Who knew that Providence was one...

Who knew that Providence was one of the SC capitals of the nation? Ok, so I knew because I read the reviews here. But I'll admit to being on the fence because ratings and reviews can be deceiving if the locals don't know any better (MA or CT anyone?). Part 1 - The Bad. So I'm driving up to points North and decide to take a detour through town since the clubs had such high marks. Turns out I had addresses for everything but Cheaters. On the way to Desire, a dumpy warehouse-looking brick building with a red roof is off to my left. That's the place, so I try to hook a u-turn out of Desire to go back and check it out (word of warning, non-locals try to drive from the South - road construction is nuts around there). On the inside: yes, the place is a little shabby. But on the whole it's not that bad and the well traveled will have seen much worse. It's a big club, split main level with an upstairs and back room. Seems to cater to the full range of SC patrons and was busy. There is a "drink in hand" minimum, so I paid $5.50 for my Corona from the raven haired barmaid with the great body and proceeded to wander. The main stage is down in a pit off to the left of the bar area, and if you're not down there the view is alright but not great. You can stand at the wooden railing, but might be blocking the view of people sitting around the edges by the table seats. If you're at the table seats, then you have a huge-ass wooden rail blocking your view. Catch 22? Yep. Since the only dancer on stage was a topless southeast asian with a huge so-so rack job, I decided to check out the upstairs. Part 2 - The Ugly. The second floor basically looks like a country sports bar park and fight, but somehow it works. I considered trying to scare up a local or a dancer for a game of pool, but didn't really like the looks of the crowd up there (no offense, guys) and wasn't paying someone to play. There was a smokin hot asian gal on the upstairs stage putting a hook into a guy having a mid-life crisis, but was still fun to watch even though she wasn't doing much. Three black gals followed shortly afterward and did some reasonable booty shaking in between chatting and mirror primping. So now I'm bored and head back downstairs. There was one great looking slim black dancer with shoulder length wavy hair I'd been waiting to detach from her regular, and on the stage there were two dancers with a decent looking well-racked brunette giving somebody a closeup. We made eye contact and I wandered back to the bar area to ask a bouncer about the back room. Ten bucks to see the sights before taking off, so what the heck. The Godiva Room: Smells. No windows, but there is an emergency exit that fates willing management will crack open every once in a while. The girl dancing on the world's plainest wooden bar left a lot to be desired, and the one following her up was even worse at twice the size. Two fuglies dancing on an empty bar with PLs lined across taking it all in? By then I'm thinking to myself this must be what Hell is like. Part 3 - The Better. The deal was this, if I didn't really dig Cheaters I'd leave and do a "tour" of the area but still had a drink in my hand. Then the naturally busty brunette walks in and spots me. Friendly if a little spacey, but you don't need to be a genius to feel a guy up and lay out a menu. Said she was from Boston and only doing the gig for the Summer. By the time I left 20 minutes later, it was fine to keep on driving since it seemed pointless to make another stop. Just try not to touch anything in the booths except the girls...