Providence Byblos

Our hookah coals were dying, but the waitress wasn’t attentive to that. An hour later, she gave us a new one. Finally.
The atmosphere here is pretty good. Love the Middle Eastern music and cultural setting. Definitely wish there were backings to all the couches, though. Super uncomfortable to have the table low to the ground, coupled with no back support: not fun.
It’s a decent hookah bar off Thayer. Come here if you’re in the area. However, if you’re looking specifically for a hookah lounge, there are better places.

Byblos is a so-​so hookah bar. 1 star off for the music — House/​Techno at a hookah lounge just feels very out of place. 1 star off for the inconsistency of the hookah setup and service if you’re in a small group. I’ve been here a bunch of times in a variety of settings. I’ve noticed that the larger your group is, the better service you will receive. In part, this is due to having multiple hookahs and the need to attend to them more often.
The ambiance is different based on whether you’re seated upstairs or downstairs. Upstairs features couches and more of a «lounge» feel, and downstairs is more of a bar scene. The flavor selection is awesome, and there’s a variety of bases available including ice and ice hoses. They have fruit heads available too, if you’re into that.
The drinks aren’t bad, but they’re nothing special or particularly memorable.
Happy hour hookah ($ 8 off) and ladies night are the times to come here. Overall, worth it if you’re around the College Hill neighborhood and want to hookah. However, there are better hookah lounges in Providence.

We went here as a group of six, where only 2 of us wanted to smoke a hookah and the rest just wanted to drink and accompany our friends. The problem was that they kept insisting that because there is 6 of us, we need to get 3 hookahs and when we tried to explain that only 2 of us will actually be smoking, the owner treated us really rude, and just walked away while we were still speaking. I totally understand that lounges would want to limit the number of people sharing one hookah, but trying to force us into getting 3 hookahs when only 2 of our group wanted to smoke is unacceptable. So we left and went to another place.

Love this Shisha Place so much. Danny the (OWNER) is so nice. His mom is such a sweetheart. She always makes good food for us everytime when me and my hubby is here. FIVE STARS for Providence Byblos.

My favorite hookah bar in providence, great specials and their drinks are so good! 4 stars just because of the vents, they ruin the vibe sometimes if you’re right under them but overall really nice place

This place has the best hookah I’ve ever had and the service is very good! The atmosphere is very casual looking yet fun. They make really good drinks and the music is always on point.

I love this place! The hookah is flavorful and very fresh. The wait staff is amazing and attentive. The owner always is getting the customers at the for when I come. And their ciroc sangria is SO BOMB!

I visit here six months ago. It was my 3^rd time visiting R.I. This is a nice hookah bar. Casual, friendly atmosphere. Not too pricey and, it competes with some of the upscale or classy hookah lounges I’ve been to in central and, south shore Massachusetts. To top it off, they have French press coffee and, Lebanese coffee in which, isn’t offered at any lounge in central Massachusetts. I would recommend this place.

Love this place! Great atmosphere, great drinks, friendly people, and great music. Very relaxing! Will be back! :)

