Mid-week Bars

[seank]

Hi There,

Now I have settled into my apartment , its time for serious matters:)

Can anyone recommend a bar for me to go out for a mid-week pint (Tuesday, Wednesday night)?

Not the soi-cowboy type of bars but rather a place just to go for a few beers and chill.

I was down the Molly Malone last week which I liked but its more of a place to go with freinds than go on your own.

Thanks in advance

Sean

[Prudent_rabbit]

Depends, if you like a good old pub quiz, easy way to meet people and have a good laugh, The Dubliner (near Emporium) on Tuesday and the Pickled Liver (Sukhumvit Soi 11) on Thursday both run free Quizzes

[bkkpartyguy]

Hi There,

Now I have settled into my apartment , its time for serious matters:)

Can anyone recommend a bar for me to go out for a mid-week pint (Tuesday, Wednesday night)?

Not the soi-cowboy type of bars but rather a place just to go for a few beers and chill.

I was down the Molly Malone last week which I liked but its more of a place to go with freinds than go on your own.

Thanks in advance

The Crossbar near Asoke BTS is friendly place for a pint. The owner Brian is there every day and is a good host. Can check location on his web page

thecrossbarbangkok.com

[thecatman]

The Big Mango on Sukhumvit soi 4 (but not inside Nana plaza) have 'Beer Lao Wednesdays' when Beer Lao is available all night for 65bt a bottle. (Free snacks from 7-10pm too). However if beer Lao is not your thing then pints, yes pints of Tiger and Heineken are on offer at 89Bt and 99Bt respectively. The price for the pints is the everyday regular price, not a 'Happy Hour' price.

Location map here http://www.bigmangobar.com/map.html

[yogi]

hi sean

yes u r right,mollys is a good place but if u r with ur friends,i offen go there but somtime it gets too noiceee

i will recomend jamesons irish pub next to holiday inn hotel siolm,

many regular fox there,so u can also have new group.

and happy hours is till 8.30

enjoy.............................

yogi

[Checker]

BULLY'S on Sukhumvit at Ploenchit is a nice friendly bar with plenty of beer choices (except Leo which is a shame) and the food is really good. One of the better one's around if you live in the area.

[bkkpartyguy]

Can you give us an idea were your located .. ie what location are you looking to frequent, as there are many fine bars around BKK

[Moonrakers]

The Crossbar near Asoke BTS is friendly place for a pint. The owner Brian is there every day and is a good host. Can check location on his web page

thecrossbarbangkok.com

I'll second that, it's right around the corner from my office and so I am a bit of a regular (More so at lunchtime)

Just fine if you are on your own because you can sit at the bar and chat, read the newspaper(s) or just sit and watch the sports on the screens.

[mrtoad]

The Crossbar for me as well, have been going there regulalry for the past 3 or 4 months. Nice relaxed pub, International Newspapers, good food which is resonably priced and friendly staff.

There's always sport on TV, and a few of us from the Football forum go in there on Saturdays to watch the football as well. It's more like a proper pub, rather than an imitation one like a lot of the bigger Farang pubs in town.

[seank]

Big Thanks for all the suggestions. I dropped into The Big Mango last night, had a few Beer Loa and some nibbles. First time having a beer Loa and its good, but unfortunately the place was nearly empty but I found the staff really nice (genuinely nice) and had a good chat with them.

Will try the Crossbar next week and see how that goes.

[jfchandler]

I'll chime in here... re the Crossbar...since much of this thread has focused on it.. And indeed, there has been much positive comment about it..in various TV threads... So the other night...after a late lady derailed our plans to dine at Chokchai steak house (10 pm closing and not taking anyone new at 9:45 pm), we walked across the street to Crossbar for dinner about 10 pm on a Tuesday night. And it was my first time to visit/eat/drink there, and I thought sure it would be a good alternative, having read what I had read.

Unfortunately, that turned out NOT to be the case in a variety of ways....

As we walked in, the first impression I had was thing had to be the brightest lit pub in BKK I've ever see... about the same as the lighting in Siam Paragon or any mall... very bright inside.. That's a bit different than most pubs around these parts... But..I wasn't looking for dark and dingy...so no problem there.

Inside, there were maybe at that hour 3 or 4 occupied tables of small groups, mostly drinking and smoking cigarettes... (Did someone repeal the BKK law about no smoking in enclosed air con establishments without telling me). Now..neither I nor my lady that night are smokers, and we're both a bit bothered by it.. So we tried to find a table somewhere out of the fumes... But no luck about that..

So at that point, we asked... is there an upstairs floor or any separate place for non smokers... And the answer was, of course, NO... So finally, we fled our table to the corner of the bar near the air con unit trying to escape the haze... Not very good, but not quite as bad as sitting at any of the tables. So, we're not off to the greatest start here.

