New York City / Hookah
Best Hookah Lounges in NYC
$20 to $65 a hookah, and only five rooms in the city publish a number at all.
No happy hours in this category — the variable is the base price and the add-ons, and both are worth asking about before they light it.
- 17 verified lounges
- 5 publish a price
- from $20
- to $65
The best hookah lounges in NYC right now are Zamaan in Williamsburg ($20 a hookah, the cheapest published price in the city, under a retractable roof), La Sultana in the East Village ($32.95, and the only Manhattan room publishing a full list), Sky Lounge in Bay Ridge (a real halal kitchen behind the hookah), Taj Mahal on Steinway Street (the Little Egypt anchor, effectively 24 hours) and Sheba, open to 5am seven nights. Two things decide what you actually pay. First, only five of seventeen rooms publish a price at all — ask before they light it. Second, the add-ons: refills, ice hoses and fruit bases routinely double the bill, and every lounge here does it.
The short version
- CheapestZamaan in Williamsburg — $20 a single flavor, published. Nobody undercuts it.
- Most expensiveGardenia Terrace at $65 for the house blend. The $45 flavored is the sane order.
- LatestSheba in Bay Ridge, 4pm–5am seven nights. Taj Mahal and Rose list 24 hours.
- Watch the add-onsA fresh refill and an ice hose turns a $20 hookah into $40. Every lounge does this.
- Every room is 21+City law requires it, and ID checks for anyone who looks under 30. Bring it.
At a glance
Published price where one exists, real hours, and what the room is actually for.
| Lounge | Hookah price | Hours | Neighborhood | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Sultana Cafe | $32.95 / $38.95 premium | Daily 5pm–4am | East Village | $$$ |
| Gardenia Terrace | $45 flavored / $65 house | Daily to 2am | Hell’s Kitchen | $$$ |
| Kazuza | Not published | Daily 4pm–4am | Alphabet City | $$$ |
| Karizma Lounge | Not published | 4pm–4am; 2pm weekends | Midtown East | $$$ |
| Taj Mahal Lounge | Not published | 24 hours per venue | Astoria | $$$ |
| Olympia Lounge & Garden | Not published; wings $15 | See venue | Astoria | $$$ |
| Rose Hookah Lounge | Not published | 24 hours | Astoria | $$$ |
| Layali Beirut Cafe | Not published | Daily 1pm–2am | Astoria | $$$ |
| Zamaan (Williamsburg) | $20 single / $25 mixes | See venue | Williamsburg | $$$ |
| Sky Lounge | $45 dark leaf | Daily 5pm–3am | Bay Ridge | $$$ |
| Sheba Hookah Lounge | Not published | Daily 4pm–5am | Bay Ridge | $$$ |
| Zamaan (Sheepshead Bay) | $20 single / $25 mixes | Hours not published | Sheepshead Bay | $$$ |
| Red Oak | Not published | Not confirmed | Bay Ridge | $$$ |
| Desert Rain Lounge | Not published; cash only | 4pm–2am; 3am Fri–Sat | Forest Hills | $$$ |
| Majlis of NY | Not published | 3pm–midnight; 1am Thu–Sat | Bellerose | $$$ |
| House of Hookah | Not published | 5pm–midnight; 3am Fri–Sat | Bayside | $$$ |
| Elite Hookah Lounge & Cafe | Not published | Daily 4pm–4am | Glen Oaks | $$$ |
Map: where these 17 spots are
Steinway Street in Astoria is the densest strip in the city. Bay Ridge is the Brooklyn equivalent.
Pins are numbered to match the table above – tap any pin for the detail and directions.
Manhattan
Thin on the ground, and pricier for it. More of the area in East Village happy hours.
