Wanted to take the time to write down my thoughts about Tabu for those in the DMV who might be interested in visiting. I had looked across multiple subreddits before going for information and while I appreciated the posts I could find; I don't think they were comprehensive enough to capture everything people might want to know beforehand. I want to start by saying that this review is my personal experience and opinions from one visit and is in no way any effort or attempt to dissuade people from visiting.

TL;DR

While it's great that swingers in the DMV have this space for meeting others and I'm glad to have checked it out, I don't think I would go again.

Key Things to Know

• This is a BYOB (bring your own bottle) venue
• There is a cover charge and that depends on if you’re a couple, single female, or sponsored single male, the day, and theme happening on that day.
• There is a membership fee, and you can get 1, 3, 6 months or 1 year as a couple, single female, or as a sponsored single male.
• There is a dress code and they mention they will turn people away, but there definitely were folks inside that I would say were not following dress code.
• Single males are only allowed in if they were sponsored by a couple or single female after being members for 6 months. While it was hard to determine who explicitly was a single male inside, we did have an ick experience with someone who looked to been there as a single male.

Location

The venue itself is a building tucked amongst car body shops. It was surprisingly close to the main street but otherwise pretty nondescript aside from the sign and some pineapple decorations. Parking wasn’t an issue early in the night, but during peak hours, the lot was completely filled. Upon going in you're in a front desk/waiting area with a controlled door separating this area from the rest of the club. There's a couple of computers here for people who didn't complete the application online beforehand.

Once beyond the door, you'll be in this emptyish area in front of the bar, where you can drop off your alcohol. To the left of this area is a smoking room, restrooms, and stairs leading downstairs where the playrooms are. To the right is the lounge and dance floor. The lounge area was maybe ¾ of this space, with the other ¼ being a dance floor type area with seats along the wall. Any tables with balloons were marked off as VIP seating – there weren’t many marked off and there was ample seating even when the night got busier. The music was pretty loud so conversation is difficult (but not impossible); can’t say the music was particularly good the night we were there, with one song being so jarring we left to go down to the playrooms. There’s TVs upstairs and downstairs playing porn, but most of it was very bland early 2000s professional porn, with some random amateur videos from Tube sites.

Playrooms

There’s a long flight of stairs down to the playrooms – be careful, they are tricky even when sober. You reach a desk with a volunteer who is in charge of assigning rooms as well as cleaning the rooms before use. From directly beyond the desk is a long corridor with a couch spanning the wall – this is the waiting area. You can soft play in this area but I don’t believe you are allowed to have sex here. You’ll have a look into one room with no curtains and a spinning round bed, as well as the Kasidie room, if the people inside don’t cover the window with the curtain. But focusing on the rooms, they all had relatively small beds, a door that can be left open, closed and not locked, or closed and locked. There is a light that is turned on above each door to indicate if it is occupied or not. Rooms must be reserved with the desk volunteer, who will write your membership number on the room map, and then start your 45 minute timer. Condoms were in each room, but there weren’t many other creature comforts such as wet wipes or towels. Extra bedding was in each room, but I believe the desk volunteer would change everything out after each reservation was over. The only room where the attendant doesn’t do this for is the group room.

The rooms I remember from memory: - A room with 3 small beds – this room can only be reserved by 6 people together. - The room with the window that everyone can look into and features a spinning round bed - A room with three beds that was focused on teaching/therapy - An “Asian-themed” room, with bamboo, Japanese writing, and other Asian motifs - A room where the bed is on a platform, with steps leading up to the bed. There’s a mirror on the ceiling. I believe there was a mirror on the wall too, but the only thing I really remember was that one of the mirror ceiling tiles was damaged. - The Kasidie.com sponsored room with the spreader chair and sex furniture and the window that has a curtain you can pull across. The curtain is blackout, so if you do pull it across, no one can look in. - A regal room? I don’t remember much other than there’s pictures of the women who sponsored the room. - A neon room/acid trip room. I think this room could have been more interesting. - BDSM room with a St. Andrew’s cross, a cage/cell, and a bed. Apparently, this is a very popular room. You have to bring your own toys. Of all the rooms, this one felt the most cramped and industrial – could be intentional but this room needs an upgrade. - A group sex room – this is a slightly larger room with multiple beds, with a back area containing a laundry basket and extra linens/bedding. This is also where lockers are – this was like a 2x6 small cubbies with plexiglass doors and no locks – you can bring your own locks or rent one from the front desk. This room was pretty busy later in the night, with the last time I peeked in having 6 or so couples having sex and a handful of people watching inside and outside the room (although this was not allowed but no one enforced this).

The beds in all these rooms were pretty small and basically thin mattresses put on top of frames that are essentially boxes. While I think each of the rooms were relatively clean, none of the rooms were inherently sexy. It felt very 90s porno mag and dated, with none of the decorations in the rooms really complimenting the themes they were going for. Yes, these rooms were made for fucking in, but at that point, they could had gone without a theme in each one and focused on making each room being comfortable with good lighting.

There are restrooms on this level, with the men’s room getting quite grimy later in the night. There is a shower, but it’s not like a shower room in a spa or pool – it’s just a singular shower. I would avoid unless you really need this amenity.

Demographics/Clientele

Most posts say that the racial breakdown of Tabu is 50% black, 45% white, and 5% everyone else; this seems to be about accurate. Age wise I saw people that were likely mid 20s to people who were probably late 50s, perhaps early 60s. Average age would probably be in the mid 40s. Physically, people ran the gamut of gym bod/model types to your typical mom/dad bods. There felt like a pretty even mix of men and women, but there definitely had to have been a handful of single guys there because there were a few uncomfortable experiences in the club area of men standing around watching us. There was a very uncomfortable experience with one single guy standing closing to us, literally inches away as we attempted to have public play on the dance floor and trying to get our attention. Overall, everyone was very chill, with a lot of different people doing a lot different things upstairs and downstairs. The one single guy really ruined what would have been a sexy moment for us, unfortunately. The night we were there, there was a lot of play happening upstairs in the lounge area, but most of it was happening with the people along the walls of the dance floor.

Staff

• The front desk staff were very nice and welcoming. Note, there is a coat check here for $3.
• The bar staff were very professional and quick.
• The volunteer couples running the tour of the playrooms were very efficient. We got one semi-awkward/uncomfortable comment from one person, but I think they meant well.
• The desk volunteer person was nice – do think they have a lot going on so they can be distracted. Wish I had some spare cash to tip them!
  

Conclusion

I think I went in with too high of expectations after hearing and reading so much about Tabu. While I know this club has its fans, I personally don’t think it has aged well and could definitely benefit from a facelift and upgrade. I know it’s easy for someone to sit here and rail off negatives about a place that people have put so much love, time, energy, and money into; I definitely appreciate and love that there is a place for like-minded people to come together (pun intended) and have fun. I would say this is a potentially good place to meet fellow swingers – but maybe plan on having a play date elsewhere for sexier vibes.