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Cafe Lulu
Categories: Food Coffee & Tea Nightlife Bars Hookah Bars Restaurants Cafes Coffee & Tea, Hookah Bars, Cafes
419 F St(between State St & 4th Ave)
San Diego, CA 92101
Neighborhood: Gaslamp
(619) 238-0114
- Hours:
Mon-Thu, Sun 11 am - 1 am
Fri-Sat 11 am - 3 am
- Delivery:
- No
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Free
- Good For:
- Late Night
- Music:
- Background
- Best Nights:
- Tue, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Smoking:
- Yes
- Coat Check:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Good For Dancing:
- No
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
113 reviews for Cafe Lulu
Review Highlights
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"HOOKAH: they use Starbuzz and Al Fakhar." In 57 reviews -
"A raspberry mocha, conveniently named their "Cafe Lulu." In 3 reviews -
"So either come early or chill here on weeknights." In 16 reviews
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113 reviews in English
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Review from Thomas D.
Imperial Beach, CA
5/18/2012
I absolutely love this place!! Great Service, Great food(lulu and bite me next door), Great drinks(alcoholic and café) and of course great hookahs!!!
I highly recommend the specialty hookahs... You can smoke regular one flavor hookahs anywhere but only at lulu can you get the "From Russia With Love" which is a Raspberry Cappuccino Mint flavored tobacco with a coffee and milk base... They have tons of specialty flavors to choose from with tons of different bases (coffee,milk,orange juice,white wine,red wine,rockstar,beer and more). If you want you can create your own mix and have what ever you want in the base.
Another thing thats great about this place is that you can order anything off the menu from the restaurant next door (the menu is actually inside of the hookah menu!!) And they will bring it to your table!!
I come here 3-4 times a week (from IB) and the service is always amazing!! Of course they get busy during the weekends (it is downtown) but they are always busy making sure the customers are happy.. I highly recommend this place to everyone (even if you dont smoke because the cafe and food is amazing) and i constantly bring friends to share this awesome experience with me... -
Review from John O.
San Diego, CA
5/16/2012
Love the complete setup here- bar seating, small tables area, and leather stay awhile seating with outlets every two feet, high ceiling, floor to ceiling windows.
Good coffee and delicious cheesecakes. -
Review from Anura R.
San Diego, CA
4/13/2012
Cafe Lulu is a decent enough little hookah lounge if you're in the mood to smoke and happen to be in the Gaslamp, but its not a place I'd ever go out of my way to visit.
Sadly they don't have a full bar here, and the servers are not exactly well versed in drinks (in what universe is a beer similar to an amaretto?) so don't bother asking their advice on the alcohol menu. That said they do have beer and some specialty drinks if you want something sweeter.
The service is efficient, and for the most part the servers themselves are friendly, they tend to get harried when the lounge starts to fill up which is understandable, however that also means it might take them a while to get around to taking your order.
The hookahs themselves are fine, with mixed flavors that come through clear for a long time, which is good because they tend not to check the coals for a really long time.
Parking is a nightmare, but if your heart is set on Lulu then its unavoidable. If you get there early enough, I suggest parking in Horton Plaza getting the free three hours validation and just walking to Cafe Lulu from there.
In terms of atmosphere Lulu is just... off... the room doesn't flow very well, the music is far far too loud, and they tend to play weird fashion shows or something on the tvs set around the lounge.
Again, if you're in the Gaslamp and you feel like hookah then Lulu is the place, otherwise find another lounge. -
Review from Rusty T.
San Diego, CA
5/25/2012
Great little place in the heart of Downtown San Diego. I highly recommend if you are in the area
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Review from Casey L.
San Diego, CA
5/25/2012
Love this place. Love the vibe. Love the service. So little cool places in downtown you can chill and people watch at. This is one of them. Friday and Saturday nights are pumping
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Review from Jimmy F.
San Diego, CA
5/20/2012
great Music on Saturday nights, Love the Decor and the customer Service. Yummy desserts and coffee and tea.
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Review from Muzhda Q.
San Diego, CA
4/4/2012
Cafe Lulu is one of my favorite hookah lounges!
The hookahs are good they use starbuzz and al-fakr and usually pack the bowls well.
