Top 3 hookah bars of Petrogradsky district of St.Perersburg

Everyone has their own special place for doing productive work. Some may take pleasure in working at a café with their laptop sipping a cup of coffee, others enjoy working in the office, co-working or working from home. I head for a hookah bar to immerse myself in my work. It helps me pull myself together, concentrate and spend time productively.

Averagely I spend around 10 hours per week at such places. And I doubt I’ll lie if I say that, besides being an expert in the field of entertainment, I am also, а connoisseur of hookah bars. I have visited a great number of them and decided to make up a list of best hookah bars of Petrogradsky district. Why Petrogradka of all other districts? The key factor for me consists in the proximity to my house (I live at Maly Prospekt on the Petrograd Side) and office, which is situated on the Krestovsky Island. That is why I’ve chosen this site.

Which things do I find important in a hookah bar? The level of service and friendly personnel come first. I advocate for these things in my company and value them in other ones. The best service for me is when visiting a place I feel as a guest; the best service is sincere service.

The quality of the equipment (hookahs, bowls, coal) and tobacco selection are just as important. When you smoke hookah often and have a good understanding of the process, you can instantly detect an unprofessional approach. The range of tobacco matters a lot because if you visit the same hookah bar 2–3 times per week, you want some diversity of choice. The threshold of starting a hookah business is quite low. Currently there are many different places — big and small, almost every restaurant or a café has got a hookah on offer. But you have to understand that smoking a hookah is a special culture and one needs to be very attentive to render this kind of service properly.

I don’t drink coffee, just tea. Having visited China many times, I was imbued with the culture of the tea ceremony and learned to value the variety of tea tastes. That is why I always pay close attention to the broadness of choice given in the tea card at some place. Food doesn’t come first, but it is certainly a plus when it’s present.

1. Hookah Box Aviator / Bolshaya Pushkarskaya street, 30

I guess the «Hookah Box» is a some kind of " by-invitation-only» place, which works on the «speak easy» principle. When the dry law was applied in the USA, liquor houses were considered illegal and only «insiders» could visit them.

The «Hookah Box» opened around 6 months ago. The creators of the project write the following on their website: «Fill in a form to get the access to the „Hookah Box“ and become one of the recruits let into the secrets of the Smoke headquarters, we will consider the application of you joining our ranks». In fact, all you need to do to get inside the hookah bar is receive the code through the website, come to the appointed place, call the corded telephone by the bar entrance and friendly waiters will open the door for you afterwards.

It’s worth paying special attention to the interior of the bar. It is decorated in the spirit of military aviation and has «just-like-in-the-plane» toilets, only more spacious ones. I ought to give credit to the creators of the project Kirill Gluschenko and Artyom Sinyakov, who have thought through every detail and crated a place where you feel the love for one’s work and care for every client.

I give the 1st place to the «Hookah Box» because they have a broad variety of tobacco, good equipment, experienced hookah-makers (several people work during one shift), a wide-ranging tea-card, a diversified menu and a really good service. The creators try very hard to make the bar a friendly place and work on building friendly relationships with their clients. Being in the «Hookah Box» I feel at home or as if I’m visiting my good friends, who can understand me almost without any words.

2. The Kлеver Café restaurant, Bolshaya Zelenina, 21

I’ve been visiting this place regularly for around two years. And I’d have given the 1st place to «Kлеver» if the «Hookah Box» hadn’t opened. But as I come to work during the day, from 2 to 4PM I can only smoke hookah in the separate area as this is the time when many guest come to business-lunch at «Kлеver». That’s not quite convenient.

Nevertheless «Kлеver» has excellent service and probably the best food of all the places from my rating-list. The variety of tobacco is not always great, but you can meet local celebrities there. For instance, it at «Kлеver» I often catch a glimpse of Vyacheslav Malafeev. If famous people visit a restaurant, this undoubtedly places it to a greater level.

3. Nuahule* Smoke, Bolshaya Raznochinnaya street, 17

Look at this name! (*t/n: roughly translated into English as «whythefucknot»). This place is more applicable to hipsters and young people. «Nuahule» are very attentive in the choice of tobacco on offer, have good hookah-makers and high-quality equipment. Guys there also maintain a friendly level of service, easily make concessions to regular guests. You can call on the eve of a football broadcast and make a reservation or ask for a particular broadcast for you, the same thing is possible in all the places I’ve mentioned earlier.

I give the 3rd place to the «Nuahule» because they don’t offer any food. If you want to have lunch, you need to go somewhere else. However, they have a very comfortable car park, which is by no means unimportant for the city centre.

It might seem that I’ve told you everything about my favorite hookah bars of Petrogradsky district. But. Coming back to the beginning of the article, I want to make one thing clear. I come to hookah bars not so much to unwind, but to work. I am telling you this so every single one of you, having made up your minds about your preferences, could eventually find the very place you will take pleasure working in. And you’re the ones to decide whether it will be a café, a co-working or a hookah bar.