Then, I order the bacon and cheeseburger for dinner at 220 baht and the lady orders pad thai at 100 baht... And as I mentioned, no one around the bar much was eating, just drinking and smoking at that hour. So the kitchen couldn't have been too busy... But nonetheless, our orders must have taken a good 15 minutes to arrive from the kitchen... a bit mystifying under the circumstances... So still not off to the greatest start...

Once the food arrives, the pad thai is OK, my lady is enjoying it, and then a few minutes later my burger arrives, and I discover it's a hamburger topped with some kind of bacon patty... not the bacon strips that Americans (and I think most others) would expect on a bacon cheese burger... But OK... Still, the burger was OK... nothing great... a small store type bun... regular burger patty size, but nice fresh lettuce and onion on the side, and some tasty cole slaw.

At that point, the manager (owner) pops by... and as we're sitting eating at the bar, I ask him... Gee, this is a nice place, but is there any place to go to escape the smoke. And he looks mystified, and points upward to the ceiling, saying he had just installed a couple of air exhaust vents/units above the bar to help about the smoking issue. Well, I hope he didn't pay too much. Because whatever he installed, was next to worthless in doing anything to clear the air. But he was very pleasant and congenial in our conversation.

So, maybe this comes down to one of these smoker vs. non-smoker things... Anyone who prefers to avoid smoking definitely won't find any suitable environs at the Crossbar. On the other hand, smokers should love it. And the burger, while OK, certainly was nothing exceptional in the range of burger offerings available in BKK...

So, I'd give Crossbar maybe 5 on a scale of 10... and less if you add in the pub's blatant flaunting of the BKK smoking law.

[bkkjames]

I'll chime in here... re the Crossbar...since much of this thread has focused on it.. And indeed, there has been much positive comment about it..in various TV threads... So the other night...after a late lady derailed our plans to dine at Chokchai steak house (10 pm closing and not taking anyone new at 9:45 pm), we walked across the street to Crossbar for dinner about 10 pm on a Tuesday night. And it was my first time to visit/eat/drink there, and I thought sure it would be a good alternative, having read what I had read.

Unfortunately, that turned out NOT to be the case in a variety of ways....

As we walked in, the first impression I had was thing had to be the brightest lit pub in BKK I've ever see... about the same as the lighting in Siam Paragon or any mall... very bright inside.. That's a bit different than most pubs around these parts... But..I wasn't looking for dark and dingy...so no problem there.

Inside, there were maybe at that hour 3 or 4 occupied tables of small groups, mostly drinking and smoking cigarettes... (Did someone repeal the BKK law about no smoking in enclosed air con establishments without telling me). Now..neither I nor my lady that night are smokers, and we're both a bit bothered by it.. So we tried to find a table somewhere out of the fumes... But no luck about that..

We are all aware of your anti-smoking stance, thankfully, the owners of this other such places rely on more open-minded customers

So at that point, we asked... is there an upstairs floor or any separate place for non smokers... And the answer was, of course, NO... So finally, we fled our table to the corner of the bar near the air con unit trying to escape the haze... Not very good, but not quite as bad as sitting at any of the tables. So, we're not off to the greatest start here.

Then, I order the bacon and cheeseburger for dinner at 220 baht and the lady orders pad thai at 100 baht... And as I mentioned, no one around the bar much was eating, just drinking and smoking at that hour. So the kitchen couldn't have been too busy... But nonetheless, our orders must have taken a good 15 minutes to arrive from the kitchen... a bit mystifying under the circumstances... So still not off to the greatest start...

15 mins for a burger - no you are kidding, shame on them!

Once the food arrives, the pad thai is OK, my lady is enjoying it, and then a few minutes later my burger arrives, and I discover it's a hamburger topped with some kind of bacon patty... not the bacon strips that Americans (and I think most others) would expect on a bacon cheese burger... But OK... Still, the burger was OK... nothing great... a small store type bun... regular burger patty size, but nice fresh lettuce and onion on the side, and some tasty cole slaw.

At that point, the manager (owner) pops by... and as we're sitting eating at the bar, I ask him... Gee, this is a nice place, but is there any place to go to escape the smoke. And he looks mystified, and points upward to the ceiling, saying he had just installed a couple of air exhaust vents/units above the bar to help about the smoking issue. Well, I hope he didn't pay too much. Because whatever he installed, was next to worthless in doing anything to clear the air. But he was very pleasant and congenial in our conversation.

So, maybe this comes down to one of these smoker vs. non-smoker things... Anyone who prefers to avoid smoking definitely won't find any suitable environs at the Crossbar. On the other hand, smokers should love it. And the burger, while OK, certainly was nothing exceptional in the range of burger offerings available in BKK...

