Amalia’s Cafe & Hookah Lounge

This place is amazing! Great food, great atmosphere, great people! If you are willing to drive to South Philly, I promise you will not be disappointed. The staff are friendly and quick and the quality of food is to die for! Highly recommend!

This place is very overrated. Hookahs were not worth the price. Also, we waited 1.5 hrs from the time we ordered until we got our salad then another 30 for the entrée. I will not be going back to this place and do not recommend it. You can get this type of food anywhere so the service should be a major selling point. At this place, it was not. Also, they made no attempt to correct the situation (give us some free hummus/​anything).

Great and very tasty food, everything was fresh and delicious.
The service was also great, didn’t have to wait long for anything, including the food. Nice little place, we would definitely go again!

Amalia’s is beautifully decorated and can nicely accommodate small to larger parties. The food was good I had the falafel platter the salad was a little heavy on the dressing, while the falafels were big and flavorful, the rice however was cold, and slightly hard. The hookah was great and so was the service. Definitely will be returning.

Went there for a birthday dinner. The food was great and the service was awesome. This was my first time here and I would definitely come back!

Love the food, but were unpleasantly surprised when an extra $ 9 showed up on our bill for our 3 wine glasses. Never been to a BYOB that charges for glasses. Definitely going to discourage us from frequenting there as much as we would have.

I enjoyed the great service, intimate setting for friends, great hookah! Oh and the tea :)

Byob — awesome
Food — awesome
Hookah flavors and prices awesome however don’t you dare try and change the charcoal and break his shit lol.
Owner is sweet and helpful. He chased away these pervs outside blowing kisses to my sister, mom, and I, which we appreciated lmao. Def a cool, hidden spot.

Yesterday their customer service knocked it out of the park. My delivery order showed up without the pita, and they called me before I called them! They immediately sent the delivery person back with the pita and a bonus dessert. That’s how it should be. Additionally they arrive twice as fast as as most delivery in every neighborhood that I’ve been in.
The food is consistently fresh, inexpensive, and generously proportioned. I always get the Mediterranean platter because the spreads are home made and top notch.

We have been to this place twice now and both times we’ve had an amazing experience. The owner, Adel, is always a delight. Today, he created a unique combination of hookah flavors for us and as usual it hit amazingly well. His hookahs always lasts for over an hour, without being coarse. We have smoked hookah for a long time and have been to a lot of hookah bars over the years but this is hands down our #1 discovery. Kabab, baklava, and tiramisu are very delicious as well. Definitely will be coming back again and again. 5 stars for food, hookah, and ambience.

Awesome service and fresh food with a very friendly staff. Plus the modest pricing and complimentary baklava make it ideal for a budget dinner. Come check this place out!

So glad I found this place! Great ambience and awesome service! The food was absolutely fantastic! Everything from the hummus to meats were well made and fresh! Make sure to have a pot of the ginger honey tea which is perfect for a cold night! Can’t wait to come back for more!

Best hummus and falafel in town! This is my first time at Amalias and I loved everything. We ordered falafel entrees, hummus and baba ganoush! Highly recommend this place!

Stumbled on this place (thanks to the Unilocal Gods) after dinner at a different BYO. A friend and I were looking for a place to take our already opened bottle of wine and finish it with hookah. We were pleasantly surprised to find this small, hole in the wall café. What this place lacks in curb appeal it makes up for with authentic food and décor. We had the baklava that first night and it was divine.
I’ve been back a number of times since then and have yet to be disappointed. The lamb skewers and hummus were very tasty. They also have this bangin’ ginger tea (bangin’ is a technical term) that I could drink all day. The hookah is quite nice too. And everything is affordable.
I’ve decided to make this my new chill spot. The food is good, the atmosphere is relaxed, and the service is pretty great too. Always a good experience when I’m at Amalia’s.

This place is a dream!
As you take a puff from the tasty hookah, and look around at the gorgeous lanterns on the ceiling, you immediately forget you’re in South Philly. And then as the delicious food arrives, you get carried away to a peaceful, magical, foreign land.
A lot of people order take-​out from this place — but you’re missing out on the full experience if you don’t go directly to Amalia’s and enjoy the food there.
The owner is a super cool, chill guy. No excessive annoying niceness– just his knowledge of the culture helps create a perfect experience. Do yourself a favor and visit this gem of South Philly on a week night! Enjoy!
I will certainly be back again and again and tell all my friends about it!

Had a terrific meal last night. Mixed grill, chicken skewers, wonderful hummus, and the best. baklava. EVER. Legit. The restaurant is BYO. Loved the décor, make you feel like you were not in South Philly. Other patrons were using the hookah, will do that the next time we go.

Oh my goodness, from the niceness of the servers to the wonderfulness of the food, this was a great meal. The hummus was absolutely perfect. A bit more tahini than most, but in a good way. Meals come with wonderful salads with a great amount of cilantro and spices. Great and refreshing grape leaves.
The felafel was perfectly cooked. My wife and I had grilled chicken skewers and a mixed grill, We were very happy with both of them. We are in Philly for a week and plan to eat here again.

Small, cozy, warm, little Israeli place located in the middle of nowhere in South Phiilly. Came here with my buddy for dinner and some hookah. Its a byob so we brought some wine. Our waitress was very friendly and the owner/​chef came out to introduce himself and talk about the food. We ordered the hummus platter for appetizers and a hookah to get started. The hummus was great and obviously home made. For main course we split chicken, lamb, beef and vegetable skewers along with some grilled corn. The meat was some of the best ive ever had. For dessert we were given complimentary baklava which was fantastic. This is an amazing hidden gem with very authentic middle eastern food. Definitely coming here again.

A hidden gem of a restaurant. It’s slightly off the beaten path (from center city) — but well worth the Über ride (or if you have a car, drive — plenty of parking). The food is amazing Israeli (Middle Eastern) food. It’s authentic. How authentic? I’m from Israel and absolutely love it. I took my parents (and step brother and his family) last night and they all loved it. The meat is well prepared (not dry). The food is all homemade. The service is extremely friendly and inviting.
Make sure to try the baklava, tiramisu, and ginger tea — which are all made in their restaurant.
Oh, and one of the best parts — it’s BYOB and very inexpensive. Definitely give this place a try — you will absolutely love it.

This is one of my favorite places to go in South Philly if I’m looking for a BYOB with great food and ample seating. In fact, it’s one of my favorite places to go if it’s just for two!
The food: Their kafta kebabs and sandwiches are definitely my favorites. If you’re just there for the hookah, their fries are well-​seasoned and their grape leaves are good, too. And their baklava. And their falafel. You know what, you don’t really want to be there just for hookah. Get some food.
The hookah: What can I say, it’s a hookah bar! They aren’t stingy with the coals, but their flavor options (while good) aren’t as comprehensive as at other places I’ve been. Their hookah menu has some pretty crazy items on it (we still haven’t figured out what «Code 69» is supposed to be), but whenever we’ve tried to order one of the more adventurous items, we’ve been steered away to something else. Hard to say why, but their suggestions have always been solid!
The ambiance: Lots of interesting lamps surrounding plus, comfortable booths, and oh yeah, two Apple TVs blaring great Turkish/​Middle Eastern music. If you’re lucky, there’ll even be music videos.
The service: I’ve never had to wait for a seat, and everybody is so very friendly. Nobody minds if you BYO and they will be quick to offer you bottle openers, corkscrews, and glasses.