Hat Yai Food and Restaurants - Page 8

Hat Yai Restaurant Listings Page 8

For a general overview of the food scene in Hat Yai see Hat Yai Food and Restaurant Listings Page 1. The following restaurants are some of the places I've eaten at in Hat Yai.

Saneha Restaurant

Address: 3 Sanehanusorn Road, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Telephone: +66 (0)74 261545
Map: Map 3

Latitude: N 07° 00' 20.1" (N 07° 00.335')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 16.8" (E 100° 28.280')

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Comments: The Centara Hotel is one of the most expensive hotels in Hat Yai, but its Saneha restaurant provides very good value.

On the menu are Thai and Western dishes. The Western dishes are good, if a little expensive for local prices. The Thai food is excellent, slightly unusual, and cheaper than many lesser restaurants nearby. I highly recommend the baked rice cooked in a pineapple, the sweet and sour shrimps in a coconut, and the chicken panang and beef mussaman curries. With each dish, you can taste that the ingredients used are fresher and of a higher quality than many other restaurants.

The restaurant is elegant and spotlessly clean. The service is excellent. I started eating there often after one particularly unpleasant rat experience elsewhere. I am very used to living in Southeast Asia but the 'Third World' experience of living in Thailand does have its limits.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays they do a fabulous all-you-can-eat buffet for the giveaway price of Bt215 (it used to be Bt185 and it might be more expensive now). The buffet food is excellent consisting of Thai curries, classic Western dishes and freshly cooked pastas. The evening buffet at the Novotel is probably the best food bargain there is in Hat Yai.

It gets even better. For just Bt100 you can buy a discount card which entitles you to a 15% discount for one whole year.

This restaurant is highly recommended but, even so, it is usually fairly empty apart from Tuesdays and Wednesdays when lots of hotel guests and resident Hat Yai regulars turn up for the buffet feast.

Diner Comments: No diner comments yet. Be the first to comment. If you've eaten here and wish to provide some feedback, send an e-mail to phil@phil.uk.net, or use the following form. Comments will be added anonymously.

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Santa Fe

Address: 677 Phetkasem Road, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110 (inside Carrefour)
Telephone: +66 (0)74 469180
Map: Map 2

Latitude: N 07° 01' 08.5" (N 07° 01.142')

Longitude: E 100° 29' 08.7" (E 100° 29.145')

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Comments: Santa Fe always seems to promise a lot, but never quite delivers what it promises. Maybe it's me, but I always come away feeling a bit underwhelmed and disappointed.

It looks like a typical American restaurant; the restaurant has a railway theme and part of the dining area is inside a replica train carriage. However, that's where the similarity ends with the real thing.

During my working life I spent a lot of time in the US and ate at many American restaurants, and that's maybe why I am critical of Santa Fe in Hat Yai.

For example, if you order a steak it only comes with a few fries instead of a real portion, and the salad sauces are sweet Thai versions instead of the real thing. Because of how the restaurant looks, you expect the food to be authentic American-style food, but it never quite comes up to scratch.

It's OK if you fancy a change from fried rice, but if you are a real aficionado of America food, don't set your expectations too high.

Santa Fe is located inside the Big C Extra superstore on Phetkasem Road.

Diner Comments:

I ordered a salmon steak with spaghetti and it came with a very sweet sauce. After I tried the dish, I explained it to the manager, that sugar belongs into the coffee and not on a salmon and refused to pay the bill. Never again. (2011)

To add your comments, send an e-mail to phil@phil.uk.net, or use the following form. Comments will be added anonymously.

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Sawoei

Address: 41 Soi 10 Rajuthit Road, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Telephone: +66 (0)74 424979
Mobile: +66 (0)86 550 7280
Map: Map 1

Latitude: N 07° 00' 05.1" (N 07° 00.085')

Longitude: E 100° 27' 50.5" (E 100° 27.842')

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Comments: Sawoei is a large restaurant outside of central Hat Yai in the Nat Yai Nai area just off Raj Uthit Road. The name of the restaurant is the verb 'to eat' using royal Thai vocabulary.

This is another place in Hat Yai that isn't really suitable for people dining alone or in couples. It's really intended for large groups of people. For this reason it attracts large groups of Malaysian tourists and it is also a popular place for Thai business owners to take their staff for an annual treat. Quite a few local Thais I know have only ever eaten here as a result of their boss taking them, and I was also taken by my boss!

Several years elapsed between my first and second visits but when I returned I was quite impressed with the food. It is mainly seafood but well prepared and very tasty. The service is also good with the staff being very used to looking after large groups of diners.

I have walked from central Hat Yai but it's quite a distance. Every taxi driver in Hat Yai will know Sawoei so it's not a problem getting to by tuk-tuk or motorbike taxi.

