Tarboosh Mediterranean Cafe

Absolutely disgusting, both the hookah and location. I’m a café layal kind of girl, but I was craving hookah and my friend mentioned this place so we went. It was dead when we showed up, and the place itself is so gross. You could make this place look better with furniture from a thrift store, honestly. The guy who took our order was dressed in medical wear and was sitting on the tables with his phone while we stood at the counter waiting for help. The hookah is disgusting, they had them out in the open and the counter area was filled with boxes of hookah. I hope they are either closed down or completely rebuilt with new management.

I wish I could rate this place with no stars because it doesn’t even deserve the one I gave it. I came here with two friends and experienced the absolute worst service I’ve experienced in any establishment, period.
Upon purchasing the overpriced hookah the clerk began accusing us of sneaking in alcohol. None of us had alcohol, all of us were underage.
The aforementioned clerk delivered our hookah to the table and puffed on it for a solid minute or two before finally leaving us to smoke in peace. The hose on the pipe was cheap plastic and broke with light use.
But the highlight of the evening was when I approached the counter for a glass of water. I waved to a gentleman in the back trying to get his attention (no one was at the counter mind you.) and he pointed at the clerk who had been «servicing» us before and mumbled something that almost sounded like English. When the clerk finally stopped pretending to be busy he scoffed at my request for water and pointed to the refrigerator saying I would have to buy a bottle for 2 dollars. I was adamant in my request for tap water and he said, «We don’t have, I can no do this for you». I pointed out to him that there was clearly a soda fountain behind him with a spout for water, to which he finally honored my request by disappearing to the back and returning with a red solo cup of lukewarm toilet water. Instead of being a kind sport this clerk made every effort to continue his greasiness from before and leave an awful impression on me and my friends.
It was about this moment that a dozen or so clearly underage kids poured in with lots of alcohol quickly turning the environment into a rowdy rambunctious club that I wanted no part of. We left shortly after.
Like I said before, I really wish I could give this place 0 stars. Get tables without burn marks all over them, better shisha and stop treating paying customers like a nuisance.

A friend of mine recommended me this place. I really like it. I haven’t tried the food but the staff is great.

Worst hookah place on earth. They have underage workers and the hookah is so bad. Look up «cave hookah lounge» on Google or go to café Layal. Never going back. Every weekend they charge an extra $ 6 to get in because there is a DJ. They have made a hookah lounge into a club. Do your self a favor and drive to different hookah lounge.

This place wasn’t that great. But I think since I heard about the owner beating a customer it’s closed down. We tried calling for a straight week to place an order. No answers. Went up there twice this week. ALL. Doors locked. Sooooo good riddance. There’s a new place on jones just 1 min away called skyline hookah lounge and grill. Can’t wait to try it.

Hookah was made by the owner, so it was good. The chicken shawerma was ok. Dont expect too much, just a casual hangout.

Writing this as the Unilocal Duke of Tarboosh, I have to say I’ve been coming here for 4 years and tonight I walked out. In my opinion, the place has gone to the toilet. I started coming here when it was a struggling restaurant with decent food and fair priced hookah for the quality. Now, I think Tarnish is a lounge for young ditty-​boppers to act a fool. I’ve seen the place start charging $ 5 just to sit inside on certain nights, the tables have been destroyed, and the restrooms are tagged with all kinds of graffiti. I have been charged an automatic 15% gratuity and had hookahs limited to 2 people only. I don’t pay gratuity to a place that forgets to bring out my hookah and makes me ask for new coals. I guess this is the end of Tarboosh for me. It’s just not worth the hassle in my opinion. Please note that the above statement is solely my opinion, not solid facts, and was written simply based on my experiences here and from what I’ve seen. The owner could turn this place around someday, but for now, this is what I’ve experienced for the past year or so.

