Telephone Bar

Telephone Bar is all dressed up with nowhere good to go, and that is a shame because the setup is genuinely lovely. It is the bar furthest from the beach, dumped in a residential pocket with nothing of interest around it, not even a 7-Eleven inside 300 meters. You come here on purpose or you do not come at all.

The entrance does land, mind. You walk in through an actual telephone box, ring the bell first, and the four or five girls greet you warmly coming and going. Inside it is cosy, dim and done out like an English pub, a real cut above the usual fit-out. On atmosphere alone it ought to walk it.

Then the girls let it down. They are nothing special to look at, and worse, they are pushy, angling for a drink before they will even sit with you. That hard sell burns off the goodwill the room earns in about a minute. The comfy short time rooms upstairs hint at what this could be if the staff ever matched the building.

You will find it at Sukhumvit-Pattaya 46/3, better known as Soi Batman. From Second Road it is roughly 50 minutes on foot or a 60 to 80 baht bike taxi. Same owner as Bar de la Poste.

The verdict

Gorgeous room, badly let down by pushy, forgettable girls. Drop in for the novelty of the phone box, but keep your hopes for the lineup low.