New Sports Bar Kad Falang

[NancyL]

Was there for the opening. It certainly is beautiful -- looks very much like a high-end sports bar, with big screen TVs everywhere. They said each has its own cable box, so they'll hand you a controller and you can select your own programming.

Felt just like I was in a sports bar in the U.S., only the floor wasn't sticky and it smelled much better!

I hope they can work out the details to get the right sports events on those many TVs.

Edited August 18, 2014 by NancyL

[khwaibah]

Would someone please explain where/what is Kad Falang?

http://kadfarangvillage.com

[PostmanPat]

One of my concerns, despite desperately hoping it will succeed, is that the staff there upto manager dont give me the impression of a pro active approach to finding the stuff most of us will want to see. At the UN Irish Pub, Greg and Sandy are not only well aware of all the major sporting events taking place, whether its Tour De France, Test Cricket, Rugby, AFL, NFL etc etc etc, they go out of their way to find it and show it!

Sunday evening in "The Game" there was literally nothing on any screen that any real sports fan would want to see, unless you want to watch cars in the USA bumping into each other, or some nondescript boxing match in a small auditorium between fighters I ve never heard of!

This, by the way, was at the same time as Manchester City were playing and there were at least two fairly important golf tournaments actually being televised on True ( I checked when I got home!)

Currently, the staff seem mesmerised by the glitziness of the place, and give me the impression that it might fill up with people coming to admire how flashy it is!

[NancyL]

One of my concerns, despite desperately hoping it will succeed, is that the staff there upto manager dont give me the impression of a pro active approach to finding the stuff most of us will want to see. At the UN Irish Pub, Greg and Sandy are not only well aware of all the major sporting events taking place, whether its Tour De France, Test Cricket, Rugby, AFL, NFL etc etc etc, they go out of their way to find it and show it!

Sunday evening in "The Game" there was literally nothing on any screen that any real sports fan would want to see, unless you want to watch cars in the USA bumping into each other, or some nondescript boxing match in a small auditorium between fighters I ve never heard of!

This, by the way, was at the same time as Manchester City were playing and there were at least two fairly important golf tournaments actually being televised on True ( I checked when I got home!)

Currently, the staff seem mesmerised by the glitziness of the place, and give me the impression that it might fill up with people coming to admire how flashy it is!

PostmanPat, this is a very constructive observation and I hope the managers at The Game take it to heart. Ultimately, people come to a sports bar because of SPORTS -- sure, beer specials, good looking waitresses, nice decor, that all is good, but you've got to get the fundamentals right and that means having a sports geek calling the shots about what's on the TVs.

It's early days and I think the managers will listen and get it right.

Edited August 18, 2014 by NancyL

[CMKiwi]

Hmmmm I live out in Mae Rim so this place is a bit too far in the opposite direction. However that said I have been to the UN Irish and it was fine... and the prices in the UN Irish arent over the top as stated for The Game. Another haunt I have frequented in the past is The Down Under Pub. Great for any sport and Stu is a damn good host. Prices in TDUP are very fair....110 or 105 baht for a large Leo.

I hope The Game succeeds but their prices do put me off right from the get go.... with so much variety out there (Competition) its gonna be a hard road methinks.

Time will tell...

[DaamNaam]

One of my concerns, despite desperately hoping it will succeed, is that the staff there upto manager dont give me the impression of a pro active approach to finding the stuff most of us will want to see. At the UN Irish Pub, Greg and Sandy are not only well aware of all the major sporting events taking place, whether its Tour De France, Test Cricket, Rugby, AFL, NFL etc etc etc, they go out of their way to find it and show it!

Sunday evening in "The Game" there was literally nothing on any screen that any real sports fan would want to see, unless you want to watch cars in the USA bumping into each other, or some nondescript boxing match in a small auditorium between fighters I ve never heard of!

This, by the way, was at the same time as Manchester City were playing and there were at least two fairly important golf tournaments actually being televised on True ( I checked when I got home!)

Currently, the staff seem mesmerised by the glitziness of the place, and give me the impression that it might fill up with people coming to admire how flashy it is!

PostmanPat, this is a very constructive observation and I hope the managers at The Game take it to heart. Ultimately, people come to a sports bar because of SPORTS -- sure, beer specials, good looking waitresses, nice decor, that all is good, but you've got to get the fundamentals right and that means having a sports geek calling the shots about what's on the TVs.

It's early days and I think the managers will listen and get it right.

