10 Best Restaurants in The Gulf Coast Beaches, Thailand

Belying Pattaya's slightly unsophisticated reputation, this romantic fine dining haven tucked away in a residential district between Pattaya and Jomtien oozes Gallic class. The food helps to elevate proceedings with choice offerings including premium steaks and showstoppers such as Japanese scallops with red corn in coconut sauce.

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.

Run by a friendly mother-and-daughter duo, this restaurant hides in a back alley near Pattaya Beach Road. In addition to breakfast favorites like omelets and fried eggs, they serve all-day brunch with choices like club sandwiches, fried chicken wings, and avocado salad with chicken breast. Cheap local and international beers are available as well. The streetside tables are a peaceful breakfast spot, perfect for catching the morning sun.

The concept—one familiar to western visitors, especially those from North America—is not exactly authentic to Japan or any country for that matter. But Benihana's take on Japanese-style teppanyaki has proved to be an enduring formula. The template is followed to a tee at its Pattaya outlet with flamboyant chefs cooking up a storm before diners' eyes. 

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 during dinnertime when gourmands flock to its seafood buffet (Wednesday through Sunday; B849 per person)—a kingly affair starring superfresh morsels served in an underwater-inspired space popping with eclectic artworks. Note that there is no a la carte dinner menu when there is a seafood buffet.

At this spacious, brick-style shop adorned with pictures of the Akha hill tribe, tasty coffee from Doi Chang, Chiang Mai is served by staff clad in traditional Akha-style clothes and headdresses decorated with colored threads, beads, and buttons. The shop also sells all kinds of coffee equipment, from Moka pots and grinders to mini coffee cookers. And of course, you can buy a bag of Doi Chang coffee beans to go.

Regulars pack the room at this elegant Indian restaurant, which honors Pattaya's bountiful seafood supply with dishes like a comforting prawn curry and a "Trio of Fish" with salmon and dory fillets cooked in three unique ways—an absolute must-try. The service is attentive but never overbearing, living up to the awards this local favorite has earned since it opened in 2004.

This authentic Thai restaurant in Pattaya's north serves double portions of stir-fries and other Thai favorites. Try tom yam pla krapong, white snapper soup with chili and lemon grass, or goong tod sauce makham, deep-fried king prawns tossed in tamarind sauce with kaffir lime leaves and fresh lemon grass. Take a sit at one of the teak tables with plastic chairs or bamboo salas roofed with Nipa palm leaves and mix amongst the locals.

It's not all about the atmosphere at this lively venue: the kitchen is no slouch in the creativity department. Simplicity is key to your enjoyment, with choice cuts of meat and prime local produce getting top billing. Highlights include rotisserie chicken and wood-fired pizza. The nightly live music and array of beers on tap also help to provide uplift.

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.