Jerry T.'s Profile

I haven't written about any bars or nightclubs for awhile, because there just hasn't been anything worth writing about for so long. (Forbidden blah, Amsterdam blah; rinse and repeat until you can't stand the shrill screams of drunk queens anymore!)

That is, until I gave Homme Lounge in Phoenix a shot with their new Friday party "Party Foul Friday's." Party Foul is a mixed Friday Party at the haunted-house-style neighborhood lounge on Camelback Road and 3rd Avenue that has struggled for years to find its identity. Well I think it may have finally found it with the new wave of gay and reasonably tolerant straight hipster crowds that populate this place every weekend and dance to the type of music previously only available at the deceased hangout GLAM.

The music is Electro. The quirky DJs are apt to shout "Party Foul!" about every five minutes for no reason at all.  And although they should really tone down the improvised rapping that their are prone to do with increasing intensity as the night wears on, they put together a pretty good set that gets about half of the crowd dancing on the sweaty dance floor.  Wall projected visuals add a little interest to the lighting scheme that shows its frugality.

The crowd is hipster-eclectic. You will see straight punks, gay fashionistas, those "goth" geeks you remember from high school, and some run of the mill club goers. And...they all seem to get along. Or at least appreciate the je ne sais quoi each adds to one another's evening.

The bad news? Homme Lounge still hasn't figured out how to serve drinks. The upstairs lounge has been shut down by the City of Phoenix (along with nearly every other bar of interest in Central Phoenix), and so the only bar in this place is the semi-circle between the entrance and dance floor.

The bartenders are almost completely incompetent at what they aren't even doing. Be prepared to wait at least 15-20 minutes to get your drink, as the 4 or 5 bartenders run around struggling to close and open tabs and keep their small areas stocked with the right mixers. It's amazing to me that bars still haven't figured out why they are in business. (Hint: your customers don't pay you for the music and dancing.)

The insider secret? Approach the loner in the front of the line who you think will get served next, and offer to buy his drink if he also orders all of yours. It works, and drinks are so cheap here that it's a small price to pay in order to get back to your friends on the dance floor. But don't use this sneak attack too often or you will further confuse the system, if you can call it that.

Get me my drinks about 10 minutes faster and this place easily gets another star.

Glenn cleaned the blinds in my parents house and did a great job.  My mom has asthma so we chose the ultrasonic cleaners because they take the blinds out of your house to clean them, and then they reinstall them after they have been cleaned in their truck.  So there was no dust in the house due to any vacuuming or other methods out there.  The blinds get really dusty so it was great to get the dust out of the house, and now the blinds look like new even though they are several years old!  We used a coupon on their website and the price was very affordable.

This is one of the few (only?) places you can go for afterhours dancing in Phoenix.  That said, the music mix is always familiar and mediocre, and the crowd isn't anything to write home about.  I don't want to dis the place too badly because I know a lot of guys like it here, but it just isn't my scene.  I think I would like Charlie's a lot better if it were cleaner.  I know the owners are probably going for the western rustic look, but it comes off as being more "not entirely up to code."  And forget it on weekdays, too many drag shows.

I was at Myst Nightclub in Scottsdale last night to see ATB.  ATB was awesome, but this review is not about ATB - it's about Myst.

My friend and I got tickets online for the show, and when we showed up at the door at around 10pm we waited in line to get in.  The doorman let people in just a couple at a time, very slowly.  And when it was finally just us inline, he made us wait several more minutes.  He was about to let us in when he saw us holding our tickets, and then directed us to another entrance.

After we were inside the club, we were surprised to see virtually nobody in there.  Why were we made to wait at the door?  Are clubs really still trying this cheesy trick to make the club seem busier and more exclusive?

Once inside, we ordered vodka/redbulls.  The flyer for the event said that they were $4 all night; we were charged $10 each.  The bartender denied the special existed.  So we looked on some of the tables, saw the flyers scattered around everywhere - and realized that the flyer said "$4 redbull vodkas all night in Ballroom."  Ah, so we were mistaken and needed to go into the ballroom and order our drinks.

For our next round, we went in the ballroom and ordered a new round of redbull/vodkas; we were charged $10 each again.  The bartender told us the flyer was a misprint.  We grabbed one of the flyers from a nearby table and expressed surprise that it could be a misprint and asked to talk to his manager.  He actually had the nerve to grab the flyer from us and attempt to hide it and ignore our request for a manager.  We didn't order any more drinks that night.

Honestly, I'm surprised that such a well known club in Scottsdale would display such amateurish and ethically suspect behavior.

Tangible Tanning is one of my favorite local Phoenix businesses.  As you can probably tell, I try to stay tan.  Tangible is one of the few tanning salons I've used that isn't an overall annoying experience.  In fact, I actually enjoy going a few days a week.  I've had a monthly unlimited tanning membership here for over a year now.

The space is very modern and clean, and if you didn't know better you might think you were walking into an art gallery (they do sell the art that's displayed on the walls).  Clayton, who works the front counter, is just about the nicest guy in the world and presents a great face to this business.  I am always greeted by name and he always seems willing to do whatever he can to help to help me pick out a lotion, understand upgrade pricing, or decide on a bed type and duration to use.

The beds themselves are modern, clean and seem to always have new bulbs installed.  Towels are always available, along with eye goggles that are free for use (I used to take this for granted until I tried a couple salons in L.A. that didn't offer them).  There are plenty of lotions to choose from, and if you buy some here you can keep it behind the counter for when you come in (another feature I used to take for granted until realizing this is not a common offering at salons).

