Just a quick warning to anyone going to Baccara: The other night I stopped into Baccara with a girl I had met in one of the other Soi Cowboy go-gos. She had never been to any of the other bars on Cowboy so we did a little tour. I thought she would get a kick out of the glass ceiling considering how mesmerized she was at the lesbian show at Raw Hide.
We sat down right in front of the main stage and ordered drinks (one beer for me and a Bacardi Breezer for her). She was awed at the gals up on stage and when I pointed up to the ceiling I thought she was going to fall out of her chair.
After a few moments at staring up the girl’s skirts she gasped and said “She my friend,” motioning to one of the girls upstairs. We called the waitress over and told her we were moving upstairs.
Once upstairs her friend came over and we started chatting. I think we were about 2 minutes into the conversation before the request for tequila shots came from her friend. Okay, okay we get the tequila shots.
One, two, three we down the shots and now the friend wants a coke. My normal way of dealing with gals too aggressive for the drinks is to make a quick exit and so I was planning mine. Yes sure, I’ll buy the coke but then we’ll leave and if I ever see her ass again I’ll stay a mile away.
The waitress comes over with the drink and the mamasan is right behind her with some sort of fruity looking drink. The mamasan toasts my beer and says thanks and she starts to shove a ticket into my bin. I tell her I didn’t order her a drink and if she would like one she should ask first.
She gives me a snotty look and my girl’s friend shoots me daggers. My gal is sitting their like a frightened rabbit. I mean, in the bigger scheme of things this is a relatively minor scam and I know that in the end I’m going to end up paying but I stand my ground.
The mamasan stands there not knowing what to say and so I try to ease the tension by saying “Would you like a drink?” She smiles and says yes and I tell her “Next time that’s how you get a drink. Don’t ever order yourself a drink on my tab again.”
It’s all smiles and all but the mamasan lost face and I know she’s seething inside. Fuck her. What she pulled was plain bullshit and she’s lucky I didn’t make a scene and refuse to pay.
Like I said, my gal’s friend seemed to have a bit of a thirst about her so I wanted to leave before she finished her coke and suggested another round of tequila shots. I called over the waitress and asked for the bill. Before handing over the bin I took out the receipts and tallied them in my head.
The ticket for the beer and Breezer was 280, the ticket for the tequila shots was 290, the coke was 150, and the mamasan drink was 150. Just doing a quick rounding I figured I was in for roughly 900 baht. An expensive 15 or so minutes but what the hell.
I hand the girl 1000 baht note and start getting my gal ready to leave. As we stand up the waitress comes over and hands me the bill for 1020 baht. WTF? I look and now there are five tickets instead of four. There’s an extra 150 baht ticket in there. Worse yet is that despite the fact that all of the other tickets list the drink ordered this one just has a big line through the description area and simply says 150 baht.
Luckily the wait staff isn’t took quick so in front of us sat a beer, a Breezer, three shot glasses, and a coke. I pointed at the drinks on the table and went through each ticket. Of course the mamasan had had a drink so I accounted for that as well as I pointed out that there was an extra 150 baht ticket but no drink. I even ask her what the 150 baht ticket is for since it doesn’t say what drink was ordered.
I don’t think it should come as any surprise that all I received in exchange for my great accounting of every drink was a blank stare and the waitress pointing at the 1020 figure.
Even my gal recognized we were getting fucked and she tried to reason with the waitress in Thai. She wouldn’t budge. We owed 1020 baht.
My gal looked at me and gave me the “we have to pay” look.
I know 150 baht isn’t a lot of money but combined with the mamasan treating herself to drinks on my tab that’s 300 baht that Baccara effectively fleeced me for.
I hope it was worth it because if even one person reads this and doesn’t go into Baccara because of what they’ve read here then it will have cost them far more than what they made off of me. Fuck you Baccara.
sadly this is what the bars in BKK and Pattaya have become…clip joints…and it is not only Baccara. overpriced drinks, poor service, old fat girls, bad attitudes and bold scamming mamasans is the norm. they are all drink whores now. 10-15 years ago you bought a sweet HOT girl a lady drink for ß40-60 and she would be yours for the evening…slowly sipping away and staying by your side. when her dance set came up, she would dance, then return.
bar fines were ß300-500. short time (ST) was unheard of and long time (LT)…and i mean real LT with superior service and GFE (girlfriend experience) and you had to ask the girl to leave the next afternoon was only ß1000-1500. this was for superstar quality go-go girls. hot freelancers were ß500 LT!!! (early 90’s)
of course 10-15 years ago, there was only 10% of the farangs and NO Japanese, Korean or Thai patrons. WAY too many OVERPAYING “One and Two Week Millionaires” now. WAY too many overpaying foreigners now. that, coupled with the police extorting BANK from the bar owners leads to nothing favorable for the customers.
