Claws & Co Phuket — Restaurant in Mai Khao

Best restaurant in Mai Kao! Ana our server went above and beyond to take care of us. First of all Claws & Co Phuket is in a class of it's own here in Phuket for seafood. Technically it is a restaurant on the Avani hotel property, but it really sets the standard for an entirely new class of fine dining even better than an Avani experience.

Ambiance: perfect You can see the kitchen behind some protective glass which is really unique and you get to see how the food is prepared and it is really like a fine dining experience in that way as well as the ambiance and the high culture yet down to earth feel. Various seating options from couches and loungers to high top tables to regular long tables.

Service: Best Ever, 5 star dining or Michelin star level

The service is that of a five-star resort or Michelin restaurant. Even though the restaurant just opened, you can tell that the staff are well trained the servers know exactly what each menu item is and are full of recommendations. The drinks are absolutely sublime and they have local Thai favorites as well as some different tropical concoctions. Deny ties are excellent as well as some unique offerings like an aperol Spritz which was done perfectly.

Cuisine: eclectic and traditional, 5 stars Presentation: artful yet heathy portions at the same time.

Cuisine is Thai seafood or Western seafood and I believe there were a few Asian dishes as well. Also some non-seafood options if you need that. If you are not sure what you want, just communicate with your server, as the amazing Anna had pictures of all of the different dishes ready for diners on her phone.

I got the river prawns to start and then my partner and I shared a whole fish which I highly recommend. Our friend enjoyed one of the salads as well. The whole fish (there are three each day, we chose the Grouper) was cooked to perfection, it was moist and tender and fall off the bone. The river prawns as well are large and delicious with lots of meat on them.

Also what I love about the food choices are that you can get the seafood GRILLED which is amazing. The grilled calamari might be the best I have ever tastes, from Barcelona to New York to Boston. Great for sharing - order two orders for 4 people.

One cool thing is that you can pick a number of different sauces from different flavored mayonnaise to a spicy wasabi cream sauce to a thai sauce for all of the difference types of seafood in different dishes. Sauces can also come on the side which is what I did:) the portions are large but not over the top, and we brought home some of the sauces and prawns and had a delicious meal the next day.

Make sure to leave room for the delicious baked cheesecake for dessert, which reminds me of a Northern España delicacy where the cheesecake is not too sweet and a little bit soft and is filled with deliciousness.

One thing to note is they also accommodate all allergies, and have a great working knowledge of how to communicate in English for anything you may need. I happen to be lactose intolerant, but I did have lactaid with me and they were very careful to explain what had dairy and what did not so I knew what to avoid or when to take my lactaid.

Our friend in the group also greatly enjoyed the mocktails and said the sea prawns were delicious as well.

I may update this with more pictures and details as my friends remember what they had. We were a party of four, (two couples) and they fit us in at the last minute and even pushed two tables together when they realized that they did not need the high tops which was quite thoughtful so we had more room for all the food.

Compliments to the entire team, from the Chef to the bartenders (who made custom drinks) to the amazing servers and especially Ana who took care of us the entire evening. Remember to Tip and leave Gratuity, the servers work hard and provide an amazing level of service to enhance any dining experience to be an epic and unforgettable culinary affair.

Thank you to the entire Claws & Co...

Thought of having a nice dinner on the last night with another family before my departure the next day. However, it left a bitter taste in my mouth literally. Settled in nicely and the waitress took our orders uneventfully. Table was set but had no serviettes. Requested for them and a box of tissue was placed on our table. Orders included starters (soup) and main course. Main course were served first. Had to chase for the starter. We had ordered 2 soups but only 1 was served. Granted order could have been missed, so highlighted we ordered 2. Waitress acknowledged and mentioned 2 mins. While understandable it may had been a new order, we accepted some delay. By this time, we had completed our main course. 15 mins passed, still no soup. With full view of the open kitchen, noticed 2 bowls of soup sitting on the counter waiting to be served. A good 10 mins or more have passed and prepared soup still sitting unserved. Later, chef realised that the soups had been sitting for a while, took it back into the kitchen to prepare afresh. Thereafter, to my disappointment, it was served to another table inside to another patron who had came after us. 2 orders of tuna and salmon steak were over done, dry and tough for a fish dish. Service was terrible, not attentive, not bothered to find out if everything was okay, our water ran out but did not enquire if we needed more. Mocktails orders also had to be chased. Trying to signal for service was futile on many occasions. Perhaps sending smoke signals might be more effective. Service is as dry as the fish. What a disappointing evening to end my last night in Phuket. Service was utterly poor, food standard was at best fair. Highly not recommended. You probably derive more enjoyment and taste from street food vendors and service...

Worst meal we ever had in Phuket. The oysters were very stale, and the film on the sides was stuck to the shell. It was very difficult to remove them. Each oyster had to be scooped out with a spoon, and in the end I didn't even want to waste the time to eat it. Even the cookies that came with it were soggy. The crab cakes were like Deep Fried Wet ginger bread .It has nothing to do with crab cakes. Lobster soup tasted like pumpkin soup mixed with water and a few small pieces of lobster. Only the lobster in the lobster roll was barely edible. I won’t come here a second time even if it’s free. It was a waste of calories, I tried to eat as much as I could but we had to leave half of the food behind. I ended up going to 711 to buy some snacks which is 10 times better than this restaurant. And in the middle of the meal one server came and asked how was our food, we said not really good, she just walked away slowly with a...