An Expensive After-Hours Club (a big change from Blush or Wild Zebra)

I decided to give Diamonds a try, as I hadn't been there since it was Wild Zebra, and then Blush. It had definitely changed. It is now mostly an "after-hours club", meaning it doesn't get rolling until about 2am. I arrived at 1am, late on a Friday night. $10 mandatory to park (anywhere) collected at the turn-in (which didn't strike me as particularly safe since it is off a busy frontage road). Then a policeman working the door with a wand and a pat down (a pretty rare sight in San Antonio). $40 entry fee. I came in and sat down at a table, and noticed no dancers were dancing (or even to be seen at all). About a dozen patrons spaced around the large room, and probably six waitresses, but no dancers. A waitress comes over and lets me know that the table is $50 (apparently a discount from the normal $100). This wasn't some special table, or a booth, or off in a VIP area -- just a normal table. I asked her if there were any dancers here, and she replied that there were more than a dozen, but they were in the back "having a meeting with the manager". I paid the $50 table fee out of pure curiosity. Bottled water was $6, which I ended up getting two of to pass the time. 30 minutes past without a single dancer appearing, though a few more patrons and dancers in street clothes entered the club.

At about 1:45am, dancers started appearing out of the back in groups of two or three at a time (without any apparent organization). Shortly thereafter, two dancers started dancing individually on two stages. Finally. By 2am, there were at least 12 dancers on the floor, and 2-4 dancing on the small stages at any given time. I tipped a few dancers as they went through a stage rotation, and eventually the first stopped by my table. As I would learn later, dances on the floor (wherever you were sitting, were $20 each, with the top on. I agree to go to VIP, as curiosity again got the better of me. (Wild Zebra and Blush had no real VIP section, just an area in plain sight that was roped off). So, $40 to get into VIP for the night (with a paper bracelet). Behind some semi-sheer curtains was a no-kidding VIP section, consisting of maybe six tables with a bench running along the back, and then a row of segmented bench seats behind it with a reasonable amount of privacy. I got 2-3 dances from 4-5 dancers, and they ran the gamut from moderate to high mileage. There was a lot a variation in the dancers in looks, shapes, and skill (4-8 in each). The stated cost was $40 each ("since they were topless dances"), but I was often offered 3 for $100. Once was even $25 per dance from a "5" who had good skill, and gave the highest mileage there that I experienced. I didn't ask, but I doubt extras are available at this club. I noticed many couples (as patrons) in the club by the time I departed. I left around 3:30am, and the club was getting pretty busy, with cars lined up trying to find an open parking space.

Overall, it was an interesting, if expensive experience. Very different from the prior incarnations of this club. I doubt I'll go back at night, as it is just to expensive for what you get to me. I may eventually go back to try it near when it opens at 4pm to see what it is like then.