This place sucks. I purchased a half price offer off the internet. It says good for food and alcohol on the website and the only exclusions on the certificate are cover charge and tips. When I tried to use it the bartender looked completely confused, went to another bartneder and came back and said it's for food only. We argued for a bit and she finally went to check with the manager. She came back and said the same thing. I pointed out on the certificate where it clearly says dinning room and nightclub. When I refused to pay she threatened security on my friend and I. Not wanting to cause trouble, yet extremly pissed, we sat there for several minutes waiting for her to come back or security to come over. Nothing!! We finally had enough and just walked out, passing no less than 5 security guards on the way. If I was in the wrong would they realy have allowed that? I think not. Intimidation may have worked on some but not me. Shady shady place.

Went to Club 915 for the first time this past weekend and I will definitely not be going back! This was definitely the worst club I have been to in Portland. The drinks were completely overpriced especially given the fact that it was all juice and practically no alcohol. Also, the bar upstairs was charging $2 more for drinks than the downstairs bar. Same drink different price. The bouncers were incredibly rude and pushy for no reason. There's way better places to go in Portland.

You may think this is overly dramatic, but you were not the one who was wrongfully charged $400 by Club 915. I would be interested to know how you would respond in this situation. And by all means, feel free to tell us here.

I am the type of person that truly believes in standing up for my principles. I do not believe in conceding when I have been treated poorly by a business that thrives on consumer spending. I am a hard worker and a man that supports a family. So I will not take this sort of treatment lightly. I said it before and I'll say it again: you may love Club 915 and it may be a great place for you. All I'm saying is to be aware and careful when you are dealing with them, as I had an extremely bad experience there. If you don't like what I have to say, then simply do not read it.

tinyurl.com/m8vh89 is the location of the latest article written September 22 by Melissa Wood a writer for the Examiner online. The comments about Chris's experiences with the previous promoter at Club 915 seem very unfortunate, but also very over dramatic. Every one has different experiences when they go to different places. If you really want to see Club 915 and be a part of what most of Portland enjoys on the weekend, then go for yourself!

Club 915's Portland launch party By: Melissa Wood

Club 915 had its launch party on Saturday, and it became clear that this is going to be a great place for Portland socialites to party. It's surprisingly different than any other local club.

The location at 915 SW 2nd Ave, is a convenient place with plenty of parking and is only a few blocks away from the Max line. The staff at Club 915 is very pleasant, helpful and respectful which is rare in this sort of environment. Another rarity in the night club scene is an efficient front of house. There wasn't a long wait to get in, even later in the evening. The downstairs area serves as more of a dining room/bar, while the upstairs serves as more of the night club. The area downstairs has tables and a full bar. It is tastefully decorated and has a waterfall next to the stairs. The menu has a wide variety of food and the bar is full of various liquors and beers. The happy hour menu has several items that are reasonably priced (except the tater tots). When you go upstairs, there is a huge open area with just the perfect amount of lighting. It's beautiful. There are a few more bars upstairs with tables spread around the area to hold your drinks and for the wallflowers to lean on. There are also Billards upstairs in the corner of one of the VIP areas.

The primary house DJ at this club is a regular on the Bridgetown club scene, DJ Gigahurtz. With other visiting DJ's from all over the West Coast. They really keep the dance floor moving with quality mixing, so it doesn't sound like we're just listening to someones ipod. During the week, Club 915 has visiting music groups such as local favorite Keegan Smith and the fam with more bands to come soon.

The VIP areas are everything that a VIP area should be. They are separated from the rest of the club, but open enough so you can enjoy the atmosphere. The couches are contemporary white leather with glass tables, champagne, bottled mineral water, sparkling water, and the servers in the VIP area are excellent.

After 10 there is a cover charge of $10. It is well worth it. There is a dress code, but still a diverse group of people. There are two sets of bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. A great point of difference at Club 915, is that they have their own in house photographer who circulates throughout the club a few times each night. This is so convenient when you want to go out and have a fun memorable night, but don't want to carry your camera around with you. The night club's security is held down by Top Flyt Security, which is also another well known group of guys to our local club scene. This is going to be somewhere the beautiful people of Portland will want to make an appearance. Portland has seen several clubs come and go from this location, but Club 915 definitely has the tools it needs to be a successful nightclub. It's full of class, customer service, and effeciency.

