Went here to watch the Knicks game saturday night.
Ordered a drink w rum, Pineapple & orange juice & grenadine, the drink came back heavy on peach schnapps and grenadine… I’m a bartender It was way to sweet to consume.
Mozz sticks were okay the «warm cookie ala mode» was room temp and drowned in whip cream.
Service was okay, one guy for the whole place but our hookah coals kept getting refreshed…
I HAVE A HUGE ISSUE–
We went w 4 people, and they added automatic gratuity of 20%. Now I’ve worked in the industry for years and that my friends is ILLEGAL. Auto grat is a minimum of 6 people (sometimes 8) or a minimum dollar amount (our bill was $ 60 before auto grat)
Not only am i offended bc I know how it is, and I usually tip 18−20% automatically bc we take care of our own
But being we were the only hispanics in the place, out of curiosity I asked the table of 5 next to us if they auto grat, shockingly NO they weren’t.
I was too appalled and upset to say something bc I know my boyfriend would have killed me if I did. but i will NEVER GIVE AFTER 8 MY BUSINESS AGAIN!

After attending a friends birthday event a bunch of friends in the group I was with wanted to go to a hookah bar before we all called it a night. This particular Saturday all of Steinway was pretty dead. That probably had a lot to do with the fact that it was insanely cold outside. Anyways, against my suggestion my friends decided they wanted to go to After 8. One of the girls in the group frequented the place and was dead set on it. I just shrugged it off because even though I’ve heard mixed things about After 8 I’ve never tried it for myself.
Like the rest of Steinway on this particular Saturday After 8 was completely dead. There was one couple sitting inside and one other person sitting by himself. Most of us were pretty tired and were only looking to split a hookah or two, smoke for a bit, and then go home. Why something so simple should be so difficult it beyond me. The servers were kind of rude and said we weren’t allowed to split hookahs. He said we all had to get a hookah and a drink. The last thing I wanted was another drink. I was drinking all night and had work in the morning. Why this place was being so difficult when they had no customers on a cold Saturday night was beyond me.
Whatever! I get a fresh fruit hookah because apparently I couldn’t order a standard one and I got a jack and coke or something. The drink was fine but I just didn’t want it. I gave it to my friend after about two sips. The hookah was so light and they didn’t leave you tongs so you could move the coals on the hookah. So now I’m stuck with a drink I didn’t want, a hookah which wasn’t the one I wanted, and I can’t fix it to my liking. What a miserable experience. On top of all of that the service was just terrible.
If you insist on coming here come during the week or on the weekend before 7−8pm. weekends at night they think they’re a «club». I’d like to think they’re a lot more relaxed and mellow during their less busy hours.

One of the quieter lounges on Steinway. Love coming here just because you don’t need to scream at one another to try to have a conversation. Prices aren’t bad either, and the servers are very nice.
Good hookah variety, not too harsh like some of the other places.
Seating is comfortable on nice couches and chairs. And also, they have two separate bathrooms for guys and girls so not everyone is waiting for one bathroom. Which they also keep clean, so no worries of stepping in someone’s pee or barf.
Overall a good experience.

Wanted to try out a new hookah place on steinway and decided to come here since it looked nice from the outside.
The music was a little too loud for my taste but overall the atmosphere seemed really good.
The pricing was cheap and typical for Astoria, 10 $for a hookah. We ordered a Moroccan tea and mango flavored hookah. The service was fast and everything seemed to be going well.
That was… until I smoked the hookah. No flavor, tasted nothing like mango and had stuff coming out of the pipe. Uhm, what is going on here? We told the waiter about it and he was emotionless but still went to resolve the problem.
Made no difference.
The only good part of the night was the moroccan tea honestly.
We got our check and when the Moroccan tea should be 4 $ each they charged us 5 $ each… but we didn’t really care because we just wanted to get out of this place.
Wouldn’t come back here. You can definitely find a better quality somewhere else on steinway.