So, I'd give Crossbar maybe 5 on a scale of 10... and less if you add in the pub's blatant flaunting of the BKK smoking law.

BTW, next time try the Lasagna JFC< very very good!

But then again, if it was Bully's, it would have all been perfect right?

[jfchandler]

James, you're your always whimsical self...

I'd love to give Crossbar's lasagna a try, if it was any good... But, without any hard feelings, I'm afraid I won't be going back to Crossbar as long as they maintain the same smoking environment.

I don't begrudge smokers the right to have some place to smoke and eat. But I do begrudge an establishment that only caters to smokers and does literally nothing to provide a smoke free environment for those who prefer it. And, in this case, the law is on my side, not the pub's.

As to other establishments, every restaurant and pub lives and dies every day by the things they do either well or poorly. And I judge everyone by the same standard, what did you do on the visit in question.

Interestingly, though I'll save the details for another post, I wanted to go to Bully's the other day for breakfast (for the first time), and popped by about 10:30 am, only to discover they don't open for breakfast or anything else until 11 am...

So, we ended up going down the street toward my home and stopped at the Landmark Hotel terrace for breakfast... Saving all the details for another post, I'll only vouch here, as someone who had a great Thanksgiving dinner there a year ago, the breakfast experience the other day was very bad both in terms of service and some aspects of the food provided.

So, based on that limited experience, I'd find myself beginning to concur with others on TV who lately have reported something having gone downhill with the food service and quality at the Landmark, which previously had been widely considered very good.

I mention this because of what I said above about places living and dying every day... And, likewise, what I said about judging by the day at hand. A year ago, I thought their Thanksgiving was great. This week, I thought their breakfast sucked... Enough said... MTC...

PS - 15 minutes for a simple hamburger when there's no other business for the kitchen seems a bit long. And likewise, it took them that same time to produce a simple plate of pad thai... gotta wonder, what they were doing back there... Maybe the chef had gone out for a quickie???

Edited January 22, 2009 by jfchandler

[bkkjames]

James, you're your always whimsical self...

I'd love to give Crossbar's lasagna a try, if it was any good... But, without any hard feelings, I'm afraid I won't be going back to Crossbar as long as they maintain the same smoking environment.

I don't begrudge smokers the right to have some place to smoke and eat. But I do begrudge an establishment that only caters to smokers and does literally nothing to provide a smoke free environment for those who prefer it. And, in this case, the law is on my side, not the pub's.

As to other establishments, every restaurant and pub lives and dies every day by the things they do either well or poorly. And I judge everyone by the same standard, what did you do on the visit in question.

Interestingly, though I'll save the details for another post, I wanted to go to Bully's the other day for breakfast (for the first time), and popped by about 10:30 am, only to discover they don't open for breakfast or anything else until 11 am...

So, we ended up going down the street toward my home and stopped at the Landmark Hotel terrace for breakfast... Saving all the details for another post, I'll only vouch here, as someone who had a great Thanksgiving dinner there a year ago, the breakfast experience the other day was very bad both in terms of service and some aspects of the food provided.

So, based on that limited experience, I'd find myself beginning to concur with others on TV who lately have reported something having gone downhill with the food service and quality at the Landmark, which previously had been widely considered very good.

I mention this because of what I said above about places living and dying every day... And, likewise, what I said about judging by the day at hand. A year ago, I thought their Thanksgiving was great. This week, I thought their breakfast sucked... Enough said... MTC...

PS - 15 minutes for a simple hamburger when there's no other business for the kitchen seems a bit long. And likewise, it took them that same time to produce a simple plate of pad thai... gotta wonder, what they were doing back there... Maybe the chef had gone out for a quickie???

I will agree with you about the Landmark since new F&B management took over. Don't want to go on about it, but 15 mins to recieve your order is pretty standard at most pubs - it's not McD or BK. I wonder, if they had brought out the pad thai in 5 mins, would you have complained that you didn't get served both mains at the same time?

[mrtoad]

15 minutes doesn't seem an unreasonable wait for food, considering it is not a fast food joint.

As for the Burgers in crossbar, I think they are decent enough. As James has said the Lasagna is very good, and I'd also vouch for the Chilli Con Carne.

I guess not everybody likes the same pubs, but for me and a number of my mates are more than happy to frequent The Crossbar, and will continue to do so.

[KhunDennis]

Give The Silver Dollar, in Washington Square a try. Easy going place and generally has a friendly atmosphere. First bar on the left, when you come in the front off Suk.

[meom]

So, I'd give Crossbar maybe 5 on a scale of 10... and less if you add in the pub's blatant flaunting of the BKK smoking law.

When they opened last year it was smoking outside. Guess the owner must've had a change of heart. Bad for business blablabla.