This place deserves no stars and is TERRIBLE! I came to this crappy and ghetto looking place with a group of friends and witnessed the most disgusting and unnecessary behavior at an establishment and the manager even condoned it and did not care!
This guy was who seemed drunk was with a group of his friends and accidentally knocked over a hookah thing and broke it so the guy at front demanded payment and was cursing at him. Really? After some words being exchanged, the drunk guy clearly said that he would pay for it and said that the money was in his car so he walked out, I don’t think he was trying to leave because all of his friends were still inside and as soon as he even stepped out I kid you not there was 7 employees jumping the guy and beating him up for no reason!!! That was ridiculous!!! The poor guys friends had to run out and break it up. The manager just stood there and laugh. I cannot believe the vile and barbaric behavior
F this place and F U tarboosh

Ok. so this used to be a great spot. I would come alone or with one or two friends and we would buy a hooka, 5 dollars to bring in a bottle if we wanted and we could chill out as much as we wanted… but that has all changed.. I decided to stop by there recently with friends b4 a night on the town. I was just telling them how great this spot was. Negative! !! We wanted one hooka, but the guy at the counter says no. because their is 6 of us we had to buy 3.(thats crazy, half of us didnt even smoke) not only that the price listed now is miss leading, now they charge gratuity.. On hookah?!! That’s crazy.. It gets worse.. They charge u to get in and sit down with the hookah!!! That’s like going to a restaurant, ordering food, and them charging u cause u sitting down to eat!!! It’s crazy! ! And mind u this is no fancy establishment. Sofas and tables right out if the 70s, with burn holes, dust, and wobbly tables. lol. But that was all ok when u could just buy a hookah and chill. Now u wantvto charge for something thats not even up to par! ME and my friends calculated at the counter. these ppl wanted us to pay 60 for the hookah (but we only wanted one) 36 to smoke the hooka inside (6 $x6) then 12 because 2 of us had a bottle.. lmaoo.. I think this place is about to go down hill. but that’s what happens when u get greedy. They lost me, and some others too. Shame. Oh and saw the rudeness.

Expect to receive inattentive service. There’s so much mold in the hookah and they don’t light up the coals all the way. This used to be my favorite hookah place, but it’s gone down the drain. All you see is a bunch of kids, probably most of them not even 18. I would not recommend this place whatsoever.

This place is worth 0 stars. Overpriced food and hookah, and neither are good. They don’t believe in customer service. You have to ask them 100 times for something and they might consider your request. This place has high school kids drinking alcohol in here. It’s ghetto. Safe yourself time and money and go somewhere else.

Terrible, overpriced hookah with literally no service. You have to constantly ask some high school kid for coals, which half the time isn’t even properly lit. They will come up to you however, to tell you to buy another hookah if you have a party of 4 because it’s a 3 person limit. Not to mention you get a cheap plastic hose hookah that barely hits well for $ 14. You also have to ask for tongs because they have 1 – 2 sets that everybody shares, including the employees who seem to annoyed to be disturbed. I think there is even a limit to how many coals you get, because they are rationing everything. Also, be ready for annoyingly loud EDM music, on a terrible staticky aux cable. People say this is the McDonald’s of hookah joints, but I disagree, because at least when I leave McDonald’s I’m satisfied.

This place is for teenagers who have no where else to go on a weekend, dont want to drive to Café Layal, and can’t get drunk.
I went one night and all of the tables were disgusting. Every single table was dirty and not once did I see anyone come to clean them up.
I was thirsty so I asked my husband to grab me a cup of water because there was no one to be found to take an order. And he came back with a water bottle that they charged us for, when that was not what I had asked for, he even said he asked for a cup.
And it is waaaay too crowded on weekends, filled with loud teens, or obnoxious drunk adults because it is BYOB.
I’d rather stay home, or go watch a movie.

Eh

Horrible place
Crappy service
Nasty hookah
we waited for menus and no one gave a crap and had to ask for one
Didn’t feel like they wanted to work
Will never come back
STAY AWAY!!!
I WOULD GIVE IT NO STARS

I came here once, haven’t been since. I came because Mediterranean is my fav. and they are one of the only Mediterranean restaurants In the area. The main problem I had is how ugly it is on the inside. Terrible interior, uncomfortable seats. They should have invested more into the appearance. They would probably get much more business if they did.
I had the chicken Kabobs. They were delicious and the presentation was great. Bottom line; food good but overpriced, restaurant tacky.

I’m here right now finishing lunch. Been wanting to try this place for awhile. Everyone is right, this place is never busy. So I’ve always steered away from it. But it’s overall not bad. The food was decent. The tarboosh hummus with chicken was surprisingly good because they use a hint of cinnamon on the chicken (I think). I had a chicken shawarma sandwich and it was pretty decent. My gf had chicken kabob, she liked it which is surprising since she is typically a picky eater.
The place is no frills, and probably one of those places you wouldn’t want to see the kitchen. That’s my only complaint, the place is dirty and tacky. But the food wasn’t bad at all.

