Pattaya Nightlife News and Reviews

Club Insomnia made a good name for itself as a very late night disco venue on Soi Marine Plaza. It has now relocated into Walking Street and is now a bigger venue with the disco at the top and a lounge area below. It is located opposite Tony's Disco.

The new place is large bar down stairs, very chic, DJ's & open from 8pm every night, they have a couple of pool tables & loads of space. Upstairs is the club, open from 11 until 8am, it looks like it could hold around 700 people, is huge, high ceiling, loads of air con, sounds system & lighting system are top notch, has a raised VIP area with own bar, they clearly spent a few bucks building & decorating the place.

My first impressions of the place: I think they have done an excellent job of creating a proper super club in Pattaya, they have really raised the bar & I reckon it will be a free lancers's heaven within a very short period of time.

Lollipop is located in the centre of Walking Street under Polo Entertainment.

The bar has been a good reliable bar for me especially the 3 or 4 girls who frolic on the play stage and Jacuzzi at the back of the bar. I always seem to be able to find a playful drink companion.

There are also half a dozen gogo dancers entertaining the main area of the bar. They wear the whole range of attire depending on the wishes of the girls.

The drinks prices are reasonable and the management are customer friendly.

Perhaps good for me, but not quite so good for the bar, it rarely seems to get crowded.

Hooty's Showbar is located on Walking Street nearly opposite Tony's Disco.

At about 10pm I was the only customer in the bar. There were plenty of girls in attendance with several that were well attractive.

You'd think I'd be well away. But as is often the case in a dead bar, it is actually pretty tough to attract the attention of the girls.

Because there are next to no customers in the bar, the dancing girls don't really cast their gaze around the room. And when they have finished they go into an impenetrable huddle. There's no point in circulating when there are no customers.

The mamasang spotted the unattached customer though, and send a 'B string' girl over. I am a great believer in first come, first served, so I expect that if I am the only customer in the bar, then I should be allocated an 'A string' companion.

From my viewpoint the bar fails to make my list due to the lack of draft beer. A cheap first drink option is always good as it tempts me in for a 'look see'. But being as this bar is twice the beer price of most (I see no taste advantage of bottles over draft) then I simply give it a miss, particularly as previous visits have also been pretty naff.

Club Mirage has opened as a GoGo in the Soi Diamond venue that was previously Shooters. It is the 78th GoGo in Pattaya where there are girls dancing in bikinis or less.

I stopped by on the bar's 3rd day. The bar looks good in side and an awful lot bigger than you would think from visiting the previous Shooters incarnation.

It is attractively laid out with a fair amount of comfy seating around the outside of a double stage. There is a Jacuzzi further back but this wasn't powered up on my visit.

The drinks prices were competitive complete with a cheap draft beer.

Manager Russ has done good work at previous GoGos so given the good basis, then this should become a good gogo.

It wasn't particularly entertaining on this visit as there were only 8 girls in attendance. A couple were good looking but it is never fair to make any judgements in the early days. A bar has to be up and running before it can attract the girls.

The dancers were all bikini clad or topless.

The Hip Hop - House Dance Music tag prominent on the door seems a little misleading. It suggests more of a disco type environment than the bar actually is. It was dance music but no louder or prominent than any other typical gogo.

Oh and a word to the bar ushers...don't cram people into a small area of seating when there is plenty of space spread round the bar...it puts reviewers in a bad frame of mind.

Pattaya's 77th bar GoGo bar has just opened on Soi BJ off Walking Street.

The BJ Club A-GoGo is so named as it is located on Soi BJ as opposed to the more obvious meaning to the name.

Anyway the bar has just converted to an A-GoGo. Its last appearance was as a coyote bar/night club.

Of course the first problem will be persuade customers to venture down a soi unfortunately guarded by lady boys in the bar next door who can sometimes be a bit of pest when touting for business. I was told that BJ Club has made an arrangement such that they don't hassle customers bound for BJ Club.

The club is quite large for the currently small operation with about 8 dancers on show.

The girls were hands on friendly and most of the bar policies seem customer friendly. The drinks prices are reasonable (typical cheap end draft price) and lady drinks are 100 Baht. Bar fines are 500 Baht.

Half the girls were dancing, bikini clad or topless but they only dance for a short stint so will soon be back when it is their turn to dance.

The bar has found a couple of pretty girls to do a licky feely lesbian show,

The mamasang was doing a very good job of corralling her girls to best advantage for the girls and customers.

There was a service girl who was undoing the good hostessing of the mamasang by hassling for tips and drinks for both herself and way too quickly on behalf of the dancers.

The music selection was pretty typical but the guys in the driving seat looked to be enjoying playing with their mixer toys.

I enjoyed the visit. It makes a big difference when the girls and management are enthusiastic to make a good first impression.