If they listen that is, if not i give it 6-12 months.

Its as dead as a door nail at the moment.

[naboo]

Shame, I was looking forward to visiting this place when I read about it last week.

Beer - Draught CHang at 150B a pint won't sell quickly, will go off, they'll try to sell the end of the barrel anyway, it'll stink of egg, and you'll sit there looking glum thinking 'wish I was in the UN Irish'.

Most expensive burgers in town, best be top notch. Though from a review above, not so.

Sports bar, can't get a satellite dish? No EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga? What sport do they have?

All this and with the Dog and Bone up the road showing all that, with beer at half the price and top nosh.

One can only hope Dave Duke sees the opportunity to snap it up at a bargain price and try something a bit different in 6 months time. Go on Dave, that would interest me.

[Chiengmaijoe]

Shame, I was looking forward to visiting this place when I read about it last week.

Beer - Draught CHang at 150B a pint won't sell quickly, will go off, they'll try to sell the end of the barrel anyway, it'll stink of egg, and you'll sit there looking glum thinking 'wish I was in the UN Irish'.

Most expensive burgers in town, best be top notch. Though from a review above, not so.

Sports bar, can't get a satellite dish? No EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga? What sport do they have?

All this and with the Dog and Bone up the road showing all that, with beer at half the price and top nosh.

One can only hope Dave Duke sees the opportunity to snap it up at a bargain price and try something a bit different in 6 months time. Go on Dave, that would interest me.

Does anyone remember the Bears Den along the river in Faham? A couple of guys from Hong Kong if I'm not mistaken. I remember seeing an ad for the place that offered early evening promotions to catch people 'on the way home from the office'!

[DaamNaam]

Shame, I was looking forward to visiting this place when I read about it last week.

Beer - Draught CHang at 150B a pint won't sell quickly, will go off, they'll try to sell the end of the barrel anyway, it'll stink of egg, and you'll sit there looking glum thinking 'wish I was in the UN Irish'.

Most expensive burgers in town, best be top notch. Though from a review above, not so.

Sports bar, can't get a satellite dish? No EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga? What sport do they have?

All this and with the Dog and Bone up the road showing all that, with beer at half the price and top nosh.

One can only hope Dave Duke sees the opportunity to snap it up at a bargain price and try something a bit different in 6 months time. Go on Dave, that would interest me.

Dave actually fitted out this place and opened for business as "The Dukes" a few years back, think he said it was open 36 hours, could be wrong, it may have been 48 hours.

Lady lady from hell stuffed him around.

She then opened it as Rosewood, terrible food, service lousy....

Back on topic, if they don't get their s@#t together it wont last long at all.

[Thighlander]

Shame, I was looking forward to visiting this place when I read about it last week.

Beer - Draught CHang at 150B a pint won't sell quickly, will go off, they'll try to sell the end of the barrel anyway, it'll stink of egg, and you'll sit there looking glum thinking 'wish I was in the UN Irish'.

Most expensive burgers in town, best be top notch. Though from a review above, not so.

Sports bar, can't get a satellite dish? No EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga? What sport do they have?

All this and with the Dog and Bone up the road showing all that, with beer at half the price and top nosh.

One can only hope Dave Duke sees the opportunity to snap it up at a bargain price and try something a bit different in 6 months time. Go on Dave, that would interest me.

Dave actually fitted out this place and opened for business as "The Dukes" a few years back, think he said it was open 36 hours, could be wrong, it may have been 48 hours.

Lady lady from hell stuffed him around.

She then opened it as Rosewood, terrible food, service lousy....

Back on topic, if they don't get their s@#t together it wont last long at all.

do you mean "Landlady"?

[Chiengmaijoe]

do you mean "Landlady"?

Of course he does, what else could it be?

If draught Heineken is 190b for 500ml, that's the same price as some places in town charge for draught Guinness or an imported good quality German beer, which is a bit much for an out-of-town bar.

[Thighlander]

and 75 thb more than the all-you-can-drink Heineken on Soi 7, Nimman....from 6:30 to 9:00.

[DaamNaam]

do you mean "Landlady"?

Of course he does, what else could it be?

If draught Heineken is 190b for 500ml, that's the same price as some places in town charge for draught Guinness or an imported good quality German beer, which is a bit much for an out-of-town bar.

Haha, yes "land lady" from hell.

Real shame The Dukes never worked out there, would have been a smash hit.

