Hot Tuna Bar

This is a drinking bar, plain and simple. No show, no gimmick, no cover charge worth talking about. You come for a cold one, you end up in conversation with whoever's on the next stool, and three hours vanish. That's the whole proposition, and in a city that throws neon and noise at you from every direction, I think that's a decent argument in its favor.

Doors open at 7pm every night and it doesn't shut until 3:30am, which tells you what kind of place it is. Early evening is quiet enough to hear yourself think. The crowd builds later, a mix of Pattaya regulars and people passing through, and prices sit in the middle of the market rather than at the tourist-trap end. Solo travelers do fine here. So do groups of four or five who don't want a table booked and a set menu.

If you want dancing or a spectacle, go elsewhere on the strip. If you want somewhere to sit and drink and talk, this does the job.