Sigara

best date place i’ve been to in chicago, very romantic. Tips: BYOB, and BYOFood, order from Pizza Metro and get the Watermelon Mint combo hookah.

Awesome Hookah.
Amazing Customer Service.
Sigara has an exceptional staff — i have been there the last 2 weekends (on busy friday nights) and the servers have always been very proactive and attentive, I never had to ask for anything. I left my afor pick there last week, they remembered me and they had it behind the bar waiting!
Suggestions on hookah to try were spot on, its BYOB so my friends and I BOOB and they supply free mixers, you can also order food from any of the excellent restaurants nearby (Aki sushi, which is right next door, is very good and fast).
Music is great — and I am a DJ, so thats a big deal. It ranges from funk to progressive to middle eastern.
Bellydancers on the weekends are a treat, I have also been there on a sunday and they had a brazilian guitarist playing, which was also very good.
Great place to go early before a night out, or as a destination unto itself.
Highly recommended.

Going to a hookah lounge without getting the hookah sounds like going to a McDonald’s to get the salads, but this place somehow makes it work. How? Well, by letting you bring in your alcohol ($ 10/​btl fee). As we all know, alcohol makes things better.
But the music and décor are also pretty sweet. They played a bunch of music I’ve never heard before, but actually liked. How often does that happen?

I have never been to a hookah lounge before so this was my first time. I adored the décor and atmosphere. Its very dimly lit so everyone looks amazing here! ha. There was floor seating with tons of pillows and we had our own private booth.
I came here with friends on a Wed night so we didn’t get to see dancers but I will def come back to check them out.
The seating was fun but after two hours I was very uncomfortable… they do offer tables!

I went there for a friend’s birthdy a couple of weeks ago and although the hookah was quite good, I will never go back because of the service and because I felt cheated. A few of us arrived a little later than our two friends we were meeting there. The waitress did not tell us that there was a $ 15 minimum per person and we only found out about this when the bill came. She said, «I told your friends and I thought they would relay the message to you.» It is HER job, not theirs to inform us of their rules. Also, we were charged a $ 20 corkage fee for a (regular sized) bottle of whiskey. When we asked why it was so high, she said, «because it was a large bottle.»

Sigara has everything a hookah lounge should have –excellent décor, comfortable booths and cushions, good music and free wifi. Before the smoking ban, they served great food and Turkish coffee. The staff is very attractive and friendly.

This place was one of the first hookah lounges that opened up when this craze started a few years ago. I used to be one of the occasional weekend bellydancers here, and thought they owners were really concerned with doing the whole hookah thing (the American term, in Egypt it’s called a «shisha», in the Levant, a «nargila») correctly.
There is a whole culture associated with «t’ishrab nargila», manners and customs. Most Americans are too xenophobic to know or care about any of this, but Sigara comes about the closest to caring and doing it right on a small scale. When I can’t go to Nofara in the shadow of the Ummayyad Mosque in Sham, I’ll go to Sigara.

Very good place to enjoy the hookah. On some evenings they have a belly dancer come out and entertain the crowd (it really makes for great pictures). Really nice place with a great variety of tobacco to choose from and the drinks are pretty cool (a little strong at times).
Since the smoking ban, they allow you to BYOB, so you and your friends can come in and enjoy your own liquor, but don’t think you’re gonna save money doing so because they have come up with this gimmick of $ 15 minimum per person when you come in with a group, since that same smoking ban was put into place. The service was great, but ever since the smoking ban came into play, the service has tanked bigg time! The seating is pretty comfy with the pillows they have on the floor. I took my college buddies here and all they have been talking about eversince is the next time they come to Chicago they have to go to Sigara to get some Hookah!
Good place to take friends and enjoy life!

Love, love, love this place.
I have been here a few times and never been disappointed.
Beautiful, harem style romantic room, very comfortable and well layed out.
Wide range of flavored tobacco,
BYOB (They also have a very small top shelf bar)
Very sweet and attentive staff.
I miss their full menu, but they still carry a few appetizers.
Very Busy weekends includes even better music and a great belly dancing, so don’t forget to make a reservation.
For all of you non smoker’s like me, just be like Clinton, don’t inhale. For what ever the reason, the smoke here doesn’t bother me.
So stop by,
with your lovely date or friends, sit back relax and just be… I promise you will have a great time.

The most unique hookah place I’ve found in the city. Guess Hookah is close second. I really miss the old days when they served food though. The chicken salad was awesome. I absolutely loved the tomato and lime infuzed hummus.
Sigara’s atmosphere is chill, the waitresses are attentive and the hookah is always delicious. They have a wide range of flavors and you can mix them to suit your taste.

I’ve generally enjoyed all of the experiences I’ve had at Sigara. This was the place where I actually tried my first hookah, so that’s really fun.
The atmosphere is really great — it’s dark with a ton of velvet fabric draped everywhere. There’s a lot of small tables in the front with tons of big pillows on the floor. In the back there’s also private small tables with pillows that are great for small groups or parties.
The service is a different story — mediocre at best, it’s almost always slow and I’ve found the servers usually don’t remember what you ordered. Even on a weeknight when the place isn’t that busy, the service is slow and irritating. I like spending an hour or two with friends in a hookah bar, but I would like to actually smoke the hookah rather than sit around and wait.
They do offer a great variety of hookah combinations that are always delicious. I like to mix everything with jasmine because it tastes wonderful and their menu allows you the option to choose any of their combinations or make your own.
But… the prices are a bit high. They charge for large groups and the hookah prices aren’t that good a deal. There are other bars in the city that offer the same atmosphere and options for less. And beware: it gets insanely busy on the weekends and the servers are not always nice about it.

