Habibi Cafe and Hookah Bar

By far the best hookah lounge in Tampa. Great music, excellent service. They serve beer and wine here as well!

My habibi and I just wanted to go chill for an evening and smoke some hookah and found this place. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with a smile and a handshake.
Great chill atmosphere with great music and videos to boot. Each hookah comes with a generous amount of shisha that lasted quite awhile.
The people there were all beautiful and treated all sorts of folks including a «stick out like a sore thumb» couple like us like old friends.

We absolutely love this place. The guys there are wonderful. The music was AWESOME. Being that my wife and I were in Iraq and Afghanistan we really appreciated the fact that the guys sat and spoke with us about their culture in a positive way. The prices were good for the great for the out that. you get. We would definitely come back here.

Just moved from Dubai… nice smoke… great flavor… good coals… ahh… its like I am back in the ME. A bit on the expensive side. Been trying to get new coals for a few minutes…

The prices are high, comparitively, but it’s a great people watching spot, and the staff has always been friendly and attentive to me.

Prices are a bit high compared to other hookah bars I’ve been to but it’s a great place to relax and get away from the hustle and bustle of Ybor. The music does get loud later in the night but you can sit on the other side of the DJ to avoid that. They do serve beer which is nice too! Bought my first hookah here too :)

Can’t comment on weekends, but for the time I was here it has been great. Staff attentive, owners engaging and cool foot traffic to people watch! When I am in town again, I will definitely come in again! Thanks Habibi!

I went into Ybor hoping to go to another Hookah bar down the street, but turns out it was closed. So because of that, I kept walking and stumbled upon Habibi.
I went on a Saturday night, which probably was my first mistake. It was very loud, with a DJ spinning party jams. The tables were those of a cheap convention center, dirty and all scratched up.
Shisha was more pricey than I have seen it in other hookah bars. You have a lot of choices to choose from with the flavors and you can request them to put alcohol in the hookah water for a stronger buzz.
They sell beer. My co-​workers decided to get Smirnoff (which I made fun of them in my head) and the server/​bartender shows me a Smirnoff signalling me to get one too. I shook my head no, (and for some reason felt offended that he offered me that because I’m a beer snob) and then he held up some wine cooler to me. I shook my head no, and decided to go with the champagne of beers… Miller High Life. Oh well, I guess at a place like this, you can’t get good beer.
The only thing that was unique and sort of cool about this place is that they have a tube where you can blow bubbles with your hookah smoke. It’s still dirty because I saw they were about to give our table a used tube (which the table that sat before us used, on their mouths). A person in my party asked them to wash it before. We still used our mouth guard thingy with the tube anyway.
This place is overall dirty, and only good if you are a younger age who doesn’t care about service, cleanliness, and price.

Service was poor. Prices are way over priced. Got way better service at home, anywhere else. Hookah was poorly packed also.
Wouldn’t recommend this place. Nice location on the corner of 17^th and 7^th BUT only one or two people actually did work. Waited almost an hour for someone to come check up on us. But we had to talked to people 3+ times to get someone to either get a new order or get a repack.
Bathrooms are dirty also.

Friday nights are great — at least early-​September 2013. There was a live DJ and patio furniture with a couple table and chairs. There were a few interesting characters that strolled in/​out of this Hookah Bar including an elderly man who loves to dance (and show us his signature move) and a self-​acclaimed card magician. There’s various Hookah favors and strengths.

This café is replete with splendor, comfort and excellent service. The prices are reasonable and they offer a variety of flavors for the Hookah. My friend and I tried the watermelon flavor with the Happy Setting meaning flavor plus special herbs. Must say with a glass of pinot grigiot I felt more relaxed than I have felt in years. With each puff, I felt my mind unwind, body relax and experienced a sense of enjoyment with good company. I highly recommend this experience to everyone and a nice place for a causal evening for single people, groups or couples.

