Patong police are investigating a restaurant payment dispute involving four foreign tourists who allegedly refused to pay an 8,000-baht food and drinks bill before trying to leave.

The group was said to include one male tourist from Saudi Arabia and three female tourists from Morocco. Both sides were taken to an investigating officer for formal proceedings under Thai law.

Restaurant staff seek police help

The case drew attention on social media after a Thai woman working at the restaurant lodged a complaint, according to Patong Police.

She told officers that the group had ordered food and drinks at the Patong venue, but would not settle the bill when it was presented. The tourists then reportedly walked away from the restaurant without paying, leading staff to call for police assistance.

Officers from Patong Police Station went to the scene and met the complainant.

Police attempted to mediate between the restaurant and the tourists, but no agreement was reached. Authorities did not say what the dispute over the bill was about.

Matter moves to formal proceedings

With mediation unsuccessful, police escorted the restaurant representative and the tourists to the investigating officer so the case could proceed through the formal legal process.

Patong Police said the matter would be dealt with under legal procedures intended to ensure fairness for all involved. The final outcome will resolve by a court if agreement is not reached.

Join the discussion?

24 August 2026

View full article

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

It can be tricky as there is no mention of what the dispute was about.

Maybe restaurants should get diners to pay up front rather deal with police hassles and potential confrontations with crazy tourists who think Thailand is a dumpster and they can do whatever they want here.

23 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

It can be tricky as there is no mention of what the dispute was about.

Pork chops.....

A few good quality steaks or lobster would do it in Phuket. And Muslims have been known to drink alcohol, they built a causeway to Bahrain to facilitate it!

Seems none of the three wives wanted to pay !

Why were there no motorcycle taxi drivers around to sort the problem out?

Edited August 23Aug 23 by Gsxrnz

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

Do you mean strict Muslims rather than Muslims. If you mean all Muslims then you are mistaken.

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

It can be tricky as there is no mention of what the dispute was about.

Only Muslim on Fridays' do 🤔

1 hour ago, Jim Blue said:

Seems none of the three wives wanted to pay !

The other one who had his wallet didn't turn up!

The gulf crisis hitting home. Saudis struggling to pay restaurant bills.

Will shopfront signs be erected banning tourists from these countries?

Not surprised at the bill if they had appetizers, meals and maybe desserts and alcohol would definitely tally up. Maybe his 3 lady friends had a few drinks. We will never know until we see the bill, however, they can’t just walk away from the bill without paying anything. They could have tried to negotiate but they didn’t want to. I hope they end up paying more for trying to run away without paying.

The hips that sunk a thousand ships.

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

Seems you do not know the Muslims that I know.

My experience in Saudi Arabia was, if you're visiting your own Embassy (Oz in my case), your driver & escort will pile in to share in the drinky-poos.

5 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol,

555!

Have spent some time in Beirut, Penty of white sheets from Dubai visit for a few days of booze and bacon !

5 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

It can be tricky as there is no mention of what the dispute was about.

Unless it's a greasy spoon or a streetside pad thai stand, 4 people running up an 8000 baht bill is pretty easy. Take a date to a place like El Gaucho, and 10K baht is a virtual guarantee for two people (wine, wagyu beef and lobster add up).

As for alcohol, the best home bar I've ever seen was at a friend's house in Saudi Arabia. Most restaurants would be envious. The sheikh had maybe 20 types of single malt Scotch, and a wide range of gins, vodkas, cognacs and bourbons, as well as all the common apertifs like Cointreau and Drambuie. He had a full time Filipino bartender who could pour as well as mix cocktails. The sheikh held a dinner every Thursday night, and arriving guests were always handed a glass of vintage Dom Perignon for a starter. The Saudi women were in designer miniskirts and covered in jewels. We all drank and danced, with many of the male guests also smoking Cohibas supplied by the host, and dinner was eventually served about 2am. Half the guests were tipsy by dinnertime, especially those who lacked regular access to booze. As an embassy guy, I had my own in my residence, most reserved for thirsty guests.

Friday afternoon was a pool party and barbecue with buckets of cold beer at the sheikh's villa. The Saudi women were in skimpy bikinis. A few of them actually looked nice.

Because of the sheikh's position and clout, we never had any visit from the Mutawwa, whose official name is the Committee for the Preservation of Virtue and Elimination of Vice. We were kind of Ground Zero for vice.

Patong is widely considered one of the most expensive tourist destinations in Thailand. In view of this, 8,000 baht for food and drinks for 4 is not out of the realm of reality. Easy to reach 8,000 baht while having fun and not paying attention to what is being ordered.

5 hours ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

The hips that sunk a thousand ships.

Even the Titanic by the looks of that body.

9 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Maybe restaurants should get diners to pay up front rather deal with police hassles and potential confrontations with crazy tourists who think Thailand is a dumpster and they can do whatever they want here.

Restaurants that overcharge wouldn't want to do that as many customers may decide not to eat there after all.

9 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

It can be tricky as there is no mention of what the dispute was about.

EEhhhhh the dispute was about the bill not

what was on it. Do you think there was a need for alcohol to be on it to reach 8,000 it was for 4 people. That is cheap. 🙈

9 hours ago, save the frogs said:

Maybe restaurants should get diners to pay up front rather deal with police hassles and potential confrontations with crazy tourists who think Thailand is a dumpster and they can do whatever they want here.

