13. 7. 2018
I'd like to thank the people who shared their experiences here and thus helped preventing scams by some of Riga's bars and night clubs. I came across this page while drinking a beer in one of Riga's old town bars (this one is legitimate), I then moved to another which is a kind of disco bar with a go-go dancer at the infamous 22 karuka street (obviously at the time I didn't know that).
The ambiance was good, there is a circle table (reminiscent of Hard rock Cafe), soft drinks cost 3 euros each, quite affordable indeed. After 20 minutes or so a Swedish guy approached me and started talking to me, it was his last night and he was in a business trip, he seemed to be excited and keen to party till the next morning.
We talked about football then when we touched the subject of ladies, I immediately mentioned some of the stories you've been telling here guys. Few moments later two ladies arrived and it seems that they had already talked to my Swedish buddy before, they wanted to take us to what they called wine bar, obviously I didn't take the bait (why would you take someone elsewhere if you are already in a nice place?), they have insisted and finally the guy accepted to go with them, he came to me and asked: is it a scam? I said it seems so, my last words were keep an eye on your drink mate and watch sharply the bills you will be served to pay. I have no idea what happened next as I went to my hotel room subsequently.
The night after at around 23.30 I went to that bar again, I have ordered a soft drink and took a seat joining the circle, two guys were on my right side and a young lady to my left. After few minutes she started the conversation by asking if I had a lighter then we started to talk, I got suspicious when she said that she was a local (why would a local lady go to party on a Thursday on her own?). She had her phone in her hands all the time and at some point she apologized for exchanging few WhatsApp messages related to work! Another red flag indeed.
We went outside as she needed to smoke and it was when she told me that she is a stylist. I guess that her WhatsApp messages with her “clients” late at night attest to the quality of customer service she delivers.
After finishing the cigarette we went inside but this time she suggested that we take a seat on the table, immediately the waiter came to take the order (although my glass was still half full or maybe half empty... whatever you may call it), I guess the game had started, was it too late to withdraw? I don't know.
The lady asked for a whisky and I ordered an orange juice, the waiter was surprised and had even to put the question for a second time to confirm the order (not the best drink a prospective victim should take), minutes later the bill came and it was 36 euros, not bad indeed for a bar that sells soft drink for 3 euros.
Obviously I didn't want to play further especially that the lady suggested that I should try the national drink, I withdrew to the toilet and in my return I apologized and said that I had to go to my hotel, the lady didn't insist that I should stay and gave me a hug. I had left my credit card on the room as a precautionary measure and I could always pretend that I would be heading to the hotel for it in case a contingency plan was required.
The inevitable conclusion is that as of July 2018, not much has changed in the scam's bars in Riga, it seems that this bar in particular keeps changing its name as time goes by and complaints piles up.
Let me just respond to a lady who wrote a comment in which she is downplaying scams in Riga, please don't put everyone in a single basket and brand all visitors as sex tourists, I myself live in Barcelona and you may know that this city offers better nightlife than Riga, but there discos, bars and night clubs do not rip you off instead they want you to spend your money and come back again and spend more, after all that's what business is all about.
Moreover, in which other city the US embassy has blacklisted bars? Usually warnings are against terrorist threats that can happen in night clubs, but here the bars owners who are the terrorists.
Going out for a drink is not a crime what is going on is not acceptable and for now the only way to avoid those crooks is to boycott those places. Please guys continue to spread the word.
