SF's entry into "higher-end" clubs

Went on an early evening -- club was just starting up, so that definitely colors the visit, it was not in full swing yet. I'd heard Penthouse was the nicest club in the city physically, and that the food was actually excellent, on par with a good restaurant, although I didn't order any food so can't confirm. But it's definitely physically the nicest club in San Francisco. But before we get there, just FYI, like most (but not all) SF clubs owned by Deja Vu, they do scan your license, which by itself it almost enough to get me to not return (only a super amazing experience would get me to tolerate that). You walk into a decent-sized downstairs, place looks clean and nice, lots of comfy seating and a big stage. If you go upstairs, there's more comfy seating, plus a number of tables set out for people who will be dining, and a smaller bar. The center of the upstairs is open so you can look down into the downstairs, but upstairs also has its own small stage. The cool thing about it is, the usptairs stage has a transparent floor, so if you're downstiars, you can look directly up through the ceiling to see the 2nd floor dancer's crotch. I'm being sarcastic but it's really an awesome touch.

Typical alcohol club pricing for lappers (if I remember right, super low touch $20 dances, merely low touch 2/$60 dances, 3 songs for $100 VIPs, and champagne rooms that are $300ish for 30 minutes to start). I did some laps and a VIP. The VIP dance is, uh, "interesting" ... there's a bouncer at the entrance of the VIP rooms, you hand HIM your $100, he counts it and puts it into the stripper's box himself, all BEFORE you do your dance. It's just yet another customer-unfriendly deja vu policy, like ID scanning. Also, I suppose a way to get around the law that any money a customer hands a stripper is legally a tip and the club can't touch it -- this way, I'm handing the money only to the bouncer, and the bouncer is giving the cash to the stripper, so presumably it's not a tip and the club can take whatever cut they'd like.

Anyway, a decent lineup with a few really gorgeous girls, but probably not as pretty a lineup as Hustler and definitely not as pretty as Gold Club's or Mitchell Bros. The hustle factor was not too bad, but early evening tends to be a lot more mellow than post-midnight