They have changed the coals they use several times, I'm not a fan of the ones they've been using most recently, which are the rectangular blocks, but it's not a deterrent.
The coffee drinks and deserts are really good!
You can also order food from the Mediterranean Grill next door, Bite Me, the food is awesome!
If you go on Weekends during really busy times it can take a little while to get your hookah, but the staff is usually good about getting your order out right away and are very friendly.
My favorite part about this place is the ambiance and downtown atmosphere, the crowd is usually very easy going and fun. It's a good place to hang out. -
Review from Eddie P.
San Diego, CA
Updated - 4/22/2012
Got a nice message from the new manager. I have upped my stars to 4 because I appreciate businesses that take the time to talk to their customers. I'll check back in soon to see if I can give them a 5 star rating.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/20/2008
It's your average spot downtown to hang out in the mornings with a cup of coffee and chat with… Read more »
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Review from Kent B.
We just ordered a cappuccino and a karaf of Sangria and took it outside to people watch. The Sangria was fresh, fruity, cold and refreshing (so...it was Sangria) and the cappuccino was good!
I give them a bonus point for the piece of milk chocolate that came with the cappuccino :0)
The most interesting moment here, the Mom of this Mom and Pop, was putting extra supplies somewhere outside the cafe and dropped a package of napkins on her way down the sidewalk. What will she do?
Your choices are:
A. She just stops and picks up item.
B. I get up, walk down the sidewalk, pick it up and hand it to her.
C. She kicks it down the sidewalk in the direction she's headed.
D. A passerby picks up napkins.
If you guessed C you're a winner!
I give this cafe 6 "sidewalk napkins" out of 10. -
Review from Jen P.
San Diego, CA
2/28/2012
By far my favorite Hookah spot in San Diego. This is the only place I know in San Diego where I can dress up, order a cutesy cocktail and smoke some (good) hookah. I love that this place is more upscale and that is what differentiates this place from the rest. All the other places in San Diego seem run down and dirty. I also like how I can get my hookah with white wine instead of ice water. The wine brings out more of the flavor in the hookah.
The only downside is that the place is really small for a downtown upscale hookah and cafe spot. -
Review from Jessika P.
San Diego, CA
3/22/2012
This place used to be a great coffee place years ago, I stopped in to get an Italian Soda during lunch and saw that it is now a Hookah place that charges almost $5 bucks for an Italian Soda with whip cream. Way overpriced.
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Review from Lauren C.
San Mateo, CA
2/6/2012
My friend and I stumbled upon Lulu's while looking for Fumari Hookah Lounge.. haha
compared to my recent hookah experiences, this place was a little mediocre. We got our hookah with milk and when the hookah came, it hit REALLY hard and tasted nothing like the "hookah special mix" we ordered..
that's because they gave us a used bowl...... and it was a different mix too.
i'm an occasional hookah smoker and I know a bad set-up when I see one
So anyways, we were super chill about what had happened and asked for a new set and new coals and we didn't like what the milk was doing to the flavor so we asked for ice water instead.
We smoked the hookah in less than an hour (which is rare for me...) because we didn't want to sit there smoking a lame bowl that was burning rather quickly...
it could have been mere bad luck that all of this happened to me that night, or it could have been the complete opposite and that may have been a sum up of the actual service there considering the number of stars on this Yelp review page..... but I know, next time, I'll spend an extra ten minutes looking for Fumari (or Pasha) downtown than settle for Lulu's.. -
Review from Kunal A.
San Diego, CA
1/19/2012
A trip here was hatched out of a late night desire for some nicotine-y (sic) goodness. It was Saturday night and there was one group waiting ahead of us. Took pretty much half an hour to get in and find our table. The place is pretty cramped, so the five of us were lucky to get 2 of the tiny tables they have put up.
Half a star is for our waitress, not for how smart she was, but for how she brightened our night in a black dress and an exotic accent. We went with her suggestion which was the moulin rouge. After bringing us a wrong hookah, they gave us our two hose version a little later. The hookah was perfect to start with, strong and tasty. Then as it happens, somebody wanted to make conversation with our waitress, asked for the hookah to be "fixed" and ruined it. Took us another 10 minutes to find someone to get it to work again.