But will they be able to persuade people down a dead end, lady boy guarded soi?

Club Boesché is located in the Covent Garden Complex just off Walking Street on Soi 16.

I find this a bar that doesn't quite live up to the Pattaya hype. In fairness it must be reported that the bar has a lot of fans, although it doesn't quite crop in conversation as much as it used to.

The first negative that hits me is the lack of comfy seating. There are a couple of benches but they don't really have much of a view of the dancers. I also get the impression they may be 'reserved' for favoured guests. The rest of the customers have to put up with uncomfortable stools.

The rather cheesy dance music is perhaps on the loud side. Something I only really notice if there isn't enough other entertainment.

I find the girls to be on the unfriendly side, seeming to prefer their own company to that of the customers. However that is not always the case, just depends who is in the bar at the time. If there's no friendly girls, the dancing is pretty average although I have seem a couple of talented dancers who command an audience.

Generally OK but I find it simply does not justify the high end drinks prices.

New Living Dolls One is a popular Walking Street bar not to be confused with the show bar Living Dolls Showcase.

A very popular that always seems pretty full or else totally full. The bar surely must be doing something right.

Maybe this is down to the free beer tickets dished out by the welcome staff. Or maybe it is the reasonable drinks prices once you have finished the freebie. Or maybe it is the cheap barfines to partake in a little later in the evening.

There are plenty of girls to go round with many of them good looking. Also the bar tries to keep hassle down to a minimum. Unfortunately this often means that the girls don't bother you enough even to say hello. No problems if you call them over though.

There are showgirls featuring sexy but not choreographed shows.

Music is strictly selected to keep the dancing girls dancing.

There are plenty of farang managers on hand for those that like to mingle with the barkeeps.

Something good for everyone then...except of course, those that like a quiet drink.

Tim is a GoGo on 2nd Road about opposite Mike's Mall and next the Avenue Mall.

I was taken aback by a friendly welcome from the Thai managers and wasn't really expecting cordialities when entering a bar and I'm not sure I returned the greeting.

The bar boasts an enormous number of hostess and/or service girls. If they had a half as many, it would still be well staffed. Perhaps it gets very crowded sometimes.

The dancers were all bikini clad but their are now bout half a dozen girls that are pretty enough to hold their own in Walking Street. Still a fair few oldies though.

The hostess service girls were friendly enough but I prefer it when the dancers do the hostessing.

Didn't spot any hassle to sell stuff such as munchies and raffle tickets, or indeed, ping pong balls. Perhaps they have sensibly eased off on the hard sell.

The music is still the same with well chosen, but often repeated, oldie farang rock videos.

Betty Boup is a GoGo at the Beach Road end of Soi 6.

Betty Boup does me proud as somewhere to pull up for a beer, should no-one else attract my attention when running the Soi 6 gauntlet.

But somehow it rarely captures me to stay for very long.

The bar seems jam packed with pretty girls, but somehow they always find a few oldies to offer to 'take care' of me.

If you don't succeed in finding a suitable girl to 'take care' then the entertainment is pretty minimal. Just 4 or 5 girls shuffling and overdressed in bikinis.

The bar is basically sound, the drinks are reasonable and there isn't any undue hassle. If only the pretty girls would jump on my lap, then I would think it was the best bar in North Pattaya.

Buffalo Bar is located on 3rd Road about half way between Pattaya Tai and Pattaya Klang

In the past weeks, they have put up full height mirrors on the remaining walls, hung international flags over the bar, wooden pailing (fence) on the outside hedge walls onto Soi Vinai and tonight put up a Gogo type spinning light ball on the ceiling.

During the "Closure" period they were working hard in the bar to finish off the upgrades. In the bar they have repaired seats and replaced the seat cushions, changed the Podiums again with colourful lighted bases.

Next they will upgrade the upstairs slum rooms.

Blue Lagoon is located at the back of the Best Friend Complex on Beach Road (between Royal Garden Plaza & Soi Pattayaland)

The bar puts most of the factors in place to make for a good bar. There is cheap beer, some pretty girls and a mixture of entertainments such as a Jacuzzi.

Perhaps the location is just a little too far back to make for a very popular gogo, but I have enjoyed a few visits to the bar.

About 4 girls dance on the central stage, 2 more on side stages and another 2 or 3 continually soap themselves in the 2 Jacuzzis. This takes up about half the girls on duty which is about ok.

I think the bar is trying for afternoon opening but that is based on a conversation with little shared language ability.

Silver Star 3 is located at the Beach Road end of Walking Street.

Expensive beers and hassle on previous visits makes for a rare review for this bar. It also doesn't capture much interest from reviewers on other Pattaya websites and in particular, on the forums.

But the bar was doing very well at a mid evening visit. Perhaps comfortably half full.

