Fishawi's Coffeehouse yes it is touristic; but it is the place where a coffeehouse should be. In the middle of a corridor in Al Halili, among tourists and locals who pass by with their shopping. You sit there, smoke your shisha, drink your coffee or tea and observe people. You relax; it is in the middle of passerby's traffic but you can relax and feel a little bit like a local. We really liked it. Very nice decoration

This is classic Cairo at its best. They don't serve food, it's crowded and cramped, the service is so so, but there is no place quite like this. This cafe is pure old school. This is a place where you order tea, order a shisha and just sit and relax for hours. As you sip your tea and take a puff from your shisha think about the fact that you are sitting in a place surrounded by buildings that are hundreds of years old (and people still live in them!) Talk to your neighbors, hear their stories and share yours. Like the other reviewer from Moscow said, this is a place you go to after midnight where you can see and talk to real local Egyptians. Sometimes even awud (a small Arabic guitar) players will come and play their instrument and sing old Abdul Halim Hafez songs (if you don't know who that is, shame on you). Make sure to leave them a nice tip. So after a long day or night exploring the Khan Khalili market or the Hussein or Al-Azhar mosques, come to Fishawi and spend a few hours doing absolutely nothing and take yourself back to a time of sultans, bazaars and the old Middle East. You won't regret it.

Fishawi is busy at every time, and especially at night (as it`s opened 24h), so you can have some problems to be seated at prime time, but if you have done it, you can relax for a couple of hours with water pipe and a good tea.

I was in Fishawi after midnight, when all european tourists have gone away from here and only locals and arab tourist remained seat and talked with each other. Also it`s a good place to meet some new friends. I talked with one tourist from Saudi Arabia, while I had my tea.

So, it`s true, when somebody told you that real local life in Fishawi starts after midnight, when everybody is a bit relaxed and ready to talk to a strange foreigner who is not sleeping in his hotel yet.

I went two times to this coffee shop only cause it's in the market area where after half day of shopping you really feel the need of sitting and refreshing yourself. After all, you will find here the less hassle of an outdoor area where you can serve something around Khan el Khalili. The first time did not impress me in any way. Poor service, having daily consumed by locals items at tourist prices and with lots of mobile vendors (can't avoid it since it's actually located in a passage of the market). The second time visited it at the insistences of friends and had realized they overcharged us the first time.(they actually have inside a card with the prices if you can read Arabic). The service even worse, with waiters who do not look at you, leave you to wave for minutes and take your drinks before you could even consume half. Three servers came to take the tea pot and glasses away and we had to stop them every time. You could clearly see that the evening is approaching and they wanted to liberate the 'couch' who could accommodate more than 3 of us.
Would really recommend the Naguib Mahfouz restaurant where, even if you sit indoors and the prices are higher, you can have a better service, better atmosphere and a really nice, traditionally decorated place. Can serve food and definitely better done items. Full of history too, as it can tell the story of Egypt's most important writer.
If you are not that eager to rest in Khan el Khalili and have a little more time, indulge yourself in one of the less frequented by tourists quarters where at every corner you will find a local coffee shop raising in a garage, with the same old style chairs and tables and where most probably a better tea with mint / karkadee / lemon juice and shisha would cost you around 1 - 1.5 EUROs (as a tourist).