Ranoush Nights

Very weird experience here.
I was walking around the neighborhood and decided I wanted to catch a movie at Tivoli, but the movie wasn’t for about two hours.
I noticed this place and thought it would be a good way to kill a couple hours. With a book in hand, I came in, ready to settle down for a couple hours of relaxing hookah, tea, and reading.
However, the moment I stepped through the door, I realized I would not be getting the experience I was hoping for.
The guys running the place were BLASTING Top 40 hits through the speakers in the place. The music was deafeningly loud, the volume you would expect at 1am at a club somewhere.
Except we were not at a club. This was a hookah bar, during DAYLIGHT hours, with three (3) customers, all just smoking and reading or surfing on their phones.
I couldn’t believe the volume, so I asked if they could turn it down, which they did… slightly. But then for the rest of my time there the guy kept fiddling with the volume. If a song that was slightly quieter came on, he made sure to turn it up — because heaven forbid there was even a second of time where music wasn’t pumping through the 20×15 room.
The shisha was below average and not particularly flavorful, but the tea I ordered was pretty good. One of the guys also came by a few times to change out the coals, without me having to ask.
Still, it was a super weird environment and not at all relaxing or really even enjoyable.
I will not be back.

I can’t believe I hadn’t made it to Ranoush until now! Boy, have I been missing out! My husband, baby, and I met a couple of friends here for dinner on a Friday night. At first, I was concerned, because I knew they had hookahs which is not my cup of tea, especially with a newborn in tow. Lucky for us, they don’t start them up indoors until after the normal dinner time rush. Let’s strike that and change it to EXTREMELY lucky for us, because we had a GREAT time. The food was fantastic.
At the table, I was fortunate enough to sample the hummus, fatayer, chicken kafta, chicken shawarma, and the lamb shish kabob. I completely suck, and waited waaaay too long to finish this review, so I don’t have detailed description to make your mouth water (guess I have good reason to visit again and update my review!), but I can vouch that all these dishes were excellent. I was half expecting an Indian or Mexican experience — the same basic ingredients put together in different ways for different dishes. I was pleasantly surprised to find each dish had something fresh and delicious to offer that set it aside from the others.
The staff was also very friendly and helpful in her suggestions.
And since I’m old and matronly, I always like to give props for bathrooms with well kept diapering accomodations. You go, Ranoush!
One thing that could be a plus or minus given the audience — live belly dancing. Some may enjoy it, but I find it to be kind of awkward in the middle of the meal. I don’t know. It’s just… weird… I appreciate it as an art, but it’s so strange to have a girl dancing around between tables.

This place is a ripoff when it comes to hookah. All the other lounges in the area do not force a limit — one hookah to 2 people for $ 12 food isn’t that good either

After dining at Eclipse, FH, a friend and I sauntered over to Ranoush Nights for a little hookah to seal the evening. (Thanks Unilocal mobile app for helping me locate a hookah bar ridiculously close by!)
Ranoush Nights looks pretty similar to most hookah bars, not a ton of ambiance, just sort of utilitarian seating, etc. We were seated allllllll the way in the back of the place, it seriously felt like it was the kids table at thanksgiving.
The selection of shisha was ok; I’ve seen better. Service was pretty quick, but we ordered tea that never arrived (granted it was pretty late).
I was expecting the dude to come around and replace coals after 5 – 10 min, but I guess he wasn’t try to encourage people to stay past closing. Fair enough.
The one HUGE glaring negative is that the music volume was turned WAY past 11. It was so absurdly loud in there, conversation was almost impossible. To top it off, our kids table was located directly under one of their many speakers. At one point, I got up and asked them to turn it down, which they did, to my eardrums’ relief, but not enough, and it got turned back up when a different waiter walked by the stereo.
Seriously, this place is pretty small. People go to smoke hookah to relax and hang out with friends. Crazy loud music is not conducive to either of those activities! There is no need to blast people with egyptian pop music to convince them that the joint is authentic.

