Good, but not great and not like the old days

I am still perplexed about the difference between the new and the old Lido and LaRouge and haven’t been to either in quite some time. But, i was in town and staying near Times Square so i made the trek over to check it out. The entrance is on a rather dark block, but its perfectly safe as it is very close to lots of activity and it is Manhattan—where most of the city is pretty safe. When i walked in, they asked if i was going to LaRouge or to some other club that they said so fast i actually didn’t even catch it. I said LaRouge and they asked if i had an invite. I get the email blitz daily so showed them the email and they let me in. They then charged me $5 to check my coat.

The layout of the club is a bit odd. There are lapance areas, which are basically two rooms that are curtained off. There is a stage near the center that no one was on when i was there. And then there is a small bar off to the right. This is where everyone was. It was odd because there is this huge open floor plan of space and literally everyone there tried to cram themselves into a 200 square foot bar area. No one used the open space around the rest of the club so although it is a roomy place, it felt very crowded and cramped.

If you remember the old Lido that roamed, the girls were very door, next door. Looked like cute, college types looking to supplement their income or earn money when in school. No more. Most of the girls were a notch done from the old days — and looked more like what you would see at an average club. Not the typical Russian with implants, but more an average looking girl with lots of tattoos, piercings, etc. There were a mix of mostly white with a few black. Some were chunkier than I would have expected from the old club. There was only 1 that stood out as being a 10. I tried to grab her attention, but she was with the same guy for the 1.5 hours i was there.