Polekatz

Stopped by at about 7:30 on a Tuesday evening. The parking lot was mostly empty, but there was a sign in front that said “Stop here for valet, no self-parking.” Strike one. I hate forced valet parking. It’s not a service—just another way to extract money from customers. Nevertheless, I pulled up to the sign and stopped.

There were no valets in sight, so I waited. And waited. The front doors to Polekatz are smoked glass, and I could see a large bouncer in a suit standing inside the door looking at me. I looked back at him, then looked around the parking lot for a valet. Still none in sight. I looked back at the bouncer, who looked back at me through the glass. I looked around the lot again and then back at the bouncer, who just stood there. This went on for a couple minutes.

Eventually, the bouncer stuck his head out the door and said “The valets will be out in a minute.” I asked him how much the parking was. With a smirk on his face, and a patronizing attitude like his was talking to a third grader, he said something like “don’t get excited, sir, the valet will be here in a minute.” WTF?—I wasn’t getting excited. I just wanted to know how much the parking so I could decide whether I wanted to continue to wait for a valet. Strike 2: Asshole bouncer. At this point, I felt like driving away. However, I had just driven about 20 minutes from my hotel near Midway Airport and there were no other clubs nearby, so didn’t really want to leave without taking a look.