Crimson Lion Hookah Lounge

Good hookah lounge to just sit and relax on the weekend or something. They have a decent selection of flavors to choose from here and I suggest mixing some together. I personally like the apple-​peach combo. As for the hookah’s quality they are pretty good, no clogs and they’re fairly clean. However ours didn’t come with any plastic mouth guards which I thought was odd because most hookah places include them. Worth it to check out with some friends if your into hookah or just want to try something different on the weekends.

Chill, comfy great spot in Wilkes Barre. No food here but there’s a restaurant right next door… Pete’s. Lots of sofas and hipstas

With two hours till close I can’t sit in not any of the three love couches available, one long sofa, the sectional that sits maybe eight people, or the two futons on the back. I was going to buy E-​Juice and hookah for my boyfriend because it’s our anniversary and our best friends birthday. I was going to get a three hose hookah and a few butter beers. Now I’ll never come back and definitely never recommend anyone go there. Now I’ll purposely research for another hookah lounge to recommend and buy all my hookah and ejuice from Primal, even though it’s much further from where we live. Now understandably every establishment has rules, only a party of five can have a sofa, despite the one guy across from my table that’s a party of one, that dude can have a sofa. Well we’re only a party of three, thanks for wishing our friend a happy birthday, and sitting us at a table, two hours to close, with you’re five empty couches. If I could have given a review of 0 stars I would have, but couldn’t. So I begrudgingly had to go give one undeserved star to make you painfully aware of your horrible customer service.

Great place especially for the college kids. Gives them something else to do besides drink. Loads of books, great couches, board games, baked foods, etc. Considering young adults have nothing else in Wilkes-​Barre, this was the best thing to happen to the city

Don’t listen to the Weekender the best coffee shop in town is The Crimson Lion! Locally roasted coffee and REAL baristas. So get off your couch and go sit on one of theirs!

This place would probably get 3 – 4 stars just for being the only hookah bar in Wilkes-​Barre. I practically jumped for joy when I came back to visit my parents and this little gem popped up on my Unilocal search about two years ago. At last! I’ll admit when my fiancée and I went for the first time, our hopes were not super high. After all, it’s still Wilkes-​Barre and growing up here, I was a little wary.
But how we were surprised! First and foremost, the hookah is GREAT. The bowls are well packed (ugh, so hard to find), the selection of high-​quality premium shisha is vast, and the house mixes are great. And if you want a great off-​the-​menu recommendation, Rachel has NEVER let us down. The only, tiny, little change I could make here would be to make natural coals available, perhaps by request. I know they’re a pain and require more time, but that’s just my picky wish. Honestly, the hookah is made so well I barely notice the quick lights.
As for the service, well, considering we’re on a first name basis with half of the staff and we’ve only been there a handful of times, you can tell it’s pretty great. Everyone is VERY chill, VERY friendly, willing to make recommendations, and quick to refill a drink or supply more coals. They make you feel at home right away. It’s a casual, low-​key place for hookah, coffee, conversation, and maybe a game of cards or chess, which is frankly what a hookah bar is meant to be (not these low-​lit, disco-​light-​full clubs you find so often). On a side note, the music is always on-​point, and at the perfect volume. I look forward to weekend visits to the hometown just so I can swing by this place.

The hookahs are decent and clean, but that’s the only thing that is remotely okay here. The service was brusque and unyielding. Instead of having a minimum per person or a cover, they make you buy a certain number of hoses based on the number of people in your group (even if the non-​smokers are all having fancy coffee or butter «beer»), sell you on the «free refills» and then never show up to do said refills and rarely move the coals (or leave tongs to DIY).
I understand that they need to make money, but if our little group is your only business and we have 3 hookahs (2 hoses each) and a bunch of drinks, at least let the new arrivals get their coats off before you demand new hoses to meet your rigid rules. Not relaxing at all.
Even as the only group in the back room, and they wouldn’t let us add chairs to sit in a circle; there was no music playing; the lights were bright. The décor is cheap looking.
I’ll give them points for bringing water for everyone, and the hookahs were actually fine in themselves, but there’s so much more to having a great hookah lounge experience than the device itself. Crimson Lion has none of it.

The only local hookah bar, and it’s a pretty good one.
See, I’ve hookah’d my ass off here, I have spend many a days and nights sipping on a coffee and enjoying the area here. You’ll find a lot of choices off hookah flavors, some ecig stuff (new) and an extensive drink assortment. Butterbeer, coffee, tea, mexican coke and root beer floats are just scratching the surface of what they offer.
It caters towards college aged kids, but you’ll find some older people around in the daytime, where it’s pretty quiet, a great place to go study and relax.

