Arab Cowboy — Restaurant in Austin

This past Friday night a friend and I got in around 1:30 to smoke. We ordered and sat down as usual, and we were especially looking back to enjoying the music that they usually played there. The previous Friday they played some of our favorite music (rap) and we greatly enjoyed it. Now, yesterday we walked in and heard our favorite artists and were ecstatic. We talked and enjoyed the music for the first 30 minutes or so, and then the music suddenly shifted to screamo metal music. We were taken aback, but they can play what they want, sure. It was incredibly loud, and we couldn't hear each other speak in our own corner. I may add that the place was not busy in the least, and we were one of probably 3 groups at the lounge. Now, let me step back and say that, even though the music was loud, we weren't annoyed or anything with the staff at this point. Despite the music blasting, we were fine, and enjoyed the hookah just fine.

At this point I got up and wanted to get some more water. I stood there waiting for several minutes as the staff blatantly ignored me and carried their own conversation. Again, at this point, not a huge deal. After they finally realized that I was there, one girl took my glass and got a refill for me. When she approached me again I said "hey, is there any way I can convince you to turn the music back to rap? My friend and I were enjoying it." Nothing incendiary, nothing obnoxious. She replied, not missing a beat, that she wasn't on shift (she's behind the counter, smoking for free, and talking with the employees, alright) and that there wasn't anything she could do about it. Now, this is where I started getting mad. I looked past her and saw their iPad that was controlling the music (I knew because another girl, apparently on-shift, went over and turned down the volume on the iPad). She then said that since it was late, that they "played what they wanted," AKA get out of here, we don't listen to you. But again, she was not on her shift, but she was able to dictate the music options for the entire establishment. Not by itself a huge deal, but coupled with everything else, I was beyond frustrated. What's worse is that the heavy metal didn't stop, and really just seemed to be a way to shoo the patrons of the lounge out prematurely. I will concede that the time was beginning to approach their closing time, but regardless, it is terrible business to kick people out with outrageously loud music that was most likely not in the majority's interest. It is obvious that the management of this lounge does not have the customer's best interest and instead let's their staff run rampant with actions that don't make regular customers such as myself look forward to coming back. The disrespect that I felt from the staff here last Friday was ridiculous, and I made this account to let people know about it. Please, do yourself a favor and find another hookah lounge. Even Kasbah's staff doesn't treat...

Our first time here Tuesday night and our first impression from the receptionist was that she either didn’t want to be here or more then likely they were judging us based on appearance. Tuesday night We had sweats we were comfortable we were a group of five. Everything she said from the moment we walked up to the front counter, there was attitude behind her voice, she spoke to us as if we were bothering her and had no smile or no friendliness in her dull personality. We were told our Beers would be kept up front and someone would be by checking on us also bringing us beers if we needed. No one came by. In fact by the time the same front desk lady came to change our coals we said Thank you and she rudely walked away they were all throwing stuff around slamming things everywhere and gave us a completely unwelcoming vibe. At 2 am on the dot we were asked to leave for closing, as we were walking out we couldn’t help but notice there were still other people hookaing and at the bar still. I honestly wish From the moment we walked in a noticed the negative energy coming from the all of the staff, i wish we would have spent our money elsewhere. As a business owner myself please remind all Staff, that in in any customer service industry GOOD...

In from out of town. First night, service was really good, FIVE STARS. The option to get coconut coals vs instant coals was given when the hookahs were ordered. Mellow atmosphere. The second night, no coal option was given and instant coals were given. When we asked if we could get the coconut coals instead of the instant ones, the guy server said that the type of bowl we have doesn’t work with coconut coals. This is news to me. I’ve smoked hookah for much longer than I’d care to admit, but never have I heard Of any type of bowl that ONLY accepts instant coals. So here we are, close to $100 bucks spent on 4 hookahs, smoking with one crappy instant coal on each of our bowls even tho we asked if we could get coconut coals (less of a chemical flavor with coconut). I guess it’s something that we are supposed to know from the start? Or maybe the guy working is just too lazy? Meh. Seems pretty hit or miss. I haven’t been to any other hookah bars in the area. But $18+ per hookah is pretty steep by most standards. Even more steep when you get sub par customer service. The second night definitely left a sour taste. Gotta give two...