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Quick – visit one of Sydney's first new-generation bars before it closes its doors for good
In sad news for Sydney drinkers, Doctor Pong – Darlinghurst's quirky bar boasting table tennis and those famous American red cups – is shutting up shop.
Doctor Pong's last night of trading with be Saturday 30 April.
Since opening, the bar has had more than one million patrons pass through its doors. More than 68,560 litres of beer have been drunk, much of it in Red Cups - over 45,000 of them.
The venue's last two Fridays and Saturdays are fully booked but reservations are still open for weeknights and Sunday including Easter long weekend/ANZAC Day. As a way of saying thanks to the punters, if they reserve an area to have their 'last round' at Doctor Pong as a group of 10 or more Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Sunday, then Doctor Pong will buy their very last round.
There will also be a draw to win the famous ping-pong table and a big trophy, with a chance to win with every drink purchased. It'll be drawn on the night of 30 April.
Doctor Pong's best DJs and local entertainers are on board for one last hurrah, so the music is set to be even better than best for the last two weeks.
Reservations for last drinks ever at Doctor Pong can be made by emailing, texting 0414 242 481 or by messaging the Doctor on Facebook.
Memories of this well loved Surryhurst venue can be found on the Facebook page.
There's a Doctor Pong in Berlin. Yes, somebody else thought it'd be an excellent idea to make a bar where table tennis is available. But Sydney's Doctor Pong is no franchise.
Doctor Pong operates under many guises. By day it is an open and surprisingly spacious small bar. There are sofas where you can set up camp for an afternoon of puzzles, cocktails and board games (and ping pong, of course) beneath an urban safari mural. Come nightfall, the vibe escalates and you will find yourself in what appears to be a frat house, complete with DJ decks, scattered kegs and those American red plastic cups. To fill said cups you have a choice of New for $5 or Becks for $6. For a little more variety there's a good selection of bottled beer, including Coopers Pale Ale longnecks for $10. This is the kind of place where, with frightening ease, an afternoon tipple can stretch into a late night of gallivanting.
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Darlinghurst 2010
Telephone 02 9332 3565
Price per person including drinks $51 to $100
Open Tue-Wed 4pm-late; Thu-Sun 12 noon-late
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My friends and I were at Pong at least once a week, it had something you could not really put your finger on, we are sure going to miss it loved the chips and dips, always a good vibe. What will we do NOW?
Posted on Thu 05 May 2011 18:02:28
Every time I went to Doctor Pong herds of cops were marching through the place, whats up with that, I didn't see any fights or drugs???? Guess no one was sure who to pay off or how much??????
Posted on Thu 05 May 2011 03:20:49
Why didn't you call the bar something else? Why directly bite the name of the original Dr. Pong in Berlin established in 2003?
Posted on Mon 02 May 2011 20:40:04
Like the posts above this place has the worst staff/management. The idea of have table tennis is in a bar is cool and they just relied on having tables to make up for the worst service.
Posted on Fri 29 Apr 2011 11:22:08
Coming to see the wizard in August and was dying to get a drink at the Pong but reading the messages sounds like it stinks. Supped up wanna be cool Sydney folk. Run a place myself and big believer in customer service, take that away and all that is left is a ping pong table and a couple of red cups. You gotta encourage the people to shake it off and have a good time. Dr Pong needs a shrink!
Posted on Sat 23 Apr 2011 17:57:17
Sydney has a lot to learn. This venue was set to become an icon but bureaucracy has once again overpowered small business. This is a small venue that posed no risk to community amenity or safety. In fact it was the first of real small bar on the Sydney scene, with amazing atmosphere, food and drinks. Perhaps our city find's it difficult to comprehend a restaurant with low lighting, live music and grungy decor. But if we allow the powers that be to treat these kind of venues like large hotels - the cultural aspect of our city simply won't grow. Its fairly Obvious that they are handling of ALL issues faced using same broom for everybody. God forbid we should be left with nowhere to go and the city taken over by drunken suburban 'tourists' itching for a fight.
Posted on Sat 23 Apr 2011 17:50:06
Dr Pong is closing! What a sad state of affairs for our city. We want diversity in our drinking scene. A true front-runner, you will be missed and remembered Dr Pong.
Posted on Wed 20 Apr 2011 22:47:13
Last night at Doctor Pong rocked the house. The live duo doing awesome and unique acoustic takes on some of my favourite songs was the perfect addition to a fun Wednesday night. Even though they were slightly understaffed the guys behind the bar did a great job keeping everyone wet and happy. We're gonna miss you guys x
Posted on Thu 14 Apr 2011 10:45:39
Thank you for such a welcoming and polite person on the Door. It's about time we have a female security to greet us. Shame on all the rude customers who were late or refused to accept why they had to wait. She was doing her job with what we rarely see these days a SMILE. Great work Dr Pong for a beautiful choice in staff. We want to see more like her and to everyone else grow some manners.....
Posted on Thu 14 Apr 2011 07:26:07
Such a shame that this hipster joint cares more about appearing to be busy than actually looking after their patrons. There were two functions on on the weekend, where guests of the parties were left outside waiting to enter (at no later than 8pm I might add) for 45mins. One customer was on crutches, and another heavily pregnant. And.. by 9pm, they had run out of tap beer.
Posted on Mon 11 Apr 2011 16:50:41
My friend organised a party here on Saturday night and we have absolutely nothing good to say about the place. You'd think that if you take a booking for more than one party of 40 people+ you would need to hold a licence that enabled that many people in the venue at one time. When I arrived at 7.45pm there was already a queue of 15 people out the door and bar was practically empty. At least all in the queue got to look through the window at the near-empty bar! We had a friend who was 8 and a half months pregnant wait in the line from 8pm for nearly an hour... when she was just popping in to say hello. And the best part was, when we went out to ask for a special concession there was a young lady who had lost her leg and was on crutches and she was also directed - TO THE BACK OF THE LINE - love your compassion Dr Pong. The woman who was "managing the queue" was probably the rudest I've ever come across in the world of hospitality. We verified opening hours with the staff prior and were told it would be open until at least 1am - so it was a nice surprise that by the time all of our friends were finally allowed into the near empty the venue (because the other party left in disgust) that the lights were turned on at 11.30pm - because they only have a licence to 12am! Some would say 'till late' does not mean midnight. Kindly, they didn't tell us that when we bought a couple of bottles of champagne 5 minutes earlier. They were all left undrunk because we were promptly kicked and told we couldn't drink them.
Posted on Mon 11 Apr 2011 16:20:42