Probably as good as it gets in Raleigh (keep your expectations low)

Most on this site probably know Raleigh isn’t the best club scene, but it’s my home base and I wanted to get out one night, decided to come here based on some familiarity (though it’s been a few years since my last visit), and I haven’t heard good things about Rick’s or Cheetahs. The club is right across the street from the airport, so at a minimum it’s a good spot to get a drink and kill time if you are waiting for an evening flight (club doesn’t open until 6pm). It’s on a dead end street and it can seem a little sketchy driving back there, but it’s a safe location. The parking lot is big and well lit, there was no valet that night, but I learned that the first row of parking is “reserved for VIP” after parking there and walking up. No signs so just a heads up. The door guy told me as I walked up he was very nice about it though. He asked me to take everything out of my pockets and after a brief pat down he directed me inside where an attractive desk girl asked for my ID. It was about 9:30, I don’t know what they charge for cover I had a free admission pass from several years ago that was honored, their socials say no cover before 9pm.

I have very mixed feelings about the layout and set up of this 2 level club. It’s clean, good lighting, music is at a good level and there are a lot of things to like - there is a bar on each level (though the 2nd level bar was not in use on this Sunday night), the main stage on the first floor is a nice 2 level stage, and the upstairs space is really cool with the 2nd bar, big screen TV, and balcony that overlooks the main stage downstairs. Also upstairs is a smaller stage, their one champagne/VIP room, and semi private rooms for contact dances. I’d like to come back on a Friday or Saturday to see if the 2nd floor gets more use because it’s a cool space, and if I could’ve hung out up there it would have minimized the only 2 complaints I have about the space; first being there are A LOT of tables on the first floor, it feels very cluttered and crowded for what could be such a nice space. I found myself having to navigate awkwardly in between them if I wanted a drink from the bar or if I wanted to get up to tip a girl on stage. There were only 3 other customers there, I’m sure there are more on Fri/Sat but if they have so many customers that they need all those tables it seems like the club would be WAY too cramped to move around in. The 2nd thing is that the contact dances are upstairs and it’s a pretty long walk to get up there and to the back from down on the main floor.

I ordered a beer from the bar which I think was 6-7 dollars ( I handed the bartender a $10, she came back with what looked like a few bucks but I told her to keep it. The staff was overall very friendly. They had some girls there that seemed to be waitresses but I was never approached by them while I was sitting at a table.