Food was ok, but definitely cost more than it was worth. The hookah wasn't cheap either. Then they charged us a 15% gratuity. But hey, if you are close by and in need of your fix, don't let me stop you. -
Review from Joyce Y.
Pasadena, CA
10/9/2011
If you've ever gone to quite a few hookah places, you'll realize that this place is a total rip off and has very unprofessional service. The waitresses there aren't helpful and the place does not feel very authentic at all. I'm from Los Angeles, quite close to Glendale -- the home of HOOKAH. I thought San Diego, (a fellow big city), could have done better than this.
They should have been playing other music instead of techno/top 40 jams. Perhaps some authentic Persian music or something else. It doesn't feel homey and actually quite frankly, crampy and uncomfortable. Also there was no theme to this place. It was part time coffee shop/half time hookah/and part time deli/desserts. Although I did not see anyone eating the food or desserts. Who are they truly trying to cater to?! Can anyone smell an identity crisis? Eh. Won't be back. -
Review from Danny A.
San Diego, CA
1/1/2012
This is my second time going to Cafe Lulu. I came in for New Year's Eve with some friends. Obviously, parking was a disaster since it was New Year's Eve in downtown San Diego but we eventually found a place about seven blocks away. Right when we got in we received complementary champagne, after paying a $10 cover charge for the night. We ordered our hookah (Blue Mist was a good recommended flavor) for $25 and it hit really harshly. But eventually they fixed the coals and the hit was a lot more receiving. I asked if they have hot shots and the waiter offered me to try a jalapeno tequila. It was pretty bad but I decided to go ahead and order a shot of it, to which the waiter understood as a $10 glass of the stuff.
The place had a very high energy and the countdown to the new year was exciting. The service was good and after a bottle of champagne, a hookah, three long islands, one "sex and the peach", and that cup of jalaquila, and an appetizer, our check came out to be $120.
It's a good exciting place with fun energy in the heart of downtown San Diego but it's a little on the steep side as far as pricing goes. -
Review from Diana A.
Van Nuys, CA
2/20/2012 1 Check-in Here
umm not so friendly.. given there was no where to sit! They were ready to refuse business because of the lack of space until i had to clearly state ALL I WANT IS TO GO COFFEE.. and then they let us in! The coffee menu looked pretty amazing but the ladies behind the counter werent really sure of ingredients.. hmm makes ya wonder! left with a creation they gave me.. hooka looked good but. eh too bad there was no room.
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Review from Kelsey M.
La Mesa, CA
2/5/2012
Great service. Yummy Desserts.
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Review from Amanda D.
San Diego, CA
2/27/2012 2 Check-ins Here
Over priced. Good cheese platter though.
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Review from Hyacinth G.
Chula Vista, CA
3/2/2012
I prefer Fumari's if I'm going to pay this much. We had two hookah's, a few drinks and a couple of desserts. This place is pretty chill. good music, in the middle of San Diego but there are better places to go at a cheaper price. I could have sworn our bill was like $60+ for five people. Two people payed. I only saw the bill because I left my credit card with them. They make you leave your card with them so that you have to pay but they fail to remind you that you left it with them sometimes. It was very annoying.
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Review from Johana T.
San Diego, CA
10/29/2011 1 Check-in Here
watermelon hookah-$21
Mini pizza-$10
So its a tad bit pricy because it is downtown.
But the place is pretty chill and the service was ok from some people and not as good from others... overall just okay.
A cool thing they have is different bases (like monster or coffee) for an extra $3 -
Review from Diana D.
Brooklyn, NY
2/17/2012
I used to come here about 3 years ago, it was a lot of fun and the service was great. But I have recently visited this place and everything has changed except the decor. The service was horrible. There was no order from who came in first to be seated or the other. The hookah flavors were a bunch to choose from, but not too much where you're overwhelmed on choices, and definitely not worth the $25 per hookah. Go somewhere else to a hookah bar and just keep walking past this one if you're in the Gaslamp area.
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Review from Jared G.
