I always mention all the good things Florence has to offer; the great places, the great people,.. etc..
But I never really told you about the crappy things about Florence, maybe it’s because I was blinded by all the beauty and change, and now I’m starting to realize not everything is as perfect as it is in my head. So today I’m going to tell you about something I dislike about Florence.
Behold! My least favorite place in Florence and the reasons why.
YAB, a well known club in the city center, it’s always full of people and blasting with music. I’ve been there a couple of times and I gotta give it to them, they play amazing music, but other than the music, everything else is horrible.
Why? Let me tell you a story about the last time I was there.
I went with my friends there for an aperitivo (mini buffet) at 10 pm, so that after we eat, we could continue the night there till the wee hours of the morning, dancing our lives away. I was pretty excited, aperitivo for 10 euros is a good deal. However, it was far from a real aperitivo, they sat us down and when the food came, the portions of the food made me feel like Oliver Twist, the taste made me not want to eat overall. I thought to myself “oh well, it’s a club, I shouldn’t expect much from the food.”
The thing about YAB is, if you don’t have a VIP table, don’t expect to ever sit for 3 seconds and rest, or put your stuff/drinks somewhere and expect to find it a few mins after. Which was fine, because we made sure we had a table that night.
People started showing up, the music started getting more and more intense, we had a promoter helping us out with our orders and popping champagne, it seemed as if finally, I’m going to like YAB.
Unfortunately, red wine was splashed all over my back, so I had to go to the lady who keeps all the bags and coats to take my jacket back and hide the wine stain.
The first thing the lady told me? “It’s not my job to look for your jacket, and we keep jackets with bags separately, so you’re not telling the truth.”(oh boy, here we go.)
Not telling the truth? that bag (which I gave with my jacket) has my credit card, money, keys, and ID, so I’m not letting this go. I started a fight by asking “then whose job is it?” and frankly, Egyptian women know how to pull a fight, but Italian women are just as good.
After 30 minutes of endless shouting, I found my stuff, took it, and did a little “I told you so, retard!” dance.
I went back to the table, just to find that half of the couch was gone; the waiter from the other VIP table took it, and someone was already fighting over it. I thought I should keep myself away from the negativity and just start dancing with my friends.
Now I don’t know why, but the dance floor at YAB is exceptionally violent, it’s like being in a mosh pit on a dance floor with drunk people.
I went back to my table, where the waiter was still fighting, and it was becoming physical. Shouldn’t it be illegal to physically hurt customers? What the hell is this?
After a while, we decided we should all just leave, it’s already really late and the night isn’t going to get any better. Before I knew it, I found out I misplaced my entrance ticket (the one I need to get out of the club after paying)
So I said that it’s no big deal, I’ll just buy the ticket again and pay the fine. Only to find out minutes later that a friend gave the cashier my ticket already which was kept with her.
Now, normally, in a situation like that, I could just take my ticket back since I already bought the pass, and move along. But this is no normal situation, this is YAB.
Where people who work there make you feel like you work for them. They said it’s not their fault we already gave them the ticket, and now we have to pay it as well. So I have to pay double the amount of money just to get out of this damn place. Of course, we all refused since it’s unfair.
The cashier lady refused to even speak to us in English, that’s if she spoke back to us. She treated us like spoiled, drunk, criminals, and ordered the security. We hoped that the security would be a little more understanding, since this is only a misconception, and the ticket they want us to pay for is now invalid.
But of course not, the security looks like he doesn’t even understand Italian. And the promoter who was supposed to be there in situations like these with us? Nowhere to be found.
It reached the point where they were so sure of themselves that they threatened to call the police on us.
All in all, we were able to finally smack some sense in them and leave. But if you ever hear about a huge fire in Florence, by Piazza Republica, targeting YAB. Know that I had to do something with setting it on fire. The place is a disgrace and I definitely do not recommend it to anyone looking for a fun time.
Especially because YAB is not a cheap place where you don’t expect great service. So if you want to club in Florence, try Rooms or Astor, but save yourself from YAB.