Diner Comments:

Very bad experience here, I ordered a curry but the chef decided that because i was a farang I would not like it so made an awful soup that smelled and tasted a little like urine :( My boyfriend had squid that tasted of nothing and was really rubbery while My friend had chicken that was raw and blood poured out as she bit into it, upon complaining they just threw the chicken back in the deep fryer and brought it back out on the same plate, blood and all. My Thai friends and co-workers thought this was an hilarious story but agreed that it was unacceptable. I would definitely never go back or recommend it. (October 2011)

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Seventy Two Degrees

Address: 235/6 Supasarnrangsan Road, Soi 4, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Mobile: +66 (0)81 898 4214
Map: Map 2

Latitude: N 07° 00' 33.5" (N 07° 00.558')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 43.5" (E 100° 28.725')

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Comments: This is a really nice little place with good food, friendly staff and a comfortable atmosphere with brightly coloured wooden tables. It is also air-conditioned and there is free Wi-Fi.

They serve a good selection of Thai food and also a number of steaks, including beef, pork, chicken, fish, crocodile and ostrich.

I haven't been impressed with many of the local Thai-style steak restaurants, but this is very good. The steaks I've eaten there have been quite large, tender, and the sauces are really tasty.

As usual at these places they give you very few French fried with your steak, but when I have asked for more they have done so and not charged me any extra.

They also bake cakes, if you have a sweet tooth, and there is a good selection of hot and cold drinks.

Prices are very reasonable, with a chicken steak costing Bt79, a beef steak Bt169 and an ostrich steak Bt199. Pork steaks are Bt119, dolly fish Bt129, snapper Bt169, salmon Bt199, and crocodile Bt159.

The name of the restaurant in Thai is, "jet-sip-sawng ong-saa."

The opening hours are 08:00 to 22:00 (closed on Mondays).

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Shabuji

Address: 502/6 Phetkasem Road, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Telephone: +66 (0)74 225598
Map: Map 2

Comments: This restaurant, which opened at the end of 2009, caters very much to local tastes. Hat Yai has gone crazy for Japanese food in the last few years and lots of Japanese restaurants have sprung up.

This one has a conveyor-belt sushi section where customers sit at a counter and take any passing dish that they like the look of.

Also on offer is what Thais refer to as Suki. This is where raw meat and vegetables are boiled in a pot at the table. I'm not over keen but Thais seem to love it. There is also a more traditional buffet section.

The restaurant charges one price (Bt299) and you can eat as much as you like. It's located on the same road as Carrefour (on the same side), but before you reach Carrefour if you drive out from central Hat Yai.

The opening hours are 17:00 to 22:00.

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Shabu Shi by Oishi (NOW CLOSED)

Address: Lee Gardens Plaza, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Map: Map 3

Latitude: N 07° 00' 20.1" (N 07° 00.335')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 16.8" (E 100° 28.280')

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Comments: Businesses (especially restaurant businesses) open and close so frequently in Hat Yai that it is difficult to keep up with what is happening - even if you live in Hat Yai.

This Japanese conveyor belt sushi restaurant has now closed and been replaced with a Korean buffet restaurant called the 'Cheese Owl'.

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Shanko's Hive

Address: Juti Anusorn Road, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Map: Map 2

Latitude: N 07° 00' 47.4" (N 07° 00.790')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 35.2" (E 100° 28.587')

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Comments: Shanko's Hive is the in-house restaurant for Hansa JB Hotel. It's not going to be that convenient if you are in the Lee Gardens Plaza, but if you are over by the JB Hotel it's a nice place.

It's comfortable, nicely decorated with lots of framed photos on the walls, the service is good, and the food is tasty. The restaurant is open quite early in the morning for breakfast and you can order a Western breakfast, Thai boiled rice, or Chinese dim-sum.

Like the vast majority of restaurants and coffee shops these days in Hat Yai, free Wi-Fi is offered. I have sat here quite a few times with a laptop updating this website.

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Sing Sing (Vegetarian) (NOW CLOSED)

Address: Supasarnrungsan Road
Map: Map 1

Comments: In recent years quite a few of the small vegetarian restaurants in Hat Yai have either closed or merged with other vegetarian restaurants. This one disappeared a few years ago.

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Siri Dim Sum

Address: 105 Suansiri Road, Hat Yai, 90110
Telephone: +66 (0)74 261616
Map: Map 1

Latitude: N 07° 00' 47.0" (N 07° 00.789')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 20.0" (E 100° 28.347')

Google Maps: Street Map or Satellite View

Comments: We've already established that Hat Yai is a very Chinese town and, as might be expected, there are a lot of dim sum restaurants. However, they are all quite different. The food at some is excellent, while at others it is mediocre at best. Which is the best?

Many locals have told me that Chok Dee is the best place in town and that this is where visiting Bangkokians come to eat. It is also very popular with visiting Malaysian tourists. I've been there a number of times and I disagree. I've also been to a number of other places that I won't return to.