2/3/2012 1 Check-in Here
i highly suggest coming here during the day time on the weekends,
$12 hookah and $12 pitchers of quality beer. i think light beer might be cheaper. We got a pitcher of newcastle and a hookah and left 2 hours later and spent only $30 between 3 people. It was definitely worth it.
I dont think i would go to any hookah bar at night and pay full price, its just a rip off considering most of my friends own hookahs. But this place is a steal during the day. its a good way to start the night and chill and hookah and then grab dinner and go out. -
Review from Lana R.
Small and dirty...
Outrageous prices on simple desserts.
Gratuity was already included (which I don't mind, I'm just stating the fact for those of you who do mind).
Think of this cafe as a really bad version of La Jolla's 'The Living Room'.
Well, I have to admit that this one has a better selection of wines. -
Review from Khushbu G.
La Jolla, CA
8/27/2011
If you want to hookah with a great atmosphere, this is the place. However be ready to pay for that luxury as well.
Indoors: Beautifully decorated. I literally cannot say more. They really know how to put you in the mood. It's perfect for hookah, that soft yellowish glow of the light, comfortable couches, etc. However, they were playing music that didn't fit the environment whatsoever. I tried lightening up the awkwardness by lip syncing to what was currently playing at the time (Cher's "Believe"). They either need to play Arabic music or jazz at least.
Unfortunately at one point the service came by and told us to squish together because they had to free up a table for a couple that was being placed next to us. We were of a group of 5 and were being asked to sit in a corner? Having two hookahs, this made it very uncomfortable when passing the hoses around.
Hookah: We got two of their house mixes, which looked exotic and promising. Their bases were even mixed in with different type of liquids like orange juice, white wine, etc. I was eagerly anticipating something out of this world, but to my disappointment you could barely taste the flavors. I could not tell the difference between the two flavors, and I'm not an amateur, trust me. Very disappointed, and on top of that I think the one with the orange juice base made me feel sick. I was not good company on the ride home. They also only give you two coals...which is not enough if you want thick smoke.
Pricing: It's $20 for a hookah, that's standard, esp if you're in downtown San Diego. But it's the additional things you order that start adding to your bill. I got a bottle of water, of course it was Voss, and of course it was $5. Pretty steep. At one point my friend E got hungry so he ordered some lasagna plate. It looked absolutely mouth-watering, but to his dismay, it was still half frozen. Why would you even serve such a thing? The service had to come back to warm the plate back up. -__-
Service: I don't know why, but I feel like our table was really ignored. We had to get up to seek them out to get their attention. I don't know why we had to do that when the table next to us had a woman maintain their hookah every 10-15 mins.
I wasn't very happy here, but the place is so nice looking that I would come back for coffee with a date or some good friends. If I'm daring enough, I will try the hookah again, but only if it's during happy hour. I'm not going to waste my money on getting sick again. -
Review from Dani R.
Vista, CA
6/9/2011 1 Check-in Here
This place could be so much better. Great concept, nice decor, great location, nice selections of desserts and hookah tobacco.
HOWEVER.
It is extremely overpriced. And the service might be the worst I have ever experienced. Once you're seated, you're basically invisible. Especially if you aren't a hot, 20 something man since that is all the servers seemed to cater to...I had to practically tackle the server to get a glass of water, as did my friends. Another friend joined us a bit later, and even though they weren't busy no one came over to ask if he wanted something to drink. Again, I had to get out of my seat and chase someone down to ask if my friend order a beer. Nevermind just trying to wave someone over, they blatantly ignore you.
Oh, and the bathroom is down a creepy, dark hallway. I called it rape alley. It's sooo great being stuck in the hall with drunk aholes waiting for the group of girls who have taken the single person bathroom hostage while they chit chat and redo make up and talk endlessly to be done with the bathroom.
The mint chocolate hookah with milk was really nice, but $20??? I could do that at home on my double hose hookah for 1/4 the price, and get my own water. -
Review from Noelle B.
El Cajon, CA
9/11/2011
I have been to Cafe Lulu twice and both times I had a great time. :)
The first thing you notice when you get there is the doorman, who is always full of jokes and has everybody laughing. After being seated you're greeted by a nice atmosphere that's very relaxing and doesn't feel snobby like a lot of other lounges downtown do. The waitress there isn't incredibly friendly but she gets the job done for the most part. Their hookah flavors are pretty good and they have a wide variety. They also offer drinks(alcoholic and none alcoholic) and desserts. I would definitely recommend their coffee based drinks and hot chocolate. Yum!