Yep. Pay when you make the initial order.
After that? Maybe then run a tab, or pay-as-you-go.

I was at a bar notorious for padding bills. I was watching the F1 at Spa - with a Belgian from Spa - and after ordering and paying for my second beer he asked, "Why do you pay for each beer as you order?"
"Because they will put extra drinks on your tab."
Twenty(?) minutes later, I order my third.
I passed across 70 baht.
"Oh,no. You need to pay for last drink, too. You not pay me."
"Um. I did. This 30 baht from teh last change"
I look at Belgian guy. His face goes red.
Hey gets up, interrupts her and demands his bill, pays it and asks me if I want to share a tutktuk to [name of bar here]

I don't condone "Dine-and-Dash" but it's hard to have compassion for an industry -especially in tourist-heavy ares- that pd bills. My 60kg [foreign] wife, for example, did not drink 28 Bloody Marys in the six hours I was getting a tattoo done during which she dropped into the parlor occasionally.
But, pay the bill we did.

19 minutes ago, loong said:

Restaurants that overcharge wouldn't want to do that as many customers may decide not to eat there after all.

Bars can get away with overcharging because drunk folks don't remember how many drinks they ordered.

And bars are often owned by shady characters.

Restaurants don't overcharge.

12 hours ago, Wingate said:

Unless it's a greasy spoon or a streetside pad thai stand, 4 people running up an 8000 baht bill is pretty easy. Take a date to a place like El Gaucho, and 10K baht is a virtual guarantee for two people (wine, wagyu beef and lobster add up).

As for alcohol, the best home bar I've ever seen was at a friend's house in Saudi Arabia. Most restaurants would be envious. The sheikh had maybe 20 types of single malt Scotch, and a wide range of gins, vodkas, cognacs and bourbons, as well as all the common apertifs like Cointreau and Drambuie. He had a full time Filipino bartender who could pour as well as mix cocktails. The sheikh held a dinner every Thursday night, and arriving guests were always handed a glass of vintage Dom Perignon for a starter. The Saudi women were in designer miniskirts and covered in jewels. We all drank and danced, with many of the male guests also smoking Cohibas supplied by the host, and dinner was eventually served about 2am. Half the guests were tipsy by dinnertime, especially those who lacked regular access to booze. As an embassy guy, I had my own in my residence, most reserved for thirsty guests.

Friday afternoon was a pool party and barbecue with buckets of cold beer at the sheikh's villa. The Saudi women were in skimpy bikinis. A few of them actually looked nice.

Because of the sheikh's position and clout, we never had any visit from the Mutawwa, whose official name is the Committee for the Preservation of Virtue and Elimination of Vice. We were kind of Ground Zero for vice.

My experience is very similar. My friend in Saudi Arabia was a DJ and had wild stories. I was invited to a few of the parties and was blown away by the amount and variety of alcohol that well connected Saudis were able to provide. The girls all arrived covered in black Abbays and hijabs which were left at the door, sexy dresses underneath. I was amazed. Similarly, flying out of Saudi Arabia - as soon as you cleared Saudi airspace alcoholic drinks were ordered by a large number of the Muslim customers.

Very easy to get a 8000 bill if you add in steak etc.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by DonniePeverley

5 hours ago, NedR69 said:

I believe many people say or make bad remarks about the Israelis have never personally experienced anything negative with them. I believe many are just repeating what someone else said, or what they read in social media and just don't like the Israelis.

IME, I've stayed in Israel a few months with many shorter stays and visits that were work related; my current shoulder orthopedic surgeon is Iranian, and I have a friend from Iran and I worked for him when he was my boss and also worked closely in different departments for five years. Some would call me a white maga.

You believe ? Fair enough, but for others their experiences are quite different. And the shananigans going on over islands like Koh Phagnan suggest otherwise.

Why mediate?

If you walk away without paying a bill then you are committing an offense - if you believe you are in the rite, phone the police at the restaurant. Don't just walk away.

Just to walk away is really scummy behaviour.

It's a criminal offense. Charge them.

Sick of this 'mediate' nonsense, go soft on badly behaved tourists. Fatigue is real amongst Thai people.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by DonniePeverley

6 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

And the shananigans going on over islands like Koh Phagnan suggest otherwise.

Possibly, but the mother load of foreigners with nominees is gonna be in Phuket, remember 4 years ago - "Little Moscow". Don't hear that anymore, but I believe there are scores more here now than in '22. Russian mafia prob handout plenty to fill up little envelopes. And yeah, they nabbed a sprinkling, probably were informed who to specifically target. And the big cash cow, Chinese, don't look for multiple arrests involving Chinese with nominees. Don't look for very many arrests of Chinese, there are more of them than any others. Look at what they were buying back in '22. They absorbed ownership of a lot of properties.

Israel is just low hanging fruit for all the haters, with no reasons other than it's in the news and social media. No experience, except being a keyboard warrior to spread hate.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by NedR69

On 8/24/2026 at 5:46 AM, ikke1959 said:

Muslims don't drink alcohol, so I am curious what 4 people have eaten to have a bill of 8000THB.

It can be tricky as there is no mention of what the dispute was about.

not entirely correct. They don't drink alcohol in their home country, but many of them make up for lost time once they away from home.