We approached the entrance and immediately saw ‘Mini Me’ bombarded by photographers.  We stood outside for a little while longer to see who else might come by but it was a series of many unknown faces.  Eventually, the likes of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and many other well known actors were to arrive.  We walked up to the lady at the entrance holding a clip board and stated our names.  To our shock, she retorted, “I’m sorry, but you’re not on the guest list”.  After repeating our names several times she asked for proof.  Of course, Mel didn’t print the email she received and is still kicking herself over this.  By the time she went back to the office to print it from her work email account, and returned, it would have been far too late.  Another problem was that she couldn’t remember the person’s name who emailed her.  So entry to this fabulous affair was completely stopped.

So here comes the truth.  Below is the invitation we received with a link to RSVP:

TIFF invitation - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The email confirmation was sent by Sonya Stasula.  She states the following with the subject line: Re: Guest List Friday Sep 18th Post Screening Gala Event:

Hello,

Thank you again for your interest in Cheval Bar. At this time I can accommodate your group with a line bypass to 11:00 p.m. The cover charge is $10.00. We do not need all attendee’s names, so on the list I will place ‘your name’ + 4.

We have an upscale casual style code in effect Thursdays through to Sundays.  Please note no running shoes, baseball caps or athletic gears are accepted. Jeans are welcome as long as they are not ripped and paired with dress shoes and a stylish top 

Please be advised that the minimum age requirement at Cheval is 23 and up for ladies and 25 and up for gentlemen and entry is always up to the discretion of the front door staff.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions.

Thank you!

When Mel returned back to the office, she wrote to Sonya:

Hi Sonya,

My friends and I arrived to Cheval for on the 18th and were turned away as we were not in fact included on the guest list.  Could you please explain what happened?

Thanks

Here is her response to Mel’s inquiry:

My apologies on what happened to you and your party on Friday, September 18th, 2009. A is stated in the previous e-mail entry is to the discretion of the door, with this it could have been a dress code issue, or we were at capacity and no longer accepting guest-list. There is no guarantee when on guest-list that all will go according to plan, hence why we say entry is to the door. With such a hectic weekend there could have been a case of miscommunication and the date was mixed up, either way I apologize for the confusion and I hope this does not discourage you from visiting us again.

Thank-you

Sonya

The truth Sonya and Cheval employees is that Marie and Mel looks beautiful that night, as well as our accompanying friend.  In fact, we looked more elegant then many other people filing through the entrance of Cheval.  In addition, the lady with the clipboard at the entrance tried her best to help us but without a name, and without the print out of the email, she was not able to do much for us.  

If you read reviews on Cheval, most of them are poor.  One consistent factor stated is ‘my name wasn’t on the guest list even though I RSVP’d’.  Our advice is to stay away from this place, don’t waste your time on a bar that does not treat patrons with more respect or remain organized, the odds are you’ll be disappointed.

To summarize, about 3 – 4 months ago, we came to the decision that every Friday after work we would scope out an after work pub and see what happens.  Mel, the 30 year old in a long term relationship and Marie (French version of ‘Mary’ in pronunciation) a single sexy blond hit the pavement. 

The first stop – the oh so acclaimed after work hot spot – The Irish Embassy.  It’s a nice looking bar – great architecture..but the ‘nice looking’ part ends at about there.  Oh wait, a very cute bar tender but the clientele has a lot to be desired.  The age range is great and the friendly approachable nature of people is welcoming as well.  We frequented the Embassy about 5 times or so before we realized..this is a complete disaster.  Ladies, take heed that this is where wanks congregate in large groups.  The ‘type’ that frequents this pub and stands out of course (as I’m sure there’s always a quiet sweet and wonderful man lurking in the corners unseen) is loud, opinionated, aggressive, unattractive and successful in their jobs.

Here’s an example.  A group that decided they were our new drinking buddies through familiarity – considering we went for about 5 weeks in a row, had a particular member who felt inclined to slap Marie on the butt.  This happened right in front of all of her coworkers..particularly embarrassing…  Following this, another guy who drank a wee bit too much decided to tel Mel how large her head was.  (We have to write in 3rd person context to avoid confusion with two people sharing a story)  He mentioned this a repeated number of times and get this, he was flirting.  It’s as though primitive man took a time machine into the future and was dumped right there in the bar beside Mel and Marie.  For the record, although Mel has a medium to large hat size head, it’s by no means noticeably large and never has anyone thought so prior to this oh-so-lovely primitive man pointing it out.

In the same evening, Marie became the focal point of a Kevin Bacon look alike..immediately we think scores!  He’s handsome in an unusual way.  He was tall, slightly broody looking, charming, not loud and confident.  This one was a winner.  For the sake of this blog, we will call him Kevin.  Kevin joined us as we left the Embassy and headed to Yorkville.  We landed at Sassafraz.  Ladies, if you have insecurities, jealousy issues, etc., I don’t recommend this place on a Friday evening.  The women there wore attire that barely covered all the ‘fun’ spots .  They came across as high end escorts, waiting for the wealthy men to land.  Kevin, seemed very at ease here.  In fact, he actually seemed to know the women in there..a little too well.  Marie was provided with equal ‘affection’, attention, etc. as the others…aww, how thoughtful.  Although I think that yes at times we need to spread the love, perhaps he took it too literally.

Marie and Mel left shortly afterward, with Marie receiving a text message stating “too bad you’re so shy”.  Apparently shy means she didn’t put out that night.  From that point, Kevin was formally known as Dirty Sugar and it is at this stage, that our adventures begin.