Chill Chill @ Pai — Restaurant in Ko Yao Yai

A very much recommended authentic Thai restaurant I found on Google Maps. Out of all of the other restaurants in Koh Yao Yai, they have the most reviews and a very high score (over 1K review, with a 4.8 rating), so we chose it for our first lunch on the island and it definitely didn't disappoint and stood up to our expectations.

The staff was super kind and attentive, the restaurant was clean, the food was served very quickly after we ordered and the dishes were huge so they provide a very high VFM.

We ordered the classic papaya salad which was very spicy but so delicious. If you're struggling with the Thai spiciness I'd recommend mentioning that when you order, as they can modify the heat of some dishes per request.

For mains we went for the prawn pad thai which was delicious and very freshly made, but I've probably had better ones in Thailand. Another dish we ordered was the stir fried morning glory, that was so delicious with deep umami flavors. Lastly, the star of the meal was actually the dish I had the lowest expectations from, and it turned out to be the best one of them all - chicken cashew. The sauce was sticky & sweet ( but not too sweet), and the chicken was the most tender I've had in Thailand so far (which is not obvious, apparently).

For dessert we couldn't skip our fave, mango sticky rice, and this one was just as good as the previous dishes we ordered.

I'm sure we'll come back to this amazing restaurant during our stay on the island, just because we're so intrigued to try their curry dishes as well (some of them were sold out so we couldn't order them). If you're in Koh Yao Yai, do not miss this...

After a recommendation, myself and my partner visited this "more upscale" restaurant for dinner. To cut a long story short, I ordered the spicy chicken. After having a mouthful or 2 I was very pleased with the meal, 3rd mouthful onwards I kept getting randomly cut large bits of ginger in my mouth ( very unpleasant when it is not finely chopped or grated ). After this kept happening I called someone over to tell them the issue with the meal. I politely told them my problem with the dish and the lady I was speaking with denied there was ginger in the meal and tried to convince me it was garlic!! How in gods name can i confuse garlic for ginger?!?! in the meantime to my surprise she is digging through my food on my plate trying to prove her point. I sent the dish away. She came back eventually with the bill (obviously no deduction) and I asked her if she asked the kitchen what it was, she walked off mid conversation to the kitchen to ask. She came back and said that she asked the chef and was told it was not ginger but a type of yellow ginger and STILL tried to convince me that it was not ginger. After this I gave up, paid and left. Go for cheaper...

High hopes, disappointed. The incredibly high rating and recommendations we could not match with the experience. As a reference, we have been enting a lot of wonderful Thai food for 2 weeks now, ate already really good at Koh Yao Yai (Seaside restaurant). We were in and out in 1 hour. Prices are low.

Could be better: the food and drinks. We had a green curry chicken - it was very thin (watery) and more sweet than spicy (we asked medium spicy) - and sweet sour fish cashew - looked nice but fish was dry and taste bland. My margerita (I had so many during our vacation) tasted bitter, and not in a good way. The fried shrimp on a stick were okay. the seating is not nice, we sat outside and it is next to the road. No view, a bit cramped, bad lighting. Nothing charming, romantic or comfortable. There is also inside seating but that's not nicer. the music is a continuous loop of Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears - minor but still

Keep: friendly and fast staff low pricing (we spent 1100...