Babylon The Joburg Bar — Restaurant in Gauteng

I had the worst experience of my life there on Friday night with my gf and it all started just because we had a water bottle from outside and they told us to put it on top of something by the entrance and we did and proceeded to get in, mind you it was around 10 minutes passed 10:pm and we had to pay the entrance fee for both of us and we did after a few minutes passed by we had to take some air outside and we wanted to drink our water that they told us to leave it at the entrance.. we asked the 3guys securities who were standing there and they're the exact people who told us to leave our water there and they said to us we have no idea where you put your bottle and that's not even our responsibility to take care of your stuff and we were like Shem man you told us to leave it here how is it not your responsibility to look after it and anyway we still don't know if they drink it or throw it.. and they started argument about it and when we saw how they're trying to make the situation bad we said fine and try to proceed going back inside and they they pushed us back like we were fighting with them or some and we are both confused where's the fight coming from and why are they putting their hands on us😭we pushed back without fighting back and tried to record the situation and 3 men and 1woman of them came straight to us and tried to take our phone forcefully at that point we are so terrified and worried for our life and there was no one who did anything to help us😭 finally some man came ehi was saying he's the manager and asked what's the situation we told him what just happened and he said to us unfortunately y'all can't enjoy your night here anymore and you have to leave we asked for refund and atleast to finish our drinks that we just paid for it and he said No🙂‍↔️So the only choice we had was to leave and we are not leaving them like that there's still a legal investigation by the police on them and we are waiting for justice.. I just wanted to say anybody who sees this please take care of yourself and your friends. Babylon is not a safe space for us queers anymore specially when you both are just women it's so sad...

They have done a great job with the place. Babylon the club now caters to the high end of the market. Music is excellent. Security is professional. The bar guys are handsome and gives good service, but barely in their 20s. Bathrooms are funky and clean. Only problem is, you cannot call this a gay bar anymore. That ship has sailed. Having a big screen that displays rude gay acts does nothing for the spirit of what gay clubs and bars used to represent. I was surrounded by basically 19 year old straight people barely out of school and young girls who look like they never saw the inside of a club. Dancing all over the dance floor is a little bit green on their part. Class of 24/25 was out in session. The old clubs that created our community for young and old is as distant as the past we left behind. We are definitly running out of places to go to and our community have mostly moved online because that is the only place you'd find definite gay men for days and the straight girls not allowed. See my response as you like, but anyone who knows how wonderfully exciting and entertaining our spaces used to be would agree that the gay has left the building. As a gay person if you don't really care about it being that gay, then go there. My gay issues aside, it's a great...

One of the better club experiences I've had in SA. Bar staff are very attentive and helpful but have had experiences in the past here where they assume tip percentages (maybe because they remember you a few rounds in but can be a shock). Bouncers are as most bouncers are but I hear and see others saying they can be a bit offish. This past week the screens weren't playing the signature Babylon imagery which was oddly sad considering a had brought new friends there to experience it how it used to be. On a sour note there was severe crowd crush during the drag performances and drinks and glasses being spilled and broken because of it. Really dampened the experience. In past experiences the shows have always been a blast and crowd felt better managed. Tends to affect the bar side of the crowd and the two ends the most. Flow could be improved with all the revamps done. Great to have obvious bathrooms now compared to when I was there last. Cleanliness could be improved with the amount of mixed use and people on there. As much as I appreciate it being mixed use, people are people and can leave...