Here to catch up with a friend.. let’s check it out!

Crowd shot of the dancefloor area - 12:00AM

Sweet Taboo Saturdays @ Civic Hotel (Rooftop Level 1)
Assessment Time: Midnight – 03:40AM
Opening Hours: 10:00PM(?) – 04:00AM
Lockout: I think no more new guests were allowed after 03:00AM
Address: Level 1, 388 Pitt St (Corner of Goulburn St Opposite World Square / Tao Lounge). Don’t go downstairs, as a separate dance event is held here on Saturdays.
Venue Website: http://www.civichotel.com.au
Promoter Website: http://www.syndicateevents.com.au/
Occurrence: Every Saturday since late 2010.
Outside Line: There was no line outside where security was, nor there was a line at the cashier as we walked upstairs.
Dress Code / Door Policy: At least Smart Casual is recommended – Collared shirt and nice shoes. You may risk non-entry with dirty shoes. However inside, I did notice guys with normal t-shirts on and sneakers (non-dirty). Most guys wore collared shirts. Hats are allowed as well. Girls that were let in tonight were mostly well dressed up and looking pretty good.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Free before 10:30PM if on the guestlist. $20 between 10:30PM and midnight if on the guestlist. All other conditions is $25 full price
Guestlist: taboo.saturdays@gmail.com
Inside: Walk upstairs and give out your hard earned cash. Walk into the door on your left into the front of the venue. The whole place is of two distinct parts. You are in the combined dancefloor/bar area to hold 100 or so people. There are facing lounges to your right which are used for birthdays. DJ in the corner of the room with a 2-step poodium in front. In the back half of the club space are two rooms. One taped off ‘VIP’ area for larger private functions (later opened to all) and a smoking/chillout courtyard. It doesn’t feel like a courtyard as you enter, as it is partially enclosed. Walking in and out of this area you are sprayed with a very fine mist of water to cool you down. The courtyard area is all benches and holds probably 40-50 people.
Cloak Room: None. This is surprising.
Bar Prices / Line: The ‘theme’ of tonight was the promotion of Agwa Bombs for $10. A mix of new drink Agwa and whatever the chosen mix is. I am not sure if anyone tried it out. I didn’t drink tonight, but I did line up with M for when he ordered some drinks. The line was 2 or 3 people deep, but it appeared the bar was understaffed, as it took at least 20 minutes according to my watch before being able to place the order with the bar staff. This is an exceptionally a long time – almost if not worse than Bamboo.
DJs: Rotation of Dj’s tonight. See poster in gallery below for details.
Music Style: Contemporary Modern American RnB with Hip Hop and House mashups. After 3:00AM is old school Rnb. Expect to hear from the likes of Taio Cruz, DJ Unk, Nicky Minaj and Afrojack. Watch the music sample below for more. Yes, some songs were repeated tonight! Yuck.

Crowd & Ratio: Dominantly Asian Australian. Mixed ages from teenagers to guys in their late 20’s Girls are of similar age bracket. We met some English backpackers here as well who didn’t mind the crowd at all – they just stumbled upon this event tonight from downstairs. There are a less than a handful of other people here from other backgrounds / nationalities. The Ratio was pretty good here tonight. It was even or maybe a few more girls than guys, but certainly enough to keep the boys entertained.
Entertainment: MC to keep things going.
Atmosphere: We pretty much entered during the peak phase of the club. The bar and dancefloor were quite busy. The area near the VIP entry was entirely closed off, and nobody was inside there. It probably would have been opened up if more people arrived. Guys were friendly here. Some even smile at me for no reason, and some even pat my back for no reason either. Easy to talk to. There were also a handful of drunk guys going mental and getting their sleaze on. Entertaining but probably annoying for some of the girls on the dancefloor. It resulted in girls keeping to themselves and friends most of the time. Otherwise the vibe was pretty good on the dancefloor itself, if you let yourself immerse into the music.
Video: 360 view

Timeline
How to lose a handbag – a warning for all women
Our female guest could not find a cloak room tonight. It was time to play hide and seek with the handbag as she wasn’t going to dance with it. First place was behind a curtain/speaker, but as she walked away, a suspicious looking dude of middle eastern descent is spotted hovering right above the bag, his eyes fixated on the prize. Not suss at all.

Ran back and the handbag is re-hidden under a sofa. A few songs later, she went to check up on the bag, and it DISAPPEARED. Bar staff and security didn’t have it.. it was stolen! A cloak room would have solved these problems, but not to be. Keeping the bag on you could have solved these problems, but who goes to a nightclub to dance with their handbag? The rest of her night was understandably ruined. To think some people have the audacity to go to a nightclub just to steal things. Total bullshit! That’s two times I’ve had female friends have their things stolen in 3 months. So women .. beware your precious goods!! There are always thieves about – even in nightclubs. Fucking Assholes.

Slippery when dancing
The floor is wooden floorboards. Whenever someone from the podium jumped off, they would either slip and fall or almost lose their balance. I saw at least 4 people fall down onto the floor. Who knows how many others have gone home with minor bruises on their bodies. This dancefloor is bloody dangerous.

Dance-off!
I sit on the mini-podium and a song comes up. I rise and dance away! Then suddenly, 2 girls who are next to us suddenly pull out their amazing dance moves. OMG I felt so miniscule. I couldn’t keep pace so M stepped in to pull off his dance routine. I followed up with my ever trustworthy booty grind (you thought I was going to do the star jumps didn’t you, dear regular reader) which earned me some reverse grinding action. Kind of unexpected. My girl was pretty touchy. She asks if I know Salsa. I kind of know Salsa. “Let me show you salsa!” she says, and runs into some kind of seductive salsa dance, *leading me*. This wasn’t right. Men are meant to lead in Salsa! I pull out my basic Salsa moves and it is barely enough to be okay. She has a fiancée nearby, so this was really just a dance off.

Turned out they were professional dancers from interstate >.< !! I need dance lessons again.

Arrivederci
Left when there was pretty much 10 guys left and 1 girl. Friends handbag didn’t show up nor was it found misplaced anywhere.

Recommendation
The music is good, but can repeat later in the night. The actual floor space for dancing is ok for its size. The atmosphere was pretty good here and the crowd stuck throughout at 3AM. The $25 entry still hurts though. Ratio is surprisingly excellent, but shame about the no cloak room area as my friends’ night was ruined – hopefully in future events a cloak room will be setup for patrons. A higher rating would have been given if it weren’t for this.

Sweet Taboo Saturdays @ Civic Hotel (Level 1 Rooftop): 6.5/10