Ungasan is the king of expensive beach clubs. While the island’s best beach clubs are in Canggu and Seminyak, this area on the Bukit Peninsula can safely claim to charge the highest prices for food, drinks, entry fees, etc.
So, when we heard about the Origano Beach Club & Bar, a simpler kind of beach club, we had high hopes that it would deliver a more cost-effective experience for its guests.
Our team was swiftly despatched to find out more and they headed down to Ungasan to learn more about Origano Beach Club & Bar, and this is what they discovered.
Introduction – Getting To Origano Beach Club & Bar
Ungasan is on the Southern most tip of the Bukit Peninsula in South Bali. It’s not the easiest place to get to in the Bali traffic and unless you’re coming from Uluwatu or Nusa Dua, you can expect to spend 2 or more hours driving there and then the same again heading back.
That means many people who want to spend time at beach clubs in this area opt to stay for a day or two to ensure they get the most out of their time in Ungasan.
Once you get to Ungasan, you can’t just head down to Melasti Beach and drive up to the front door, you’ll need to use the car park above the beach (for a fee) and then either endure a very long walk down or use a scooter driver (for a fee) to take you to the beach club from the car park.
Overall, that makes getting to the beach and the beach clubs on Melasti Beach substantially more difficult than getting to most beach clubs in Bali.
Where Is Origano Beach Club & Bar? 5525+MCC, Unnamed Road, Ungasan, Kec. Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali, Indonesia
Opening Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, except Nyepi
What’s Inside Origano Beach Club & Bar?
There are restaurant and bar facilities for guests at Origano. The building itself is attractive and there’s a lot of bamboo in the construction materials.
Our Review Breakdown For Origano Beach Club & Bar
We aim to be fair about our reviews at Best Beach Clubs Bali and that means we always use the same approach for every review that we do.
This ensures that each beach club is compared on the same basis and that our readers can use our reviews to compare and contrast beach clubs in the same fashion.
Our team visits a beach club (and they don’t tend to visit together, at the same time or even on the same day but everyone will visit).
They rank that beach club from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) against a series of criteria that are listed below.
Once this is complete and everyone’s been to the beach club, they meet up and discuss their experiences and take a vote on the final scores in each category.
Then, a member of the team is assigned to write the review and to post it on our site, their review must take into consideration the discussions and final scores.
After a review goes live, it will remain in place for, at least, one year before we revisit and amend any scores as we see fit.
Pre-Club Advertising
We had no idea that this place even existed until we started researching for a complete list of beach clubs in Bali.
While we appreciate that this is a small business, advertising is an essential part of ensuring that a place is busy and full of customers and it’s that busyness that makes the social aspect of beach clubs so awesome.
Location
It’s Ungasan and while there’s no doubt that Melasti Beach is an attractive location for a beach club, it’s a long way from most of the popular tourist towns here in Bali.
We’re just not enthralled with the chance to drive for a couple of hours in the Bali traffic to “relax” on a beach before we spend another couple of hours in traffic getting home.
If you’re in Uluwatu/Pecatu or Nusa Dua, you’re probably not going to mind as much but this is a location you want to think twice about visiting if you’re coming from Canggu, Kuta, Seminyak, Legian, JImbaran, Ubud, Sanur, etc.
And it’s not even in a good position for a sunset view which is even more frustrating.
Booking Process & Seating Options
There’s no website and no social media presence for this beach club and that means you have absolutely no chance of booking a seat in advance at Origano Beach Cub & Bar.
Now, to be fair, on our visits, we didn’t see enough people to make a reservation essential for a seat but given the remote location of this beach club, being able to reserve a spot would give people peace of mind if they want to travel for hours to get here.
It’s 2025, there is absolutely no reason that any business in Bali shouldn’t have an Instagram page and better yet, a website with an active booking system of some kind, even Chope or WhatsApp would be an improvement on this.
Entry Fee
There is no entrance fee at Origano Beach Club and that is in keeping with the best practices of the beach club industry.
