Isis Lounge & Restaurant

If you want empty hookah lounge in Pasadena then you should go there and chill because nobody will come to take your order for like 20 – 30 minutes. We asked the owner for our check and instead of bring our check he was smoking at the corner and chilling with his friends. Yesterday was my last day at that stupid hookah lounge.

This place is honestly the best place to go for hookah. Their in-​house flavors are always nice and smooth. The owner and staffs are always courteous and nice. Will always come back to this ISIS.

This is a pretty cool place. My friend brought me here for the very first time and it is a very laid back comfortable place to grab some hookah. The workers are very nice and the owner even came to the table to make sure everything was well. They have some pretty cool hookah contraptions and add ons here, so be sure to ask a lot of questions before ordering. My only concern is that they don’t give out tongs for you to take care of your own hookah. The worker explained to me that they don’t pass out tongs so the customer doesn’t burn out the hookah, this way if the hookah does burn I guess you can blame them for it. I still prefer to have my tongs and fix my own hookah. Wish they would also serve alcohol here though. I will definitely be back.

The place is decorated nicely, hookah was good and the server did a good job of checking up on you without being too intrusive or seeming like they were only asking because they had to.
Only issue is the owner keeps taking these selfie videos of him smoking. Awkwardddd bruh

Hookah was packed very nicely so it lasted over an hour and still kept going! The coconut gelato!!!
I will def come back and being more friends with me!!!

So I came a couple times and the service was never that great. But tonight I decided to give it another shot and it was the very last time I’ll ever come here. My friend and I were smoking a hookah that was not only bad from the beginning, but they denied the opportunity to fix it ourselves. Kept telling us it was fine once we just explained that our experienced was just ruined and that we didn’t want the hookah their whole attitude and vibe changed from just bad to horrible. They took our hookah and we watched them walk it over to another customer. By far the worst hookah experience ever! Not coming back!

The place is awesome, great customer service and very nice and trained staff, I recommend anyone who’s into hookah and awesome food to check this place out, these guys are very passionate about what they do and that’s why they are loved by so many people, great job Sarkis! The sad part is all these people writing bad reviews are like out of this planet or maybe relatives of other hookah lounges, honestly I did not even see one thing that I could say was off or wrong, the hostess was totally cool and friendly, these people are out of their minds for giving this great place a bad review, shame on you guys!

Great service, great staff. The food is amazing! So many options. Love this place. Was our first time here definitely coming back! Thank you!

Review #1: (5 stars) The lounge is so nice. Service is impeccable.
I was very impressed with the friendliness, cleanliness, and food. The food is really good. Their hookah was perfect and they have modern state of the art hookah accessories. Loving this place, will definitely be back.
Review #2: (exactly one week later) (2.5 stars) We walked in and it’s like nobody remembered us. It was the same 3 of us and I am only giving credit to the hookah and the waitress is sweet. This lounge is always empty. I am pretty sure it’s because they don’t let you sit on the couches. Literally one person came in the two hours we were there and instead of letting us be comfortable they’d rather spare their couches. There was room for everybody in the lounge to be seated on couches. Makes no sense. Food took too long to come out and was horrible this time. Mediterranean nachos are no Bueno and the chicken wrap had no chicken in it. It was disappointing this time around. Won’t come back for a while unless something interesting changes here.
So much potential at this lounge. Sometimes situations need to be dealt with case by case instead of sticking to some awkward set of rules.
This place would probably make more business if they just sold alcohol, didn’t have food, and made their music a little louder.
I would love to see this place expand and have more business but I doubt it. It’s just awkward.

I will never come back to this place. It seriously suprises me they are still in business. the service is terrible, the food taste bad, the owner is a highkill. There is honestly not one good thing about this place.
We came here when it was dead empty and the owner told us it was one hookah per 3 people and we were 4 people so he charged us 5 extra dollars. And didnt let us sit in a certain table because it was min 2 people only. There was nobody else in the lounge you should appreciate our business instead of having such stupid rules.
Save yourself the time and money and just go to a different lounge.