Overall I would say this is a great place to go if you want to have a nice,relaxing time with some friends and smoke some tasty sheesha. -
Review from Robert S.
3/17/2011
Hip place in the middle of downtown next to Horton Plaza. They have a good variety of coffee drinks. I had the Vietnamese coffee which was a pint-glass and had a lot of cream.
They also have a variety of draught beer but I didn't see the list and cannot comment on it.
The service was great; I was there mid-afternoon for a quick pick-up cuz I was getting drowsy. It was almost empty but I felt comfortable there.
They also rent out hubbly bubblies, AKA hookahs. And a small dessert counter with some nice looking goodies! Wished I was hungry so I could justify getting something, but I just ate.
Overall, a versatile place to chill. -
Review from F-eezzzyyy N.
San Diego, CA
5/9/2011
I used to go to this place like in 2005. It was awesome, amazing paintings, arab music nice service,
I went there maybe 4 months ago and this place was filled with teenagers. horrible music to smoke hookah too and the hookah was not good!
They charge you rough 20$ a hookah (thats fine its downtown, whatever) but then they only allow you to have 2 coals? I mean come on now...like hella stingy. i used to love this place for cake and tea and some nice hookah. It was so relaxing
and now im never going back!!!
Sorry!! -
Review from Allan H.
San Francisco, CA
1/10/2011
THE SERVICE IS SOOOOOOO BAD. I came here on New Year's Eve for a good night of drinking with my friends.
First off, wtf, a cover charge for a cafe... I don't get it? that's like charging someone to go in a market. This isn't a club fool.
2nd, go in there's all this shit on the floor when I get in there, and we have to get the waiter to clean it up...
3rd, the waiter is all like "well, you guys aren't ordering anything, we want you to leave cause there's customers waiting for tables"
at least we got free champagne.
Overall, this place blows. Thank god my friend made a ruckus cause he was drunk as shit. hahahahah -
Review from Lisa C.
Pasadena, CA
12/21/2011 2 photos
LOVE this place! I always come here when I am in SD. I just was hear on Monday and I was greatly impressed with the Happy Hour. It is a really chill place with a sleek ambience, fluffy pillows, soft couches, great drinks, lovely staff, and sweet hookahs! We has the "From Russia with Love" hookah, a blend of cappuccino, cherry, and vanilla extracts - which was a pleasant complement to our bottle of Prosecco. The entire three hours we stayed they treated us favorably, changing our coals as needed with care and delight. The oreo cheesecake was an added bonus and was delectable, definitely would recommend trying it! Lulu's may be more hipster in the late evenings, but it is still a solid crash pad for hookah enthusiasts.
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Review from Jonathan S.
Los Angeles, CA
9/12/2011
1. The Hookah was $30 (overpriced)
2. We asked specifically for tab water. Waitress brought VOSS bottles of water @ $3.50 each. When we told her we didn't order them, she said "yes, you ordered them".
3. The hookah was harsh from the first minute.
I probably will not go back. -
Review from Mike H.
El Cajon, CA
12/25/2010
Hit this place up on Friday night with a few friends. We got a bottle of wine and just chilled after a long work week.
The service at this place is the main reason for the 4 stars. I was very impressed.
The prices are decent for Downtown San Diego. Will be back. -
Review from Jenn C.
7/31/2010
This place is a rip off. Their standard hookah is reasonably priced, considering it's downtown, but we asked our server for a recommendation and she recommended probably the most expensive hookah on the menu without telling us, and it was like $29 and completely not worth it. It was called Pharaoh something or other, and had wine instead of water in the hookah. It didn't taste significantly special or extraordinary to me, and I really was unimpressed, especially taking into account the price.
