Italian Restaurant Tropicana Koh Samui — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

Was not expecting much became best lasagna ever! Super long day riding scooter for 3.5 hours in heat and rain packed with luggage. Got last ferry to Samui. Even hotel reception was closed. Late, for dinner at least. 9:30pm. Lamai beach road is basically deserted. Hungry but didn’t expect much.

Pizzeria Tropicana Koh Samui was open with a mother and young daughter wrapping up dinner with some in some impromptu Italian lessons (Bella vs Bello meaning) from the friendly owner (manager?). Too much playful character and enthusiasm to simply be casual staff. True care for customers at the end of day. Menu had a blurb about bringing authentic Italian cuisine to Samui. Lasagna special on the entry sign board included garlic breads. Sounds good to me before even seeing the menu. Again, I wasn’t expecting much, hungry, tired and happy to find something open. Had my fill of Thai over the last 30 days and pasta sounded good. The lasagna was as sizeable portion on a full sized plate. Real parmigiana cheese grated on top after being cooked and before service The balance of hearty meat sauce, favour and perfect layered pasta was perfection. What could be better? Garlic bread with lasagna on top, that’s what! The garlic bread was thinly sliced and toasted just enough to be both crispy and soft. Fine minced garlic dotted the buttered bread. Amazing combo. The only crime is that I didn’t take a picture of my first order but it is sure not to be my last. Felt like robbery paying under 300 bhat. Highly recommended. My last pre-Covid trip of to Italy including Florence, Rome and Venice. I never could relate to people saying the food is best. Favour? ok, but the pasta was always too al dente, small portions and high cost. Best lasagna ever? Samui. Who knew? Now you do … you know what...

For some reason my original review has disappeared so time for an update. The Italian food here is probably the best I've had in Thailand and I've been coming here for 30 years, lived here for 4 of those. The tortellini with ham and cream sauce is to die for. The pizzas are as perfect as anywhere in Italy. The staff are wonderful and fun, owners likewise, very helpful. However, the best thing about the place is the Grappa selection...you seriously have to splash out on the higher priced offerings, you will not be dissapointed. I do have one major (for me) complaint though and that is they have TVs on the walls...do us and yourselves a favour and bin them. If I want to watch sport I'll go to a sport bar and not a top restaurant.

I'll be back in December and January and I've budgeted...

Stopped here by chance as it looked good wanting Italian food, mainly pasta but haven’t had much luck during our stay on many islands in Thailand. The food turned out to be extremely delicious, the staff very courteous and right on point with service. Dropped a napkin off my lap and before I could reach down, the waitress was grabbing it and handing me another. Finish a plate and it was cleared before we could even push it away. The food was fantastic and the staff was just as good or better. We found a new favorite but unfortunately we won’t be around long enough to keep coming back. We definitely recommend this restaurant as it was one of the best we’ve been to in our 6 weeks in Thailand. Don’t pass it by. We both had different pasta with...