We came in as 4 people on a dead Thursday night. The waitress sat us on table directly underneath the ceiling fan. We asked to be moved to the couches and she became really uncomfortable and wouldn’t let us sit there because it was for 2 people only? Wtf the place is empty.
Anyways it wasn’t really a big deal but then the owner comes and tells us to cut her some slack because the hostess was new??? I didn’t like his attitude and the way he approached us about something so insignificant. We had simply asked a question and in no way were giving her a hard time.
Hookah was alright, menu is confusing, and management was on their phones smoking hookah and using the new hostess as a scapegoat for the «inconveniences». They also included their 15% tip as part of the bill which is illegal.
Would not recommend this place.

I’ve been to a few hookah places in the area and since so many places closed early, this was the only place open, so we went with a few people. My cousin and brother would come here from time to time so I figured it must be good. We walk in and it is completely dead, aside from one other group. We are seated directly under the fan and it was freezing. We requested to be moved to a different spot and they kind of snubbed their noses about it… the place is empty people RELAX!
We sat in the more cushioned area with pillows and each ordered a drink, got two hookahs, and some appetizers. We had another friend come and join us halfway through. They started making a big deal that only 2 people max per hookah and we each needed to order food. This is ridiculous! We all already ordered drinks and enough food. They should be appreciative that we are even in their establishment to begin with on such a dead day.
This will be my first and last time here. I did not like the vibe, I did not like their food, or hookah, I didn’t like our server, and I don’t need a bitter attitude when I’m trying to enjoy myself.
And please change your name, I feel like whoever dines here is supporting the rebels.

I have been here a couple times already, and just needed one more stop before I made an extensive review from a hookah experience perspective. I am local top the area and didn’t want to smoke hookah without the strain of preparing my own hookah, so I decided to stop by one more time. So here we go.
Pro (only one): The guy who prepares the hookah is legit. and not only highly experienced, has an extensive tobacco encyclopedia, and knows a wide variety of hookah paraphernalia, he hasn’t failed a single pack and can caterer/​recommend flavors combinations to the smoker. A top hookah expert.
Cons: 1) enforces a minimum for parties over 6, 2) does not cater to solo smokers for their «all you can smoke» (you have to pay the price of 2 people), 3) a drink minimum with pricey drink options (even just for water), 4) constantly out of a lot shisha flavors that are on the menu, 5) tab racks up plenty of ticky-​tack fees like opening a credit card, 6) they don’t leave tongs for the customer to adjust the charcoal, 7) for a small venue, waiters/​waitresses touch your table scarcely, 8) cheap hookahs (keeping in mind I’m comparing to other lounges)
Short review: Prepare yourself for unnecessary/​extra fees & to pay between $$-$$$ for an average overall hookah experience. If you come alone, you will pay an arm and a leg. This place would warrant a lower rating but there aren’t many local competitors.

Worst hookah place I’ve ever been too music was too loud and annoying. staff were so unfriendly. I asked one of the ppl who work there for new charcoal cuz my hookah was dying and he kept me waiting for 15 mins after that the guy kept asking if I was sure if I needed new charcoal. And after all the wait he just added one small piece
No wonder this place is so empty.

The food was AWESOME! We had the steak kabobs, hummus, portobello pizza. Delicious and good portions.
To top it off, the customer service was on point!
Great place!

