Bring on the private dancers

July 21, 2009 12:59 PM

Where are the classiest and dirtiest (female) strip clubs in Toronto?

Help a lady help a fellow out.

A set designer friend needs to research the interiors of strip clubs for work. I am to be his research assistant. We have been recommended a couple places (Brass Rail/For Your Eyes Only for class, Jilly's/Fillmore's for dirtiness) but really don't know how classy/dirty any of these places are, or if there are other places that should be on our radar.

Toronto strip-club aficionados, where should we go and why?

posted by Felicity Rilke to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Bloor & Lansdowne has Club Paradise and House of Lancaster II, which just got an (exterior) facelift.
posted by avocet at 1:15 PM on July 21, 2009

(Not an aficionado, just a neighbour.) I'm fairly sure they're in the dirty pile.
posted by avocet at 1:16 PM on July 21, 2009

Best answer: Random Toronto strip club reviews on the internet?
posted by okbye at 1:44 PM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

The Zanzibar on Yonge is where most of the students wind up, and falls squarely in the middle of the spectrum, or at least did in the late '90s early '00s. Don't bother for either end of the spectrum.
posted by Shepherd at 1:46 PM on July 21, 2009

I've been to For Your Eyes Only. I suppose it's classy, as far as strip clubs go. The place is clean, the dancers were attractive. It wouldn't occur to me to describe it as classy except relative to, e.g. Jilly's.
posted by mellifluous at 1:53 PM on July 21, 2009

The Brass Rail is in my neighbourhood, and I was just in there a couple of weeks ago after an absence of several years. Either my tastes have changed or it's gone downhill in the past few years. It's become less upper-end and more like the Zanzibar. They certainly do cram in the people. Maybe the "Upper Brass" (the upstairs part of the bar, presumably more exclusive) has aged better, but I've never been there.

From what I remember of For Your Eyes Only (only been there once, several years ago), it was a little higher up the chain.

And while I've never been to Filmore's, its reputation definitely puts it in the skeevy category.
posted by flipper at 1:56 PM on July 21, 2009

Jilly's is the kind of strip club where you get a side of crabs with every order. It's pretty much the bottom of the barrel.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:10 PM on July 21, 2009

Best answer: I haven't been to the Toronto Spearmint Rhino but I think their chain of clubs has a clientele that is generally older and has more money to spend. Probably at the classier end of the spectrum.
posted by bread-eater at 6:30 PM on July 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The reviews (what could be read of them without paying for full access) were pretty good. The elevator at Paradise wasn't in use though, nor was the shower at Lancaster.

We haven't made our way out to Spearmint Rhino yet, but it's a good suggestion and one neither of us had heard of.
posted by Felicity Rilke at 10:57 PM on July 23, 2009