The Garden

If this bar is popular - why isn't any one there?

I get the dance thing people show up a bit later - but at 10:00 friday there was about 6 people there - including the bar tender, I really expected (sorry hopped) to see a bit of a crowd forming. The place was ok, the 5 customers were friendly, I just never couldn't understand what they were waiting for?

Love the shows. Kinda keep-to-yourself-don't-bother-me type of place. Go with your friends for company. Lot of straight-girl parties.

I'm not sure what I expected, but...

I'm not sure what I expected, but overall this place was a big disappointment. I would have rated it as "skip it," but there are so few gay bars around that you don't have a lot of choices. The actual club is really cool, I thought. It is a great space. There is a spacious dance section, a separate area where there are drag shows, and a back patio. I would have given the club 5 stars for it's setup. The real problem with The Garden is the people. This is the same problem I had with the Saddle. We started out at the Saddle on a Saturday night and found the crowd to be really unfriendly and clique-ish. So we decided to head over to The Garden. Basically, everyone who was at the Saddle came over to The Garden. I understand that most people here come to the bars with friends, but I have never seen such an unfriendly bunch. You could look around the club and see little circles of people standing. No one was really mingling. It was odd. I grew up here and have moved away. I brought a friend from out of state with me for this visit and have spent several days listening to him talk about how friendly the people in Iowa are, only to have the gay crowd at both the Saddle and The Garden ruin it in two hours. I tried at one point to start talking to several locals, thinking that maybe I just needed to start the conversation. Nobody seemed interested in talking to anyone besides their friends. Lame. This is why I moved away. I think I rate it "skip it" after all. Go hang out at a straight bar or dance club, at least someone will talk to you there.

i'm going again

a verry nice place to go and have fun and meet others,

Great space

The Garden is a great space. But I have to say that the music was bad and to top it off the DJ was a bitter lemon. Also did not care for a drag show every weekend night.