They are very underhanded and dishonest about door fees and their security is quick to manhandle undeserving people just to get them out of the way and move business along more quickly. Security acts entitled and above the law when it comes to grabbing, shoving, talking down to, and disrespecting people. I'm sure there are a few good ones but there are at least several bad ones ruining it for everyone. They should consider themselves fortunate to be receiving nothing more than poor reviews from me at this point in time, particularly considering some of the pictures my husband took of a couple of the incidents we witnessed between their employees (hostess and door men and women) and guests. We even caught one of their door men trying to slyly let a group of his guy friends not only cut the entire 30 minute+ line but get in for free when they were charging other men $20 each on the door. This same door man, who had previously grabbed one woman somewhat violently to push her out of the way of the entry, shouted at and threatened to call the police on another woman when she tapped his shoulder just to get his attention and ask a question. This was Halloween night 2018 and they had been advertising their Halloween party everywhere - via email, Facebook, various other websites and flyers - but nowhere was there mention of any sort of entry fee. After waiting in line over 30 minutes to get in, men and women were separated into two lines where they couldn't even see each other to know what was going on. Women were quite literally pushed along and rushed into the building, not allowed to get to their men til they were inside. Men were then told they could either pay or leave but could not get in touch with the women they'd arrived with who had already been funneled inside. The door men would not locate the women for their men either so men were left with no way of contacting the women they'd arrived with to tell them what was going on (aside from waiting outside for these women to hopefully check their phones that had hopefully not run out of battery by that point in the night) and no option other than to pay a $20 entry fee to rejoin them inside. They were given no time to discuss or think about it and told they would have to wait in the entire line again if they needed a minute to assess the situation or discuss with their partner. Women were told they would have to wait in the entire line again if they exited so going out just to see if their man was still stuck outside was not an easy option. Wtf What about men whose women were holding all of the cash for the night?!! First off, there was no shortage of party options that were more fun and cheaper than here or even free to get in (ie: the Nerd, The Griffin, Fremont Street itself, maybe Artisan,..) but this was also an extremely underhanded way of getting money out of customers. Worst of all, however, was the hostess letting the men in. She had a truly disgusting personality and was cruel to the confused men who showed up in front of her only to be surprised by a previously unannounced $20 door fee, which would've been perfectly fine with the majority of patrons, I'm sure, if just posted or mentioned ANYWHERE in advance and not handled in this manner.
I've been to this establishment at least twenty times with my husband, alone, and with friends visiting from out of town but after such an appalling experience we will absolutely not ever be back. Fortunately for us, we didnt waste our Halloween here this year and we instead had an absolutely incredible time drinking, dancing, gaming, bowling, and so much more at The Nerd. We got way more value for our money too because, rather than spending that $20 on Gold Spike's surprise door fee, we got to add it to our drink budget at The Nerd, where we ended up partying til maybe 4am?! All this after dancing for free and just buying a couple of drinks at the completely packed, awesome bar called The Griffin.
Tl;dr: Spare yourself the frustration and the bs and don't fund the employment of the sorts of people they hire to work the doors here. Plenty of better options in town that you don't have to look far for.
