It was pretty crowded for Sunday...

It was pretty crowded for Sunday after midnight. I stayed until about 2:00am and there were no signs the club was slowing down. Didn't see alcohol but saw a few 7-11 big gulp cups around the room. This is basically a latin club. There was a mix of dancers I saw (some black, one or two white) and more variety in customers, but by and large the environment had a latino flavor.

When I first walked in I had a case of deja vu. When this place was D2 years ago I must have been here. Since those days included heavy doses of alcohol along with a designated driver this could happen more than a few times as I make my way around the area looking for a new spot. I did like the big main stage, and the layout was nice overall. A couple of the girls climbed all the way up the pretty high poles to do tricks. High enough where the show ends badly if they fall. There was couch area down by the far wall in front of the DJ booth, though there were only dancers there and no patrons. The show was more interactive than a lot of places are these days. It's a DC thing, I think, because the laws in an around town are so restrictive that the only way to get some contact from the dancers is to do stage tipping. Notice you don't see any DC reviews in the portfolio from the Wall. It's not that I haven't been to the DC clubs, I just haven't been lately and by choice. Now since this place isn't in the city limits you can get LDs here, and the basic ones are decent for the price ($10 a song in the VIP couches). Think I saw some being dished out in the floor chairs, too. I'll have to differ with the reviewer who said the extra $10 to sit in VIP row wasn't worth it. When I got there I walked in and sat along the back row of seats and tables around the main stage. Because of all the milling around behind me (there are people constantly circulating around the room) it was a little uncomfortable. The VIP seats are backed to the outside wall on a raised platform so you get a better view while having a little more space around you.

Basically, it's all about expectations. When I'm in a tiny club I don't mind people close in, but there is way too much space in Fuego to have everyone crammed into the middle like that. There is a pretty nice bar area against the door wall with a plasma above it, and two plasmas on the other wall with the DJ booth under one and the VIP rooms under the other. The dancer I spoke with said dances there are $40 topless but I didn't try one. This was basically a window shopping trip. One dancer in particular put on a hell of a show and spent most of it flipping around into different low positions (think hands and knees) to get a good angle on the guys tipping her around the stage. It's a 360 degree stage so she basically did some pretty good tumbling from guy to guy during her floor show and it had the most energy of a stage set that I've seen in a while. It didn't hurt that she had the best looks and moves in the place. The girls on the whole were reasonable looking. 5-8 mostly. The rating is on the lowside for the girls because they didn't really mingle, and not just me as an unfamiliar face I mean they just sat around for the most part.