I honestly don’t know where to start… I arrived here with 6 people a few weeks back, got there and seated at 8:15. We didn’t get our hookahs until 8:56, which is absolutely outrageous. The server struggled to take our order because she was new, which is fine, and even though she wasn’t happy (seemed nervous) she was still the most pleasant part about my experience — because I only saw her once and had to deal with the other staff including the owner the rest of the time.
Oh and the kitchen doesn’t open until 9? That’s fine and dandy I mean it’s your business but I ended up not ordering food because of this, as well as my whole group, and I don’t understand why you would open your kitchen RIGHT after prime time of eating, don’t see how that’s smart.
Our hookah was set up at our table (apparently a grommet — which you can buy in bulk for literally pennies) is something that they don’t want as an expense, because he proceeded to use paper towels instead (I get if you’re busy and run out and need to use it as a quick fix, but you had ONE other table. And you do this in front of us too?)
Hookahs smoked for about 15 min or so as decent (we got al fakher and tangiers) and then it was up to us to manage, which was honestly much better.
The hookah boy rudely told us to be careful AS he dropped charcoal while setting our hookah on the table (also, be careful! The couch we were sitting at had 6 tables precariously stacked next to it for no reason other than negating safety when storing excess furniture.)
I also ordered a drink that I know for a fact consists of throwing milk, ice, and powder into a blender for approximately 10 seconds. But instead I got told 10 minutes after ordering that it was «being worked on» and didn’t hear the blender turn on for another 20 minutes. I work in the service and hookah industry, and I understand when you are busy, but let me reiterate they had one table upon arrival (and only two upon departure.)
My main problem with this lounge is the owner. I know you read this a lot on here but he is very pompous and not willing to even hear words coming out of other humans’ mouths. I have never been so baffled at how much someone thought they knew compared to what they actually knew. This may blow his mind, but contrary to what he may think, you CANNOT just make up things you think are right, negate facts, refuse to listen to anyone’s opinion, and then get mad when someone tries to discuss it with you. It’s not proper and honestly hilariously unprofessional.
The part that saddens me the most is this page/​forum he has on FB where people worship his opinion like he’s Jesus. Let me be clear it is not his opinion that bothers me, it’s his complete lack of respect for any other human being’s opinion. This is prevalent on this page and in his lounge.
Bottom line is even if grommets were bought, hookahs were brought out within even 10 minutes at least, drinks were made on time, and everyone else was more attentive, I would not support this business because I cannot support someone who can talk down on so many people with no grounds whatsoever. I don’t think it is understood by him that you cannot just say you know everything and then BAM all of a sudden «now I must know everything and everyone else in the world must be wrong.»
Absolutely baffled. Show some respect, you have people that follow you and ask your advice and opinion (dear god please don’t ask me why, as I’ve read a lot of the incorrect things he tells people) and I don’t understand how people can value such a one sided opinion. At least if you tried to even be nice when you’re telling people they’re wrong you wouldn’t be making hookah such a hostile thing. Will not be returning.

Good hookah but you can get that at a lot of places.
**FOOD**
If you are coming for the food then you might as well try somewhere else. They did not have half the things listed on the menu. The fries and calimari were not the best but its not a gourmet place so can’t complain too much.
**STAFF**
Could have been a bit more attentive but the hookah guy was cool and quick.

Came here on a Saturday night and it was quite dead – should have been a warning. They hadn’t updated their menu, so the truffle fries that lured me there no longer existed. They also didn’t serve sliders anymore – just burgers.
Pros:
Decent hookah
Tangiers
Cons
McDonald style chicken wrap
Salty calamari
Ditzy staff
Salty fries
Unattended restrooms
Safe to say I will not be returning.

This place is a joke. the owner is a joke
Hookahs are horrible .we complained about the hookah and the owner came acting like scientist ooh I’m this I’m that STFU and fixed the f… hookah. then he started talking about how he spent so much on his remodel and his doing another 60k remodel for addition to me the whole place in good day is worth less then 10k
F$$$$ this place
DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY THERE

So. Here goes, keeping it very simple for the intro — I had food poisoning among other things we went through with this establishment!
FYI. I prefer to leave positive reviews vs negative ones — but this one I waited to sleep on it just in case I changed my mind. AND I woke up feeling extra upset over the experience.
Here’s how it went down:
Douche owner dude comes over to tell me I’m sitting in an area (corner couch near entrance) that has a cap of $ 100. You mean a minimum?! (Seriously). How would you have known how much we were going to spend anyway? Give some respect. What a fool. Btw. We spent $ 80 at a table two feet away. Only if we had a better experience.
As we ordered, they did not have two of the items we originally wanted. Hmm.
Food was mediocre. The wrap was dry and the tahini spread had minimum taste. The Fattoush salad was sour. The manager (of some sort) compared their fries to McDonalds. They «make» their dipping sauces, which I think was the culprit in the food poisoning. My friend was also sick.
Restroom is needed of a remodel!
They charged an extra $ 2 for coals and 15% service charge (for two people). Extra hmm…
But here’s why I gave two stars:
Star one — Ally our server was new but very sweet. She was cheery and pleasant.
Star two — Saga our hookah attendant was also new but outgoing and also pleasant. Good luck with your endeavors!
We gave extra «service» tip just for these guys.
Overall, disappointing experience.
To the owner — words of advice from another business owner (who also uses social media as advertising — btw has over 150 reviews 5 out of 5 stars) — Customer Service is key. Listen to what your customers are saying, all the good and bad — then make changes to deliver a better experience. Not just remodeling your business, you need to remodel your outlook on how you treat and serve your customers and deliver that experience.
It takes years to build a good reputation — but one bad day can destroy it.