Cafe Chanta

My friend and I took a long trek from Richmond to here only to find out that the place is CLOSED. Note*** closed. So hopefully this’ll save anyone lookin for a hookah bar in the citay

Been here quite a while ago and had some pretty bad experience.
To sum it up:
1. Bad hookah
2. Bad service
3. Bad cocktail
I wouldn’t recommend this place. There are much better hookah places around.

My favorite hookah bar in the city. They’re open late, the prices are reasonable, and the owner is fantastic!

Good service, warm atmosphere, opens late full privacy unlike other hookah places loved it definitely would be back…

If only there was an option of a negative STAR, this place is a dump
if you enjoy your hookah, good service, customer relations, respect, dignity DO NOT GO HERE, an absolute waste!
Seriously so the service sucks, thats the customers fault where the owner kicks us out for complaining (mind you in a nice way)
I usually never write bad reviews, I let it slide, because most small business owners are trying to get by (these days) but this place, oh God. I may even contact the city of SF and the BBB about this place. someone needs to teach them some business sense.

I wandered into Café Chanta with a friend one Thursday night since it was right around the corner from where we ate dinner. We just wanted to grab one quick drink before we went home, but if I knew what I was getting myself into I would’ve just went home instead.
First off, the service here is absolutely terrible. The guy behind the bar pretty much ignored us for a good 5 – 10 minutes. It wasn’t like he didn’t see us, he just chose to talk to his friend instead. When he finally came he asked what we wanted as though he didn’t want our business at all.
We decided to order one of the wines on the menu (which, by the way, are on the expensive side), he started pouring the wine into this tiny water glass, and the whole thing ended up more like a shot than a glass of wine. And to make things worse, the glass wasn’t even clean and you can still see stains on it. Terrible.
I would never visit this place again and would discourage you to even try it!

Not open.

Location is perfect not far from union square, Ruby Skye Club, Infusion lounge and more. Nice small chill spot. The tea is great. Service is great also.

Came here last night, definitely a place that I wouldnt want to come back for hookhah. Came here with a bunch of friends after dinner, the place was definitely empty except this other group of 5 people, but the owner or whoever he was decided to seat us 7 people in a small corner booth compacted and later decided to move us to another larger corner where the 5 other people were at when they left. We all thought that was nice and considerate for the guy to offer us that. So we move over there after 5 minutes waiting ordered two hookah and a few beers.
Half way through, the guy didnt even bother to come back to check on the burnt till we asked if he can give us new ones, he basically just tap a little and put it back on and ¹⁄₃ way through we asked the guy if he can add some more since it was about to used up he gave us a look and went back to get.
Apparently during the time we were there each tables were occupied, the guy decided to come over and demand us to compact ourselves together so he can put other people at our table. He didnt even asked us if it was okay to share or gave us a reason but just told us to move. Didnt give a reason didnt say anything we all didnt move, so he came back with these two other customers that was shock and didnt know they were sharing a table with other people too, they sat down for less than 2 minutes and said have a good night guys and left. To tell you the truth the owner probably didnt know they left.
As many reviewers have mentioned…“service is horrible” and «never coming back again» is something definitely true about this place.

Never going back again, me and my group of seven friends wanted to go smoke some hookah before we hit the club so we walked into this place it look pretty nice so we say they have us a table before we knew it they sent have drinks so never again we will be here

Hookah: the hookah was smooth and clean, but the guy would never put enough coals on it, so it didn’t hit that well. We repeatedly asked for more coals but didn’t get any until the person next to us left, and he put those on our hookah.
Service: the guy working there (who i think is the owner) is a total douchebag. Super rude throughout the night for no reason. When we paid, we had one person put in a card, and we gave him cash — but the owner said he wouldn’t take a card because we were trying to get mileage, he wanted the cash and the card. Obviously because he wanted to save $ 2 in credit card fees. We basically made him take the card and he was visibly upset afterwards.

SERVICE WAS HORRIBLE!
My boyfriend and I waited there for OVER 40 minutes to get our hookah and it never came. Before we left, we called for the owner to ask him about the status of our hookah and he COMPLETELY ignored us. Must say, worst service I’ve ever experienced and I WOULD NOT recommend anyone to go there.
Atmosphere is descent, but the service and the staff make it a lose-​lose.