There are also plenty of girls employed in the bar covering the whole range of pretty to not. They had a naked dancing show for the prettiest half of the staff and the stage was packed. Lots of eye candy. The pretty girls suddenly vanished out of sight at the end of the show though. Presumably there is an upstairs changing room and dancing area.

Nobody hassled me either which was a good job as the pretty girls were upstairs.

I didn't stay beyond a beer, but I'll just let the number of customers let it be a testament that the bar must be doing something right...(Beyond being the first bar in Walking Street that is)

A few bars took the opportunity of a bit of renovation work during mid November's shutdown for the royal funeral.

Casino Club in Soi Diamond are facing up to impending competition from two new coyote bars opposite. So presumably they think a facelift may help.

Meanwhile Champion A-GoGo on Walking Street have also been having ideas. The main stage has been altered slightly and some new wide tables fitted. Looks like its going for table dancing on the sides.

The 3 well established beer bars on 2nd Road between Soi 2 & Soi 3 have re-opened. Cosy Bar, Noi One and Mr Krit are now open in rebuilt bars.

Pattaya At Night is reporting that these will be joined by Maximum A-GoGo in the basement of this new development. May be a few weeks before opening though.

Mandarin Beer Bar on Soi 6 (next door to Mandarin Club) is taking advantage of the royal lay off to try something new.

The bar is adding clearish windows and is installing stages for coyote dancing.

It will be interesting to see if coyote dancing can be a hit on Soi 6. My guess is not.

Ice coyote bar is a recently opened coyote bar on Soi LK Metro. It was previously Gorkle A-GoGo and before that, Memories A-GoGo.

The coyote bar never quite attained the popularity of Club Blu down the road and now it is rumoured that the owner will convert the bar to Ice A-GoGo. The previously open windows have already been replaced by frosted glass.

These big windowed see in bars look good when busy but can prove disastrous if potential customers can see that there's no life in the bar.

Bars Howard of Pattaya One News reports

Bars MUST be closed on 15th

Bars may open on 14th and 16th but cannot serve alcohol and the music must be soft

The Letter encourages bar owners to close for all three days but the District Chief has informed the local Police not to prosecute anyone open on 14th and 16th, only if they are open on 15th which seems to be a BIG No No.

Obviously some bars will interpret this in their own way, and that is up to them. Personally I think most bars will be open on 14th and 16th and will serve alcohol and will probably not have a problem doing that.

Oh and the staff are required to wear black.

Next door to Shooters bar at the Pratamnuk Road end of Soi Diamond is set to become B4 or Before Bar. The bar is located above the 7/11

The poster proclaims a bar with a disco, DJ and nymphets.

Sounds as if it has been inspired by the popularity of Casino Bar opposite.

The Replacement Shooter's bar is set to open next week. Somebody mentioned the name Club Mirage.

Illusion is a new gogo straddling Soi 14 & Soi 15

The bar has improved a little since the opening days and have doubled their dancing staff to about 15.

The extra dancers have been deployed at small stages in front of the sofa and mattress seating.

There are no cuties amongst the new girls but at least they are a bit closer to the customers and it is a much friendlier venue. Anyway it's a bit too dark to see much anyway.

The girls were dancing way too long and about two thirds are dancing at any one time. So not much chance for the girls to seek out lady drinks.

The girls have dropped the pasties and reverted to bikinis/topless/nude presumably down to the girls own choice. Unfortunately the girls have also dispensed with the fall open tops that would have been very sexy if the effect hadn't been spoilt by the pasties.

The new development on Walking Street between Roxy/Hooties and Ocean 10/FLB will be a new location for the very popular late night disco, Club Insomnia.

The old Angels A-GoGo (and before that Circus A-GoGo) is being redeveloped as an Indian restaurant.

Sisterz has some very good value deals on the drinks front. There is a 45 Baht happy hour on draft, Thai bottled beer, soft drinks and house spirits. The Happy hour is until 11pm and even after this, basic drinks are a very good deal at 59 Baht.

There's a couple of new bars appeared on Soi 14, a beer bar named Night Star and an aircon bar called Blue Star Club.

The girls of New Star A-GoGo have dropped their short time rates so the all in package in now 1950 (600 barfine + 350 room + 1000 short time). Previously the total was 2450 with the girl's share being 1500 Baht.

Diamond is located at the centre of Soi Diamond

Diamond is not really getting the customers in at the moment. I stopped by at 10pm and I was one of two.

Perhaps one of the reasons is a lack of enthusiasm by the welcome staff. They seem to ignore passers by but will of course respond if you step towards the door. The door itself is not really inviting, its like stepping into a vault.

Inside there were 3 bikini clad girls dancing on the central stage and there were another 4 or 5 sitting around waiting for their turn. An average bunch but that still means there are some attractive girls.