We strongly believe that anyone should be able to walk into a beach club and decide if it fits their vibe or not, before they commit to spending a penny in a place.
So, we are happy to award Origano Beach Club a maximum score in this category.
Minimum Spend
But that’s in stark contrast to this category. In some mad moment, they decided that it would be a good idea to require a 1 million IDR (plus a 20% tax and service charge uplift) minimum spend to take a seat at this beach club.
This would be on the high side for a seat at one of the upscale beach clubs in this area with a ton of facilities.
For what amounts to a beach bar with some rickety furniture? It’s completely unbelievable. It doesn’t come close to representing value for money and while we had no trouble spending this much money, we didn’t do it gladly.
Note: We have heard that this minimum spend can fluctuate at times from 200,000 IDR to 1,200,000 IDR (always with tax and service charges added on top) but we didn’t experience that on our visits.
Welcome And Security
The staff are pleasant enough and gave us a warm welcome as we arrived at Origano and that’s as it should be.
There was also no bag check of any kind, and while we appreciate at a business this small, they may feel there’s no need to – with a 1 million IDR minimum spend, they ought to be ensuring the safety of every guest.
Inclusions
Despite that hefty minimum spend, there’s nothing included except for a seat in your time at Origano Beach Club & Bar.
There’s no pool, so you don’t need a towel and there are no shower facilities, lockers, etc. to use, so there’s probably not much that they could include.
But still, if you’re committing to spending $120 AUD or $80 USD per person, there ought to be some sort of perks associated with it.
Service
The service was very Balinese standard. Better than the service that you will get in much of the rest of the world at a beach bar, but not the polished performance of a big brand or 5-star hotel.
That’s OK, there’s nothing wrong with the service here and you’ll be able to make your needs clear to the wait staff and they will do their best to oblige you.
Entertainment
It’s a tiny beach bar and thus, there’s no real room for any kind of entertainment at this beach club.
You don’t always expect entertainment at a beach club, but we would note that the minimum spend surely justifies some sort of investment in entertainment as there’s nothing else being offered in exchange for that commitment.
There is piped music in this venue but not much more than the sound of the ocean waves on top.
Pool Quality
Sadly, there is no pool at this beach club and while we don’t mind that, in most cases, after all, there’s no standard definition of the term “beach club” that these venues need to slavishly adhere to, again we find ourselves thinking about that minimum spend and feeling cheated.
You can swim in the ocean here, but please make sure to bring your own towel, and while the water is generally very safe at Melasti Beach, also make sure to supervise children in the sea – there are no lifeguards on duty here.
Menu/Drinks Pricing
One thing that the Origano Beach Club & Bar does have in keeping with the other beach clubs in the Melasti Beach area is grossly overpriced food and drinks.
75,000 IDR for a coffee may be some kind of record for a beachfront bar without any real facilities in Bali.
However, with the high minimum spend, you’ll have to drink an awful lot of coffee if you’re not drinking alcohol to get your money’s worth.
Food And Drink Quality
If you were hoping that the Origano Beach Club & Bar would redeem itself by offering fine dining quality food and drinks, you’re going to be disappointed.
In fact, the food was about as close to “ready meal” standard as we’ve ever seen in Bali and we confess, we picked at it for a bit and then gave up.
The drinks were fine, though, and they were cold and mixed properly.
Sunset View
Nobody goes to Ungasan for a sunset view, because it’s on the wrong side of the island for a sunset view. It’s also on the wrong side of the island for a great sunrise view.
We feel that sunset is a very important part of the Bali beach club experience and people come to the tropics for this magnificent view of the sun dipping below the horizon of the ocean.
So, it’s a shame to miss out on it.
Music And Ambiance
The piped music at this beach bar is pretty forgettable but inoffensive enough. We’re fine with that – not every beach club needs to be about partying.
Payment Options
You can pay by cash or card throughout the beach club and that’s probably going to be good enough for most people.