La Sultana Cafe
The only Manhattan lounge in this guide that publishes a full hookah price list instead of making you ask at the table. Regular flavors $32.95, premium and new flavors $38.95, open 5pm to 4am, with an indoor room and a genuinely spacious outdoor patio. The add-ons are published too, which is rarer still: disposable hose $3.75, ice hose $7–$9, fresh fruit $5–$10. The honest caveat, and you should do this arithmetic before you sit down: there is a one drink minimum per person, on top of the hookah. Two people are realistically $45-plus before tip, and that is before anyone orders an ice hose.
lasultanacafe.com · See our East Village happy hours
Gardenia Terrace
$65 is the highest published hookah price we found anywhere in New York, and it is the house blend; the $45 flavored is the sane order and the one to make. Fresh fruit add-on $10. What you are actually paying for is the kitchen — a real Mediterranean menu with hummus, falafel, lentil soup and, oddly, eggs benedict — and a high-ceilinged indoor room with outdoor seating. Hours are Mon–Tue 4pm–2am and Wed–Sun from noon, which makes it one of very few daytime options in this category. The honest verdict: come for the food and the room, order the $45, and skip the house blend unless someone else is paying.
Kazuza
One of the longest-running shisha rooms in Alphabet City and still open 4pm to 4am, seven nights — which in this category is the number that matters. Egyptian and wider Middle Eastern cooking alongside the shisha, and Moroccan-style cabana seating indoors. No outdoor hookah area that we could find. The honest caveat, and it is why this sits third rather than first: there is no published hookah price anywhere and no working official website, so you are walking in blind on cost. Call before you build a night around it. If you want a published number in Manhattan, that is La Sultana at $32.95.
See our East Village happy hours
Karizma Lounge
There is almost nothing left in this category in Midtown East, which is the entire reason this is here. Mon–Thu 4pm–4am, and Fri–Sun from 2pm to 4am — a fourteen-hour weekend day, and one of the earliest weekend openings in the guide. Indoor lounge, no outdoor area found. The honest caveat, stated plainly because you deserve it: this is a thinly documented room. Its most recent Tripadvisor reviews are roughly a decade old, and while the 2026 listing shows it trading, we could not verify a price, a menu or an official site. Call first. Treat it as a convenience option for that corner of Midtown, not a destination.
See our Midtown happy hours
Steinway Street, Little Egypt
The densest hookah strip in the city, four blocks of it. See Astoria happy hours.
Taj Mahal Lounge
The anchor of Little Egypt, and the room everyone means when they say “Steinway Street.” The venue’s own site says open 24 hours, seven days; the Google-derived listing shows 10am–5am daily, which tells you roughly the same thing. Small plates, appetizers, desserts and non-alcoholic drinks, indoor and outdoor seating, and no cover for general entry per the venue (it can vary for special events). The honest caveat, and it decides your whole night: no alcohol at all. If you want a drink with your hookah, this is the wrong room — walk up to Olympia, which serves. If you want shisha and mint tea at 4am, this is exactly right.
tajmahallounge.com · See our Astoria happy hours
Olympia Lounge & Garden
The garden is the whole point, and it is an actual outdoor room rather than the three chairs on the sidewalk that most of this category calls a patio. It also serves alcohol, which Taj Mahal a few doors down does not — so if the plan involves a drink, this is the Steinway Street answer. Pool tables and nightlife programming alongside the hookah. Published food prices: chicken wings $15, chicken nachos $16, grilled salmon $22. The honest caveat: the garden being the reason to come makes this a summer-first room, and hookah prices are not published anywhere on the site. Ask before they light it.
olympialoungengarden.com · See our Astoria happy hours
Rose Hookah Lounge
Open 24 hours, seven days, with genuine indoor and outdoor seating — which makes this the Steinway Street fallback when everywhere else on the strip is full or shut. A few doors from Olympia, so you can walk between them in thirty seconds and take whichever room has space. Categorised as a hookah bar with cocktail-bar amenities. The honest caveat, and it is a real one: reviewers flag recent price increases, the listing is unclaimed by the owner, and there is no published price anywhere to hold them to. Ask what a hookah costs before they light it, out loud, at the table. That is not rude here; it is standard.
See our Astoria happy hours
Layali Beirut Cafe
A Lebanese restaurant that happens to do hookah, rather than a lounge that microwaves a mezze plate — and on a street where a lot of kitchens are an afterthought, that distinction is worth walking two extra blocks for. It also opens at 1pm, the earliest of the Steinway Street cluster, so it is the one that works for a late lunch rather than a 2am sit. Open daily to 2am, wheelchair-accessible entrance. The honest caveat: indoor only — there is no patio here, which makes it a year-round room rather than a summer one, and the wrong choice on the first warm night of the year. Then go to Olympia.