It was a Wednesday night and I was out with my boyfriend & his friends. They’re having a drunken escapade through the downtown area and someone slurred out the word: HOOOOOKAAAAAH!
We walked, found Café Chanta, was seated promptly, given water and tea, ordered a Caesar salad and the premium hookah ($ 19) with the double orange mint flavor. Sounds all too dandy until we were waiting.
Here’s the catch:
— waited more than 20 minutes for the hookah to show up at the table
— wasn’t notified there was a charge for tea ($ 2.50/person for a tiny cup with no refill)
— never got the salad
— staff was racially biased (long story)
— got charged extra for something we didn’t order
All in all, I’m sure other people have/​will enjoy a place like this because it’s cozy and what not but it isn’t a hookah bar I’ll ever be coming back to. Good riddance.

I was actually drawn to Café Chanta not from rave reviews, but out of necessity. Due to the new city ordinances which heavily restrict smoking in buildings in SF, many of my favorite hookah bars were forced to close down. Café Chanta somehow managed to circumvent these new ordinances and stay open. Thus, keep this in mind when reading any further.
I first went to Café Chanta months ago, around Thanksgiving. The café does not employ tables but rather long benches, and as a result if the place gets packed a certain night you can expect you’re gonna get really cuddly-​snuggly with some random other patrons. Not only that, you’ll be asked to move frequently by the owner in order to create room for other guests. On this night, I and my party were asked to move around twice in order to get more squished by other patrons. The service was absolutely unbearable this night and the owner actually got into a very heated argument with the guy next to my party over his wait time. It was unpleasant, awkward, and made my contempt grow for this place.
This winter break, however, I went back and found the café to have done a complete 180. The owner (and sole employee it seems) was incredibly delightful and accommodating. Everything was relaxed and easy-​going as it should be in a hookah bar but with very prompt service. As for the quality of the smoke, I have to admit it was pretty good. I don’t know which tobacco brand he’s using but it was very flavorful. I strongly recommend their house blend. It could have been a little better, though, if the smoke was ticker. It wasn’t thin, per se, but it could have been better.
Taking all of this into account, I’m giving Café Chanta a three stars. It seems to collapse under the weight of a packed house, and as a result if you see that it’s packed think twice before you sit down – I say it’s not worth it. But if it’s not so packed then take a seat and enjoy yourself. For what’s left in the City in terms of hookah bars, it could be a lot worse than Café Chanta.

My friends and I were traveling in the city after having attended the Google I/​O Conference and thought it would be a great Friday night even to try some of the local Hookah Bars as we have on the east coast. Walking in to the establishment, it seemed like a really nice place with the usual crowd of hipsters, and the like.
But, sadly, the decorations and atmosphere couldn’t make up for the lackluster service. Having a party of six and walking in off the street at around 11:30 which I do understand that we might not have been the ideal situation, but a little more effort could have been put in paying attention to us. We aren’t that picky.
Upon being seated around a table that was still wet and dirty from prior customers, we waited around 10 — 15 minutes for the waitress (es?) to even talk to us. Finally after having received the menu’s we questioned the waitress on what exactly an order of «Super Hookah» was. The waitress, having no idea resorted to asking what we assumed to be the manager. So, the manager ends up coming to our table and saying that they «don’t know what Super Hookah is, and it’s just on the menu.» Essentially telling us that they have no idea what the «Super Hookah» is and trying to avert us from ordering it. So, in the end we ordered the «House Special» and the «Triple Apple» Hookahs with a bottle of Moet for the table.
After around 20 minutes the waitress comes over again and lets us know that there isn’t a bottle of Moet left, and that they had sold out. Resorting to a cheaper bottle (which is perfectly fine) we again waited another 10 minutes for the waitress to bring out the Hookahs, and the Champagne with plastic cups.
While I have made it clear that the service was a bit lacking, I would like to make it clear that the Hookah’s themselves were very good. The apple was very «Apple-​ey» and a bit strong even. Overall, the Hookah’s were alright for what we had waited for.
Overall, I would say that while the smoking experience at Café Chanta was «alright» the service and blatant disrespect for us as customers was enough for all of us to say that the Café would not have our business again. So, my advice to those who are looking for a great Hookah experience is to check elsewhere, and go somewhere more customer friendly.