Tangible also owns Tangible fitness next door, an equally gorgeous space that houses a fitness gym.  I haven't tried this gym yet, but plan to try it soon and return with my review.

My mantra is that there are so few businesses anymore that really excel at what they set out to do, and Tangible Tanning is one of them.

This restaurant does indeed have a problem with general cleanliness.  However, the food was really good and so I'd probably still go back.  My friend and I spent about $10 each for one of the family dinners...and let me tell you, it was an enormous amount of food!  It even included a whole lobster, which was really tasty.  You will see most of the seafood chillin in the tanks when you first walk in, so you know it's at least freshly killed.

However, like the other reviewers I can't give this more than 2 stars since the place is so filthy.  In all seriousness, the service was friendly but I had to keep kicking a cockroach away with my foot during dinner.

Honestly, these guys could dominate the local market for traditional chinese dining if they'd just clean up a little and spend more than five dollars on the interior decor.  All the handwritten signs all over the walls advertising prices on fresh "geo ducks" and shrimp, along with the harsh fluorescent lighting, are just over-the-top carelessness.

Along with nearby BS West, Club Forbidden is only one of two gay bars/clubs in Scottsdale.  

Anderson's Fifth Estate was transformed into this gay club a short time after owner Tom Anderson settled a relatively high profile dispute with a transgender woman, whom he removed from the former club after complaints about her and other transgender individuals using the women's restroom.  It is unclear if this new club is a direct part of that settlement, or simply a result of Tom Anderson having some sort of epiphany during the negotiations, but I suppose it really doesn't matter.

I'm going to be gentle with this review because the club is new and I think it will continue to get better as it finds and develops it's identity.  Club Forbidden was opened just prior to Burn Nightclub closing in Phoenix, so many regulars from Burn now come to dance at this club.  DJ Jeremy, who used to spin at Burn, now works here as well.

Physically the club is the same as Anderson's.  It is split into two main rooms, one much bigger than the other.  I came here on both a friday and a Saturday, and on both nights the larger room was playing more mainstream dance and hip hop music, while the smaller room had what could be described as more electronica/circuit (what you may call "techno") dance music.  I enjoyed the music in the smaller room (where DJ Jeremy was spinning) but found the music a bit unpredictable and annoying in the larger room - where the DJ played everything from Timbaland to the B-52's.

As far as the crowd, it was sparse and not very pretty on the two fridays that I came here.  However, things were much better on the Saturday night that I was here last weekend - relatively crowded and attractive.  Everyone seemed really friendly and social, with none of the attitude you'd obviously expect to see at many of the straight dance clubs in Scottsdale.  The attitude and look of the crowd was definitely the highlight of the club.

The low-light of each evening was how long it took to get drinks.  It surprised me how long I had to wait each time, because the club actually has four bars in it.  But at each bar, the staff seemed to struggle to keep up with demand - even on the relatively uncrowded Fridays.  I think the management may still be uncertain how much they want to staff the club on each night, and the staff may still be training.

Another critique I had was with the lighting.  It's a personal pet peeve of mine to hang out in a club and be blinded by cheap "Spencers Gifts" quality strobe lights and other lighting gimmicks, which was the case here.  Burn Nightclub actually suffered from the same problem, and I'm not sure why quality lighting systems are such a rare sight in the Phoenix area.

There was no cover on any of the nights I went, and the drinks all seem to be low to moderately priced.  As all gay dance clubs, dress is casual.

Overall I'd still recommend this club - unfortunately we as gay men in Arizona don't have very many options, and this place is as good as any of them.  Although lighting, music and bar efficiency could be easily improved to make this a four or five star night club destination.

I was here with friends for drinks and dinner last Thursday evening, and I have to say that nothing about this restaurant was acceptable for any of us.

First, we didn't have reservations and were greeted with slightly rude service by the host.  However, I think she noticed that we were a little taken aback by the attitude, and quickly changed her mood.

In the downstairs bar, we ordered drinks while we waited for a table to open up for us.  The bartender made a mistake while preparing my friend's Bloody Mary, accidentally dumping an enormous amount of tabasco in her drink.  However instead of simply making a new one, he served it to her anyway (admitting his mistake while setting it down in front of her) and told her to let him know if she didn't like it and wanted a new one.  Of course she tried it, couldn't drink it and had to ask for a new one.

After we got to our table upstairs and ordered our appetizers and meals, things got worse.  It took well over half an hour to get our appetizers, and when we did they were cold.  We were not sure that our oysters were supposed to be as cold as they were, but the fact that they had congealed melted cheese seemed to indicate that they should haver at least been warm.

After we finally got our salads (about 45 minutes after ordering), we were rushed through them before getting our meals just a couple minutes later.  None of us enjoyed our meals, as we found them either burnt or bland.

Even though we made a few complaints about our meal to the server, when our check came we found that we had been charged for everything and were only offered a very pallid apology for the obvious problems with our meal.

this was not an inexpensive meal, either, so we will likely not be back!

I think this place really exceeds at doing what they set out to do.  The gelato tastes great, the presentation is gorgeous, and the staff always seems very accommodating and friendly.

I only give it 4 stars because the location doesn't really seem convenient enough for me to go as often as I'd like - the parking can be difficult, and it is not walking distance from very many night spots.  If this were in downtown Scottsdale, Tempe, or Phoenix it would be perfect.

1/22/08 Update - I'm increasing my rating to 5 stars since they have since opened up new locations, one of them being Old Town Scottsdale.

Um yeah, I don't care how tall the condos are, or how many chain restaurants/stores they put here, it smells.  I was here on 9/16 and I couldn't believe the sewage smell was still there after all this time.  Get it together, Scottsdale.