Rio Go-Go Bar is one of the newest Go-Go Bars on Soi Cowboy. It was formerly Our Place Go-Go Bar but has been completely renovated. It’s a nice Go-Go Bar with a central stage, a few smaller stages and seats all around.
The problem with Rio is that, as all the Go-Go Bars of the same group (Spice Go-Go Bar, Kiss Go-Go Bar, Midnite Go-Go Bar, Deja Vu Go-Go Bar and Sahara Go-Go Bar, all on Soi Cowboy) they mix Bar Girls and Coyote Dancers: Bar Girls (at Rio) are less than average looking girls who dance on the stage, drink with you and can be barfined. Coyote Girls are pretty girls (similar to the prettiest girls of Shark, Tilac or Rainbow Go-Go Bar, or sometimes not even as pretty) who dance on the stage, drink with you, but can not be barfined.
First, it’s confusing to try to know who is who. Second, it’s frustrating to realize that you can’t go out with the pretty slim one you are drinking with but that you are welcome to barfine the chubby/small/old/ugly one you don’t even want at your table.
And the “service” menu (which is the same as the “drink” menu) doesn’t help: they have 4 different kinds of Barfines, 3 different prices for Lady Drinks, and no explanation of who is who in the bar (Coyote, Bar Girls, Hostesses, Mamasan).
The other downside of Rio is that it is expensive: The small bottle of Singha/Heineken/Chang beer costs 155 baht, the LD with alcohol 170 baht, the barfine a minimum of 700 baht. What justifies the price difference with popular bars like the ones mentioned above, except the presence of a few coyote dancers?
Rio has a lot of girls, but of course, for the reasons explained above, very few customers. And this is true for all the Go-Go Bars of this group. They are never even close to half-full!
The average customer of Rio and the other Coyote-Go Go Bars is a rather old guy, who comes alone, is not afraid of spending a lot of money and wants to spend a good time with a few pretty girls but has no intention to do anything more with them than drinking, talking or dancing.
If you are this kind of customer, you should better go to a Gentleman-Club! It is the same but with more girls and more customers. Or if that is too expensive for you, try the Thai clubs, like Hollywood on Ratchada! You will find pretty girls, cheap beers and more fun than in one of these empty Coyote-Go Go Bars!
Oh! and at Rio Go-Go Bar, you can pay a LD to the Mamasan, but it’s more expensive than a LD for a Bar Girl. I am sure it’s also more expensive to barfine a Mamasan!
