Mandolino Pizzeria Thong Sala — Restaurant in Surat Thani Province

As far as western food goes, this one is seriously up there. Went once on a hungover whim and immediately came back the next day. Portions are large and the pizza is authentic with a light dough that has the perfect balance of char and chew. Service is good and food arrives promptly On my first visit, I opted for garlic butter shrimp followed by a simple margarita with artichoke. I was unprepared for the size of the appetiser but had at it nonetheless.. Plump and meaty shrimp perfectly cooked, were served in a generous sauce with fresh made flatbread to soak it all up. I should be remiss in not passing on how a drizzle of chilli oil elevates an already superb dish..

Margarita should always be a litmus test of sorts for any Italian joint, same as dal for any Indian. Pleased to say it passed with flying colours, as mentioned above, a delicate, light base with complimentary ratios of chew and crisp. Tomato base is rich and flavorful, likewise the mozzarella is soft and chewy, the artichoke al-dente. My second visit was no different in terms of food quality, only my order being the garlic shrimp & sweet chili pizza, as such the above is applicable, the only real difference being how concomitant the base is to the shrimp texture. Doubtless I shall be back again and would give Mandolino’s a very...

Saw this place on some blogs and their reviews but it felt misleading. We ordered burrata salad, meatball pasta, and the seafood spaghetti. All tasted mediocre, service was alright, not super friendly or unfriendly. What bothered us was that there was a water shortage on the island which was understandable, but the toilet was extremely dirty, with mops right next to the toilet seat, at the time we went, they had some water shortage so flush was manual. Also there was a big cockroach in the toilet which can happen, but given the look of the state of the bathroom, it does not help bring the hygiene standardsup very high. The tap does not work, so they had a bucket of water to clean your hands, but then you would have to touch the unclean handle to scoop water to soap your hands then rinse with the same handle. At least there should be some hand sanitiser provided especially in cases like these... This restaurant could be good but from what we experienced was a lack of hygiene standards and makes it difficult to trust the cleanliness...

Pizze are great! Of course, pizze it's like burgers, you have your favourite way of having it. And what's nice with Mandolino, it's that you can decide between big crust (Napoli style) and thin crust, that's super neat! You can also decide for a very traditional pizza recipe (toppings), or go totally international and order something that the traditionalists would kill you for, like pizza al Ragu (Bolognese) + pineapple (which is apparently insulting to ask in Italian restaurants that take themselves too seriously)... Lastly, you can have your pizza "sandwich style", which is just over the top satisfying!

Toppings are good, crusts are good, and service is...