Corporate and Sterile

After reading other reviews and not being totally comfortable with Chicago, Ricks is really the best option close to downtown if you don't know the city. given it is across the street from a whole foods i suppose it is a safe part of town. The cab driver didnt really know ricks because it used to be called VIP. Of course, I knew things were going to be aggressive as soon as we showed up. The doorman first wants to know how many are in your party so he can immediately upsell you to bottle service. He absolutely doesn't want you to realize you can just pay $20 cover so he keeps you standing there for a while. Pretty ridiculous. You don't need to tell me or my friends how to have a good time. So we tell him we have some friends joining us later. He then proceeds to ask exactly how many are showing up so he can again, upsell us. Really annoying.

Once inside, since we paid the $20 cover and didn't get a bottle, just grabbed a couple of seats at the bar. there is a narrow stage in the middle of the room that had two girls dancing at the same time. I couldn't even get my drink order in when I was accosted. I actually saw this one creeping in the mirror behind the bar while i was a getting a drink. that mirror is actually quite useful. you can't order a drink because as soon as you face the bartender another one is creeping up behind you. so make sure you use your rear view mirror. Anyways, I managed to brush her off and attempt to enjoy my $10 drink.

After briefly scanning the room it wasn't really clear that there was any consistency to the type of girl on hand. all different ethnicities, all different sizes, fake, real, you name it. just not a lot for a thursday night. it was a bit weird. usually places have a certain vibe. this place had none. and other reviews spoke of girls numbering close to 100 but given the rotation of some of the dancers there couldn't have been more than 25 which seemed odd for a thursday night.