One word describes this place… Dirty. It all started as we were walking down the street and this guy lured us into the Hookah bar. I asked about a birthday discount, and he said that it is free on your birthday. Cool right? Nope, turns out that that is for a single person only.
No problem, we decided to sit on the only available couch in the back vice a plastic fold out table and chair. Not sure if it was the best idea, as you could tell that this was an «outdoor» couch. The DJ was in the back by us and really sucked. Loud music without any kind of style, while he kept going into the Subway next door and sucked on his own hookah.
We decided to get something called the Happy Hookah. what is that you ask? IDK, all I know is that it cost more and has some special «herbs» in it to make you more relaxed. Hmm…
We got the Hookah and it was really no different than a regular Hookah. All in all we paid $ 16 plus tip for the Happy Hookah. I think there are much better options around and will not return.
#Yelp100

This place is a complete rip off and totally sketchy, but sitting on the couches at the front with a hookah makes for some AMAZING people watching on a weekend night.
Why this place is bizarre:
* There is a guy whose job is to stand out front with a microphone to lure people in. Except, he just kind of mumbled words to whatever song was on a couple of times. I kind of love this guy.
* There’s a Subway in the back of this place. So weird.
* You need a code to use the bathroom. And the code they give you probably won’t work…
* You can see into the tattoo parlor upstairs.
Definitely a good Ybor experience just for the people watching and observing the strange staff here.

My friend and I had never been to a hookah bar and decided to stop by while out celebrating our birthday’s in Ybor. When we asked how much we were told $ 20.00 for a loaded pipe with the flavor of our choice. We thought what the heck… It’s our birthday! What better time to try something new… right?! There were many flavors to choose from on the list. We chose apple. When we were walkng to the table we mentioned we were celebrating our birthdays. The girl then asked… well do you want apple or do you want «HAPPY» apple?! She went on to tell us about it being a natural herb tobacco that is grown and sold in the U.S. that is totally legal and relaxes you. Of course it would be an additional $ 10. Acting silly, my friend and I looked at each other and simultaneously said «HAPPY APPLE»?! We decided to go with the «Happy.» As soon as she walked off I told my friend I think we just got took for an extra $ 10 bucks. I was right. I’ve smoked on a hookah with friends before but never at a hookah bar. I would have been happier saving the $ 10 for a few more drinks down the strip. The experience is worth $ 20.00 if you’re looking to try something new/​different. But afterward it’s like, been there… done that. I have no desire to go back.

I went there with my friend on his birthday since they have several large signs that say «smoke for free on your birthday!’. so we went there so he could smoke for free, figuring that they would give him a free bowl of hookah and it didn’t matter if he shared it.
We were wrong, apparently you need to go there alone on your birthday and smoke solo or they charge you for it. We even asked before hand for there birthday deal and they said OK and it wasn’t until afterwards they told us about their little rule change. It seems really shady that they didn’t inform us about that ahead of time when we specifically asked.
So we ended up paying a ridiculous amount of money for one bowl of hookah. (you could buy your own pipe for what they charge, and their flavor selection blows.) when it should have been free.
Overall? avoid at all costs, find a real hookah bar instead of this cheap knock off.

they service was good, but the atmosphere is horrible. old nasty couches and stay out of the bathroom, it is disgusting. They do have a decent selection of flavors of the hookah

A friend of mine suggested we go to a lounge that just opened. Walked in bought a hookah and some drinks and sat us at a table. About 30 minutes later a guy walked up to us telling us that we would have to move because the table is reserved. Nowhere did it say that the table was reserved nor was there anyone waiting for the table. I figured they saw that they were going to make more money of they group tht needed the table and was buying a bottle than they were from my friend and I. This was my first time there an definitely my last. I guess you have to be friends with the owner. Poor customer service. Wont be
Coming back. Nice place though.

The staff was very friendly. The décor, gross to me but not gross enough to make me leave, ha. Used, grimy, old couches but it’s an outdoor bar which was perfect for the weather yesterday! And from what the ladies said, the bathroom was to be missed.
Happy hookah, ummmm ok? Not really sure of what’s in it but it did make Lisa D and Alexis N giggle a ton. We got the mint flavor and it was delicious. The prices were a little steep but I guess the service made up for that.

My friend said that I’d get high and I was like yeah whatever. Whatever it was, it knocked me on my ass. Nice people. Right in the middle of Ybor City.