Me as a shisha lover would like to compare and make a little review about 2 hookah bars in our capital city - Bratislava, that are relatively close to each other if we talk about distance so If you ever come visit us, the streets they are placed on you will go down for sure, in order to get to visit our fancy castle and in the meantime you can make a stop to one of the hookah bars there, and I can help you choose which one. The most visited street in here is "Obchodná" which continues to the street "Kapucínska" which is closer to the castle. Hookah bar on obchodná is called "shisha lounge". When you enter this little aisle, you can immediately smell this intensive smell of shisha, which is pretty nice. As you enter the bar, you see this nice luxury interier, leather sofas, many LED lights in different colors, hear mostly playing reggae. First impression is - wow let's party! So you take a seat, order your shisha (you must be 16+) and then wait for it. First minutes are okay, you're impressed by this bar how luxury it looks etc, then your shisha comes. Shisha at this place is just great! Nice thick smoke, easy to inhale, intensive taste. But after while sitting there like ghe politest human because you have to fit in, look sophisticated etc, you start to feel uncomfortable. You realize the music is too loud and you can't chill because it disturbs you pretty much, rather don't even talk because you won't hear shit, you start to get really bored and eat those peanuts that been given to your shisha and suddenly get this feeling of all eyes on you. As time passes, you already liked like 69 pics on instagram and posted your shisha and how much "fun" you're having. You inhale smoke one more time to make sure this visit was worth it. Suddenly whole this place looks so cheap as they tried so hard to make it look right opposite and you know you've had enough when you need to pee but you have to ask for the key but also you don't want to scream at them and get everyone to know you're bladder is weaker than fried chicken trying to fight black people's mouth (I love black people, don't get offended). So you start to rush your friends or whoever you are with, to get out immediately and never come back again, unless you're drunk and don't care what others think about you..
So if we want to sum it up: shisha tastes really good and it's also only thing you would ever want to visit shisha lounge for.
Then there is the second shisha bar called "čajovňa u stromu z kostí" also called "strom" which means "tree". As you enter, you go downstairs which looks like you're going to a basement. Then you're supposed to take your shoes off and put them to a shelf. There are always sitting owners or employees, having shisha of course.. Then you go downstairs one more time and you can choose your place. The music they play is silent and relaxing, it chills you so much. The room is not too bright and not too dark it's just okay (at shisha lounge it's dark because those LED lights don't bring much light). You can choose if you want to sit on the floor with pillows and carpet is everywhere in the room or sit on the couch which isn't leather and it's not black, it's nice creme color and they're canvas so it's very comfortable to even lay down. There is a shelf with cards and games and many books. It is in a bohemian style so whole place feels so chill. But there are few little holes in the couches and on the carpet because of coal people dropped. But it really isn't that bad, you wouldn't even notice. Then you order your shisha, employees are very polite and nice so it's okay there, then they will bring you shisha but it isn't that great as in shisha lounge, it's actually regular. You kinda choke on that smoke because it's hotter than it should be, the taste is not bad but it's like enjoying shisha at home, whole place feels like home though. If you want to pee, you just go upstairs and there are only owners behind the corner and they don't notice you at all, you need no key, you just do what you need and go back downstairs. People often come here for other reason than shisha, mostly wanna chill and drink tea, you can order with shisha, and ain't smoking that much though their shishas are ok. But after while your head may be spinning and you might feel very similar to being high, that's why I don't smoke there that much though it's chilly feeling but you can't leave untill it passes because it would be hard for you to walk, but also, you wouldn't want to leave ever.
Summing it up: shisha isn't that great but it's just ok, place is very nice and you feel like being home and you chill immediately after entering room.
So if we compare this 2 bars - the prices are similar like 10€ for shisha with drink and my opinion is: if you want to visit hookah bar for shisha only purpose, I would choose shisha lounge, but if you want to smoke whatever hookah and relax and chill, play cards and talk with friends, i would choose tree shisha bar. After visiting both, I use to go to the tree only, and would never ever come back to shisha lounge, because the atmosphere in the tree is just priceless. First time there was nice experience and I'm always excited to get back.
So what would I say, enjoy your shisha when you come visit this city, hopefully you'll be satisfied with services of whatever one you choose. Have fun smoking.
tearoom at the tree of bones
shisha lounge
