LA Cafe. First Impressions
I've been a regular visitor to the Philippines for the past 15 years but haven't been back since 2019. On my most recent trip last week I was able to check out LA Cafe for the first time. I stayed near the Robinsons Place Mall and had no issues walking over at night. I didn't feel it was dangerous just some people sleeping on the sidewalk on Mabini Street. A girl I was talking to said she was standing outside LA Cafe recently and saw a Japanese guy walking with his lady friend down Salas Street and couple of guys robbed the guy and the lady. So watch out guys.
I did stop by around 9:30 PM on a Sunday night. Didn't see any available seats in the lower level so I went upstairs to watch the band. I'm not sure how the 100 php cover charge is enforced because no one asked for any money when I went upstairs. On my other visit I also just walked around upstairs without paying so I don't know where this 100 php cover charge is paid. I'd say the quality of the girls there is average, if I'm being nice. I did see more girls and better looking girls when I left around 10:00 PM or so.
I did make another visit later in week on Friday night. I showed up around midnight. There were definitely more girls there on a Friday but I would say the quality was probably worse than on Sunday night. That was a little disappointing. I talked with a couple of girls but upon closer inspection I did change my mind about going with them.
One thing that wasn't clear to me was about how much the lady drinks were. My drinks from the regular menu were in the 100's php but lady drinks ended up being like 300 - 500 php? The waitress didn't really explain and just scribbled some lines on the receipt without really explaining. I feel like they pad the bill a little and also include the tip. The girls told me that if they speak up in the bar about the drink prices they can get blacklisted from the bar by the waitress so I didn't really make a big stink.
I may give this place a miss on my next visit to Manila and maybe try the Makati area. I felt like it wasn't that easy to find a suitable quality partner for the night. There were a lot of girls there but the quality is not the greatest. I usually go to Angeles City but had to be in Manila for the night to catch a flight the next day. Fellas, am I missing something here?