OK - so for the sake of fairness, here's what the owner had to say about this incident. This is copied directly from the BBB website (no editing):

----------------------------

On August 29th we had a comedy act for part of the evening. The first I heard of Mr. Ilagan and his group of people was when the promoter told me she sold them a VIP section. As for a free section, it is extremely rare that an entire VIP section gets comped. Especially on a night where there is an event going on. A bottle of champagne is complimentary with the purchase of a VIP section.

The general manager being referred to was the "Promoter" for Club 915. She and her VIP hostess staff members are base on a very high percentage comission from all VIP section sales each night. Unfortunately, she is no longer under my employment afterward.

At the end of the night the promoter came to my wife and said Mr. Ilagan VIP section left without paying. My wife asked her how that could happen due to the fact that all sections are paid when the bottle of champagne is served. The promoter replied that they kept evading paying by saying a server had their card or a friend was covering it. The promoter apologized and said not to worry about paying her the comission because of short payment from Mr.Ilagan VIP section.

The reseason I mention my wife is becasue she is the Account General Manager, she handle all the VIP hostess comission checks. I have no knowledage on losing another VIP section at the same night and I can assure you my VIP Hostess will go after all their sales comission.

I have to say thanks to the world wide internet user, I assume Mr. Ilagan heard all over the Website that his reputation was ruin by this incident. He came in a few days later and paid for the section. As soon as, Mr. Ilagan paid me and the no longer employed promoter came to my wife and demanding she get paid for her comission and I did. Since Mr. Ilagan paid for the section I expected no rebuttal.

In conclusion, I did not comp Mr. Ilagan VIP section. I did not comp anyone's VIP section that night and wouldn't have, given the event going on. Again, free champagne wouldn't be handed out unless the VIP section was being paid for. The promoter told me the entire party had walked out without paying, which is what happened, and I was pleased Mr. Ilagan came to talk to me about the situation in the next couple days. Mr. Ilagan didn't seem happy about paying but he did pay and realizing he needed to protect his own reputation. We have all the comission receipts and have no record of not getting paid for a section except for his section.

----------------------------

Regardless of what truly happened on the Club 915 side of this incident, somebody is lying to me. It's just unfortunate that I cannot tell who it is. Due to an internal business issue, I, the consumer, get taken advantage of.

To compromise, the only thing I would really pay for in this case was the single bottle of house champagne, since it was a consumable, tangible product. I was told that the house champagne costs $25 a bottle. But being wrongly asked to pay for the $400 VIP section is ridiculous and bad business.

So I will continue to warn my friends and associates about Club 915.

I think people who have had a bad time at Club 915 only had a bad time because they were personally involved with management. Gossip is a disease, and Club 915 is not an infection. I have been over to Club 915 many times now since its "new opening." I'm not sure if there is new staff there or not, but who ever was working last weekend did an amazing job. The club was so busy, and the LA dj was INCREDIBLE! I really felt comfortable there, not like it was a meat market or anything. And the VIP sections with the red and white couches are gorgeous. I'll be there this weekend too....I guess once I find a favorite, it's just hard to let go!

OK - so I've read everything written so far by the rest of you about Club 915. And here are my responses:

I don't actually know if the promotions team was fired or if they walked. I've been told both by each side. So I can't make heads or tails out of that. And their "leaving" was supposedly more of a general disagreement on the overall promotions/general operations of the establishment.

When I said they should earn the $400, I didn't mean they should try to get my business back, as I will never go back there, as long as the owner is the same (as I'm sure they never want me back there either). What I meant is this: my complaints to several friends will cost them at least the $400 in the long run. Actually, I'm certain it already has, from the responses I have received from several people that go clubbing every weekend. Maybe my initial statement didn't make obvious sense, but hopefully this clears it up a little.

You may say I'm a fool, but I'm merely explaining my experience at Club 915. I had been going there ever since the grand opening. It's a really nice place. The staff was great to me. Until this incident, the owner was very gracious to me and treated me well. That is why it is so discouraging that he would display such poor business practices in this case.

I am a big fan of Keegan Smith and the Fam, as well as Acoustic Minds. I have already mentioned to them personally that I will support them in any venue other than Club 915. Also, I warned them to be very careful when dealing with the owner. It's too bad, as I will not be able to see them perform as much now, but I will stand my ground.

