Vanilla Sky Rooftop Bar — Restaurant in Khlong Tan Subdistrict

We stayed here for two days on the final leg of our 16-day honeymoon before flying back to the UK. While the initial impression was good—the executive room on the 27th floor was spacious and prepared with rose petals—it was comparable to what we experienced at other hotels in Thailand, even 4-star ones, offering nothing particularly special. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience fell far below the expectations of a 5-star hotel.

The hotel is clearly targeted toward European tourists, reflected in the clientele and steep food prices. On top of this, a mandatory 7% VAT and 10% service charge are added to already inflated rates, regardless of service quality. While service charges might align with Western customs, it feels disingenuous in Thailand, where service is traditionally discretionary. If the hotel insists on these charges, it must deliver the high-quality service guests expect.

Four incidents highlight the poor service:

Poolside Service After check-in, we headed to the pool for food and drinks. At the bar, I was told to order and pay immediately—fine in itself—but I later noticed other guests receiving poolside service. This inconsistency was frustrating but not a dealbreaker. We ordered a Pad Kaprow and a large Singha beer. The food was overpriced at 290 THB (+ VAT and service), yet disappointingly below average. Worse, the beer did not arrive with the food, and I had to ask three staff members for it. When it finally came—after I’d finished eating—I was told I hadn’t ordered it and needed to sign for it separately. Frustrated, I crossed out the service charge on the bill and explained why I wouldn’t pay it. The waiter shrugged and left.

Vanilla Sky Bar That evening, we dined at the rooftop Vanilla Sky Bar. The views and the drinks were great, and the staff friendly, but the food was appalling. The guacamole lacked flavour, the wings arrived cold, and our request for sauce on the side was ignored. The tacos were the only decent item. We sent the wings back, but ultimately left hungry and opted for dinner outside the hotel.

Breakfast Mix-Up At breakfast, we ordered fresh eggs at our table, marked as occupied using the red/green indicator cards. When we returned with buffet plates, another group was seated at our table, with an extra table added for them. The group angrily left after we explained, saying staff had directed them there. This unnecessary mix-up left us frustrated.

Checkout Dispute During checkout, we raised the service issues and requested the removal of charges for the beer and dinner. The receptionist, “Pop,” refused, citing hotel policy. After insisting, the beer charge was removed, but the dinner charge remained. Pop also claimed a complimentary late checkout was a gesture of goodwill, but this was untrue—it had been offered earlier as a one-hour extension, which is standard for 5-star hotels. Mentioning it to justify poor service and excessive charges was unacceptable.

Reluctantly, we paid the bill and informed the staff we would write this review to warn others of the poor service and dishonesty we experienced.

Final Thoughts:

This hotel has potential—it’s visually impressive and could be a true 5-star establishment—but it is severely let down by subpar service, overpriced food, and a lack of care from the staff, as well as some arrogance. For the price charged, guests deserve consistent and exceptional service, which was sadly missing here.

NOT RECOMMENDED...

The bartenders need practice. The cocktails are just not that good here.

This is not an upscale rooftop experience, so don’t expect that. It’s a bar that sells views, but at least they should get the bar part right. As for a rooftop bar, there’s so many in Bangkok it’s hard to recommend this one. It’s a nice view, ambience is ok, and our server was nice, but it’s just lacking overall. No one greeted us when we walked in until our server came and assisted us, the hostess had her back turned and was on her phone.

Their signature cocktails are all pretty sweet. Tried some classic cocktails and the Old Fashioned was off, and their mojito was just disgusting. Switched to a beer just to wash the taste out and that took another 10 minutes to get. 5 of which the beer was just sitting on a Bangkok rooftop getting warm waiting to get picked up.

Also as the DJ left he lit up a joint and passed it around his friends, so the whole place smelled like weed. Maybe that’s why the cocktails came out bad.

This place has potential, but with the amount of competition in the area, this place is...

We got to the bar at 5.30pm to find it almost empty. We were immediately told that we would not be granted access to the bar since we had our two ( well dressed and well behaved) children with us. This was supposedly due to a new obscure goverment regulation not allowing children into bars. Strangely enough no other bar and neither the internet know about this rule. This seems to only be Compass Skyview policy which they should at least make known on their webpage so families don't get dressed up, travel halfway across town to tell their disappointed children that there will be no sun set but an 1.5h taxi drive back in rushhour traffic. Vanilla Sky Bar , if you have family discriminating policies, at least man up and make them known In my opinion this behaviour should not be supported in any way. There are plenty of alternative...