sinclair's Review

I went to the Penthouse Club at 22:30 on a Saturday night with a group of people. There was a $16 cover charge at the door. There are three stages: two are round islands with a pole and the third stage is in the middle of the bar on the left side. The poles are fifty millimeter brass and static. There are bars on both the left and right sides of the room, but neither is large enough to offer much stool seating. A twelve ounce Sincweiser was $11. I thought the waitress was scamming me at first, but no, that is what a beer now costs in a French Quarter gentlemen’s club. Cocktails for some of the women in our group were $17. The ATM has a maximum withdrawal of $800 and charges a $10 fee. The washrooms are on the left side of the back wall and housed an annoying bathroom attendant.

One thing that cannot be knocked about the Penthouse Club is the quality of women working there. It is essentially a 7-Up factory. Most dancers were white or Hispanic and either slim or athletic. Considering former mayor Ray Nagin said New Orleans was a Chocolate City, you would have expected more Nubian talent, but there is definitely face control against black dancers and women with postnatal bodies. There were three dancers performing on any given song: one on each of the three stages. Dancers strip down to topless. One crazy dancer named Mocha solicited a dance from me. When I refused, she said I should tip her. So we are now supposed to tip dancers because they came up to us and asked for a private dance? That makes no sense.

Private dances were quoted as $60 for one song or $100 for two songs by multiple dancers. In all honesty, almost no customers were going upstairs for private dances and VIP rooms. It was hard for me to gauge the actual prices on the VIP rooms nowadays because every dancer was charging different rates with a tip added in. From the best I could gather, it was $350 for a half hour in a junior suite and $600 for a full hour in a junior suite. An hour in an executive suite was $850. The VIP rooms have always been by the book: dancers only get topless, and there are no extras. Two way contact is permitted as long as you touch the vagina or asshole. Back in the day, one could get table dances for $20 out on the main floor. Table dances seem to either be a thing of the past or just something dancers don't want to offer. Our group mostly just drank and tipped the stage show. It seemed like a lot of groups or couples would come in, nurse a drink or two, tip the stage, and then leave.