I’ve been to Providence Byblos several times over the past couple years. While the experience has never been horrible, it’s not the experience I would expect out of «The First and Original Hookah Lounge in Providence.»
Let’s first look at the bouncer at Byblos. Every time I’ve been to Byblos he is outside checking IDs and putting on wristbands. He also seems to manage the flow in and out of Byblos. I’ve never arrived and seen a line to get in. There’s never more than one group ahead or behind us. Every time I’ve been the bouncer has asked us to wait. I’ve stood outside the window waiting to get in to see plenty of empty tables. The bouncer has always finished whatever he was doing on his phone or talking to his friend and then brought us in. I have no idea why it is necessary to have a small group stand outside in the cold, he also has never communicated with any other staff when this happens. I can only assume the wait was solely his decision. I also have been there when he asked us to step out of the way while he shook friends hands and let them in after he had started to check out group’s IDs. Not very professional and definitely not the vibe of the lounge.
The lounge itself is divided into an upstairs lounge area which is great for larger groups. The first level bar area has a few small tables. My favorite area is the outside patio. It’s a beautiful space to relax with some friends on a warm summer night. Another benefit of the outside area is that you can have a conversation. The dubstep music inside is so deafening you won’t have any sort of a conversation inside. Definitely not the laid back atmosphere I have come to appreciate at a hookah lounge.
The wait staff at Byblos are always lovely, willing to make suggestions for hookah combinations and offer a twist on something we’ve already tried. The girls have always been attentive and check their tables frequently. The downfall is that they struggle to properly set up a hookah. I find that the hookah’s are never air tight resulting in poor air flow, weak smoke, and minimal flavor. The heating element is also not done well. I find that 9 out of 10 times my hookah is so harsh due to improper heating that we can’t tolerate it. I also wish you could add an additional hose since the hookah is difficult to share with more than 2 people. They do know how to make a nice fruit head for the hookah which looks neat lends little to the actual smoking experience. With single flavors starting at $ 22, it’s not cost effective to have such a subpar smoking experience.
For food we’ve shared multiple items off the menu. We’ve sampled the hummus, spinach pie, and chicken delight wrap. The only item we did not enjoy was the hummus. Texturally it wasn’t as creamy as we prefer, more on the gritty side each time we’ve tried it. The baked pita chips it comes with are also lacking each time. I would recommend the spinach pie and chicken wrap if you’re looking for a quick bite.
Finally the drinks. I’ve had hot tea (lovely!), standard mixed drinks, and some specialty items. I’ve had the bartender steer me away from several of their martinis and bowl-​style beverages. I’m never thrilled when the wait staff are making faces when you order something signature. All the specialty cocktails are fruity and there are a few bowl-​style drinks to share. Their Genie drink for 2 is what we had at the most recent trip to Byblos. It was not bad but served in the base of a hookah with short straws. Definitely not the greatest set-​up to share with a friend.
While Byblos has a lot of negative aspects, I wouldn’t say I would never return. I don’t necessarily enjoy it there but I’ve also had significantly worse hookah lounge experiences. For a night out with a group of friends who enjoy hookah, it’s one of the only remotely decent options in Providence. If you’re a true hookah lover, it’s worth a trip up to the Worcester, MA area where hookah is done extremely well at all lounges.

Nice place, very cozy, attentive staff. Loved the middle eastern music, good strong hookah

The hookahs are on the expensive side, but the atmosphere is relaxing and pretty, the servers are friendly, and the alcohol selection is plentiful. I’ve never had to wait to get in. Last time I went, I had the mango, and it was good. Last winter, I tried a seasonal flavor and wasn’t disappointed either.

I am not a smoker at all but was out with a friend who suggested it. I had tried it once but may have been on the tipsy side and didn’t really get it. I thought hey live a little. It was very busy but we did not have to wait long. A man who I assume to be a bouncer greeted us right away and said it would be a few minutes. Understandable because it’s a very small place. If your into a sexy atmosphere this is the place. Low lights and sultry music accompanied by attractive women servers. Our server was awesome. She recommended some flavors for us and explained how it worked which was great because I had no clue. They had an extensive alcohol menu with all kinds of choices. I went with a watermelon hookah and it was pretty cool. Very mild and relaxing. I can see why people like it. It’s a great idea for a place to try something different. It was 23 for the hookah and you can spend more if you want to mix up or add flavors. They have a happy hour special too which I think is seven bucks off certain days. Great option for a first timer.

Came here on a recent Friday night with a large group of friends. The servers were attentive and quick with our orders, the atmosphere was great and comfortable, and the drink prices I found to be very reasonable.
My only complaint is that the hookah I didn’t find all that great. Our group had several pipes and all seemed very airy with little flavor or smoke. Other lounges I’ve been to use a disc-​style charcoal and supply a pair of tongs to move it around to taste, versus the cubed charcoal here with no tongs.
Overall, I’d check it out again and see if the hookah was just a fluke. It’s a nice place and the owner seems to care about making it a great experience. The front door situation seemed chaotic, but I don’t envy his situation– that’s a tough job even without having to deal with entitled college students.