Thailand is NOTHING like it used to be. the girls are NOTHING like they used to be. of course there are still slim, hot girls with good attitudes to be had, but it is diamond mining now and diamond mining is like work…and who the fuck wants to work in Thailand???
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7,
I’m not a fan of the “well, back in the day soda pop used to cost a nickle,” type comparisons. Ten or fifteen years ago a lot of things used to be cheaper. Fifty years ago cheaper yet. A hundred years ago yet even cheaper. It’s called inflation and it works both ways. I sympathize with you if you happen to have a job where you’re getting the same wage as you did ten or fifteen years ago but nearly everyone else in the world is making more than they did a decade or two ago.
With that being said, I’m not sure whether the pricing and attitudes are a reflection of “weekend millionaires” or the typical Thai reaction to deteriorating sales. Thailand is one of the few places in the world where when supply exceeds demand people raise prices instead of lowering them. By their calculations the fewer sales means they have to make more per sale in order to stay in style they’ve become accustomed to.
In the last two years tourism numbers have been in the toilet. Last year I remember the bar owner reports from Stickman, Big Mango, and Pattaya Ghost all said that the bars were really hurting. This year the bar owners are wishing things were as good as last year. Yet, during this same period I’ve seen bar fines go from 500 to 600. I’ve seen the prices of all drinks (lady and regular) notch up 20 – 50 baht. And I’ve seen girls who used to think that getting 2000 baht as top of the market now demanding 3000. Literally, the same girl. The cost of her company has risen 33% in two years.
And when price increases don’t cover the revenue shortfall they resort to the scams. I’ve seen a few blog posts and new articles which seem to indicate that even Thai on Thai crime is increasing which indicates that there is a sense of desperation.
I’m convinced that there is some weekend millionaire effect going on but to what degree I’m unsure. And if you don’t like that then don’t spend all of your time in places where the weekend millionaires frequent. Go to the off the beaten path sois further down Sukhumvit. Sure, those places are more bar than go-go but you’re going to pay a go-go premium.
I’ve always believed that in Thailand the best defense is a good offense. Learn a few tricks here and there and you can still have a great time and not get fleeced (too badly). Most stuff is common sense. Other stuff you just have to be creative about.
Maybe I’ll do a post about that one of these days.
Billy
@Billy-
thx for your kind advice, but regardless of whether you are a fan or not, the point is that prices have risen exponentially (in just a short time, no pun intended), while attitudes and aesthetics have deteriorated dramatically in kind. it is not about normal price increases, which are expected and to which you eluded to…nor is it about my salary. it IS about the egregious price increases by both the bars and the girls. ridiculously high prices inside the bar and piss poor performance by the girls outside the bar.
it is also about the quality of the girls and this has nothing to do with any ‘back in the day’ argument. grandmas, fatsos and LADYBOYS are in abundance and these classes of ‘lady’ are of zero interest to me.
also, i could easily have written 3-5 years ago, instead of 10-15…but without going off on a long-winded diatribe (which i’ll do now), was trying to convey to the readers that i had been around the BKK block a few times. 17 years to be exact. regardless of prices ‘back in the day’, nor who is or isn’t a fan…$6 (ß180) for a beer (Beer Lao Dark) in Angel Witch TODAY, YESTERDAY or EVER is ASTRONOMICAL. i, for one, will never step foot in there again. hell, i can get a beer for 5-6 bone$ in Miami, New York or even Tokyo, for that matter. of course i won’t get boned and in all fairness, the relative strength of the ßaht the past 2 years has contributed somewhat, but $5-6 for a beer in Thailand is robbery.
On Soi Cowboy, all bottled beers at Deja Vu just last month were ß150…including Beer Chang! my buddy and i looked at each other in disbelief, told the service gals in Thai, ‘way too expensive’ and did our voting with our feet…we walked out. ß150 for a Chang is a rip-off.
some comment that that inflated prices at AW are due to the shows. they don’t have a clue about what real shows are! ‘back in the day’, Hollywood Rock…now they had shows! not only that…they didn’t fleece the customer on the libations. i’m talking REAL lesbian shows, REAL dildos up the ass shows, bullfrogs (two…LARGE) up the twat show, and a dead aim chick knocking out balloons with darts shot out of her pussy from 10m away. NOW THAT WAS ENTERTAINMENT!!! but i digress. back to the subject at hand…
…and it doesn’t stop there. go to Burger King or order a delivery from Pizza Hut and it will be a shock to see that it is more expensive than in the States…considerably more. this is not one iota exaggerated, but FACT. also, similar Pattaya establishments are more expensive than same in BKK, which makes no sense at all. as a very famous pundit used to declare ‘back in the day’…TIT. (This Is Thailand) and never has that acronym been more true!