I learned a new word last night: «mapsuta». It means something like «I’m a happy girl» in Arabic.
I was definitely mapsuta last night!
My friends and I went to Café Chanta to hang out while we waited for our dinner reservation. We had a few drinks as the rest of our group joined us from various corners of the bay.
This is a great place to hang out and chill, even if you’re not smoking hookah.
The staff is really friendly and laid-​back. Our server, Haash (not sure how to spell his name) was very helpful and he came to hang out with us for a little bit since the place was sort of empty in the early evening.
After dinner we actually came back to this spot and hung out a little longer. I love the colors and the artwork on the walls. Most of the artwork is actually done by one of the owners. The seating areas can accommodate small — medium sized groups and there are cushions and pillows to help you get comfortable.
I enjoyed the Turkish coffee. Haash invented a coconut coffee drink for one of our friends and another friend had the mocha chai latte. When we stopped by after dinner we also met Ivana and she was pretty funny. She is from Serbia but can speak Spanish. She says she learned from watching telenovelas.
There are some hostels around the area and this place attracts an international crowd.
Weekends they also have belly-​dancing shows.

This is by FAR my favorite hookah bar and restaurant in the city.
Uncle Bobby treats my friends like family and I love coming back here. Thank you Sarah for the introduction.
When the clubs close, this is my favorite place to relax and recharge (since someone always suggests an after party)
So you can either wander around SF looking to dance at some «secret after-​hours club your friend’s friend’s sister’s hairdresser» told him about… or just come here and dance on the tables.
As the old knight said to Indian Jones, «Choose wisely»

4 solid stars would be sufficient
place is clean, open, very roomy staff is friendly, prices are very decent and there is a belly dancer definitely would go back for more hookah
only reason I did not give the place a 5^th star was due to parking, parking is a hassle in this area the parking garages will charge you from $ 15 to $ 32 most in the range in the $ 25 and up the spot that charged $ 15 was more then 6 blocks away all uphill
hookah is $ 15 happy hour is $ 10
service *****
hookah choices **** several to choose from. Mint and orange mix taste like listerine haha
price $$
carpool if you can to save on parking cost
parking negative stars $ 15 to $ 32

I find that your experience here varies with the service given.
The first time I went I looooved it and they made me the most amazing chai.
The next time i went they didnt even know what chai was and gave me some crappy tea with a tea bag… it was my bday and the service wasnt that good and we were the only ones in the place. the waitress was new but she knew absolutely NOTHING, i mean i know you’re new but you should at least know a few things on the menu, since there are only like 5 items.
Below is my review of the first time I went there:
I love this place! I When I go to smoke shisha i want a comfortable relaxing environment that i can chill in for hours just chatting with friends and listening to music– and thats why this place is great.
Atmosphere– warm, comfortable and not too cramped
Service– very friendly
Food– hit or miss (hit: hummus, tabouli. miss: babaganoush, dolmas)
Hookah– awesome, not too many flavors and they were out of 2 things i asked for, but they give you bubbles and that kept me amused for quiet a while :)
Dancer & music– great and entertaining!
My favorite hookah lounge in the city.

(See pics)
What defines a city is not its big name stores or franchise restaurants or a few landmarks, but its smaller venues of eateries that have characters, uniqueness, friendliness, and subtle Wow-​ness.
Café Chanta has just changed ownership about 10 days ago from Gallery Café Live (
).
They have already replaced the glass cabinets with a black granite bar counter and will be replacing the Jack-​in-​the-​box style furniture with low plush benches.
I came here after meeting a few new friends at Ryoko’s and they just went to the new Café for a quick drink before dinner. They decided to go back for some hookah and I went with them as they told me how the place has been changing.
The new place, while still under renovation (hard to tell since there was no dust but you can see its accompanied changes– physically (furniture), mentally (atmosphere) and soulfully (clientele). It’s already looking classy, elegant yet a very friendly place for those who want to socialize with friends with a puff while having a glass of wine/​cocktails and food.
One of the owners, Mike originally from Argentina, brought us some red wine, Black Label, etc while serving us their new hookah.
This place is full of potential with the lovely chandeliers, beaded curtains, some beautiful Mohammed Hourian paintings, and some new cushioned benches (they are replacing all the furniture to lower benches with cushions during this week), a black granite bar counter in replacement of the old glass cabinet, as well as they are moving the kitchen to the back. The new more relaxing and friendly style will dramatically redefine you weekend from going to a bustling night club night or as a pre-​party venue beforehand!
During the day, you can come here as a nice spot for some kababs and drinks. I have not tried them but am told they already have a chef who is also personal friend coming in to make some great food.
Toku Wu is an excellent musician who plays modern (old as well as new) soothing music with his electrifying electric guitar that brings a sultry mood to a beautiful evening.
Sumaia from Argentina was giving us a sneak preview on her shaking hips that showed a woman’s curvy moves like a ripples of the river and at times like ocean’s waves.
Come and check out the new place as they are transforming the old café into a new food and socializing venue.