Babalu Grill in Baltimore, MD is a horrible dance club

Their food may or may not be worth the price, I’ve never been there for dinner. However, I do know that their club is crap. I would have to say that tonight was definitely the worst experience I’ve ever had in terms of going out for a night of fun. First of all, I got to the Powerplant Live area and no one knew how to get into Babalu Grill. The people blocking the area told us to go down the block, the people at the end of the block told us to go back to the original people. When we finally get in, the bouncer said it was $5 per person, but the person taking the cash said it was $10 per person. It was so loud outside from a concert going on that it was impossible to reconcile. Perhaps I was just tired from a long day’s work, but had the concert not been going on a mere 20 feet away, I would have disputed this.

We got there at 2215 (1015 pm) and their website said it becomes a club at 2200. They didn’t even play any music until 2315. Then it was one reggae song after another. My wife went to ask the DJ what was up with all the reggae, where was the merengue, salsa and bachata? (We waited until 2330 because I’ve been a DJ before and didn’t want to be rude) He told her that there was no spanish music tonight. I’m sorry, but is it such a bad assumption that a CUBAN restaurant that moonlights as a night club should play CUBAN music - ie merengue, salsa, and bachata????

So we left right away. I F-ING HATE dancing to reggae. I don’t mind listening to it and if we’re at a dance club and one or two songs go by, I’ll dance to it. But I didn’t pay $20 to dance reggae all night long, I wanted to dance to Spanish music. We haven’t been out dancing in over a year and really wanted to.

If Babalu had put a sign up that said it was going to be a reggae night, I would have never paid the $20 cover. But they didn’t say anything. I ask again, was I wrong to assume that a CUBAN restaurant would play CUBAN music???

I’m never going there again and, frankly, I’m pretty fed up with Baltimore and Inner Harbor. I’m going to give this one more shot some time in the future with a Salsa club in DC, but if they don’t play at least 50% salsa, I’m going nuts on the management.