My wife and I have visited...

My wife and I have visited the Penthouse Club on a couple of occasions. Valet ($8) is worthwhile and well-run. The combination of this, the cover and the table charge was a bit off-putting for my wife the first time in particular, before she had been sold on the concept and when a large number of empty tables were evident and never filled. Still, at least she was not driven away by an unkempt venue before even seeing a single dancer. Drinks were club prices, but fortunately were actually fairly well-made. And the serving girls clearly pay attention--my wife's got progressively stronger as the night went on. Be sure to treat them well, and they will do the same to you (as always).

In fact, the club a as a whole seems to know the value of keeping its customers happy. My wife despises cigarette smoke, which is invariably a challenge in such establishments. When someone at the table next to us lit up on our first visit, they found a way to reshuffle to move us across the room. Thank goodness, since anything else would have ended our visit prematurely.

The dancers ran a bit of a gamut. Relatively little ethnic diversity was present, but it was nonzero. A couple were drop dead gorgeous; most were fairly attractive; and only a couple were a bit lower on the scale. Some were exceedingly talented dancers - the kind that you cannot help but pause and admire the raw talent, irrespective of the other feelings they may evoke - and seemed to enjoy being on stage; but others were clearly bored out of their minds and more than a little self-conscious. As a general proposition, the dancers seemed fairly engaging, friendly and mostly non-pushy. Most seemed a bit intimidated by the idea of entertaining a couple, though, as both we and the other couples we saw on each occasion saw far fewer approaches from dancers than the strictly-male patrons. In fact, the second time the only dancer who approached was actually a bit dull and even rude. Fortunately, the first was a stellar experience: a very talented dancer who knew exactly which lines not to cross and how to stretch my other half's comfort zone a bit. Months later, my wife still talks about that dance at times.