Sahara Café

We were in the area and wanted to do some Hookah so we came here. At reaching my husband realized this was the place he used to hang out with friends. Yay Unilocal!
we got the mint hookah and moroccan tea. Both were equally good. We were there for a good hr and it being a friday night it was slowly filling up. The servers are quiet attentive and friendly and changing coals on time.
After an hr they very friendly handed us the check and asked us to take our time with it. I usually would be quite miffed by this but we decided to sit for 15 mins and he didnt come to check on us so he truly meant it.
Great place. Will come back if we are in the area

Stopped by with a friend for the first time a couple months back. I was very impressed and it’s definitely the best hookah bar I’ve been to. The staff was courteous, flavors were great and the tea was really good. It’s a very authentic hookah bar, not like the ones you find on hillsborough street. It isn’t crowded with young college students, just people looking to chill and play cards. The only complaint I would have is the terrible parking lot. It was small, overly crowded and we had to park next door.

I’ve been here at least 100 times. It’s the only hookah bar I go to. It’s an authentic place, great atmosphere and good people. I’ve been going here for the past ⁴⁄₅ years.

Awesome atmosphere. Nice people. Friendly staff. Lots of hookah flavors and a nice selection of drinks!

Sahara Café is a great way to spend an evening if you like Hookah, Turkish Coffee, Tea, playing games, sports and people watching.
The Hookah tobacco selection is impressive. they have over 20 flavors to choose from or to mix and match. They have mostly StarrBuzz which is top of the line hookah tobacco. If you want to spurge, they will hollow out an orange or apple to pack the tobacco which adds flavor.
The Staff are very nice and knowledgeable. The are always willing to answer questions. There are a nice mix of people young and old from all sorts of cultures so you never get board people watching.
They have many TVs with football or Soccer on and lots of board games to play.
The parking is cramped, so I have to park a block away because the immediate neighborhood is permit only.
I like Sahara if I want to get out of my house and spend an evening doing something other than drinking at the bars.

Very nice place w/​plenty of options. They have a wide selection on hookah & prepare it right. There is a good selection of traditional coffee & tea, along w/​bakery items.
There are also plenty of seating options indoor — enclosed patio or outdoor.

This place is a lot of fun. As a guy who doesn’t smoke much to begin with I can honestly say all the flavors I’ve tried thus far have been smooth. My favorite is blue mist.
Usually I go there with a couple guy friends and just smoke for an hour or so. Listen to some music and have a piece of cake. It’s a nice way to end a long night.
A few weeks ago I went and there were some Arabian girls dancing and everyone was circle dancing and playing bongos. It really felt authentic. The staff is friendly and the women that go there are generally beautiful. Good place to see some eye candy or maybe try your luck! Lol
I would definitely go again.

Wow if you come here, GET THE ARABIAN TEA. I would faithfully come back here at least for the tea. Loved the comfortable atmosphere. It was a very clean place to be, and I noticed people requesting songs and asking for the volume to be changed. I’ll sit outside when i come next, as the music was turned up without asking other guests but that is the only reason i would take a star. I really love this place!

Hooka is very good. Though the music is very annoying I would suggest to sit outside. Expect to deal with rude staff as well.

It was pretty, I went during the day which is clearly a diffrent experience than the night time im sure the patio was very hot however the service was night and fast… really not a whole lot to say any it otherwise.

My favorite place in Raleigh.
Pros: Good flavor selections, very cool atmosphere, friendly and attentive staff.
Cons: Parking is pretty bad, but forgivable. Drinks can be pricey, but they’re imported so I guess it’s understandable. Sometimes the place fills up and it’s hard to find a seat.
I just listed more cons than pros, so it’s worth pointing out that I really like the place! The cons are pretty minor complaints.