And here's an update on my whole Club 915 fiasco. I sent a complaint to the Better Business Bureau on 9/6/09. They reviewed it and assigned case #22216846 to it on 9/8/09. So the BBB has validated my concerns with Club 915's business practices. They have been notified of this official complaint, and have until 10/2/09 to respond. So far, they have not had the integrity to do so.

Overall, I'm not telling you-all that you should not go there. I'm warning you to be careful and aware of what you're doing there, so you don't get burned like I did. You may love the place and you may never have a problem there, and that's completely fine. I'm just trying to tell my story of mistreatment.

This might be a cool club for dancing and partying but the food his horrible! We were the only couple in there at 6:45 pm Saturday evening. First, my wifes glass of wine had a bug in it. Her replacement glass smelled like dish detergent. The salsa that came with the tortilla chips was basically red colored water - the chips bland. I took two bites of the chicken strip salad I ordered and couldn't finish it. The lettuce in the salad was old and edges dried out like the stuff you buy in a bag at Safeway. The chicken strips (pieces) were hard and dry. My wife couldn't finish her enchilada verdes plate as it tasted like a frozen Lean Cuisine meal. We left quickly and had a great time elsewhere.

I honestly don't know what happened with the supposed comp VIP room but I have known the owner personally for almost 10 years and have never heard of such a thing. He also owns another bar and it is very popular. After my wedding reception we went to his other bar and he GAVE us a bottle of Dom 1999 because we bring him so much business. And, I have never heard of him pouring a weak drink. All I can say is that my husband and I and all of our friends will keep going there, especially since he has Keegan Smith on Monday nights! We are going this Friday for a group birthday party and he hired Keegan Smith to play for us AND paid for it! That is well over a thousand dollars. Bar 915 ROCKS!!!

Dude at the bottom is a fool! I've always had a great time there! It is a new bar and I can see some times the ball might get dropped or they need to iron some stuff out, but overall the drinks are good, the staff is good, and I've got nothing to complain about....

I've been in there a few times recently, and it's hard to believe that someone was treated so rudely with regard to the VIP section. I was treated like royalty, and the owner himself came and introduced me and stopped by and chatted with me regularly. He even remembered my name the next time I came in! I am nobody special, but I am excited about the place, especially since I heard he got my all-time favorite band, Keegan Smith & The Fam to start playing there Monday nights! I heard they are going to have a different artist every week during happy hour (which they are moving from 6-9pm on Mondays) and then Keegan will rock the show from 9-12:30am. And all this with no cover! I've been going to Keegan's shows for years at the Candlelight, so when I heard he was moving I wanted to see what the new place was all about. Club 915 rules! Not sure why it seems so hard to keep a good club open there, but I'm pretty sure that if anyone has a chance to do it, it will be this guy, since he was smart enough to nab Keegan and his huge fan base for Monday nights. I'll be there every Monday with MY whole posse!

I work near this "club" and tried it out for lunch, and then happy hour.

Lunch was a taco salad (recommended by the server over the burger) and it was AWFUL. Tasted like Costco frozen chicken microwaved, then thrown in to a "fried" bowl, with shredded iceberg lettuce (no beans or rice, VERY little cheese) and completely tasteless guacomole. I paid for it, but probably shouldn't have. I did let the manager know I was NOT impressed.

A couple of weeks later, I decided at the last minute to stop by for happy hour (it's until 7 and is right next to my office). Drinks were weak, but not horrible. I ordered the tater tots (who can screw up tater tots?) and they brought NINE tater tots. seriously. NINE. The waiter seemed horrified and didn't wait for me to say something before he went back to try to get more. I think he literally had to fight for them.

I then looked at the menu again and saw that the happy hour tater tots were a "6 piece" -- clearly I had missed that, or if I did see it i ignored it because it made NO sense. Who would sell as 6 piece tator tot appetizer for 2.50? That's nearly 50 cents a tot!!! I guess they actually were being generous? Lord have mercy. If it weren't so comical, it would make me mad. Won't be going there again and DON'T recommend it.

It's such a gorgeous space. too bad it's cursed, or the people who use the space are idiots.

Since you asked for opinions:

1. When you say that the entire promotions team was gone the next day, does that mean that employees were actually fired? (you also said ex-GM). Does it mean that employees were fired allegedly for the confusion over comped tables? If so that is pretty fucked up, but given the state of the economy, a new place etc it may have just been some ridiculous excuse for ownership to try and cut their losses on payroll.

2. You paid the $400.00 but not sure what you mean when you said that Club 915 needed to earn the money? Do you mean work harder to get your business back? Because based on the description of the place etc why would you want to go back at all?

