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I’d heard from a few sources that Alumbra was overly pretentious, full of beautiful people and generally quite crap. Didn’t sound like my kind of place at all. So when a girlfriend had her birthday drinks there, I was keen to see if it lived up to the hype.
Sunday night apparently is Alumbra’s big night. I usually like to get a good start to the week, so going out on a Sunday (and getting all dressed up like it’s a Saturday!) felt a bit weird. So did paying a $12 cover charge, on a Sunday? Really? Wow, OK then!
Right, now that my rant is over, let’s talk about the club. They have a really nice view, and I guess it is decorated OK. The music was allright, and they have a live band. Sunday nights they do a barbecue, which I didn’t eat but it looked pretty good. The crowd wasn’t half as pretentious as I had been led to believe. Yes there was a bit of Ed Hardy here and there and lots of beautiful people, but they weren’t so bad. I probably won’t go back again, but that’s just because it’s not really my scene, and perhaps because I’m a bit too tight to pay cover charges:)
So after paying a cover charge (an incident of which this only the second occurrence since I moved to Melbourne, not including bands of course) my friend and I went to the bar and ordered 2 glasses of wine, and 2 glasses of water. I was then informed by the barman that they did not serve water in glasses, only in ridiculously small bottles, and these bottles cost $5 each. WHAT??? Had I suddenly teleported to a summer music festival? When I enquired if this practice was in fact legal (as I was under the impression licensed venues were obliged to provide free drinking water), I was told these were the “house rules”. I didn’t press the matter further, but I was definitely pissed off. I mean, legalities aside, it’s not like I was being stingy!! I just paid $12 to get in, then another $9 for a glass of wine! I was just trying to pace myself a little since I had to work the next day, and I have to get penalised for that? So no, I actually just bought the wine and figured if I got thirsty I could take my empty wine glass into the toilets for some tasty Melbourne tap water, of which I can’t get enough. Classy, I know, but I’m stubborn, and I wasn’t going to let those greedy motherfuckers get their hands on any more of my hard earned dosh than they absolutely had to.
Right, now that my rant is over, let’s talk about the club. They have a really nice view, and I guess it is decorated OK. The music was allright, and they have a live band. Sunday nights they do a barbecue, which I didn’t eat but it looked pretty good. The crowd wasn’t half as pretentious as I had been led to believe. Yes there was a bit of Ed Hardy here and there and lots of beautiful people, but they weren’t so bad. I probably won’t go back again, but that’s just because it’s not really my scene, and perhaps because I’m a bit too tight to pay cover charges:)
That does sound crap. I have never heard of a place requiring a cover charge for a Sunday session ...
ReplyDeleteSounds like a place I will be avoiding.