Thailand, and especially Bangkok, had an innocent, exotic charm, which has sadly been lost. i attribute this to an abundance of overpaying, lovelorn farang. not only that, but they become “sponsors” of the girl(s). sending BANK to the girls from afar and believing that the girls are just sitting at home, pining away and counting the days, weeks, months until their return. GREAT FOR THE GIRL(s)! but not so great for these lovesick, peabrains back in Farangland. those girls have got their legs spread up behind their ears for another customer before the “boyfriend” even has seat belt fastened and tray table stowed! ;-D
7
Back in the early 1950’s was way better — 100 baht would get you a girl for a week. Oh, the good old Phibun days. Almost as good as pre-Castro Cuba…
@7: I hope you didn’t read my comment as a rebuttal that the things you describe are happening. Only that pricing pressures are a totally different matter. There are multiple factors involved ranging from inflation to exchange rates. I hope you can see that my reference to a girl charging 3000 baht is in agreement that some price increases seem unreasonable.
I also agree with your points about the quality of service. In fact, I agree more on that than I do with your points about pricing. It seems every time I come to Thailand the girls get ruder and more obnoxious.
I used to be pretty frequent in Cowboy (I won’t even enter Nana) but I only stop by a few times. I would rather pay a lot more money at a nightclub and have a really good time than go to a go-go and feel like I’m being scammed all night while listening to Isaan girls screeching at each other over the sound system.
I have no problem blowing money as evidenced by the fact that I’ll pay to get into an expensive nightclub and 3000 for a bottle of whiskey if I go out for the evening. The company is much better and I don’t feel like I’m getting nickled and dimed to death one lady drink at a time.
totally off-topic really but relating to baccara none the less.
i met a lovely girl who worked there last week,unfortunately it was my last night so i only got to spend a few hours with her,im a newbie to the scene really (this being my 4th trip) but her attitude,performance were all top-notch (probably the best ive encountered)
maybe its best i did only have one night with her,otherwise i could easily see my self breaking my self imposed rule to never fall in love with a bargirl.
this was after id spent a week in the philippines where the girls are generally perceived to have better attitudes (are better actors?)
If you go to these places (not just Baccara) this is the routine because they are so desperate now a days. The only way to avoid being scammed is don’t buy shots or let the “friend” order a drink. Then they realize you are not going to put up with their pushy bs and move on to the next guy (Thai girls always have a friend and prey on your ego and like this, they know you don’t want to look bad and not buy drinks for the friend). The difference is I don’t care if they think I am a cheap Charlie, I know their game and refuse to play. If the mamasan would have done that to me I would have told her to to go fuck herself and threw a few 100 baht the table and walked out. And the tab slip for her drink would have been tossed in her direction or into the air or back at the service girl. They are all in on the scam and just play along like nothing is wrong, it’s all an act. Sometimes I go to Baccara on Friday nights and buy 1 beer and eat the free buffet and look at all the Japanese customers they have and walk out. Go for the buffet and if a idiot mamasan trys to scam you (or anyone else), then walk out.
What you guys talking about … ??? You guys talking about this BS like its science … Fk Thailand .. dont go there … its an over payed 3rd world country. Dumb Japanese and even more dumb westerns have rotten the place with paying too much for too little … The guy initated this blog write …i know 1000 b is not lots of money… what the fk is he talking about … People work for 6000 b a month … If you have a whore in this country pay her 200 to 300 b but only if she gives you an hour thai massage befor shag her. Anything else is just outright plain flat stupied. And of course – never shag a whore from isaan. This people think they could outsmart the rest of the world with there dumb fk little undeveloped brain.
Best for all you wankers is stay home and wank – and instead send money to real developing organisation – not whores.
Follow up: a whore in europe goes for less then 50 euros – in switzerland the go for even less then 30 euros. but a chick working in a fashion shop selling clothes makes around 2000 euros. so if you compare that – a whore paid in thailand should not get more then 100 b even less. but whats happening is really that those suckers pay them a price which would be comparable for 400 to 600 dollars for couple hours … for a tattoted dumb inactive whore – mostly …. common guys – avoid this rotten place and find a new highlight – thank you !!