We ordered a small pizza for a drunken snack and it really was the smallest pizza I have ever seen in my life. It was $8 for like a 6-inch by 3-inch rectangle of pizza which obviously was just a microwaved piece of frozen boxed pizza. It's basically the size of one slice of pizza for $8, which is completely absurd. You can get some badass awesome pizza at a whole bunch of places downtown for like $2-3 and here they are charging $8 for microwaved turd. Who the hell do they think they are, exactly?
They also would not give us water, unless we bought bottled water. Wait, am I in Europe? No....I'm in San Diego, last time I checked. We said we did not want bottled waters, but then they brought us a bottled water anyways (WTF???).
The people sitting at the table next to us happened to be magicians of some sort and knew the coolest card tricks I had ever seen. They were awesome. But that was about the only acceptable part of Lulu's cafe. So unless you see two Asian dudes with a deck of cards sitting on the patio of Lulu's, don't bother. -
Review from Albert W.
3/17/2009
They had strange wirey tables and chairs that our hero kept bumping his knees against. The bar and stationary island table had red lighting effects under them like they were super tuned import cars or something. At night, the air was thick with fruity hookah smoke, which prompted our hero to try their tequila flavored hookah. It was definitely interesting, and they have a very wide selection of hookah flavors here and some custom house specialties as well.
Guys, if you're going to go to this place, it might be a bit distracting. All they play on the TV's is FTV, which is basically just half-naked women 24/7. Our hero tried his best to discuss serious topics like careers, love, and goals, but the boobies were just too distracting.
PROS:
- Wide selection of hookah and drinks. Decent beer selection on tap, albiet expensive at $6 a pop.
- Nice ambiance and kitschy decor.
- Open late.
CONS:
- Horrible to park nearby, especially late night when Horton Plaza stops validating parking.
- No table service and not exactly the friendliest staff. They don't even ever come by your table to turn your charcoal or ask if you need anything.
- On the pricier side for hookah. -
Review from Alex D.
8/9/2010
Cafe Lulu is a downtown hang out and hookah spot quite popular with college kids and the international crowd. Having had experiences of varying quality here in the past, I decided to give this place one last try and stopped by on a Saturday night not long ago.
Finding parking in the area was a pure nightmare and since I arrived after 9pm Horton Plaza was not an option. After walking several blocks in the chilly San Diego night, I was looking for something more substantial than the generally over-sweetened coffee and cake that seem to make up the bulk of the menu here. With more substantial items being rather pricey, I eventually settled for a slice of Kahlua cake with Earl Grey tea.
Right away they took my credit card captive as I placed my order and held onto it until I paid before leaving - what a way to treat a valued customer! When my friend asked for a cup of water, she was told they only have the bottled variety you have to pay for. The "Kahlua" cake turned out to be ordinary chocolate cake with traces of Kahlua liquor sprinkled on the plate. Promised free Wi-Fi was not detected by my iPod Touch. What more need I say? -
Review from Cindy W.
1/3/2010 5 photos
The first time I came here, I was visiting my at-the-time boyfriend (now husband) and he took me here back in 2006. I remember it being a mellow place where we can sit and talk and have a few coffees and dessert. It was cash only then and had a gigantic ATM machine.
Almost 4 years later and we still come here, we were here for date night last night after dinner for a few cocktails and dessert. It was busier than usual and louder than usual. We sat at the bar for a bit and ordered our cocktails. When a table opened up, we asked to move and sat there where we were cornered in on both sides and couldn't really get out or even get the waitress to notice us. I had the fruit tart and it was good, but it was paired with oreo ice cream, the same ice cream hubby had with his oreo cheesecake. I wanted to order my second round of drinks but since we were cornered, she didn't see us for a bit.
The table to the left of us sat a couple who were obviously on their first or second date since the flower ladies came by and he paid $30 for a rose and a picture and then they were just dry humping each other for 10 minutes before they decided to leave to continue doing that else where.
The table to the right of us were smoking the hookah, which we thought of doing but decided not to. They were loud, obnoxious and obviously drunk. We minded ourselves and just chat it up, enjoyed each other's companies after another round of cocktails and off we went. We got our bill and they already added 18% gratuity when our waitress didn't even acknowledged us for awhile so I didn't even think she deserved the 18%.
Great date night out with the husband but things have changed and so....you lost a star. -
Review from Teej T.
