So it’s Friday, everyone is making happy hour plans (which would surely include a patio somewhere except for this crappy weather pattern lately). Pretty normal stuff, right?

I made plans earlier this week to meet up with my kickball crew and assorted other random friends and acquaintences at the Donkey Den, the newish spot over at 11th & Lincoln that was formerly known as Cielo. I’ve heard they have a Tijuana vibe, great margs, cheap Mexican beer specials, and that groovy outdoor fireplace left over from its Cielo days. Sounded great to me.

Until today. Just a little bit ago, I got an e-mail from a friend-of-a-friend, who said that word on the street is that this place is more than a little rough around the edges. Rumor has it that one former bouncer bailed after too many nasty bar brawls, where one night he had his eye busted open by a broken beer bottle. Yikes!

Then I ran across this post about the underlying misogynistic meaning of the name “donkey den” and some of the menu items like the “Donkey Punch Burger” and “Ho-made Fries.” I’m not normally super sensitive about this sort of thing, but still. It certainly does nothing for my appetite.

Seems we might want to rethink our plans. Then again, I can’t imagine that broken-bottle bar fights break out during happy hour very often, and I’d bet that most people will never care that the original “donkey dens” in Mexico were brothels full of underage girls.

I suppose I’ll go and at least see for myself, but this may very well be a short-lived stop on the nightlife scene if they can’t keep the place safe and unoffensive enough for the masses.