First look: Inside Milwaukee's new hookah lounge from SURG Restaurant Group

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Alison Bauter

The Garden, from Milwaukee's SURG Restaurant Group, is a new private events and banquet space currently under construction at 725 N. Milwaukee St.

Alison Bauter

Reporter- Milwaukee Business Journal

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Work is almost done on a hookah lounge and banquet space in downtown Milwaukee, the newest offerings from the SURG Restaurant Group. See the attached photos for a view of the new spaces.

Lucid Lounge and the Garden are located side-by-side at 729 and 725 N. Milwaukee St., across the street from Carnevor, Distil and Umami Moto restaurants all owned by SURG, under partners Mike Polaski and Omar Shaikh. The banquet space at 725 N. Milwaukee St. was formerly Charro, SURG's pan-Latin restaurant that closed in 2012, and 729 N. Milwaukee St. was previously Kenadee's lounge, which closed earlier this year.

The new style and look is unlike anything in downtown Milwaukee.

Lucid Lounge will offer Mediterranean small plates and hookah by day, with a nighttime lounge and dance floor. Work on the bar and ceiling is currently in progress, and space in front will eventually be populated by booth and lounge-type seating, according to Shaikh.

Next door, the Garden embodies its name with a lattice-like ceiling crisscrossed by a forest of wooden beams lit by LED lights. Shaikh said the lights will change depending on the event (for example, green for Packers parties). The banquet space will also feature a wall-sized screen that drops down to show games, videos or whatever a party might request.

Most of the build-out will be done in time to ring in 2015 with a party on New Year's Eve, Shaikh said.

Reporter Alison Bauter covers small business, technology, education and banking for the Milwaukee Business Journal.