Cafe Lulu

Very bad customer service she left us with no coal for1 he when I asked she gave me attitude and they never check in us till we left after other hour I don’t recommend specially in weekend

Always a great time. The music I think could be a bit louder. The hookah prices are reasonable due to being located downtown. Try a wine based hookah the drinks were made pretty well. Our waiter was such a doll she kept checking up on us and making sure everything was tasting well. Was very pleased with my experience here.

Café lulu is the best hookah place in San Diego! Cynthia and Whitney are the best! Definitely the spot to go for hookah!

A little cozy nice place, good variety of the hookahs flavor and just right price, drinks snacks are also available. I wish they had more tables outside. I give them 4 stars, cuz I believe this is a good place but it is not the best.

This place is absolutely amazing. Pregame before a club? Post game chill move? Come to this spot for great Hookah and service.
The bartender Whitney is courteous, friendly, and will have you felling right no matter the time of night. Ive never had a better time at a hookah spot and Whitney at café lulu is the best. If you need/​want a consistent spot in San Diego, always come thru here.
Ive seen cheaper hookah spots across the city, and i know $ 22 a hookah is a bit steep for some people but i assure you its worth it!

Wow, people have some strong opinions about this place! My man and I had a pleasant time, and I think these tips might be helpful:
+ ask for shisha recs from the staff. We asked, and went with a mint-​blueberry (winter berry might have been the name?), which was really nice. She was also attentive with our coals and just checking on us in general.
— I saw the reviews where people said they charge for tap water, so I had to ask the waitress about that. She explained that yes, they do charge, but it comes out of a filtration system, so that’s why. Still seems lame tho.
+ ordered a pot of mint tea, which was HUGE (contained like 4 large cups’ worth) and tasty, plus came with lemon slices, honey, and fresh mint leaves. Well worth $ 6!
+ sat outside, since it was a warm night, and we wanted to people watch. We initially sat inside, and the chairs and banquette were not very comfortable. The chairs outside are actually superior.
— the check-​in deal being only valid on Saturdays is kinda whack/​misleading.

They make great hookahs and really good drinks. I usually go there through out the weekdays and they aren’t to crowded which I like about them and they have good customer service

I notice the 75% off offer on hookah they fraudulently advertised (and I complained about) 2 months ago is STILL showing!!! Like I said, SHADY!!! Don’t waste your time coming here.

Stopped coming here awhile back because the servers weren’t attentive. Went back for the first time in awhile (I missed the café atmosphere), the staff looks new, and did not disappoint. The two girls working tonight we’re very friendly and checked on us plenty.

Got here at 10pm.
Got turned away because it was a slow night and the a/​c broke… so they decided to close early.
But there were at least 3 empty tables outside on the patio seating and there were customers hanging out smoking hookah.
Wouldn’t have minded setting outside, but sure, just close 3 hours early because it’s a «slow» night, even though your hours said open til 1am.

Hung out with a couple of friends on a Friday night. We were seated right away, had great service, the atmosphere is very relaxing, the food was great, employees were friendly. This is just a chill, and relaxing place. I had a great time and experience. The girl with the «hakuna matata» was awesome.

The lady who served us was nice. They got good appetizer. Went there for the hookah and it was OK. The atmosphere settings was very cozy.

This was my first time here. We got sat immediately on a Saturday night.
The server was pretty nice. She gave me everything I asked for. She even made suggestions for us to try. We ended up getting the Gummy Bear hookah and cheesecake. The Hookah was pretty tasty! So was the cheesecake.
We got the bill. I had a Unilocal check-​in offer but apparently someone hacked into their account or made a fake on so they couldn’t take the coupon. Bummer! That wasn’t their fault though. I was hoping I could get a discount since that place was pretty pricey.
Pretty chill place. I wanted to nap on their couches.

This review is only for the hookah. Came here around noon on a Saturday. The lady at the register was friendly but the hookah is overpriced and wasn’t that good. I ordered the white gummy for $ 22 and buddy got the Walking Dead premium flavor for $ 26 which had red wine in the water/​base. Uses round insta light type coals, bleh. Walking dead was whack and barely tasted the guava. Tasted burnt after a few hits. White gummy was ok and tasted better/​lasted a bit longer. 2 stars for just an ok hookah experience.
Btw, that 75% off with checkin Doesn’t work!!! The lady at the register said its not valid and the don’t know how to remove it. This is one of the reasons why I even came here, besides the fact they were open at noon.

