by Esther Douin on I skipped from San Francisco and ran from Los Angeles for a reason...Austin is a place that takes people as they are. Glorias is pushing a level of "class" that belongs on Sunset and Hollywood. The difference is LA has world-class bands, Glorias has a garage salsa band. I went to Glorias on a Saturday night to check out the salsa dancing. I was greeted by a bouncer that barked the $10 cover charge. The going rate to salsa in this city is 5 dollars tops. Many places have free salsa. You can dance swing for $2 on Thursdays. I saw groups of people turn away once they heard the cover charge. Austin natives know better than to pay 10 bucks just to dance. If you're going to pay 10 bucks, at least provide a band that plays more than salsa covers. The bouncer in the badly tailored suit then said that I had to take off my silk fedora because of the "strict dress code". If this was LA, I could understand, but this bouncer doesn't understand color coordination and male fashion accessories. The knock-off gucci muscle shirts was the main style of the club. Enter the club: The DJ plays outdated Latin pop hits from 10 years ago. I know the 80s came back big, but this was not 80s Latin pop. A professional DJ knows how to read the crowd. When you only have 10 people on the dance floor, that tells you something is not working. The band played 80% merengue. Not the good Dominican and Colombian merengue I might add. they played the watered down American ballroom merengue that had every self-respecting musician in the audience embarrassed. For a "classy" joint, there sure was a lot of drink spills and broken glass on the floor. Guys gravitating towards visibly wasted girls didnt help the class factor of the place. Dress code and 10 dollar cover, lets see how long this place lasts in Austin.
by Aleen L. on Ecco never disappoints. Been to Ecco several time, always good food, great service, good wine and a great atmosphere!! I will always be back, That's actually my favorite place in town!