My sisters and I decided to try this place for lunch since it is close to our office. Never again! The first clue should have been how empty the place was at lunchtime. First, they only serve bottled water and you have to pay for it.
Then, we all were ordering off of and pointing to the lunch menu on the back when ordering, but since my sister mistakenly thought her’s came with two sides instead of one, they charged her the dinner price. You would think the waitress would say something especially since she saw us ordering off the LUNCH menu.
Now for the food: The salad was gross: iceberg lettuce (a little brown), canned olives, gross tomatoes, and giant cut up carrots topped by a bottled Italian dressing.
The hummus was fine I guess, not anything great. The actual entrée was okay as well. Not bad, but again nothing to jump up and down for. They brought us some free baklava, which we didn’t ask for, which was nice but I suspect it is because they know how crappy everything else was.
Now for the worse thing. They somehow padded my sister’s bill so that we could not figure out how they got to the total. She somehow got charged for my bottled water and then there was about $ 4 extra for who knows what. She paid for my other sister’s lunch and the total ended up being $ 29! Ridiculous.
Overall, don’t come to this place unless you want to be overcharged for crappy service and food. Maybe it is a good place to come smoke a hookah, but for food, not a good choice.

Meh.

Incendio! On a cold-​ish (for Houston in May) late afternoon after a tedious day of work why not go on the hunt for some charcoal fueled hookahness and some tasty food to warm up with before hitting the elite party at Fox Hollow?
Tarboosh is a place I had been curious about for a decent while since its pretty far away from us in downtowny/​midtowny, yet everyone says skip Ranosh (near the Galleria) and hit this one instead. Truth be told on the drive here I discovered why — you pass Carl’s Junior. Yes! I will stop by there I think! And then it gets even better: Steak and Shake. YES. I am going to need a forklift to move me if I spend much more time on this side of town.
Tarboosh has a funny name. That is why it became a bookmark, just like the Spicy Pickle on Old Spanish Trail did with all of its mature innuendo. Tarboosh, like the Spicy Pickle, is not quite as sexy as you think it would be given the name.
It is a standalone structure in the corner of a strip mall parking lot. Pretty isolated at first, but then as the traffic roars by on Jones you discover you are not too alone.
The interior of the restaurant is sort of a generic looking diner, it really has that feel to it that it could almost be a Cracker Barrel if you stripped away the gaudy, tacky stuff and made it look like authentic home cookin’ places in the deep South (or at least what my imagination tells me they would look like.) The restrooms are at the rear and are single occupancy, so you might have to wait a while if there is a crowd.
When you step through the door you come up to the counter and get to be amazed by the baklava just lined up there, asking you to eat it. It looks sooooo good. And then you look at the hookah menu and place your order there. We went with the Starbuzz Code 69 because we are the most mature people in the world — as you could clearly tell by the Tarboosh and Spicy Pickle comments. However we had never tried Code 69 as an option before so we asked the girl behind the counter what it was like and she let us smell the tin and tobacco. It smells like Hawaiian Punch — yes! Great success!
You then take your seat out on the patio facing Jones Road and your hookah is brought out in short order and then the food menus start getting seriously looked at.
I went with the Tarboosh hummus — an amazingly huge portion of hummus with an even larger portion of shawarma meat on top, sprinkled sparsely with lettuce throughout, and a big big serving of pita. This was a lot of food. I could not even come close to finishing it. But it was so good. So tasty. Such a nice blend of flavors. And something unique as I have never personally put shawarma meat on top of hummus and said «PERFECTION!» then eaten it. But it works. It works well.
The other half went with the chicken kabob gyro. There were a lot of vegetables and a lot of sauce, it gets a bit messy so be warned. I took a bite of it in exchange for some hummus, and I thought the chicken was incredible. The chicken was very soft, tender, and juicy. The sauce was perfect even if there was a lot of it. And I really liked the vegetables being a reckoning force, not just a tiny little scrap you are not sure was even there. It was a good sandwich.
This is a very good M.E./Mediterranean option if you are (a) missing home, (b) you like hookah, © you like good food, (d) you are tired of going to the same boring M.E./Mediterranean place you always go to, or (e) all of the above.
Plus it has my Lord Voldemort seal of approval — what else do you need?