Platinum Jaxx

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  ----  "You remember that mysterious, debonaire guy who danced here that one night?"
  +++  "Remember him?  I danced with him!!"  
  ----  "I wonder if he'll ever come back."
  +++  "Perhaps"  [She says this with a forlorn empty look.  A tear runs down her cheek.]
  
  :::  In my mind this is how the legends of my visit to the Anchorage Salsa scene will be retold to generation, upon generation  :::
  
  [Ok, I can take literary license, ok?!?!?]
  
  --------------------------------------------------­-------------
  While in Anchorage in November, I actually dropped by this place multiple times (luckily I didn't make it here on Halloween night, because on the news the next day it was reported someone was shot and killed on the street outside this establishment.  Oh, Alaska.)
  
  Why was I here?  I was here for salsa.  Yes, hot, steamy, & sexy salsa dancing---in ICY Alaska!!  The first night I was here was on their Latin night on a Sunday.  I arrived early, and ended up just hanging out at the bar---because no one was really dancing yet.  I had a local beer and chatted up the bartenders (I overheard the chaos about lack of limes and they answered my question about the Aurora Borealis).  
  
  Needless to say, I did not dance on this night.
  
  BUT, it gets better.
  
  I ended up coming back here yet again.  This time it was a weekend night (Fri, I believe), and this time the salsa party was on the dance floor in the back---this time it was PACKED!
  
  The dance floor is actually pretty small, so it was packed for every good song.  They played quite a bit of salsa, but they also played cumbia, merengue, and of course, bachata.  
  
  I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to asking a female to dance---especially in a new place.  But after some time (probably an hour!), I finally gathered courage.  I asked someone to dance.  "No, no.  Not zis song," she said in a Russian accent.  (Palin wasn't kidding about seeing Russia from her kitchen, cuz you can see Russians even in their salsa clubs here!).  
  
  A few seconds later, the song changed, and she grabbed me on the dancefloor.  It was a good song.
  
  1,2,3  5,6,7  
  1,2,3  5,6,7  
  1,2,3  5,6,7
  
  Ok, my dancing computer was operational & synced to Alaska time.  I was happily on beat.  The magic began....
  
  ....only for a few seconds.  After I started some moves, feelin' the song, and flashing my impeccable smile, the woman abruptly stopped.  She watched me.  She was smiling.  I didn't know what was going on.  Is this an Alaska thing??  I continued, and she tried, but she just watched.  Then she grabbed me and took me off the dance floor.  She took me over to one of her friends.  
  
  "You must dance wiss ziz guy!"  she told her friend.  Her friend was someone who looked like the salsa peacock of the night.  She had mad make up on, super high heels, lines of guys queued to dance with her.
  
  I found the Salsa Godmother of Anchorage.
  
  I talked with her.  Apparently, we'd been to some of the same places in Seattle (Salsa Congress) & in San Francisco.  She was an instructor.  She said to come back and grab her for a salsa.  Or to grab any of the ladies at her booth.
  
  I agreed and walked away.
  
  Needless to say she was busy the whole night, and I didn't get a dance.  I did steal a dance with one of her friends, and this was my favorite dances for the evening.  No awkward pauses, no staring at me---just fun on the dance floor.
  
  I can't wait to come back to Anchorage!  They really DO have a salsa scene!  
  
  I was there.  
  
  I lived it.

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  Posted on 01.26.13 Corey G.

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  They have beer! Congrats! Jeez though she didn't even check to see if there was diarrhea on our table! That's how good our service was. Decent food, bad portions, whatever. Not like I was expecting much.

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  Posted on 10.26.12 Ron R.

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  They charge cover when they dont serve alcohol. Retarded. If your not serving cocktails. No cover!

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  Posted on 10.30.11 Angie R.

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  We were visting and asked a local we met where to go to get brunch and watch football on a Sunday morning.  He said to go to Platinum Jaxx rather than Humpy's.  It is a large place with TVs everywhere and all the games were on.  The food was good and we liked our server (cute and personable, despite the Steelers jersey), but given that we seemed to be the only ones who ordered, the food took a very long time to come out.  We all liked their Bloody Mary's as well.
  
  We tried to go back to watch the opening week Monday night games, but the first game started at 3 PM and they don't open until 4 PM.  We moved on and didn't get a chance to see the atmosphere for the afternoon/evening games.

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  Posted on 09.15.11 Dave A.

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  Premiere nightclub? Okay. When you have a place that offers pretty much nothing a pile of dump can be premiere too. I would have rated this place 3-4 or 3.5 but my complaint strictly here is the service and being as chill and respectful about things the owner is an a-hole, no offense.
  
  How are you going to call the cops when I'm trying to retrieve a friends ID the bouncer "jaxxed" or pay again when I just got in earlier for free w/ a hat that you later made me take off? /palmforehead
  
  Yeah you have music, different dance floors, swanky atmosphere, a DJ with a broken leg playing some extreme dub step, and your bars but after making my rounds it got tired pretty fast. And I didn't enjoy unecessary drama of getting in and the  overcrowded area that wasn't different from anywhere else and the long lines to the one bathroom.
  