Positive about everything.
1) Good hookahs — clean and hoses are not dirty!
2) Al fakher tabacco — for me it’s really important what to smoke cause I’m completly against starbuzz chemical flavours, I’m more old school and al fakher person.
3) Great coffee drinks — Tastyyyyyy!!!
4) Free wi-​fi — it’s good if you come in to spend time with your laptop.
Negative about a bit:
1) They don’t mix more than 2 flavours, how the girl said me that’s company «policy». Lol. Why not? Isn’t the same quantity of tabaco you use for the head? Stupido.
2) They don’t leave tongues for charcoal. I felt uncomfortable to ask this girl every 5 minutes to move my charcoals.
3) Chemical charcoal only, sad. I ll agree to pay more but smoke natural.
4) Cheap interior, looks like they found this furniture on the craiglist curb .
Overall: not bad place if you are visiting and starving for a hookah to try. 4 of 5.

I tried a hookah here with my sister a few months back and it was awesome. I love coming in for a smoke, but I wish it was a bit cheaper. It’s also nice to come in for a cup of coffee and play a board game with friends.

Until the Crimson Lion opened here in NEPA, local hangouts for the «over 18 crowd» included B&N for the intellectual, Movies 14 for the film junkie and an assortment of donut shops for those who craved watered down coffee and a smoke flavored bakery delight. The Crimson Lion however, offers not only an assortment of flavorful coffees and teas but also a place with real atmosphere, which, here in the Northeast, is incredibly hard to find. The lounge, which has recently undergone an expansion, provides a wide array of seating arrangements for each type of patron. Whether you are going to the lounge to sprawl out and study for exams or meeting a group of 8 of your closest friends, from small intimate tables in their window nook to large L-​shaped couches with coffee tables and a bar area to smoke your delicious custom hookah concoction, there is an arrangement to meet your needs. The layout is warm and inviting with beautiful locally produced artwork adorning the walls and intimate lighting. The lounge offers free Wifi and has a large selection of books and games for your entertainment along with a new large flat screen television in the back room with an assortment of movies for your viewing pleasure. The staff at the Crimson Lion are friendly and knowledgeable and can make recommendations that you are sure to enjoy. Their prices are affordable and the only recommendations I have before visiting would be to make sure you have your ID (they DO card) and if you are going with a group after 5pm I would recommend calling ahead because they can get busy and couch seating becomes limited. I am positive you will have a fabulous experience at the hookah lounge. The lounge has become a local hot spot and is my favorite to grab a coffee and smoke a hookah with friends.

Great place to go relax and even take a nap. Really down to earth. It seems to be a very quiet place. Great place to go with friends and your laptop.

This place is great. The hookah, music (Star Wars), drinks and everything, if I settle here, this would be my favorite place.

Great local small business. They have WiFi, tea, coffee, and, of course, hookah. Great place to hang out and study if need be. Great hip place with great atmosphere! Support this local business!

Super friendly staff. Awesome coffee and shisha. If you go on a semi regular basis the staff will know you by name. Keep in mind when the local schools are in session. They tend to get a bit busy.

Fantastic coffee and a very chill atmosphere. This is a place to come either with friends or just to chill and get some creative work done. They have so many delicious tobacco flavors it’s almost difficult to choose (Hint, just keep going back and trying new ones each time). I will definitely be back.

I don’t smoke hookah but I love coffee so I like this place a lot. I’m going to be honest… kind of just wish it was a coffee place because I think the hookah aspect brings in a weird element. Sorry!!! The mochas are great. Met the owner and he seems super nice. Good luck, Mike!

Best coffee in the area. Wilkes-​Barre severely lacks establishments like this. It is a great place to hang out at late night when you aren’t up for going to a bar. Definitely a saving grace for this area.

This place opened a year ago and I’m so glad that it’s doing well and still around. It’s a great place to share some conversation, coffee and shisha with your friends… and offers us 20-​somethings something to do other than frequent the all-​too familiar bars around town. I love it.

Growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, in the barren coal mining town of Wilkes-​Barre, there was little to do in terms of nightlife. We had one hole-​in-​the-​wall venue to see bands, a donut shop to get coffee, and our choice of Denny’s or Eddie’s diner for late night food. Needless to say, I had my share of exploring abandoned buildings, roaming the streets, and trespassing on old train bridges during my teens.
In the last ten years, there has been an effort to rebuild the ghostly downtown sector of Wilkes-​Barre around the two college campuses, Wilkes University and Kings College. In addition to a new campus bookstore, various restaurants, and bars, small businesses started popping up. One of the most recent and unique places is the Crimson Lion Hookah Lounge.
All ages? Check. Gourmet coffee and tea? Check. Open late? Check. Everything I always wanted in my youth is here, complete with free wi-​fi and a bookshelf filled with classic fiction.
So now when I visit my parents, I can stop in to the Crimson Lion with my laptop, get some great coffee and a hookah and hang out for hours without worrying about drinking and driving, getting kicked out at nightfall, or spending too much money. Thank god for progress.