We stopped by Ten's on a random weekday afternoon while we were in Tucson for work and checking out the local strip club scene. Like the others we have visited in Tuscon, Ten's is pretty centrally located. When you walk into the club you'll be greeted directly to your right by the nice full-sized full-service bar which has two TVs. To the left is the rest of the club, with the main stage at the very back. In the middle of the club floor, prior to reaching the main stage, there is a small, individually-sized stage and pole which looked like it would fit exactly one person at a time. Because it was a slower day, we only saw this partially used once during our time there. The club floor itself is filled with the typical table and chairs in the middle, with couches lining the walls of the club where we presumed dances may take place...it also is seemed to be a nice place for napping because when we walked to our seats we saw one of the dancers enjoying what appeared to be a peaceful nap in one of those couches.
Onto the main stage itself: it is set up like most stages with a large pole in the middle of it and two TVs above it. To either side of the main stage there were two elevated sections with nice booths and couches that looked like a reserved/VIP lounge area. In addition, there was a projection screen on either side of the main stage and the walls were lined with plenty of mirrors. What was most interesting about the setup was there appeared to be a VIP room directly behind/on the other side of the main stage which seemed like a perfect view to enjoy the dancers. You can see the opening to this room when you're siting at the main stage, and we saw a few customers from that VIP room going up to the dancers from the back side of the stage. There was also an upstairs section which we guessed was a bigger VIP/group area but it wasn't open at the time so we didn't get to check it out.
Now before we get on to the dancers, we want to point out that there were a ton of dance specials, drink specials, and food specials that were advertised on the TVs which will always get a marketing thumbs up from us. In terms of the dancers, it is hard to judge because honestly there were maybe less than a handful of them that were actually rotating on stage, likely because of the time of day/day of the week we went, but unfortunately that made it hard to get an idea of the talent. We didn't remember anyone's name, which says a lot. And we actually didn't realize it was a topless club until close to the end because none of the dancers that did go up took off their clothes or actually did any stripping. One of the dancers approached us and chatted a little about the club and the strip club scene in Tucson in general, which was nice. And then there was another dancer who actually put in effort on the stage (wish we remembered her name) so of course she got cash cannoned; she then came down to talk to us and appeared to be on something in her own world which turned into a 30+ minute therapy session where she told us all of her issues with her child's father and asking Kristian for advice on whether she should leave him or not.
What really was the make or break factor for this club ultimately though was the DJ. And unfortunately, he pushed it towards the break side. While we respect the effort he was putting forth to try to get things going and get people hyped on a slow day, it just wasn't working and came across as over cheesy and way too much talking which ruined the mood. There were several cheesy comments/jokes he made that had us stop in our tracks and give each other the side eye. The music he played actually wasn't horrible, it was a nice mix that seemed to fit the girls. Unfortunately though it was one of those strip clubs where despite the fact that we are indeed in a strip club full of adults who come to watch people take their clothes off and what not, the music was censored and was the radio-versions of songs which we have never been able to wrap our heads around.
Overall it wasn't a horrible club, we just picked the wrong day and time to go so we may have to check it out again on a prime night in the future. read more