We didn’t see any signs up suggesting QRIS support though and that’s a shame as it’s our favourite way to pay in Indonesia.
Exit Process
This place is a tiny beach club and you just follow back the way you came in to get out. There’s absolutely no chance that you will get lost on the way.
The staff will wish you a pleasant goodbye as you depart.
Transportation
Ungasan is awful for transport but Melasti Beach is the worst. You’re going to need to get back to the car park before you can leave and that means paying a rider to take you up the hill and the riders only take cash.
Once you’re in the car park, if you need a Grab or Gojek, you may have to wait a significant amount of time and you will be hassled by the local taxi mafia while you wait.
And then, it’s a long journey back to wherever you started from.
Social Media Presence
There is no social media presence at all for this beach club, not even an Instagram account. This is even more shocking than the lack of a website and makes it impossible for visitors to know what they’re letting themselves in for.
Other/General Comments
What would be a below average experience for a beach club in Bali is made much worse by the demand for a minimum spend that is completely unjustified based on the facilities available.
Our Overall Opinion Of Origano Beach Club & Bar
Origano Beach Club & Bar was in our experience one of the worst beach clubs in Bali and we can’t believe it’s been there for as long as it has.
The Melasti Beach area is home to a lot of beach clubs and we feel that, generally speaking, most of them are overpriced.
But most of them still manage to serve decent food and provide pool and sometimes entertainment facilities for the money.
Origano Beach Club & Bar didn’t even manage that and when you factor in the minimum spend, we’re not sure we’d stop in here even if we were walking past it.
We are certain that we wouldn’t travel across the island to visit this beach club.
Note: This beach club appears to be undergoing redevelopment since our review and we hope it will be much better when it reopens as Jumana Beach Club.
FAQs
Can You Swim At Origano Beach Club & Bar?
No, you can’t swim at Origano Beach Club & Bar there are no pool facilities. However, if you want to you can swim on Melasti Beach itself in the ocean. You will need to bring your own towel though and you should be aware, there are no shower or changing facilities in the beach club.
That means, you need to be prepared to be covered in sand until you get back to your hotel or villa.
However, we should note that Melasti Beach is a safe swimming beach and while it might not be suitable for the weakest swimmers, everyone else should find that they can enjoy a safe time swimming here.
What Can You Do At Origano Beach Club & Bar?
This is a very basic beach bar set up and there’s really only the option to enjoy a few drinks and some food. You can sit on their deck chairs on the beach too and enjoy some sun.
You’ll probably need to hang around for a while due to the fairly hefty minimum spend that this “beach club” levies on its customers.
The good news is that as the menu prices are quite high for Bali, you will manage to get there in the end.
Is Origano Beach Club & Bar A Family-Friendly Venue?
Yes, children are welcome at Origano Beach Club & Bar. Given the location directly on Melasti Beach, we’re not sure they could make this place an adults-only venue if they wanted to.
However, there are no special facilities for children and they too will incur the minimum spend requirement which is levied per person, not per table.
With direct beach access, kids can play in the sand, but even though this is a safe beach for swimmers, we’d recommend that you don’t let them into the water unsupervised as occasional currents may emerge.
Who Owns Origano Beach Club & Bar?
The ownership of Origano Beach Club & Bar is not in the public domain but we’d be surprised if it wasn’t under Indonesian ownership.
Final Thoughts On Origano Beach Club & Bar
It’s not often that a beach club leaves us speechless but the minimum spend at this beach bar really left us scratching our heads in wonder.
There’s absolutely no reason that a ramshackle place like this should be demanding a 1,000,000 IDR (++ which means another 20% tax and service charge on top of that million IDR) for what’s being delivered here.
The food is pretty ordinary and expensive, the drinks are expensive and there are no real facilities to use.
It’s not a terrible place to spend some time, but the value for money is exceptionally poor. There are much better places in Ungasan and we definitely wouldn’t travel for this beach club.