  It is what it is I guess I just have higher standards or more places to compare it back to but if your lucky enough to be here when the music is right then ookay.

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  Posted on 04.18.11 Brandon H.

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  I was not overly impressed by this club... it's one of the more "premier" nightclubs in Anchorage but in all honesty it was kind of lopsided. The DJ is almost always terrible, but the drinks are great. The dance floor is really set apart from the tables [which are near pool tables] ... so it separates the dancing people from the people sitting down. It really needs better flow... and better music.

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  Posted on 06.18.10 Stephani C.

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  Not a place I would suggest for tourists or people who moved out of Anchorage in town visiting looking for a night life.Unless you like a place where there are different ethnics at each corner of the so called club.come on people mix it up! I don't like how they let people walk in wearing hats tshirt flops even girls in dickies n sweats wtf unbelievable!Oh yeah you will run into people you used to to school with even their mothers lol save yourself don't come!

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  Posted on 06.22.09 Julie S.

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  I have gone here a handful of times and have come away very confused each time.  But I will say it's the exact same confusion every time.  The confusion: To go back or not.  
  
  The food is great, I usually get a burger and fries and they have always been very, very, tasty.  But the speed at which you actually get your food......  Let's just say, if you're in a hurry...  Skip this place!  I don't quite understand what takes so long, EVERYTIME!!  The wait staff is prompt, but I think the order gets lost or something once it hits the kitchen.  
  
  Today for example, we walked in, were seated next to a family of 4 who already had their food, a single girl who was doing something on a laptop (Owner or Manager's GF or Wife I think) another person seated at one of the tall tables, and one person came who came in just before us who took a seat at the bar.  (This was at 1pm on a Sat) so not tremendously busy.
  
  We had are drink order taken by the bartender/waiter and he then came back a bit later and took our food order.  The table ordered a pizza, a burger and a club sandwich collectively, and then we waited.   And waited, and waited, and waited..  About 2:00pm, and 3 rounds of drinks later, the waiter walked by and told us our order should be done in just a couple minutes.  By 2:15 we finally had our food.  And I had seen nothing else had come out of the kitchen up to that point.  
  
  This is what it's like every time I go here, great food, but horribly slow service.  Oh, and should I mention that I get a mushroom burger and ask for bacon, mushroom burger, but they only pick up on that about 10% of the time.
  
  Like I said, great food, just really really slooooooooo..

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  Posted on 06.07.09 Chris T.

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  I had to try this place out for lunch, as I'd been holding on to a coupon from the back of a Fred Meyer's receipt for quite a while.  The coupon expired 1/31/09 and I've seen them on the FM receipts since back in December, at least.  I went with two of my buddies and we all ordered burgers.  Our server was actually the bartender, but he worked out just fine as our server.  We never felt like we were waiting too long for anything, he even rushed to get me some water right after we sat down because I really needed some at the time.  I was just thrilled to see that they carried Moose's Tooth beers (I didn't really know other places carried them, except for the Bear Tooth of course).  That's really cool to know, a different place to enjoy some of your favorite beers.  
  So we all ordered different burgers, two beef and one fish.  I chose the blackened halibut burger and after I hesitated because of not wanting real "charred" food any more (I read somewhere that it's not good to eat too much of that)....the bartender offered to have it prepared "lightly blackened".  He was also the one who recommended the halibut over the other burger I was looking at.  My friends chose a regular cheeseburger and a havarti-guacamole-and ham topped burger.  Boy, was that burger big and piled high.  My friend ate it, taking bites first then a sort of rip-jerk motion to finish getting the food in his mouth.  I think he was actually starving at the time of this lunch.  No, literally, I'm pretty sure he was a bit famished (not extremely, but I'm being serious!).  His burger did look appetizing though, I would probably order it on my next visit.  My other friend's burger was good, from what he said.  What was absolutely delicious was the hot fries.  They were pretty much steak fries, but not like the almost jo-jo sized fries.  They were seasoned perfectly and SOOO good with the house-made ranch.  I knew it was home made after asking the waiter for some and if it had MSG in it (most or alot of dressings do have it, just look at the label).  It was really good, we ended up asking for more I think.
  One of my friends kept commenting on how good the fries were too.  I think we both ate all of them first before even really starting on our sandwiches.  About my halibut burger, now their cook obviously knows how to cook halibut.  It was PERFECT, almost falling apart as I took bites from being so delicate.  The seasoning was just right, not too peppery and definitely not heavily blackened, like I said it was JUST PERFECT.  You'll have to try it yourself.  I think it was like $13 or $14 for the halibut and about $10 to $11 for the other burgers.  I did use a coupon though so one burger was free, cutting down the cost of the others (we all sort of split the bill, after using the coupon).  Another thing is that the tomatoes, lettuce and red onions on the sandwiches were fresh and crisp, and they do not skimp on them.  The picture of a burger on the coupon showed like two or three tomato slices on it, so I went in expecting this.  I just wouldn't have complained if I only got one big slice of tomato or something, that would be dumb.  I think I had at least two nice thick slices on mine.  
  Also, it was pretty empty in there at that time (around 1 or 2 pm) and it was nice to have the whole place pretty much to ourselves.  The bartender was also serving people of all walks of life as they entered and sat at the bar.  One man seemed to be having a life-conversation with the bartender.  The mood here was relaxed.  I will go back, but probably only with a coupon (only because it makes it affordable for me right now).  :)

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  Posted on 02.09.09 Benny B.

