35 Best Restaurants in The Gulf Coast Beaches, Thailand

Mere feet from lapping waves, this perennial favorite serves the freshest seafood at reasonable prices. The purple baby-octopus soup and the sour curry with local turmeric and fish are two great options.

A longtime local favorite for Thai-style seafood, Koti has a no-nonsense decor and a packed dining room that attests to the flavor of dishes like hor mok talay (steamed seafood curry). The large menu includes such crowd-pleasers as fried fish with garlic and pepper.

This Israeli-run joint brings a mouthwatering taste of the Levant to Thailand's most venerable beach enclave. While the smoky aroma of meat, fish, and kebabs grilling over charcoal make this a heaven for carnivores, vegans are equally well-fed with a selection of salads, dips, and righteous falafel and hummus plates. 

This beachfront diner serves salads and sandwiches, both traditional and inventive. Among the latter, the "Hot Bandana" is a tasty vegetarian sandwich baked inside a bread bowl and served wrapped in a bandana.

Pattaya's reputation as a top spot for sampling seafood is given fresh impetus at this lively restaurant. The venue is open daily for lunch, but it comes alive on weekend nights when gourmands flock to its seafood buffet, which is a kingly affair starring superfresh morsels served in an underwater-inspired space popping with eclectic artworks. 

Hidden in plain sight on the way to an elephant camp and waterfall is this family-run Thai restaurant that brings a love of food, art (one of the owners is a multimedia artist and the decor reflects this), and music together under one canopy. Keep it classic with curries, stir-fries, or stuffed omelets—all fairly priced and full of flavor.

This surf-and-turf restaurant takes pride in using the best of the region's produce and seafood. Try the beer-battered fish-and-chips served in traditional newspaper wrapping, or start your day with the best eggs Benedict in town.

Arranged on several terraces, the tables here all have panoramic sea views; arrive before sunset to get the full effect. In addition to à la carte entrées and apps like iced tom yum gazpacho with oysters, this Six Senses' staple offers a wide range of revelatory set menus, including one for vegetarians.

El Greco brings a taste of the Ionian to the tropics. The emphasis is on prime ingredients perfectly cooked: a simple creed that is executed via offerings such as shrimp saganaki (shrimp with feta, fresh oregano, tomatoes, and olive oil) and giant souvlaki platters 

Beachfront trattorias don't come more inviting than this one. Pizza is the specialty of the house, and pies come in various thin-crusted, wood-fired guises. Perhaps the best thing about the place, though, is its ambience. You can literally feel the sand between your toes at the beachside setting while the views of the boats sailing in and out of Mae Haad Bay are unfailingly evocative. 

Rated by many Thais as being among the best seafood restaurants in the entire province, this humble venue has serious credentials. The kitchen backs up its rep courtesy of perfectly cooked Thai-style seafood. Menu highlights include the stir-fried prawns in salt, chili, and garlic.

This two-story seafood restaurant has been feeding Mae Nam residents for decades. The menu changes daily depending on the day's catch. Its most famous dish, stir-fried crab with black pepper, is highly recommended.

Everything on the menu at this well-run Lamai restaurant is excellent. The venue doesn't reinvent the wheel. Instead, the onus is on classic Thai dishes cooked well and with love. Extra marks go to the ambience, which sees parties dine in individual wooden salas (pavilions) in a verdant tropical garden. 

For elegant French cooking, try this small waterfront bistro whose owner moved here from Nice. The three-course tasting menu might include such delicacies as a shark with pineapple entrée, along with a salad and dessert.

This place doesn't look like much—it's little more than a shack with plastic chairs and simple wooden tables—but many locals say this the best place for seafood on the island. Lek Noi is a little more than a kilometer (½ mile) out of town on the way to Chudhadhuj Palace.

As if striving to please every last one of the island's international visitors, this fun restaurant serves entrées from around the world. The specialty, though, is grilled seafood, prepared with one of 12 sauces; select your fish and sauce, then enjoy the breeze from the ceiling fans while you await your food.

For a different side of Pattaya, head north of the city to this beautiful, romantic seafood restaurant that sits right on the waterfront. The almost exclusively Thai clientele enjoys hand-picked lobster, tiger prawns, crab, oysters, and fish amid shimmering pools, palm trees, and sweeping bay views.

The alluring scent of fresh baked goods immediately delights all who enter this funky place. The owner, who picked up his baking skills while living and working in Germany, opened Nira's in the mid-1980s, before the island even had electricity.

This restaurant's unapologetically Western menu attracts Americans and Europeans. Soft-shell crab on arugula and white snapper baked in a banana leaf provide a refreshing change of pace from Thai-centric fare.

The chefs at this Thai-French restaurant acknowledge its Asian influences while relying mainly on French technique. Prawns might come, for instance, Thai-style in a curry with fresh coriander in coconut milk or with echoes of France in a vermouth sauce.

The owners are a Thai-American couple, so it's not surprising that their eatery serves a mix of their native dishes. The best ones, among them spaghetti with a spicy seafood sauce, inventively combine the two influences. Ocean breezes cool the open-air dining area.

The steady stream of locals is one clue that the seafood here ranks among the town's best. Try the charcoal-grilled whole fish, large prawns, crab, and squid—all fresh and accompanied by a delicious chili sauce.

Popular with Thais (always a good sign), Saeng Thai serves everything from grilled prawns with bean noodles to fried grouper with chili and tamarind juice. Now in a new larger location that's a step up from its original ramshackle setting.

The Hua Hin area, including Takiab, is famed for its fresh seafood, and there are literally dozens of great places to sample its marine bounty cooked Thai-style in an array of stir-fries, soups, and spicy salads. Among these venues, Sopa gets consistently good reviews, and the very reasonable prices add to its cache among the discerning local audience. 

On the northern side of the Khao Takiab headland, this restaurant has outdoor seating with views of the nearby standing Buddha. Entrées are mainly seafood, such as prawn soup with a deep-fried green omelet, although other Thai dishes and vegetarian options are also available.

The view is definitely what you come here for—high up on a mountain, the restaurant juts out above the beach and the turquoise ocean—but the food is also memorable. Check the seafood tank as you walk in; you might spy something you can't resist.

This sleek, modern restaurant overlooking the Dusit Thani resort's expansive pool and shimmering Pattaya Bay offers an "international skewers" concept with a wide variety of Chinese, Thai, and Western takes on grilled meat, seafood, and vegetables on skewers.

Halfway along the road from Chawaeng to Lamai, the Cliff perches on a big boulder overlooking the sea. You can have lunch or dinner inside a spartan dining room or out on a scenic terrace. The lunch menu includes sandwiches and hamburgers; among the dinner highlights are steaks and Mediterranean specialties.

Combining fine dining and photography, this restaurant--gallery serves delicate interpretations of southern Thai classics—fish dishes, curries, grilled seafood, and the like. The service is first-rate, the atmosphere relaxed and romantic.