Looking for your recommendations on a nice hotel in Phuket. Must have a pool, restaurant and be close to, if not on, the beach. Looking for a little slice of quiet somewhere in/near Patong. Any help you can offer is appreciated.

Near Patong

1. Sunset Beach Resort
There's a quiet beach resort a 10 minute walk from Patong. It's near this really good restaurant called Baan Rim Pa.

I would look for something on another beach. I go to Patong for an afternoon of shopping and such, but prefer not to deal with that on a daily basis when in Phuket. I really like the KataThani on Kata Noi beach. It has beautiful pools, nice beachfront location, restaurants on site, and it's more peaceful than Patong.

I also like the Boathouse on Kata Beach and the Villa Royale, but VR is not directly on the beach. You have to go down a stairway to Kata Noi.

Kata and Kata Noi are not that far from Patong. You can take a taxi there and it won't take you too long, or cost an arm and a leg.

There are great restaurants at the Boathouse and Villa Royale called the Boathouse Grill and Mom Tri's Kitchen. Both very highly rated.

Depends on your budget, Le Meridien is in it's own beachy cove about 5 mins south of Patong, but to get 'anywhere' you need a tuk tuk and they are not as cheap as they were, but that is an excellent choice if you are looking for a luxury place and want to be right on the beach.
Impiana is 'in' Patong and on the beach but that is a very busy and crowded area and certainly not quiet.
Apart from Impiana about the best in quality in Patong in my opinion is Graceland, across the road from the beach, good pool and large grass garden, quieter but not 'quiet', reasonable price low season. Very Hyatt level standard inside if that makes any sense.
At far north end are Novotel and Diamond Cliff though these are hilly and walk across the road to the beach.

If you are a family Residence Kalim Bay have apartments, very small patch of beach sand acrosss the road at Kalin, just over the ride from Patong, but ideal if family as all have accommodation for up to 4 easily.

Your budget really dictates places to suggest, time of year also is important as rates vary a 'great deal' depending on when you go.
There are also some small boutique places about 15 mins walk from the beach in the south area of patong that are cheap, but again, depends on your budget and time of year.

I've topped about Graceland and Leelawadee and also mentioned C&N resort, without knowing your budget though.

If you are looking for quiet - you might want to avoid Patong altogether, but if you want access to nightlife and shopping, etc. then stay near Patong. If you head either north or south of Patong only about ten to twelve minutes you will find great alternatives for much lower prices. Karon and Kata have a few places on the Beach, but Kamala Beach has lower prices and more right-on-the-beach resorts and hotels. Most of them smallish and more friendly - and still only a few minutes into Patong.

Look at www.PhuketGoldCoast.com in the Kamala section and lots of info about that area. Some good options would be the Kamala Beach Resort (right on the beach) or Layalina (right on the beach), Kamala Dream (right on the beach)and many others.

I would suggest you the new hotel (5 Star Hotel) but the price is affordable only 3375 baht. Best Western Premier Supalai Resort & Spa, you can see more details from this page :

http://www.hotelsguru.com/showhotel-43484.html

It is really great place, new hotel and Phuket Island's only remaining secluded private bay.

We stayed at the Meridien Beach Resort. It's close to Patong, but a private beach with a great pool. getting around is easy. You just walk off the property a few hundred meters and there will be some men sitting around. They will provide relatively cheap taxi rides.

Thanks everyone, for your replies. My friend booked the Amari Coral Beach Resort. Does anyone have any thoughts/ comments on this hotel?

Amari Coral beach is quite, been around at least 15 years, no doubt more, it is quiet, it is beyond the far south of Patong, you go over the bridge at the far south part and up around the bend, I think some try and walk but otherwise you really need to tuk-tuk.
A nicer plush place up that I guess you could call hill/peak area is is Baan Yin Dee, but that is no doubt more than the Amari, the Amari does have walk down to a small sandy area but that's it.
So you do have 'out of the way' but access to Patong, some like it.

Thank you so much for your insight. I really appreciate it!

In Patong you get a mix in most tourist class hotels. Still, this being Thailand, kids are never a majority.

When I stayed in Patong I stayed at Sea Sun Sand, which was very nice and not expensive. Around 1200 baht or so on the booking sites. (it looks nicer than on the pictures). No sea view, but that's not that common in Patong unless you don't mind paying 3000 baht or so.

I recently stayed at the Club Andaman Beach Resort. It's great, well located, near everything, but still isolated from the noise of Patong beach.

Here's the URL:
http://www.clubandaman.com/en3/

In my opinion, the Coral Beach is porly located.

I just returned from Thailand yesterday and had a wonderful experience at the Arahmas Resort on the north of the island which was much more peaceful and tranquil than the south. You can check out my post which I wrote with more details if interested.

We had a great experience at the Manathai (www.manathai.com) on Surin Beach. Quiet, has a restaurant, great service.