Orchid

I went with two of my girlfriends to Orchid last weekend to have a girls night out. We had been there and to Luna many times before. We were seated by a waitress at a table that was not originally ours because they gave my friends table away. No problem. The waitress asked us to wait ten minutes to see if anyone came to claim the other table at 9:55. When no one did, she told us to sit there. We were approached by a belligerent man at 11:00 telling us we had a lot of nerve to take his table and he told us we had to move.

I went and told the assistant manager that we were having issues with a man and I thought he was going to cause trouble and he said he was aware of the problem. I refused to move and told the other patron to get the manager. He instead came back with two very large African American bouncers who told us we had to move. I again refused and told them to get the manager. I was shoved out of my seat by the bouncer. The bouncer kept shoving me to the point where I had to call attention to the people around me and yell help because the bouncer would not stop shoving me. He spilled my drink on me and assaulted me.

I approached the manager, which was probably just a shift manager about this, she apologized, said she wished the bouncer would have come and got her, and told us she could get us another table. It wasn't about the table. It was about the abuse of power that your bouncers felt they could enact on someone unprovoked. This club is responsible for hiring bullies that have no right to touch a woman inappropriately and shove her around. The manager would not give me the name of the bouncer because she claimed she didn't know it.

I went and filed a police report regarding this because I don't feel that anyone has a right to assault another person. The management is responsible for this and they won't return my calls. I'm hoping the police are able to get in touch with them.

I have told all of my friends not to go there and many of them live in the Ferndale and surrounding areas and use to go to this bar. I am appalled at the response of the management from Orchid. This is a terrible establishment and I know my friends and I will not be spending our hard earned money here ever again.

I was there on a Saturday night.  The music trended towards hip hop that I did not recognize (probably poppish/thuggish stuff that I do not normally listen to), although the crowd did not reflect this.  Getting drinks was no sweat - whether at the bar outside or by the dance floor.  There were more women than men, but there was really not much dancing.  I am not sure I understood this.

Friday night my friend choose Orchid for a place to dance that wasn't in Royal Oak. Orchid had no cover and $2 u-call-it's until 11pm so our group of about 10 late 20 to early 30 year old's went to check it out.

We got in right away and lots of people were there taking advantage of the $2 drinks. The bartenders were all very nice and they had Two-Hearted Ale in bottles! Yay!

The music was great! A mix of top 40 and 90s hits, plus some other random jams that were super fun to dance to. Videos played on about 30 TVs around the bar adding to the atmosphere.

So this all sounds pretty good if you are looking for a fun dance night out and don't want to deal with huge crowds, right? Now, about that crowd.... it is by far the most random combination of people I've ever seen. I'm not really even sure how to describe it, but it was awesome. Lots of great people to watch and no one judging anybody. Everyone was just there to have a good time.