[samsara]

they will be opening another in town within 6 months.

imo, its a tad pricey. not sure who their targeted clientele is, either. its for american sports, but they aint on during thai hours (unless you wanna wake up at 9 am to watch sports and drink beer! oops.

the BIG disappointment is the pool tables. brunswick, yes, but 6 footers and half the shooting areas are obstructed. not exactly going to draw any real players.

if youre asking people to pay 30-40% more to eat/drink (coke for 80 thb!), then you best have something to make the experience amazing. those are 5 star hotel and nightclub prices. watching lower tier US sports on replay does not equate...

and, no, it aint hooters, either. anyone whos been there knows its not even close

Edited August 18, 2014 by samsara

[DaamNaam]

they will be opening another in town within 6 months.

imo, its a tad pricey. not sure who their targeted clientele is, either. its for american sports, but they aint on during thai hours (unless you wanna wake up at 9 am to watch sports and drink beer! oops.

the BIG disappointment is the pool tables. brunswick, yes, but 6 footers and half the shooting areas are obstructed. not exactly going to draw any real players.

That will probably coincide with KF one closing down. Though i hope not.

Get AFL on and lower the food / pint prices and you may get a few of us locals in there.

[samsara]

they will be opening another in town within 6 months.

imo, its a tad pricey. not sure who their targeted clientele is, either. its for american sports, but they aint on during thai hours (unless you wanna wake up at 9 am to watch sports and drink beer! oops.

the BIG disappointment is the pool tables. brunswick, yes, but 6 footers and half the shooting areas are obstructed. not exactly going to draw any real players.

That will probably coincide with KF one closing down. Though i hope not.

Get AFL on and lower the food / pint prices and you may get a few of us locals in there.

hell, KF wont be going 100% until about then!

[tyznd]

_{I'd say it is pretty easy to predict what is going to happen. Either they start running a lot of daily specials just to stay afloat or they go out of business. What they are offering is nothing that special and what they are hoping for is enough steady regulars willing to pay exorbitant prices just to cover what I am sure is a huge monthly nut. In the meantime, I'll just keep on hoping someone opens up a nice little expat place somewhere near the ring road close to the Big C.}

[iainiain101]

I went at the weekend and was a bit surprised at the prices being so high. But could live with that. What really surprised me was the lack of sport available and the rather clueless manager. He didn't seem to know what cricket was and had no idea it was shown at the UN Irish. He didn't even know what or where the UN was , so we can probably assume that not much market research was conducted.

But what really surprises me, is that when they totally redeveloped the old premises, more than doubling the number of 'covers', they have left the old toilets totally unchanged. So one urinal for a sportsbar. Not going to be much fun at half time if the place ever gets popular!

[PostmanPat]

When I was there on Sunday evening (when there was in effect no live sport on at all!) and having been in there for the Australia v All Blacks game on Saturday, I was approached by a young woman who I took to be the manageresss (plain clothes not uniform) asking what did I think?

My response was, how was last night with the Premiership football, did you have a big crowd in? Oh yes, she says, we were pretty full.

Later I found out that there was no Premiership football on there Saturday night and they had approximately two customers!!

As the old adage goes, dont bullshit a bullshitter!!

Despite everything currently looking bleak, I still really want it to succeed, any new facility like this should be welcomed around town, but what they really need is someone similar to the guys at UN Irish who both know about sports, and set about getting them by whatever means, at those kind of prices, people will want to see things like Cricket Tests, AFL, Premiership Football, and that those events are worked for, found and shown, even if it means installing new satellite dishes, as they have done more than once at UN Irish.

If they continue to stand around admiring their own surroundings, then they will be gone in no time at all. Simple, and sorry to say!

[haybilly]

Shame, I was looking forward to visiting this place when I read about it last week.

Beer - Draught CHang at 150B a pint won't sell quickly, will go off, they'll try to sell the end of the barrel anyway, it'll stink of egg, and you'll sit there looking glum thinking 'wish I was in the UN Irish'.

Most expensive burgers in town, best be top notch. Though from a review above, not so.

Sports bar, can't get a satellite dish? No EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga? What sport do they have?

All this and with the Dog and Bone up the road showing all that, with beer at half the price and top nosh.

One can only hope Dave Duke sees the opportunity to snap it up at a bargain price and try something a bit different in 6 months time. Go on Dave, that would interest me.

Dave actually fitted out this place and opened for business as "The Dukes" a few years back, think he said it was open 36 hours, could be wrong, it may have been 48 hours.

