Battle of the Hookah Lounges Vol: 1 - Habibi Café vs. Gypsy Café

If you live in Los Angeles, chances are you have hit up the Westwood area to check out the UCLA campus or to do some shopping. It is a great place to chill for the evening and just so happens also has two rival Hookah Lounges. The Hookah Addicts decided to put these two establishments to the test to see who come out victorious in the battle of Westwood village. We will go through our list of criteria for a great Hookah lounge, obviously giving more weight to the quality of the shisha.

Ambiance

Habibi Café is a lively place with excellent décor with lots of comfortable places to sit and a great outdoor area. When you drive down Broxton it is the first thing you see, plus they have a D.J. on weekends. Habibi is usually pretty loud and is hit or miss with service. Gypsy Café is a bit more laid back and suites my hookah experience a bit better. The décor is no where near as elaborate as Habibi, but you usually get decent service and is not a crap shoot. It is even at this point but the fact the Habibi is the preferred place of UCLA students gives the ambience check mark to Habibi.

Habibi Café √ Gypsy Café 

Food

Both are good and you cannot go wrong either way. They both have good sized portions and have great Taboulleh, I tasted both the Kabob and the chicken and both were excellent as well. But there are two things that separate them, first the Hummus at Gypsy is amazing make sure you order it when you go. Also price is important to a young adult such as my self and Gypsy wins there too. Complementary water, cheaper prices, and the ability to serve alcohol (Habibi lost their license) gives the check to Gypsy.

Habibi Café  Gypsy Café √

Hookah

Now for the most important part of the Hookah lounge experience, the shisha. I will not even make this suspenseful. Gypsy wins!!!! Not because it was the best, it just saved it self from being the worst. Gypsy’s flavor selection is good although the shish was a little bland and hit a bit hard; it still was satisfying and was a nice experience. Habibi, on the other hand, was awful, it hit really hard I found myself coughing a lot and there was no taste at all. Plus, you have to wait for the waiter to adjust your coals which took forever. It just was not a great place.

Habibi Café  Gypsy Café √

Conclusion

Habibi looks like the place to be from the street, but you are much better off crossing the street and heading over to Gypsy Café.