Honestly one of the best hookah spots! Heather is the absolute best… she made sure we had a great time! The food and drinks are phenomenal… happy hour is the best time to come!

Café Lulu’s. The name smoothly rolls off the tongue, just as smooth as the hookah being served. They have a roster of specialty hookahs, but they can also mix a variety of flavors to cater to the Hookah connoisseur’s taste. The happy hour is amazing, three dollar drinks and 12 dollar hookahs during the accessible times of 12−7pm. The hostess, Heather, is the sweetest. She leaves customers with conversations that leave them wanting more. She gives Lulu’s the comfortable atmosphere, a perfect complement to hookah and drinks. I usually do my studying at Café Lulu’s, and I am never bothered. Hookah is tendered with coals and care whenever they seem harsh. The hostess will treat you like family. My go to spot for an afternoon session of hookah.

THE WORST HOOKAH LOUNGE I HAVE EVER BEEN TO!
I usually only Unilocal for places that I absolutely love, but for café lulu, I’ll make the exception ;)
I’ll try to keep this short — My boyfriend and I joined a few of our friends at café lulu who had just ordered a couple appetizers and a hookah pipe. Within 5 minutes, our waitress said we had to order a second hookah since they only allow 3 people to a pipe. Two of the guys said that they weren’t smoking so another employee (the manager?) came over and said we either had to order a second hookah or leave.
So we said we’ll leave because we don’t want to order a second hookah. As we began to leave, the employee told us that we have to pay or she’s going to call the cops on us. We paid the bill in full — even for the hookah that we had only smoked for less than 5 minutes.
All we had wanted to do was stay and enjoy what we had already paid for. Instead we were treated rudely by unprofessional staff who clearly knew nothing about being in the service industry. If I was the owner of this business, I would do a major overhaul on your current staff because they are representing your business VERY POORLY and have no consideration for having paying customers leave happy.
Ps. They charge $$$ for water. Not bottled water, tap water…

I am giving 4 stars only because they don’t serve cocktails I love a good cocktail even if it’s a basic one. Given the fact I’m in a downtown atmosphere but doing a more low key night there. I still would love to enjoy a cocktail with some amazing hookah.
Staff is great. Keep the coals hot and ready. And also they have like a smoking cap to cover the coals so you don’t have ash all in your way spilling.
Been here twice so far. First time stumbled in here after a very eventful night more so too relieve myself in the restroom. But me and my girls decided to stay. The crowd comes and goes. So you can almost always get a decent seat.
Music:
It’s good. I like my hip hop. They play it. And mix it up here and there with some other genre. But from my TWO TIME EXPERIENCE it’s been only hip-​hop.
Crowd: some respectful people. Not ratchet.
Overall I love love this place! It’s low key. No lines. No ratchets.
Just please please serve cocktails!

Dingy hookah bar in Downtown SD. Awful décor and not inviting at all. Rude customer service. Got here early and was going to use bathroom while I waited for friends to come. Asked the girl working behind the counter where the bathroom was and she had a major attitude and questioned if I was actually going to stay here or just coming in to use the bathroom. Bathrooms are dirty and unmarked as to which is the womens and mens. After dealing with the rude service I did not want to stay there and we ended up going to another bar.

There are a few things I didn’t particularly like about this place.
First of all the music is way too loud.
Hookah places are meant to relax, have a conversation and chill. Lulu has their music blasting like it’s a night club so it makes it almost impossible to talk.
I ordered a Long Island ice tea and got some very bad tasting drink, that didn’t even remotely resembled the ice tea everyone knows.
I sent it back and explicitly told the waitress that all I wanted was a good old Long Island. She brings me some drink that again wasn’t even close to tasting as it supposed to.
Well, I didn’t sent it back this time. I gave up.
I mean, come on, this is one of the most common cocktails that every bartender should know how to make. Apparently not this one.
Other than that I have nothing else to say about this place.