Hookah Bars in Toronto: Paaeez & Cafe Le Monde

I smoked a waterpipe for the first time yesterday - yay for first times! It was so much fun :)

A couple of friends from Serbia came with me and the three of us checked out 2 hookah bars in Toronto.

Review: Paaeez Lounge

The first place we went to was Paaeez. It's in the Little Italy area.

To sum up the place: the ambiance is nice especially with the dim lighting and candles, BUT the sheesha is terrible.

Both my friends who are really experienced with smoking waterpipes (they've smoked a lot in their Middle East travels) said it's mainly because the pipe is too small - little flavour, little smoke, no head rush.

The small tables you sit the waterpipe on appear to be a bit rickety which worried me.

There only appeared to be one person working at the time, which was fine since there was nobody else at the lounge except us (bad sign?). The service was good - friendly waiter.

However, I do not recommend this place for sheesha.


For drinks and a nice place to lounge - sure, check it out. Although note that they do not have domestic beer (boooo! I LOVE Canadian lagers)

Dani and Branko at Paaeez. Maybe you can see what I mean by the small size of the waterpipe

This picture doesn't really do the place justice - I like the interior design...it's best seen through their website which is linked above.

(above) Branko

Review: Cafe Le Monde

Since it was my first time smoking waterpipe, Dani and Branko wanted to take me to a place that was good. So this was our second spot for the night: Cafe Le Monde, which is uptown at Yonge and Finch (North York).

OMG, this place is good for sheesha! The waterpipes are bigger, you can smell the smoke, the flavour is more distinct, and you get the head rush too ;) Dani and Branko really liked it.

The man who appears to be the manager/owner on duty does not appear very approachable. The rest of the staff don't look very happy either :( But we got our drinks and waterpipe on time. When Dani and Branko talked to both the manager/owner and the waitress, they were fine - they weren't rude.

It's just the expression on their faces....maybe it was a long day? LOL

In terms of setting, Cafe Le Monde is nice. It's small, clean and there is a small patio as well.

But what is with these hookah bars that put the waterpipe on tables?! It's trouble waiting to happen. Even Dani and Branko said in the Middle East the waterpipes sit on the floor, which is really how they should do it. In fact, the group of people sitting beside me dropped their waterpipe off the table and the glass shattered. Good thing nobody got cut.

Overall, I really enjoyed the sheesha because the head rush is easily obtained and easily controlled. Easily controlled is the key because with pretty much every other substance including alcohol, once your head spins it takes quite some time to have it stop. But with smoking the waterpipe, you just need to stop smoking for 2-3 minutes and your head should clear up.

Haha - look at Dani ;)

If you watch this video of me, watch the ladies seated behind me. I didn't even notice this until I watched the video myself - at around 15 seconds they appear to look at me and say "That's Karen!" LOL. Am I imagining things?!

If the ladies that were seated behind me are reading this post, please say hi!! :)

I'm quite friendly LOL. I'm guessing you know me from blogger perhaps because I don't recognize you from school or a previous workplace?

And if I had noticed that you had recognized me, I would have turned around and introduced myself! Anyways, super funny it got caught on camera if so because it's the only video clip of me from Sunday night.

Anyways, I'd love for you to say hi to me if you see me around town - even if I'm with friends :)

How was your weekend?