Urbana, IL
6/20/2008
For such a chill, laid back space, there sure are a lot of negatives.
I met up with some folks for some hookah and relaxing tonight only to be simultaneously delighted and very underwhelmed.
Lulu's set-up is ultra-hip, with fashion videoshoots playing on TV screens and endless sofas and pillows for reclining and hookah. However, the hookah is pretty costly--$25--and so is everything else. I was charged $3.50 for a simple espresso. WTF.
Additionally, the ubercool waitstaff seemed to think that serving was beneath them. The cool British guy with the dreadlocks was fine, but the older gentleman made it seem as if we owed them for asking for a cup of water, or for getting a new coal.
The hookah itself was nice, but not worth the snobbery or prices. I'd jsut decided it was all okay and worth it when I went to the bathroom.
The mens' bathroom door is tragically misshapen, and it took six tries to get it to close correctly. Finally I gave up on it and had a friend stand guard outside. Ugh.
It's got great hookah and a nice ambience. Too bad everything else spoils it. Are you seriously gonna act Water Nazi on us?Listed in: Caffeine Rush
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Review from Julio P.
San Diego, CA
1/23/2010
"Ch-ch-ch-anges, turn and face the strain".......
A few weeks back, a buddy of mine and I landed inside Cafe Lulu's. It was the first time I had been in there in a quite a long time. This used to be my "first date" spot mainly because you could actually hear yourself think in there and it didn't serve alcohol.
We ended up there because it was getting late and to stand behind the dreaded velvet rope, endure crap attitude from bouncers and overdressed pop tarts all over downtown at that hour was more than I could stomach.
Right off I noticed something had changed. Lulus was now that staple of the new age hipster lifestyle - a Hookah lounge!
Don't get me wrong. I ingest ten times the carcinogens in one stogie then in ten hookahs, on a regular basis. It's just that the whole thing is just so.......hippie?
So we sat down one one of those over sized benches covered with cushions which I suppose you can lay on if you wanted. One pleasant surprise is that they do serve alcohol till' 1or 2am. They are strict about that. So much so that the pretty waitress waited there while I pounded my Fat Tire and then whisked away the empty bottle lest some G-Man show up and shut the joint down.
The atmosphere is admittedly less self conscious than the typical downtown joint. You have an odd assortment of types there: hipsters, nancy boys, gaga girls, bad asses, dudes with crew cuts, dweebs and tree hugger babes with the ubiquitous natch hairdo and hannah tattooed hands.
Once I assimilated the change, I had a fine time just people watching and relaxing into the wee San Diego morning. The one hitch is that we parked at Horton Plaza.
Trying to find your car in that mind bender should be part of the entrance exam at MIT. -
Review from Helen F.
9/19/2007
This place is pretty cool if you get a table that doesn't have you sitting atop your neighbor's knee (unless he's cute & it's by choice).
Just an FYI - they now require 1 order of hookah for every 2 people. You can, however, just tell them that you'll booze away the additional cost...perfectly fine as well.
I like people-watching here, I like hanging out & chilling with friends. The service is cool as are the people. A good place to hang out after the bars close as it's open til 3am. -
Review from Tracy C.
Los Angeles, CA
12/15/2008
This was the first hookah bar I went to in SD and I still like it for its ambience and their specialty hookah bases (red wine all the way!). I tried studying here on a couple occasions and I tell you, it never happens. Either some interesting people are sitting next to me and I chat it up with them, huge groups of people start pouring in, or the music just gets too loud. There are videos playing on the big screens generally of skanky girls shaking their ass.
I highly recommend the G.W. Bush with the red wine base. I swear, if I smoke this long enough I feel like I'm getting drunk but I might just be hallucinating. I'm pretty sure the alcohol concentration would be pretty low considering it's getting diffused through a hookah pipe.
As for drinks, the Snowplow is awesome, especially if you get it Cafe Lulu style. But only one barrista knows how to make it and she is not always there! Don't expect the owner to know what the hell you're talking about because he doesn't, and the other barristas will totally mess it up.
The service generally is slow and you always have to flag your waitress down, but on slower nights they will stay on top of changing your coals, especially the cute pettite waitress with the curly hair. She is pretty!