Siri is one of my favourite dim sum restaurants, the other being Tai Sun. It doesn't look like much from the outside and it is very basic inside, but the dim sum is excellent. At the time of writing, each dish costs Bt16.

Food preparation starts the night before and goes on into the early hours of the next morning. The restaurant opens for business at around 6am and closes at around 11am.

The nearest landmark is the SC Heritage Hotel, which is less than 100 yards away. From this hotel, start walking towards Juti Anusorn Road and you will see the restaurant on your left.

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Sizzler, Lee Gardens (NOW CLOSED)

Address: Lee Gardens Plaza (first floor)
Map: Map 3

Latitude: N 07° 00' 20.1" (N 07° 00.335')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 16.8" (E 100° 28.280')

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Comments: After Central Festival opened there was a mass exodus of restaurants and retail businesses from Lee Gardens Plaza. Before Central Festival, Lee Gardens Plaza was the mall where everyone wanted to be. Now, everyone has gone to Central Festival and Lee Gardens Plaza is starting to resemble a ghost town.

Sizzler stayed around for a few years, but then followed everyone else and closed the Lee Gardens Plaza Restaurant some time in 2016. If you want to eat at Sizzler in Hat Yai you now have to go to Central Festival.

Diner Comments:

I enjoyed an Australien steak made to order, and they can do it, contrary to many other Thai restaurants. The salad bar comes with it. Besides a great variety of veggies it also offers soups, deserts, and fruit. The price for the - all you can eat- salad bar was up to 139 THB if you just want to eat from the salad bar. At another Sizzler in BKK recently, the salad bar was up to 179 THB. It should be the same in Hat Yai by now. (2011)

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Sky Buffet

Address: 33rd floor, Lee Gardens Plaza
Map: Map 3

Latitude: N 07° 00' 20.1" (N 07° 00.335')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 16.8" (E 100° 28.280')

Google Maps: Street Map or Satellite View

Comments: The top floor of Hat Yai's tallest building (Lee Gardens Plaza) is a restaurant. The views are great; you can see all of Hat Yai and far beyond. That's the good news.

Now for the bad news. I've only eaten there a couple of times, but I was extremely disappointed with the food on both occasions. Perhaps I went at the wrong time, but the buffet offered very little choice and the food wasn't at all good. In fact, it was pretty dire. I was so hungry when I left that I had to make a visit to McDonalds on the ground floor.

If you want to enjoy a good buffet meal the buffet at the Novotel's Saneha restaurant just across the road is far, far superior and easily worth the extra money.

Of course, your experience may vary.

Diner Comments:

Had the lunch buffet today. I'm 62 so I got the "old peoples' price......119 baht". I've been in Thailand 30 years and know what's good.....it wasn't! Limited choice of cheap dishes, pathetic attempt at the salad table, hardly any fruit choice, no cold meats or bread and no cakes. I've had a lot better at their price of 169 baht. Would only go there again 'cause I'm an old a..e and get cheapee price. (October 2012)
When I got there at about 13.30h the salad bar was almost complety empty. It took them more than 30 minutes to fill it up. The dishes in those silver bowls - i.e white cabbage with pork- did not look very convincing. I tried some duck in a brown, probably msg-enriched sauce...., waited for the salad, and nobody of the service staff asked me, what I might want to drink. Never again. (2011)

To add your comments, send an e-mail to phil@phil.uk.net, or use the following form. Comments will be added anonymously.

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Somtum Chaba

Address: Soi 4, Supasarnrangsan Road
Map: Map 2

Latitude: N 07° 00' 36.8" (N 07° 00.613')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 41.5" (E 100° 28.692')

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Comments: Food from the Isaan region is popular all over Thailand, Hat Yai included. You can get it everywhere but locals definitely have a preference for certain places over others. This is one such place and it's always busy.

I can eat Isaan food - and sometimes a plate of somtum really hits the spot - but I'm not that wild about it.

If you aren't keen on hot and spicy Isaan food, they also serve fried rice and other dishes that won't set your mouth on fire.

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Sor Hueng

Address: 180 Petkasem Road, Hat Yai, Songkhla, 90110
Telephone: +66 (0)74 244529, +66 (0)74 348421
Mobile: +66 (0)89 876 0911
Map: Map 3

Latitude: N 07° 00' 27.0" (N 07° 00.453')

Longitude: E 100° 28' 08.0" (E 100° 28.140')

Google Maps: Street Map or Satellite View

Comments: Hat Yai is Chinese dominated and lots of restaurants serve a mix of Thai and Chinese food. This is one of them. It's quite large inside and located on Petkasem Road opposite Gim Yong market and very close to the VL hotel.

The restaurant serves both kaaw gairng (the ready-prepared dishes) and ahaan dtaam sung (food made to order).

As usual with Thai names and places, the English transliteration they use is hopeless. The 'Sor' is a very short 'Soh' and the 'Hueng' is a short, wide-mouthed, single-syllable 'Heung'.