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  I avoided going here for a while because I thought it was a strip club.  the two XX's in the name, the dark windows, and the silver sign just made me think strippers...so I skipped it.  
  
  A colleague of mine spoke up and said I should try it for lunch.  The service was very good, the food was good and I liked the venue.  It would have been better had there been more people but it's Anchorage on a weekday.  How can you expect it to be full?
  
  It's a swanky Vegas-style place that tries to hard to be hip and is supposed to go off on the weekend.  During the week, it's just a bunch of drunk guys hitting on the cute bartenders, playing pool, and throwing nerf footballs through the metal panel on the dance floor / overflow seating area.  
  
  Kate, one of the bartenders, is really cool and has a cute, girl next door look.  She's got great personality and appears to truly enjoy her work.  Will have to check it out this weekend to see if it actually rates the four stars I think it does.  If not, I'll update my review and take one away.  
  
  I'm crazy like that.

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  Posted on 11.21.08 Christian N.

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  This is a cool 20-something's bar (someone with high energy and looking for a booty call) ... however I am an early 30's kinda girl so I don't have many good things to say about this place.  The last time I went to this bar it was absolutely PACKED.  The front man was rude, basically treating everyone like they were cattle. When we got into the bar, again you practically had to push your way around. The girls bathroom was disgusting, women weren't washing their hands, toilet's weren't being flushed... it was gross. The dancefloor is small, the music is disturbingly loud.  They have an outdoor smoking area, again PACKED. I was huddled close to the door and the door flew open and two big samoan bouncers started pushing their way out screaming to get the f*ck out of the way (nasty language for hired help).  I got hit by the door and finally got so frustrated I left. All of this happened in a matter of 20 minutes so the $5 entry fee was a complete waste. I hadn't even bought a drink yet!  Last but certainly not least... When I walked out of the bar I waited outside for the rest of my friends and a guy was relieving himself right next to the front door.
  Low Class...... I'm sure if the owners actually cared they could make this one of the top bars in town but unfortunately it's slummy.

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  Posted on 11.19.08 Kelly S.

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  So I hate to admit this but I came here twice in one weekend...not much else to do in this town!
  
  Trip #1:  Lunch where my friends were literally going to eat their hands if they didn't eat soon.  I had already eaten so just got some steamed veggies.  They got spinach/artichoke dip and sandwiches I think.  I tasted the dip and the fries both of which were good.
  
  Trip #2:   We went out here and it was pretty trashy.  All the staff were really rude and I had to leave because I was totally over it.

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  Posted on 07.10.08 Angela S.

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  This layered night club is more fun than I ever hoped for!  I'm 25 people...I did the club seen when I was 21 and basically thought it was done for at the ripe age of 23 but turns out, I was wrong.
  
  My gf has a bartender friend so we got in VIP style, walking straight by all the haters in line.  There are three bars in the joint and an upstairs loft where you can watch all the people downstairs dancing the night away.  There's a bar up here as well with couches and bar tables connected to the wall.  A fancy black railing separates you from falling from the second floor down to the dance floor, which btw is a good thing!!  That bar serves drinks with just a SPLASH of whatever non alcoholic assistance is in your liquor.  As you walk into the club, you'll find a huge seating area to your left and full bar full speed ahead.  The dance floor is to your left so you can stop, drop it likes it hot and then continue on to explore the rest of the spot.  Turning right past the dance floor you go past the restrooms and straight into another room with a full bar.  This area is full of half booths, making anyone sitting in them able to see the rest of the joint from their comfy seats.
  
  I'd say I was probably the oldest person there so expect to see the newly able to drink in public peeps.  I went at night a few times, so I did not get the chance to taste the fair here but I then again...who needs solids when you have liquids?  I joke.  Did I mention the Go Go Dancers?  NO?  How could I not?!!  They were wonderful.  I chatted up two of them.  They dance for an hour which is chopped up in three intervals of 20 min.'s each.  They're escorted by bouncers to and from their block but it seems that they kick it on the regular here as well when they are not working.
  
  Anchorage is small(er) and I would have to say that this is one of the few places to be able to dance ALL night.  Good tunes, drinks and peeps.

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  Posted on 05.28.08 Delilah R.

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  This is the spot to party!  Get a drink - trash can!  shake your booty!  Bartenders are slower than a herd of turtles crawling through peanut butter, unless you know one, then you're golden.
  
  The food isn't bad but it's just a day job for this night club.  
  
  If you have kids throw em a birthday party here.  They have salsa classes and other stuff too.

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  Posted on 09.03.06 dan n.

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