My review is somewhat jaded. I think hookah is dumb, unless you are a smoker. If you don’t smoke — -what is the point? The tobacco is flavored, but you can barely taste it. I smoked for about 1 hr and felt no kind of effect… so what’s the point? Yes it looks cool to blow smoke. but remember you are still damaging your lungs!
The atmosphere is cool. Loungy. Mixed crowd. The music is terrible and ear-​drum busting loud. The sound system is all trebble and no bass.
The service was good while I was inside. However, the parking on the outside is HORRIBLE! I parked in the subway parking lot next door and when I went back to my car someone had parked behind me horizontally blocking me in! My friend went back in to ask the DJ to make an announcement to have that person move their car (it was obviously someone there because everything around there was closed). He wouldn’t do it. Then he came outside and threatened to report me if I hit that person’s car. I ended up having to call the police.
Ugh.

I’ve been a regular here for two years. I love the service! They know what I want when I walk though the door!
I come here for the atmosphere!

What is there to do on Christmas Day in Raleigh before the handful of downtown bars open? Smoke a hookah!
It was my first time here yesterday and I am kinda mad at myself for not going before. My pal and I were on a mission for Christmas coffee and he recalled the wonderfulness that is a hookah bar. We both got an Americano, mine with cream and suger, his without. It was spot on, and with numerous years of barista experience I can be a picky Patty. The gentleman gave me a perfect drink, not too sweet and not too milky. I was a fan right off the bat.
We got a double Apple hookah for $ 13.99 and decided to sit outside-​ish in the covered and enclosed patio. Tons of tables and chairs and wicker patio couches allow you to spread out and get cozy. We went through two rounds of charcoal and were checked on frequently. The tobacco was smooth and sweet, with a slight Anise after taste. We puffed away for a good two hours.
I will definitely be down with going here on a day where lounging around with a book, or cards, or a laptop seems appropriate. There was Arab music playing, Wi-​Fi, cold beverages and pastries as well.
This is a good place to hang out with friends and relax when you’re not wanting to sit in a bar or coffee shop run down with laptop monkeys. Give it a whirl.

Four of us girls went to this café earlier this year in the winter. We loved it. It’s hard to tell if we loved it because we love ourselves and have a good time wherever we go, or if the café complimented us. Perhaps a combination of both? Yes, I think so. I will give this place some credit. We were there for hours and hours, playing cards, checkers, eating pistachios, drinking coffee, eating cream cakes, listening to our favorite arabic music on the tv right above our heads. The café hosts a variety of people, and fortunately, frighteningly sleazy incidents were limited to only 2.5 that night. winner.
in short, if i lived in NC, we would be here all the time.

I’ve passed by this place several times but never went in because I didn’t know what I was doing! But last night, a friend & I decided to go and see what it was all about. FANTASTIC! While I don’t smoke on a daily/​weekly basis, I’ll definitely return. The staff treated us really nicely. They explained the flavors, what to do, etc. Very good place to go for a first time experience! The Pistachio smoothie drink was amazing too!
The only thing I didn’t like was the outdoor seats were not all that comfortable and I personally prefer a darker atmosphere. But none of these things will deter me from going back. :)

Odd, but I think the last time I did hookah pipes was at a small café in Thailand but here we are off of Peace Street at the Sahara Café, smoking it up a bit. Tutti Frutti? Sex on the Beach? Yes please! For $ 12 you choose your tobacco flavor, the staff brings you hot coals to keep the pipe heated and you puff away. Water pipes keep the smoke pretty smooth for a relaxing experience. Inside they’ve got some stuffed couches and board games to keep you happy along with a very nice patio (enclosed for the winter).
With drinks and cakes up at the counter, you’ll have plenty of ways to keep yourself entertained at the Sahara Café. A very interesting spot that’s unlike the rest of S. Glenwood. Mixed crowd of young people, just lounging the night away. So yeah, the Sahara Café is like an oasis in the S. Glenwood desert, methinks. Ironic, huh?

This isn’t a place you pop in and out of. Its meant to make you sit and relax. I normally do not smoke and my first few times I was perfectly content to not smoke and just sit with my friends who were. I finely on my third visit tried a hookah and fell in love with the taste. I prefer the Blue Mist or the Mint Gold Grape so far but I haven’t tired all of them yet. The peach is good too.
If you don’t smoke then the Strawberry Banana is well worth the trip. Their hot chocolate is alright but I haven’t had it in a long time so it may have gotten better.
They used to have a problem with the service being a bit slow but it seems to have gotten much much better. Even so this is a nice place to relax even if it is slow on a busy night.
I suggest you not park in the main parking lot though. If your unlucky you can become trapped. Parking in the neighborhood behind it is probably the best place. It makes it easier to leave when your ready to go as well. You can park at the Subway too I’ve never had a problem their ether but it can be hard to get in an out of there as well.