See our best halal restaurants in NYC
Brooklyn
Where the published prices live — and the best kitchen. Pair with Williamsburg happy hours.
Zamaan (Williamsburg)
$20 for a single flavor is the cheapest published hookah price in New York, with unique flavors and special mixes at $25 (the mixes include one complimentary extra flavor). And the room earns its place beyond the price: a retractable roof and heat lamps mean the open-air section actually works in January, which nothing else in this guide can claim. The honest caveat, and it is the whole trick of this category: the add-ons stack fast. Refills are $10 standard or $15 fresh, ice hose $6, milk base $5, wine base $10, spirit base $15, pineapple head $10. A fresh refill and an ice hose puts your $20 hookah near $40. Order deliberately.
zamaanbar.com · See our Williamsburg happy hours
Sky Lounge
The best kitchen attached to a hookah room in this guide, and it is not close: a proper halal operation doing lamb chops, steaks, wings, burgers and seafood, rather than the reheated-appetizer holding pattern most of this category runs. Russian dark leaf $45, head change $20, open 5pm to 3am daily, with late-night delivery on Uber Eats if the plan collapses. The honest caveat, and it will decide your summer evening: there are ten indoor tables and two outdoor. Two. If you want to sit outside on a warm night, be there when it opens at five or you are sitting inside, and there is no waiting list to fix that.
Sheba Hookah Lounge
Four in the afternoon to five in the morning, seven days a week — the latest close of any room in this guide, and in a neighbourhood where most of the competition is shut by three. Separate eat, smoke and drinks menus, a few blocks from Sky Lounge on the same avenue, so Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge is a genuine two-stop night. The honest caveat, and it is a directory problem rather than a venue one: third-party listings still show old 11am–9pm hours under its former name, Chill Bar and Hookah Lounge. Those are wrong. Trust the venue’s own 4pm–5am. No hookah price is published — ask at the table.
shebahookah.com · See our all of Brooklyn
Zamaan (Sheepshead Bay)
The second Zamaan, published on the same official site as the Williamsburg room and carrying the same $20 single flavors and $25 unique flavors and special mixes — in a stretch of south Brooklyn where there is almost nothing else, which makes the price look even better than it does in Williamsburg. The honest caveat, and there are two: the official site lists the address but publishes no separate hours for this location, and the retractable-roof-and-heat-lamps description is written for Zamaan generally rather than for Avenue X specifically. Confirm both before you travel. If you want the version we can vouch for, that is Williamsburg.
zamaanbar.com · See our all of Brooklyn
Red Oak
This is a restaurant first and we are going to say so rather than pretend otherwise. New American cooking, a long cocktail list with margaritas and frozen drinks, an indoor room and a patio where the hookah happens — pineapple, grapefruit and melon on the flavor list. If you want dinner and a drink with hookah at the end rather than a lounge night, this is the right shape. The honest caveat, and it is why this sits last in the section: its “best hookah bar” nod dates from 2021, no hookah price is published, and we could not confirm current hours. Call before you go, and treat it as a dinner-with-hookah option.
See our all of Brooklyn
Outer Queens
Forest Hills, Bayside and the Union Turnpike stretch. See Forest Hills happy hours.
Desert Rain Lounge
The anti-nightclub of this list, and it is refreshing. Cash only, beer and wine only with no spirits at all, 21+ with valid government ID required, and — the detail nobody else offers — outside food is permitted. So the move is obvious: pick up food on Metropolitan Avenue, bring it in, order a beer and a hookah, and stay until 2am (3am Friday and Saturday). The honest caveat, twice over: bring cash, and do not turn up expecting a cocktail. Neither is negotiable, and both catch people. More of the neighborhood in our Forest Hills happy hours guide.