There wasn't much doing in the bar but a couple of the waiting girls popped over to see if I was interested. But as I never really appreciate being double teamed I fended them off.

I thought about these double teaming tactics for a while and came to a conclusion. There probably not many regulars of the bar, so the chances are that any customers are newbies and therefore can be easily persuaded to buy multiple lady drinks.

Probably just being cynical though, there were no other signs of hassle. But then again, I didn't hang round very long.

Hot Legs is located in the Jomtien Complex on the Soi nearest the beach.

The opening crowds have drifted away so time to check out the bar in a more relaxed setting.

The bar is large for Jomtien and also has a fair amount of space for a pool table and seating outside.

Inside there are several seating areas perhaps arranged to accommodate a group of friends rather than individuals. The seating is varied and comfortable. Looks good.

One of the large windows is opaque but the other is clear glass. It is just a personal thing but I always prefer a bit more privacy, especially if a bar is billed as a short time bar.

There were good sized TVs and pool tables for those that like their sport.

No cuties on offer but the girls with whom I chatted were attractive and good company.

They were also keen on letting people know of the short time options in the rooms above (350 Baht room charge, presumably no bar fine required). I find it a little rare in Jomtien for girls to be overly enthusiastic about short time. It sometimes seems that most girls in downtown Jomtien are happy with their salary and don't push for extras. I guess any that are keen for financial supplement soon shoot off to Pattaya.

Drinks prices were perfectly reasonable.

All in all a good bar with plenty of variety of entertainment.

Kinnaree Palace is located off Pratamnak Road on a small Soi connecting mid Soi 4 to Soi 5. There are clear signs for it on both Soi 4 and Soi 5

The exceptionally attractive bar seems to get nothing but good reviews. The decor is amongst the best in Pattaya, the drinks are reasonable (bottled beer was 75 Baht) and there are some good looking short time girls around.

However after 3 or 4 visits I find that there is something very critical missing. A way for the guys to hook up with the ladies. There is no welcoming group of free girls, nor is there any entertainment whilst surveying the prospects. Not even a TV. There's no obvious place where the free girls congregate.

You see pretty girls around but there are plenty of regulars whom they know well, so they naturally get first dibs. Or else they just hang round waiting for the suay young guys.

Perhaps this is more a bar for a group of guys rather than for single guys. But after 3 or 4 very unsatisfactory visits I feel they need to employ a mamasang who can ensure that customers are being taken care of. Better than leaving customers to watch girls sleeping on the sofas whilst having no company.

But no doubt this would be the best bar in town with the right company

Papagayo is a coyote bar on Soi Diana Inn.

The bar now has 3 new owners, Ivan, Justin and Dirk. They celebrated their acquisition with a party on the 1st November.

They also announced the refurbishment of the venue including adding more sparkle to their lively Coyote Dance Show. The new bar plans to re-open later this month.

Coyotee's A-GoGo is located on Soi Marine Plaza.

This must be about the most elusive bar for me in all of Pattaya. Forum members seem to enjoy it and post a fair amount of of good comments particularly about good looking girls.  But somehow I never get inspired to stay beyond a single beer.

My visit was about 10:30pm when the drinks prices were temporarily reasonable for a few weeks. The bar was dead as I arrived but soon picked up for the shows.

The bar seems notable for girls not approaching customers, but on the other hand providing good sexy shows. The combination of the two characteristics leads to a really slow start to the evening. There simply is not much point turning up before the shows start. Especially with the usual high drinks prices.

There used to be two shifts of dancing girls and a third shift providing the show. But on this visit, the numbers were down and there was only one shift of gogo dancers. There seemed little time, therefore, for the girls to circulate amongst the customers, hence confirming the rather unfriendly feel to the bar.

On the plus side, one of the service girls was doing a good job making up for the lack of available hostesses.

Pattaya Ghost closed his blog today:

Almost exactly four months ago I wrote that The Pattaya Ghost blog might only run six months. Blogs take a lot of time and effort and, after my first month doing it, I wasn't sure if I could keep up the pace. As I suspected, I couldn't. So, several weeks ago - as I saw Halloween approaching - I decided to mark the holiday of ghosts and goblins by end this surprisingly successful publication.

Everyone always talks about going out on a high note. Blogs rarely do. Most times they die slowly, posts coming ever more slowly and with quality decreasing. I didn't want that to happen. So, instead, The Pattaya Ghost is closing at the zenith of its popularity.

Clearly the hard work paid off in getting a good readership in a relatively short space of time. The blog succeeded in bringing a good quality journalistic style to Pattaya's nightlife news, something which few others have attempted to do.

Perhaps knowing that it can be done, may tempt others to give it a try, but I guess the amount of time it must take will make this somewhat unlikely.

Anyway thanks Ghost. You did good.