I have been going to Sahara for 3 years now, and have come to be very familiar with the staff and service of the café. This is probably my favorite place to hang out, because of the great décor, cleanliness, hours and staff.
I recommend everybody I know to try out Sahara, whenever hookah is mentioned.
Try the Strawberry Margarita or White Peach Flavor! And do miss out on the Arabic Tea, too die for.

I went to a Hookah Bar in Raleigh! Most people would be SHOCKED to hear that come out of my mouth. It was quite the experience, let me tell you. I even tried it so I can say I really went and did it!
Sahara Café brings the mature atmosphere of Middle Eastern cafes to Raleigh. I am dying to go to Morocco, but if I can’t go there Sahara is one of the places in Raleigh I can go to too to get a virtual experience. It has plenty of comfortable seating, both inside and out, and a relaxed quiet atmosphere with a large selection of coffees, teas and a shisha assortment to taste in their many Hookah pipes. I passed on the coffee, tried the tea, and went along with my friends’ choices of the shisha stuff because I was clueless. They got green apple as a flavor to try with the Hookah pipe. Being that I’ve never smoked anything in my life I didn’t care too much as long as it wasn’t too nasty tasting. They have over 30 flavors for you to try so you’ll probably find something you like!
I quickly took in the atmosphere as we stepped inside: Middle eastern people, tapestries on the wall, other Arab eastern themed décor, paintings, lovely couch seating, and a TV or two. We headed outside to an amazing outdoor patio that allows you to see Peace Street while you sit back and enjoy your Turkish Coffee, Grape Gelato (yes I got Gelato there) or many of the other flavorful items for Hookah that Sahara Café offers. Because of my hesitance to try Hookah, my friends bribed me by telling me that they have Gelato there. Grape ice cream for you if you come! It was a nice variation from the Arab theme setting.
After doing some reading, I’ve learned that Hookah smoking and the Hookah as we know it today originated in India around the 15^th century, and has become very popular in the Arab world. The smoke is of herbal fruits or of sweet tasting tobacco. I’m usually terrified of anything that people smoke because I’ve lost many family members to cancer and I don’t want to take anything unnecessary into my body. I gave it a shot though, and let me tell you I was terrible at it! Absolutely terrible. You’re not supposed to completely inhale (which is how it’s less dangerous?) or something and I just couldn’t get it right. It took me several tries before I actually got to smoke anything and then I only did it like 6 times. So when someone passed it to me I just passed it on to the next person. Tried it, thanks. I may go back just because I have friends who love it, but I’m not dying to. Ha ha about that one, right?
Hookah smoking and hookah lounges in the United States have popped up all over the place; where people can go and become «enlightened.» I’m not sure that I was enlightened, per say, but I was in a new setting, trying something new, listening to new languages, watching new people, and just calmly taking it all in. Check out Sahara Café to get a taste of the Arab scene for real for yourself and give yourself a chance to feel something new whether you’re into trying the Hookah or not.

So I guess my perspective is heavily influenced by the fact that I don’t smoke (I recognize that many my stop reading right there), but there are definitely a couple of things that bug me about this place. The first and foremost is that the food… well, it sucks. I mean, it’s not sort of ok, it just sucks. And I mean drinks too.
The second thing that bugs me is that, at least the three times I went when it first opened, the only women in the place were American. Don’t know quite how to explain this to a non-​Arab readership, but let’s just say that it felt like an all-​male space. Like an old-​fashioned coffee shop in the Middle East would — i.e., women showing up there might get, well, judged.
The one thing that saves it in my mind is the space itself — gorgeously decorated, very Arab in every way. Wish I could take half of that stuff home. I also like the outdoors-​y area, since even in winter they make sure to put out space heaters. So all in all, a nice area, but pretty uncomfortable and uninteresting unless you want to do absolutely nothing other than smoke hookah and play backgammon with your guy friends. And you’re a guy.