Modjeska Ultra Lounge and Cocktails, on Broad Street downtown, has two bars and offers dancing Thursday through Saturday. There is also a VIP lounge for special customers. (Michael Holahan/Staff)
Modjeska gives its patrons top priority
The servers are at your beck and call so readily that you want to check your ID to make sure you're not royalty.
"People could go to any other club, but they come here, so we're going to treat them right," said bartender Jody Smith, who magically serves a dozen people at one bar, dashes to the club's second bar to perfect a drink, greets guests and mixes a drink for another customer - all the while holding a conversation.
"See, that's why I love it here," said Liz Orozco, a weekly regular who said she stopped going to other clubs because of Modjeska's hospitality. "They just make time. I don't know how they do it; they just blend with the crowd."
Everything about the place has a big-city feel, from the large lighted aquarium filled with colorful fish between the two entrances leading into the club, to the two full bars with every flavor of every brand of liquor and beer imaginable, to the young lady attending the velvet rope at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the VIP room.
To reach VIP status you must earn a silver bracelet by being a "good regular, big tipper or a bigwig," Mr. Smith said. After getting there, you are well taken care of.
"There's a waitress for VIPs who'll get you whatever you need," he said.
The non-VIP stairs lead to a quaint, secluded room filled with couches. Overlooking the entrance, the room has a treehouse feel.
The black light in the club illuminates all the light-colored fabrics, especially the huge white curtains draped floor to ceiling at the left front and rear of the hardwood dance floor, obscuring more couches. The sectioned-off bar has a miniature flat-screen TV at each end.
After proving to the security officer that you're at least 21, you may enter Modjeska at the discretion of the person whose sole job is to check fashion: No athletic gear or baseball caps, and no baggy or torn jeans are allowed. Shorts are frowned upon, but some make it through.
"You've got to have sort of an edgy individuality," said Scott Kotz, whose friends wonder how he gets in with his jeans with pocket chains and his blond-and-black hair. It's not uncommon to see all races and nationalities wearing suits and ties, cargo pants and T-shirts, or miniskirts, capris and baby-T's in the same night.
The music is just as diverse, with techno, hip-hop, pop, rock or R&B.
Modjeska is open Thursday-Saturday from 9 p.m. until closing. There's no cover on Thursdays, with DJ Richie Rich, and DJs and live music rotate on Fridays and Saturdays. Once a month there's a themed party, such as Ladies Lounge, where women get in free until midnight and pay $1 after, receive free massages, manicures and apple martinis, then hand-pick which guys are allowed to enter the club.
Every third Saturday night is called Bangin', with a live salsa band, and the last Saturday of each month is Secret Society - an invitation-only hip-hop and R&B party with VIP privileges all night.
Modjeska specializes in people, with no real separation between customer and staff.
CAN YOU GET IN?
The Place: Modjeska Ultra Lounge and Cocktails, 813 Broad St. (map)
Popular Drinks Apple martinis, chocolate martinis, cosmos
Dress Code: No athletic gear or baggy or torn clothes
When to Go: Thursday-Saturday
It's a Fact: The Modjeska was once a theater for live shows, then movies. It closed in 1977, and Michael Schepis reopened it as a lounge four years ago.
