Slow Night and Low Energy
I stopped by Baby Dolls in Topeka on a Saturday night around 7 p.m. Parking was easy as they have their own lot. I paid a $5 cover to get in, which seemed fair enough. The place was really dark inside—like, hard-to-see-anyone-across-the-room dark. The layout’s pretty standard with two small stages and a bar in the middle. Music was okay, not too loud, and the DJ wasn’t obnoxious with the mic, which I appreciated. Overall, it just didn’t have much energy or atmosphere for a weekend night.
There were only two dancers on stage when I came in and maybe four total working at that point. The first one was a heavier Black woman who was giving it her all, but there just wasn’t much of a crowd to feed off of. The other dancer, a cute white girl with glasses, had kind of a sexy librarian thing going and seemed like the friendliest of the bunch. Most of the guys in the place were either watching halfheartedly or talking quietly at tables in the dark. After her set, the librarian girl came over and chatted with me for a bit—no pressure to get a dance, just regular conversation. She mentioned it was a slow night, which definitely matched what I was seeing. I didn’t end up buying a dance since none of the dancers really grabbed my attention.
Honestly, Baby Dolls just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t awful, but it was kind of sad and empty for a Saturday night. The vibe was flat, and the talent was limited. The one dancer I talked to was friendly and down-to-earth, which was a plus, but there just wasn’t enough happening to make me want to stay long. Maybe it picks up later or on different nights, but based on my visit, I wouldn’t go back.