See our Forest Hills happy hours
Majlis of NY
Fifteen-plus years of trading as a halal Middle Eastern restaurant with a hookah program, which is a different proposition from a lounge with a snack menu — here the food is the reason and the hookah is what you do afterwards. Indoor seating, out on Union Turnpike in Bellerose. The honest caveat, and it is the one that will reshape your night: it closes at midnight most nights and 1am Thursday to Saturday, which is early by the standards of this category, where four in the morning is normal. This is a dinner plan, not a late one. If you need late out here, Elite is 300 metres up the same road and runs to 4am.
majlisofny.com · See our best halal restaurants in NYC
House of Hookah
Bayside’s option, on Bell Boulevard rather than the Steinway Street strip, and the thing to understand before you go is that it has a designated dance floor — this is a night out with hookah attached, not a room for a long quiet conversation. Fri–Sat 6pm–3am is when that shape makes sense. The honest caveat, and it is double: it closes at midnight Monday to Wednesday, which is early for this category, and reviewers consistently flag it as pricier than nearby competition with no published price to check against. Ask what a hookah costs before you order, and go on a weekend or not at all.
See our all of Queens
Elite Hookah Lounge & Cafe
Out on Union Turnpike in Glen Oaks, near the Nassau County line, open 4pm to 4am every night — which out here is genuinely useful, because Majlis, roughly 300 metres up the same stretch of road, shuts at midnight most nights. Dine-in service, wheelchair-accessible entrance. The honest verdict, and we would rather say it than pad this entry: this is thinly documented. No official site, no published price, no menu we could verify from any source. Include it as a neighborhood late option if you are already out here. Do not travel across the city for it.
See our Forest Hills happy hours
NYC hookah lounges: FAQ
How much does hookah cost in NYC?
Published 2026 prices run $20 to $65, but only five of the seventeen lounges we verified publish a price at all. Zamaan in Brooklyn is the floor at $20 for a single flavor and $25 for unique flavors or special mixes. La Sultana in the East Village publishes $32.95 regular and $38.95 premium. Sky Lounge in Bay Ridge publishes $45 for Russian dark leaf. Gardenia Terrace in Hell’s Kitchen is the ceiling at $45 flavored and $65 for the house blend. Everywhere else, you ask at the table.
Why is the final bill higher than the hookah price?
Add-ons, and they are where the money actually goes. La Sultana publishes a $3.75 disposable hose, a $7-$9 ice hose and $5-$10 fresh fruit. Zamaan publishes $10 standard refills, $15 fresh refills, a $6 ice hose, $10 wine bases and $15 spirit bases, plus premium heads at $5-$10. Sky Lounge charges $20 for a head change. A fresh refill and an ice hose turns a $20 hookah into roughly $40. La Sultana is also the only venue in this set publishing a minimum – one drink per person, on top of the hookah.
Do you have to be 21 to go to a hookah lounge in NYC?
Yes. NYC Local Law 187 of 2017 requires permitted non-tobacco hookah establishments to admit only customers aged 21 and over, and to check ID for anyone who appears under 30. That applies whether or not a given lounge advertises it. Desert Rain Lounge in Forest Hills states the requirement explicitly and asks for valid government ID at the door.
What is the law on hookah lounges in NYC?
Local Law 187 of 2017 amended the Smoke-Free Air Act so no establishment may serve non-tobacco shisha without a non-tobacco hookah establishment permit, and eligibility was limited to businesses already trading on 16 October 2017 – which effectively froze the number of legal lounges in the city. Permitted venues may serve only non-tobacco shisha unless separately registered as a tobacco bar, must post warning signage in every indoor and outdoor area where smoking is allowed, and must take at least 50% of annual gross sales from on-site non-tobacco smoking products. That last rule is why so many of these rooms are hookah-first with a limited kitchen.
Which NYC hookah lounges are open latest?
Sheba Hookah Lounge in Bay Ridge runs 4pm to 5am seven nights, the latest close we verified. Taj Mahal Lounge and Rose Hookah Lounge, both on Steinway Street in Astoria, list 24-hour service. Kazuza in Alphabet City, Karizma in Midtown East and Elite in Glen Oaks all run to 4am. The early closers are Majlis of NY, which shuts at midnight most nights, and House of Hookah in Bayside, which closes at midnight Monday to Wednesday.
Last updated: August 2026. Prices and hours change – confirm with the venue before you go. Spot something out of date? Let us know.
