Nice club, but everyone has their hand out

I went in this past weekend with a lady friend, cover $7 each plus mandatory coat check. The bouncer then asks if you want a table or to sit by the bar. Once seated, he drops the hammer, it's customary to tip he says, 3 dollars each, as the bouncers don't get paid by the bar. It's a blatant rip off, they ought to just make the cover 10 and be done with it. We got in about 8 pm and it was DEAD. 5 other patrons, and a few bored dancers. We ordered drinks, gin and tonic for her, a lite beer for me and the rip off continued, $19.50 for those two drinks and the waitress stands and waits for a tip. The first few dancers were actually every attractive and my companion was pleased when one of them revealed a great number of pole tricks. There was a girl for every taste, save a redhead. It was fun to listen to the DJ yammer away in french and then throw in lap dance or superstar, just one English word every now and then. The girls started with one dance, then a break song, then a second dance. Later in the evening, it went to one dance from the girl, new girl for one dance, first girl second song, and back and forth non-stop didn't start until 10 at least, almost 11. By midnight the place was getting very busy.

We got 2 couples dances from a tattooed friendly blonde, it was $5 to enter the VIP area and $25 per song for the couples dance, normally $20 if you are there alone. The dances were pretty lame, she explained the rules very clearly, touching above the waist and on her butt was fine, nothing down south. There were no extras to be had, for any price, the cops have been cracking down. The laps themselves were lousy, very little sensuality and pretty boring, there were other choices, but we decided to head back to our hotel and have our own fun instead. I liked the upscale nature of the place, but not how everyone expected to be paid. The best looking lady there was the coat check girl, they really need to get her on the stage.