This club has been one of...

This club has been one of my favorites for years. Much is still great: beautiful girls, relatively low pressure while at the same time, plenty of attention, reasonable drink prices, astoundingly clean restrooms (amazing how rare that is these days), and the best kitchen of any strip club I know. Not long ago I had a couple of perfect chicken breasts in a lemon dijon sauce for less than half the price of one lap dance with those other perfect breasts . . . but I digress.

For the issue is not chicken, it's chickenshit on the part of Mario's management. About a year ago, to increase traffic on slower nights, they instituted special lower prices Sunday through Tuesday. Two lappers for $30! Then the prices started creeping up. $20 dances became $25, then $27 (!), suddenly $30, thus the multidance Monday special wormed up to $40. As noted elsewhere, girls are suddenly pushing the VIP a lot. And the inevitable result is that in recent visits, I've felt more like I'm being scammed than entertained. And since my buck doesn't go as far, I'm being more selective with whom I share it. This used to be a club that "regular-occasionals" would return to, but my sense is that it is moving toward an atmosphere in which they want to squeeze one-time visitors for all they can get, rather than encourage repeat business. And that's a bad business model, because ultimately your income will go down, particularly once word gets out that it really isn't any fun any more. Yes, I went back tonight. But on two earlier occasions this summer, I drove by when I could have stopped. It just didn't seem to appeal. And it may be a while before I consider going back. Sad.