Patong's restaurant scene ranges from beachfront seafood grills to international chains aimed squarely at tourists.
Beachfront seafood
Restaurants along Patong's southern end display the day's catch on ice — pick your own fish or prawns and have it grilled to order, though prices here run higher than markets further from the beach road.
Away from the main strip
A short walk inland from Bangla Road generally means lower prices and a more local customer mix, without losing much convenience.
International options
Given Patong's international visitor volume, the strip has a wide spread of Italian, Indian, Japanese and other international restaurants alongside Thai food — useful if travelling with picky eaters or simply wanting variety on a longer stay.
What to watch for
As in most dense tourist strips, menus without prices or seafood sold "by weight" without a clearly stated per-kilo rate are worth double-checking before you order. Restaurants with staff actively pulling passersby in off the street are, as a general rule, not where the best food in the area is found — busy places filled with a local as well as tourist crowd are a more reliable signal.