Retox Sports Bar and Restaurant had only been open for one month when we went to do our review. Usually we wait a little longer for an establishment to settle down, but we had heard so many good reports that we decided we should investigate.
The bar is 30 meters down on the left side of Soi Lengkee from Third Road and very easy to spot. There are tables outside and inside is air-conditioned. The tables are varnished pine and the chairs upholstered in white. There is a bar across the back wall of the restaurant, and the kitchen is behind that again. There are also 12 rooms upstairs if you feel a trifle under the weather, and the BiB are checking with Breathalyzer.
However, there is no mistaking the fact that Retox is a sports bar, as there are 30 flat screen TV’s all around the room, and the bar stays open 24 hours. Sports from the USA, for example, often do not begin until 2 a.m. and finish long after most bars have closed. No small wonder the keen sports enthusiasts have been frequenting Retox.
Being a 24 hour restaurant, the menu begins with several breakfasts including a breakfast special of two eggs, sausages, fried potatoes, bacon, beans, tomatoes and black pudding, all in a large Yorkshire pudding, for B. 170. You can also get sausages and mash in a Yorkshire pudding for B. 199.
The “sides” included Chicken wings or strips (B. 139). Soups were B. 109 and Spring rolls B. 99.
The Mains ranged between B. 179 to 229 with fish fingers at the low end and pork chop at the high end. Pizzas are also on the menu with B. 280 for a standard size and B. 420 for a very large size.
Thai customers are not forgotten either with traditional Thai items B. 75-150.
On the same street (Soi Lengkee) is the Steaks and Co. restaurant, and a deal has been brokered between it and Retox, so if anyone is looking for a top steak dish, Steaks and Co. cook it and express delivery across the street. These items are more expensive, featuring Australian steak and a Surf and Turf, for example, is B. 745 or B. 1045 for a 400 gm steak.
Now the connection between ‘Retox’ and ‘Detox’ comes in, with a page of ‘Detox’ items for all those who enjoyed the cricket for too long the night before. These included a salmon salad (B. 350), Tuna Nicoise (B. 249), a Chicken Caesar salad (B. 239), a grilled chicken pasta (B. 239) and a Greek penne pasta also at B. 239). All very healthy after a long liquid evening the previous night!
Sports pub customers are general into beers and Retox does all sorts of deals/happy hours with a Heineken beer tower only B. 600 (all day) and Guinness happy hours 6 a.m. through till 7 p.m. Plus all the usual beers are available.
Proof of the pudding (?Yorkshire?) is in the eating, they say, so we went for lunch to do our review, and Madame fancied a Lamburger (not a misprint) and was taken aback by the size of the meat patty. However, she ‘manfully’ got the choppers around the bun, and finished every last skerrick.
I felt like bacon, egg and chips and the chef must have felt I looked a bit undernourished as I found three eggs on my plate with the back bacon. The chips were excellent as well. A decent sized portion and I enjoyed every last bit of it, leaving just a clean plate for the staff.
Retox is a genuine sports bar which will suit “the lads” with its enormous coverage of the popular sports (plus some different ones) – just ask! With 24 hour coverage, this has to be a venue to be considered high on the preferred viewing list. With good European food (and Thai) and rooms upstairs, there’s no need to go home! Well worth a visit.
Retox Sports Bar and Restaurant, 135/16-17, M9, Soi Lengkee, off Pattaya Third Road. Telephone 038 410 256, email [email protected], www.retoxpattaya.com. Open seven days, 24 hours. Plenty of roadside parking on Third Road.