All in all though regarding the question of paying the bill I suppose you could have just as easily refused as most people would however you were being careful to protect your reputation it sounds... something that the owner of the club appears to be a little less concerned with.

Alright - I'm warning you now this is the LONG version of the story. I feel this is necessary for you to fully understand everything that transpired the evening of August 29th, 2009.

So I decide to go to Club 915 on this particular Saturday night, primarily because my friend will be performing a standup routine there. I wanted to support him, and I really liked the place and staff, so I made a point to come out.

After the comedy portion was over, I noticed a familiar face just in front of me. It was my neighbor from across the street! I asked him why he happened to be at Club 915, and he said the group was just hanging out after going to the UFC 102 fights at the Rose Garden. One of the guys with them was actually one of the UFC fighters. Which one? I'm not sure, as I honestly don't follow UFC. Do I have a reason to think my neighbor was lying to me? Absolutely not.

Since I was considered to be a "VIP" member, I thought it would be cool if I could get the whole party upstairs, where there were a lot more people dancing to some pounding club music. I asked the VIP hostess, who in turn referred me to the general manager of the club. The general manager came over and gave the whole party VIP bracelets. Also, she asked me if they would be interested in sitting in one of the VIP sections, if one was available. She then told me if one was available, that the VIP section would be comp'd. I said that would be great and that we would appreciate it.

She checked, and one was open so she lead us up to that section. My neighbor and the UFC guys sat down, and soon a bottle of champagne was brought out. My neighbor and his brother decided to go get another drink. At this point, I went to the bathroom. By the time I came back, they were all gone. They were in the VIP area for maybe about 15-20 minutes tops.

I decided to stay until closing, and then went home. The next day, I find out that the entire promotions team was no longer with Club 915! And I thought that was kind of strange. So I wrote to a few of them to make sure everything was OK.

Now let's fast-forward to Monday, August 31st. I work with a family member of the club owner (which makes this all the more awkward), so I told my co-worker that I went to the club. He mentioned that he heard I was the "big spender", buying a VIP section for Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira from the UFC event. Then he mentioned the owner said I just took off without paying the $400 for the section! I told him that the section was comp'd, but apparently the owner disagreed with that. My co-worker said he would talk to the owner and get back to me tomorrow (Tuesday).

At this point I was also writing back and forth to the now ex-general manager. She says that she stands by her statement of comping the section for my party, and that there was another UFC party that was there on Saturday that left without paying. I believe the VIP hostess ended up paying for the two bottles of champagne they consumed, and the remaining balance for their section was $200.

So today rolls around, and my co-worker says it doesn't look good, and that I should call the owner to resolve the "confusion". So I call and end up going back to Club 915 during lunchtime. I tell the owner my side of the story, but he really isn't interested in that. He completely disagrees and says I owe him $400. By now, I'm sick and tired of all this BS, and pay the ridiculous bill. There was only a verbal agreement between myself and the general manager, and nothing was in writing, so I could have contested it all. But I also didn't want to strain relations with my co-worker either. So I said F-it and paid the whole thing.

What do you-all think? Was I in the wrong here? I personally think that it was very bad business for the owner to handle it the way he did. The issue should be between the ex-general manager and the owner. I should have nothing to do with this. It's possible that the owner may be aware of all this, and just wanted to make up for the other party not paying by taking my $400 to cover it all. That's just a theory, but I wouldn't put it past him.

That being said, since I paid my hard-earned $400, I expect Club 915 to earn that $400. I'm writing about this incident everywhere I feel it is appropriate, to warn people about this specific club. They have only been open for about a month, and negative publicity is not good for them. But that's exactly what they're going to get from me! I know quite a few people that will not go there based upon my word, and that should at least amount to $400 in lost revenue. It would have been better for the owner to just take the "hit" (it's just a place to sit for Pete's sake!), versus losing a customer that would end up paying at least that much in the long run. Hell, I would have probably paid for the single bottle of house champagne that was actually consumed by my group. But the $400 price I paid is unacceptable in my book.

Representatives from Club 915 can sling mud on this and deny it all they want, but my friends that know me well know I do not screw around when it comes to money. And they also know that I'm an honest, trustworthy man who takes care of his responsibilities and handles his business...period!

So be very careful, Club 915. You are losing friends fast, and this is not a business that thrives on being unpopular!