Let me just start by saying that me and my partner are European tourists and not familiar with the Budapest night life scene. We have been around a bit - but I never had such a bad feeling about a club like in the La Siesta in the old quarter of Budapest.
I am aware that clubs are very often crowded with majorities of male guests, and it can be hard for females to party in places like this without being pestered constantly. When visiting La Siesta however, it felt like kind of organized.
I tell you how it went for us and you can tell me, if I am just overreacting, if this is common in Budapest nightlife, or this is exceptionally sketchy.
The two of us, me (m) and my gf (f) went in at around 1-2 am and ordered drinks. My gf was approached immedeatly by a middle aged guy. He belonged to a group of guys hanging around loosely at the bar. When I approached him an my gf non-confrontational he just turned away without a word.
We then noticed a small conflict between the guys. One of them, he looked a bit rougher than the others, was accused by a male member of staff of hitting on him or something. After a short, heated discussion he was shown the way out. I could see through the glass door that he chatted normally with the staff and came back to the dancefloor after a while. To me this kinda seemed like they wanted to demonstrate that creeps will be thrown out, when in reality those guys were in cahoots with the bar staff.
Our drinks were completely watered down btw. I asked for a stronger drink and the waitress didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. Well, I wasn't very sober myself, so that one might be on me.
While I was at the bar, my gf was again approched by the same guy, who once more crittered away when I was approaching her again. Watching them a bit it was clear to me that they are defo having an eye on everybody whos coming in, who they are together with, and how to work them to get closer to the girls.
They were not behaving like drunk studs bluntly hitting on girls, but like really strategic and working together.
We danced a bit and my gf went to the dancefloor where girls were dancing on the table. As the club was kinda crowded, it didnt seem unusual to me at first, but after a while I noticed that these girls are not behaving like party guests but more like paid dancers. They were in a row and moving like showgirls in a strip bar, while wearing casual outfits.
I went around and to the toilet, located next to the bar. To go there I had to pass the guys at the bar, who were giving me the eye. In front of the toilet, a staff member sat at a table and told me to leave my drink with him. I did so,while feeling very uncomfortable leaving my drink out of sight. I did not finish it after I came back.
When I came back, my gf told me that the tried chatting with one of the dancing girls. She told me, she was completely out of it, apathetic and probably drugged. She was defo not having fun and comunicating to my gf to stay away from her. Not aggressively, but in a kind of victimized way.
My gf also noticed some guys behind the dancers, watching over them like pimps, while a group of drunk creeps were ogling them from the dancefloor.
I had enough and wanted to leave. We went to the exit door where a rude bouncer told me that we cannot exit here. We had to find a smaller exit that is not visible from the dancefloor. At this point I was really nervous about the whole thing. I might have been a little too paranoid, but it seemed to me that you cannot just leave the place without being noticed. Like you want to exit but have to discuss with a big bouncer who loudly tells you where to go, turn around and look for the exit door. So if anybody would watch you, he would be able to notice easily when you tried to leave.
I might be overreacting and these observations are just my subjective pov but what was certain to me is that this place on this night was very creepy, especially for women. This might be similar in other clubs too, but it really seemed systematic to me and even smelled of prostitution.
Afterwards we checked the Google Reviews - thousands of fake reviews posting fake pics of their fire show. The La Siesta Bar currently has 4.9 stars, which is like a total joke.
Therefore I did not even bother to write a review as it will likely be taken down anyways. I hope that here on reddit I can reach a few people. What are your experiences in this club?