Personally I prefer the Offshore. (which is non smoking btw)

[bkkjames]

So, I'd give Crossbar maybe 5 on a scale of 10... and less if you add in the pub's blatant flaunting of the BKK smoking law.

When they opened last year it was smoking outside. Guess the owner must've had a change of heart. Bad for business blablabla.

Personally I prefer the Offshore. (which is non smoking btw)

never heard of it, where is it (not for me, but for JFC and the non-smoking brigade )

[meom]

Suk. Soi 23, opposite the aussie bar that used to be called downunder.

The fish&chips shop next door has the same name and has good food as well which you can order/eat in the bar if you like.

Despite of the fact that some of the regulars are one step removed from the grave and a bit cranky at times it's a great place.

Edited January 23, 2009 by meom

[bangkokboro]

Many bars in Bangkok are still smoking bars but the majority are not so it's quite easy to find a place if it bothers you that much.

Hands up i am a smoker but even i prefer to go outside for a cig because i have to admit it's a lot cleaner atmosphere and it's not as if it is a great hardship.

Brian from The Crossbar is a non smoker so must be some reason why he allows it maybe his business is more profitable by doing so. Who knows?

[bkkjames]

Many bars in Bangkok are still smoking bars but the majority are not so it's quite easy to find a place if it bothers you that much.

Hands up i am a smoker but even i prefer to go outside for a cig because i have to admit it's a lot cleaner atmosphere and it's not as if it is a great hardship.

Brian from The Crossbar is a non smoker so must be some reason why he allows it maybe his business is more profitable by doing so. Who knows?

i would also agree with jfc (this cold has gone to my head), even though I am one of those bad people, Crossbar can get very smokey, needs to open the door or do something about the ventilation IMO.

[jfchandler]

Thank you James.... I've always thought you had occasional interludes of "comment" sense...

I'm not part of any "brigade" as mentioned above... But I am a non-smoker, as was my lady companion that night at Crossbar. So for us, the smokey environ was rather unpleasant... and the place wasn't even that busy... If it had been busy with smokers, I don't even wanna think about it.

The bottom line for me is: that one establishment at present, for whatever reason, is making no effective/meaningful accommodation for non-smokers. So for as long as that continues to be the case, my feet, my baht and my business will go elsewhere.

[bkkjames]

Thank you James.... I've always thought you had occasional interludes of "comment" sense...

I'm not part of any "brigade" as mentioned above... But I am a non-smoker, as was my lady companion that night at Crossbar. So for us, the smokey environ was rather unpleasant... and the place wasn't even that busy... If it had been busy with smokers, I don't even wanna think about it.

The bottom line for me is: that one establishment at present, for whatever reason, is making no effective/meaningful accommodation for non-smokers. So for as long as that continues to be the case, my feet, my baht and my business will go elsewhere.

well, considering all you do is complain about it, me thinks they won't care, hahaha kidding

[JSixpack]

Many bars in Bangkok are still smoking bars but the majority are not so it's quite easy to find a place if it bothers you that much.

Hands up i am a smoker but even i prefer to go outside for a cig because i have to admit it's a lot cleaner atmosphere and it's not as if it is a great hardship.

Brian from The Crossbar is a non smoker so must be some reason why he allows it maybe his business is more profitable by doing so. Who knows?

But cigars? I find that even the few remaining smoking bars don't want them. Thai female staff have an immediate knee-jerk reaction against them. To me, a good cigar smells great--and tastes great too of course.

However, good cigars are so expensive in Thailand that I can't afford many anyway.

[rott]

From midweek bars we've gone to lasagne, Landmark breakfasts and cigars. Normal sort of thread then.

To revert to drinking places, come on troops do people really come to Bangkok to drink in the plastic, faux irish or English bars that usually get discussed in these threads.? One of the few alehouses or drinking dens in town wothy of the name is Jools on Suk. Soi 4, though it's best between 4.00 p.m/8.00 p.m. Good place, good crowd, but deep pockets do help as there are many bellringers and it's difficult not to join in the swing of things when you've got a few down you.

Bus Stop bar is also pleasant on a different/lesser scale.

[rgs2001uk]

So, I'd give Crossbar maybe 5 on a scale of 10... and less if you add in the pub's blatant flaunting of the BKK smoking law.

When they opened last year it was smoking outside. Guess the owner must've had a change of heart. Bad for business blablabla.

Personally I prefer the Offshore. (which is non smoking btw)

never heard of it, where is it (not for me, but for JFC and the non-smoking brigade )

believe me you aint missing anything, the place is a complete dump, surprised to hear its still going.

[mrtoad]

Personally I prefer the Offshore. (which is non smoking btw)

You must be having a giraffe mate.

Offshore clintele equates to the Living dead.

The bar/ chip shop is dirty, smelly, boring and serves possibly the worst Fish and chips I've ever tasted.