I’ve been to Byblos many times before and it’s usually been a good experience. I don’t know when things went downhill but tonight was definitely an eye opener. I’ll try to keep this short, but the details are very important:
I showed up Saturday with 3 friends shortly past 12. There were several people at the bottom of the staircase. We asked if they were waiting to get inside, to which they replied no, they were simply enjoying the warm fire (there’s a flame near the entrance).
The bouncer approached us, asked how many were in our group, and proceeded to check our IDs and give us bracelets. As he checked each of our IDs we walked up the staircase and went inside. I was the last one to be carded. After getting a bracelet and reaching the top of the stairs the bouncer shouted at me to tell my friends to come back outside.
I opened the door and told my friend to grab the other two. 30 seconds later as all three friends came back to the door, the owner (or manager, not sure who he is but he’s a buff guy) shook their hand and said have a good night. Confused, my friends corrected him and said they just got here.
At this point the bouncer informed Mr. Buff that we had not been given permission to go inside. Mr. Buff immediately became irate, assuming we intentionally tried to cut the line. He instructed us to go back down the stairs. My friends and I, still confused at why we were carded and given bracelets, walked downstairs and tried to explain the misunderstanding. I apologized numerous times yet both the bouncer and Mr. Buff refused to hear any of it. They began treating us like a bunch of unruly high school kids in detention, «Ok, now it’s a 30 minute wait» «Ok, 45 minute wait.» «Keep talking…»
Insane. Let me be clear here: we were not being disrespectful, we were not arguing that we should be next, we simply wanted to apologize and make clear that this was a genuine misunderstanding. We didn’t realize (till after the fact) the bracelet was not an invitation to come inside.
Never have I been treated with such condescending remarks and disrespect, even at the most upscale places. At that point we decided to leave.
Questions to management:
1. Why are you asking how many in a group, carding people, and handing out bracelets if you are not ready to let them inside?
2. If you insist on handing out bracelets when people arrive why not make it clear that there’s a wait? (i.e. «Please wait here until you’re called») The bouncer never said anything until 3 of us were already indoors.
3. What was the purpose of your insulting remarks? I apologized profusely and yet you continued to silence me in the most condescending way possible. Is this your way of pretending your place is exclusive?
Honestly I don’t think I can come back here ever again. That was completely over the top and demonstrates one of two things:
A. You regularly have to deal with undesirable clientele
or B. You clearly have no clue how to treat your clientele
I’m leaning towards the latter.

Great atmosphere… Fun edgy employees… Cool music. Will definitely come back.
The peach flavor is to die for… Accompanied with there out of this work red sangria.
Chill laid back calm place…

I would have given this place a 4 star review but contrary to what others have said here… they do not change out coals. I came here with my friends on a Wednesday night and ordered 2 hookahs + drinks. The server informed me that they usually do not provide new coals unless we pack with new shisha and was very adamant about this. I usually would let this slide if i wasn’t as informed about smoking hookah. Being from a country where hookah is a large part of every day life (and managing a hookah bar myself) I knew that clay bowls can handle 2 — 3 changes in coco nara coconut coals before turning harsh. Even then, if a customer asks for a new coal, it obviously means that the tobacco itself doesn’t have enough heat and wasn’t harsh (or else I would have asked for a new pack).
Shisha itself was okay as they use Al-​Fakher shisha and do not have other choices such as Star Buzz etc.
Drinks were very very good.

Service: The service was good. The servers were attentive and frequently changed the coals.
Drinks: very good selection of signature drinks and heavy pouring.
Hookah: there is a variety of hookah flavors with a bunch of add-​ons — the prices are very reasonable.
Décor: Pretty standard and clean. The tables are sticky because they haven’t been varnished. Do the customers a favor and put glass over the sticky tables.

I’ve watched this place turn to a small place to chill to a night club where you need to be picked to get in, if not you’re waiting for hours.
They have a 45 minute time, which I have a problem with. Or, if you’re with a group of people, you need to spend a ridiculous amount of money PER HOUR if you want to stay. Some dude told me he went with a party of 12 and he had to spend $ 100 an hour to stay.
From what I remember, the hookahs were never cleaned (you could see pieces of washed out tobacco floating in the base water), you always have the flavor of the last one smoked in it, and it was relatively expensive considering other places in the area.
So if you’re looking to go to a nightclub-​ish place to smoke and get messed up, go on ahead. If not, take a trip around the city to another place.

I went to this place yesterday and it was awesome, the woman working there was really friendly and super helpful. I wish either this place was closer to Boston or it was easier to get to Providence to chill on Thayer St and Byblos.
The vibe was chill, almost an Edwardian cum Opium den right off the main drag where all the shops are. It was a little cold inside when I was there, and it was pretty dead, but it was a Sunday night and sports were happening so I understand. The hookah was clean and fresh, came out quickly and the bartender helped us out with the liquor selection, shisha choices, and even places to check out afterwards.
Prices were good, and there was enough to choose from for drinks, despite me being a beer geek. My only suggestion, which I think would be hard to fulfill would be to make it cozier/​more den like. The upstairs has potential, but it must be hard to make it feel like a middle eastern/​far east sort of place considering its a commercial building and having carpets and lots of pillows might be a fire hazard. The lighting was dim and different colors, which complimented the hazy smoke, and the chill electronic music was fitting. What else is better to listen to while smoking than Thievery Corporation and other mellow beats?!
I saw someone smoking with ½ an orange covered in coals, which I’ve seen online and in pictures but never in person. I’ll definitely have to come back to try it.
I feel like there’s a lot you can do with a hookah bar. Maybe artisan coffees and drinks, small plates to go with the smoking. Plates of fresh fruit and small cakes? But then again this is a college place so you can only do so much.
Check it out!