Sounds like someone who’s been taken for a ride before. haha
Just finished the day with a classic street whore in bangkok … a hobby semi professional … 420 b 26y of age… anyway its still way overpriced… if it would be 100b then that would have been appropriated…. But befor the that i visited the ..Climax.. MOTHERFUKKER disco… Entry ticket 200b, drinks all 120 or more… common… what the fk is going on… why are stupide westernes paying that fk high price over and over… this is a one time shot..then talk around that its not worth it and leave… A whore, from ..ISAAN.. where ever that is, asked 300USD !!!… and that after she got paid a drink of 180b…. I think i got a brain tumore or dont hear right… but it cant be reality…. followups wellcäme
way to put it Carrey….very well said, especially about the issan girls….just kicked one stupid cunt out of my house after a year of nagging…lesson learned! bar girls are a disease that eat your money and nothing else. never again.
I can appreciate the frustration of dealing with bar girls and even bar girls who try to quote prices so far out of line with reality that it’s not even funny (the new “in thing” for freelancers is to throw out 10,000 baht as their “regular” rate – what a load of crap). However, there’s nothing inherently wrong with Isaan so the derogatory label seems unwarranted.
Also, Carrey, if you can’t afford someplace, don’t go. 200 baht to get in? Wow! It’s a nightclub not a go-go bar (though most of the girls there are straight from their shift at the go-go). 200 baht is like $6 USD. Most nightclubs in places like LA, NYC, London, Paris, Berlin, etc charge way, way, way more. 10 – 20 sterling is common in London.
And when you go to any venue in Bangkok that has entertainment they charge more for the drinks. I don’t know if you just stepped off the plane from Cheapoville but if you can’t handle paying 120 baht ($3.50 USD) in a nightclub then stay out of nightclubs. Last time I was in LA the going rate for a beer in most nightclubs was $5 – $10. It’s even worse in London.
Sorry if I sound harsh. It’s one of my pet peeves when people travel half way around the world and expect everything to cost 2 baht. Part of the reason it’s one of my pet peeves is that it’s usually people like you who want the best of everything but want to pay nothing for it. You want cheaper drinks? Walk across the street from Climax and go to the 7-11 and buy yourself a 30 baht beer (or 70 baht for the large sized bottle).
Oh, but that doesn’t have music, whores, or all the other stuff you want . . . you gotta pay to play. If you don’t want to then STFU and go somewhere else on your next holiday.
I also love it when guys like you go and find the cheapest hookers they can find (420 baht? you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel pretty hard to find a girl who will go for 420 baht) and then complain about the performance. WTF do you expect when you can’t even go a full purple note? I can just picture you counting out a stack of 20 baht notes and 10 baht coins to pay her because you don’t have any 1000 or 500 baht notes on you.
BTW, there’s an affordable STD clinic behind the 7-11 on Soi 11. I’m sure if you make it a regular habit of having sex with girls who don’t think they’re worth even 500 baht you’ll be needing their services before you go.
The first time I was in Baccara was sometime in 2008. Maybe not as good a time as some of you guys who went way before that. But still, it was fun. I could just get a drink, sit and watch the girls and everyone was friendly – the girls, the waitresses, the lot. And for THB130 a beer, that’s not too bad, considering it’s beer PLUS eye-candy. Fast-forward to 2016 – I just took a friend there to check the place out. It’s been a while since I’ve been there because 1) the prices, as some of the posters here have mentioned, have gone up way beyond the ‘inflation curve’ 2) the mamasans and waitresses are hustling customers to get more drinks and 3) I went there with two Indian friends a few months ago and was told that there was a private party going on and therefore, no entry – fucking racists!
Anyway, I went there again tonight, taking a friend who wants to check it out. We went to a few places before Baccara, so we’re actually quite ok on drinks. We had a beer each, found a place to sit, and chilled. And that’s when the problem started. We were halfway through our beers when the waitress came and asked if we wanted more. When we said no, she gave us a look. Then the bouncer came up a few minutes later, looked at our (half full!) bottles, and told us we can’t sit there for ‘long time’. I’m like… what the fuck! When did this start???
So ok, not one to get into a scene, we finished our beers and walked out. I will not go to Baccara again and I will try to convince anyone who wants to go, otherwise.
Guys, if you have come this far in this thread, then take note that there are way better places to get laid than a scam house like Baccara. Really, whatever you’ve been told, this place isn’t what it used to be. It’s all about scams, and getting as much cash out of you as quickly as possible.
I agree with the OP here: “… even one person reads this and doesn’t go into Baccara because of what they’ve read here then it will have cost them far more than what they made off of me. Fuck you Baccara.”
Last note – I noticed that the bouncer is the same chap when I first went to the place in 2008. So, in 7 years, he’s still a fucking bouncer. So much for career advancement. As for the waitress who called the bouncer to our table… well all I can say is, she’s too ugly to even be a THB500 whore. And that’s a quote from my friend.