Lady lady from hell stuffed him around.

She then opened it as Rosewood, terrible food, service lousy....

Back on topic, if they don't get their s@#t together it wont last long at all.

do you mean "Landlady"?

He does indeed--and she is notorious in this area--this is why I made the comment about all businesses in Kad Farang facing a huge uphill slog.

[HungDonger]

55 Baht for a small bottle of water is pushing it.

[Ulysses G.]

55 Baht for a small bottle of water is pushing it.

My buddy told me that it was 80 baht, but maybe just for the Grand Opening?

[HungDonger]

1000% Mark-up !!! Impressive.

[Thighlander]

WIth the capital necessary to get that place ready and his rent...I would have purchased a small plot of land in a good location, and set-up the outdoor, no frills venue. The difference in 10 years would be millions and millions of THB. When the people come from freezing cold places to get warm in the high season; many actually prefer to be outside; they get enough Legionella exposure from their hotel air conditioners. I've never been to Dog and Bone, but it seems like they've been opened for 4 years + now, and that is an eternity in that area. They must be doing something right. I would continue to support them, if I still lived out there. Otherwise, if a lot of customers go over to The Game; it still may not be viable, and it will hurt some good businesses that have proven themselves worthy.

[Sparkles]

We were doing a bit of shopping at Rimping, Kad Farang the other day and 2 girls were,rather self consciously, handing out flyers for the Sports Bar. I wish them luck but unless there is sudden upsurge in residential developments down that way there isn't much local clientelle. I really can't see people driving that far. There's an outside sports bar of such 100 m south of Yummee Pizza on the Canal Rd which would be far better alternative if that's your thing.

Slightly off topic but we asked the Rimping check out girl "when is the new Rimping store opening?" and she said 3 months.It appears to have taken an awful long time to get where they are now.

The current Rimping store there is hardly ever busy but I guess Rimping are in it for the long haul, a luxury the Sports Bar may not have.

I went to the Dog and Bone once .I couldn't handle the cigarette smoke.I think they are limping along,I believe the tenant/owner lives on site which offsets overheads.We go past probably 5 times a week and have never seen more than half a dozen people in there.Its more like 3 years max they have been there

When Toni from Yummee had the place the music nights were a sell out and the Canadian guy that followed him in there lasted about 6 months.

He then opened bar in CM and lasted again only a few months. Unless you are a good operator your chances of survival in this area are pretty slim.

[MESmith]

55 Baht for a small bottle of water is pushing it.

Keep the riff raff out

[Thighlander]

The mom & pop next to the first 7-11 on that block used to host some raging nights on the plastic stools. Met a ton of great people out there, in spite of some of the d--kh--ds from BWT that could kill any party. Unfortunately, they were closed down last time I checked. Anybody know what happened to them?

[jobin]

I for one am not too keen on the UNIrish pub. Went in one afternoon, maybe a Saturday. I was the only one and all the screens had the same OZ provincial rugby game. Did i mention that i was the only person there? I asked the guy with the beer belly and grey straggly pony tail, seemed to be in charge, if any screen could have some other sport to watch, like golf, esp. Nope, not here, he said.

Amd maybe i'm too poor but 125 baht for a jar of beer is over the top for me. Looks like i will be well positioned to support my 7-11 equity shares, sit on the corner and watch the scooters.

[fcgprg]

Pedr from the Old belle was the master at showing live sports events and advertising them in advance of the transmission date,The Game could do with some advice from him or Millwall fan on the marketing of sports events.

[Thighlander]

I for one am not too keen on the UNIrish pub. Went in one afternoon, maybe a Saturday. I was the only one and all the screens had the same OZ provincial rugby game. Did i mention that i was the only person there? I asked the guy with the beer belly and grey straggly pony tail, seemed to be in charge, if any screen could have some other sport to watch, like golf, esp. Nope, not here, he said.

Amd maybe i'm too poor but 125 baht for a jar of beer is over the top for me. Looks like i will be well positioned to support my 7-11 equity shares, sit on the corner and watch the scooters.

I agree....If I had never been here before and stumbled across it; on a week long holiday, that would be different. The bakery prices seem high, the hot dog and egg breakfast ain't cheap......just no cravings for places like that. I've gone out a few times for special occasions, to get some western food, and have generally been disappointed. Near perfect, cheap thai food, or crapshoot, expensive western imitation food....I'll save the THB for some cold beers that go better with the spicy Thai food, anyway.