If you’ve never smoked hookah before, I can understand how you could be impressed with Ranoush Nights in the Delmar Loop. You might be in awe of the Indian inspired seating by the window and feel cultured by some of the music that is blasting through the ceiling, however I would like to challenge you to expand your horizons. Spending time with my friends smoking hookah is one of my favorite things to do on a breezy summer night. As we all enjoy a yummy hookah from time to time, Ranoush sounded like a good idea to my friends and I while we were spending time exploring The Loop the other night.
One of the first off-​putting things we noticed when stepping into Ranoush was the lack of air conditioning. I’m definitely open to sweating a little bit, but not in the dead of summer. Secondly, when we first got in there, the music was Indian inspired, but then trailed off into American top 40. Did I mention that the music continually skipped, as if the CD were scratched? Oh and the music was 30,000 decibels loud, so imagine hearing a scratched CD that loud. Pretty fun. As a reference point, I attend concerts pretty frequently and enjoy soul-​rumbling music, and this was uncomfortable for me. Thirdly, my friend and I decided that we wanted to order an Arabic coffee. We placed our order and the coffee never came. When we tried to get the waiter’s attention, it was as if he was ignoring us or avoiding us. Although, all these aggravations were nothing compared to the most annoying thing that happened at Ranoush.
The most annoying thing that happened at Ranoush was the way our bill was handled. Typically, when you go to a hookah bar, the bill is delivered to you at your table, split however you like. I’m not a princess and don’t mind getting up to go and fetch my bill, but when I tried to flag down a waiter to get our bill, he act as if he was annoyed and started to get lippy with me! Also, when we ordered our hookahs, they were priced at $ 12 each. When I asked the oh-​so-​pleaseant waiter about our check, he informed us that our hookahs were now $ 13. After 45 minutes or so had passed from trying to get our bill, I went up to the counter and our hookahs had increased even more to $ 20!
Needless to say, I probably won’t visit Ranoush Nights again for another hookah experience. In saying that, if you’re looking for a good place to hookah in the St. Louis area, check out Nara Café and Hookah Lounge off Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis. The atmosphere is better, the pricing is good and the waiters are friendly and helpful. (check it out here:
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Not a great experience. I am very experienced with Hookahs (having owned several over many years), and the Hookahs and shisha (the tobacco) were crap at this place. We ordered 3 flavors, mango, lemon mint, and double apple, and none of the 6 in my group could even tell which was which (not normal). I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t even get what we ordered. In addition, the hookahs simply did not hit very well, not nearly as well as the ones myself and my friends own. Several in our party ordered arabic coffees which were judged to be so so, not great. Service was a bit slow as well, and we were forced to order 3 hookahs when we only wanted to order 2, even though we ordered drinks.
My experiences at Petra (on Grand) have been much better, although judging by recent Unilocal reviews, new management has taken the place sharply downhill (I haven’t been recently). Although going to a hookah bar is fun, I think in the future we will just stay home when smoking hookah.
Ranoush Nights is in a good location (particularly for before/​after a Pageant concert), but considering their main offering is hookah, and they don’t even do that right, it really is not worth a visit.

Ranoush Nights is what happens when Missouri smoking laws separate hookah smoking from your dinner experience.
If you haven’t ever smoked hookah, it’s a water-​pipe which you use to smoke flavored tobacco. The proprietors will show you how, but keep in mind that showing up here anytime after 8pm means you’re going to wait at least a while. I recommend it as an nightcap. You have a great dinner (about a million places you can eat nearby on the Loop), come here to smoke hookah, drink tea, eat knafeh, listen to modern fun Middle Eastern music, and hang out with some people you’ve never met.
Even better when it’s warm, not rainy like last night.

Ranoush Night is just a continuation of Ranoush– but this place is right in between the Moonrise Hotel and the Pageant. Ranoush night is the hookah lounge that serves incredible tea, babka, and more. Everything is incredible. Just wait for the summer months when Ranoush Night can open up their courtyard in the back. It has a large sitting area outside, that will only cause for a jam packed hookah lounge. More fun is to come at Ranoush Night!