This was my first time hitting the hookah. It was cool and made me reminisce about the days of smoking mary jane.
The rose-​lemon combo of tobacco tasted really and smelled goo too.
My only problem is that they will try and keep your bottle of wine (it’s BYOB) if you don’t drink it all. and I think that’s pretty wack considering they charge you a cork fee.
And my stomach hurt after smoking so much hookah.
I think overall this place was pretty cool.
Here’s a tip: The corkage fee is the same no matter what size bottle you bring, so make the most of it and bring a big ass bottle of wine!

I went here on a Sunday night with three friends. All the lounges were taken so we just grabbed a table with some chairs. The place is very nice inside, low lights, good music, nice décor. We didn’t look at their food menu and just got the hookah.
The hookah was good, not the worst and not the best.
I was a bit upset with their pricing. The hookahs were $ 20 which I feel is a bit steep, the thing that surprised us was the $ 10 for BYOB which they didn’t warn us about and there was an unannounced mandatory 20% gratuity even though we were a party of three.
Nice place, but I’m not sure I would go there again given the hidden charges.

Before I bought my own hookah, I love going to Sigara. It’s a bit pricey, but you’re paying for quality pipes, a great selection of shisha, and a comfortable atmosphere. In the back they have semi-​private booths separated by curtains, the tables are low to the ground so you can sit on cushions on the floor. Since it’s a relaxing experience, it’s nice to sit on the floor and lean up against the wall and just chill out.
One of the options on the menu is that you can put alcohol in the base, but it was really expensive. It’s supposed to add to the flavor, but personally, I think the flavors they have provide the right amount of flavor.
I definitely recommend making reservations on the weekend if you know for SURE that you are going to be there. You have to give them a CC number over the phone, and they will charge you I think $ 50 if you don’t show up.
The bellydancers are pretty cool, it definitely shows that it’s a very authentic place and you get the full experience.
A friend and I went there, smoked two hookah’s, had a few drinks, and one appetizer, and I think our tab was around $ 80. A few days later, I bought a pretty nice hookah with some accessories for about $ 100. Of course you don’t get the *full* experience smoking at home, but to go to place like this regularly will get very expensive, but that’s just my opinion.

We came as a group of eight — it was a fantastic evening. The hookah was well maintained and came with a good variety of smokes.
I agree with other reviewers that food and drink offerings were uninspiring, and the service staff seemed frequently overwhelmed. But it was still a great night.

I have been hitting the hookah for a little over ten years now. I am real familiar with quality tobaccos and coals, and give Sigara a pass score on their wares. The four stars that I have awarded are actually for the atmosphere and service. Sigara is one of the best hookah lounges I have tested. I rate the quality of a hookah lounge on a couple of things.
1) Quality of equipment — they score a 3 out of 5.
2) Quality of tobacco and coals — they score a 3.5 out of 5.
3) Quality of service — they score a 5 out of 5.
4) How accommodating — they score a 5 out of 5.
The above scores should be a standard when rating hookah lounge. I notice that people have taken away points for things like their price of alcohol and food service. Hookah does not originate as a compliment to a good alcoholic beverage nor does it go well with dinner (snacks should suffice). It is a social undertaking that allows conversation to become a primary focus of the evening.
The booths at Sigara are perfectly suited to a great night of conversing. In addition — they do have a great bar lineup for those that choose to drink. I am still exploring, but out of the lounges I have visited so far — Sigara gets my vote for the best in Chi town

Being from Dearborn, MI, the most Arab-​populated US city, I’ve become acquainted with shisha cafes to the point where I’m very picky about where I decide to smoke the narguile. The fact of the matter is, it’s very likely that in Chicago you’re getting ripped off.
While I very rarely take part in this practice (it’s very bad for you), I do enjoy sharing a shisha w/​a few friends on occasion if the night is going right.
Sigara is pricey, but it’s worth it. Sure, it’s for the cool kids who want to pay a lot for a narguile pipe. I think they were something like $ 15 – 20, but there were certainly a lot of cool flavors.
Essentially, you’re paying for atmosphere. Lots of cushions/​floor seating. Candlelit. Free flowing fabrics. This place does it right.
Decent coffee, nice staff. Bellydancers were in the house the night I went — so that was entertaining. I would avoid buying alcohol here — $ 7 beers are insane — and you really don’t need to drink at Sigara to have a good time.
I haven’t been to Sigara in about a year or so, but I would go back if the opportunity presented itself…

Really like the comfortable floor seating, private booths, and overall atmosphere. Long list of tobaccos. I liked the different liquids you could use in place of water (rum, wine, etc.). We had wine, and it was tasty. More expensive than most places.
Didn’t try the food.

Rang in the new year back in ’05 at Sigara and it was a very cool experience. We were lucky enough to have gotten there early and scored a booth complete with privacy curtains. The four of us settled in, ordered drinks and started a cherry cola hookah.
I’m not a smoker and this was my first hookah experience. I’m happy to say it was very relaxed, very chill. Around 10pm they rolled out the «buffet» which was a disappointment as the only thing worth writing home about were the figs and the worst part is they were just the generic, store-​bought variety. I’ve seen better middle eastern fare in food courts, sadly enough.
We did the countdown, wished everyone a happy new year and then watched the bellydancer whom my wife, having done bellydancing in the past, was impressed with and that’s no small feat. Overall the consensus here is accurate. Go for the ambiance and the hookah, eat before or after but not at.

Went here for the first time last night. Its a pretty laid back place. The atmosphere is really nice, with floor seating, dim lighting, and arabic music. Don’t expect to find a great food menu, but the hookah is pretty cool. They also have a nice variety of drinks. Basically, its a nice place to go and relax with a bunch of friends. And if you’re there aroun 10:30, you’ll also get to see the belly dancer. One thing to keep in mind is that this place is pretty small, so make reservations before you go!