Sahara East

For $13, you can smoke a water pipe of tobacco infused with flavors like mango, jasmine or vanilla at this hole-in-the-wall adorned with Cairo-junk-shop artwork. Food is secondary: Stick with the Middle Eastern basics on the starters list. Both the service and the main dishes (including geographic wrong turns like chicken fajitas) can be as careless as the decor, but there’s a certain raucous appeal to the place when it’s full. The staff has been known to sneak a 20 percent gratuity onto the tab—if you’re not careful, you’ll be all the way home before you realize you’ve double-tipped.