Italian dining on Koh Samui has matured noticeably in the past decade. What used to be a small handful of generic Mediterranean kitchens has grown into something more specific: regional Italian restaurants, Neapolitan pizza purists, family-run beach kitchens, polished resort dining rooms, and a clutch of newer venues built around cocktails as much as food.
Most of the activity now sits along the Bophut and Fisherman's Village strip, where several of the ten below are within a short walk of each other. Chaweng holds its own with longer-running resort restaurants and busy beach-road operations. At the northern end, Bang Po offers something quieter.
What earns a slot on this list: handmade pasta or pizza, kitchens led by Italian operators or chefs with serious Italian training, and a menu that reads as Italian rather than vaguely Mediterranean. Pizza-only operations, sit-down restaurants, and beach-dining kitchens all qualify; quick-service casual chains do not. Less measurable but just as relevant is the kind of consistency a regular would notice across a year of visits.
2 Fishes
Bophut beachfront, five minutes east of Fisherman's Village. Chef Leandro Panza's open kitchen turns out handmade pasta, locally landed seafood, and premium Australian cuts under high ceilings, with a wide outdoor terrace looking onto the bay. Antipasti for sharing, BBQ snapper, and vongole pasta come up most often in regulars' notes. The room is more polished than rustic, the pace is unhurried, and the dining suits both a long lunch and a sunset table. The bar runs an Italian-leaning wine list alongside a full cocktail menu.
- Bophut beachfront, east of Fisherman's Village
- Tuesday to Sunday, 5:00–10:30 PM (closed Mondays)
- Reservations recommended; beachfront tables sell first
VERIFIED2 Fishes
Fresh Italian seafood by the bay.
Nonna & Son
A two-storey Italian kitchen on Chaweng Beach Road with a daily-fresh pasta board, a wood-fired pizza oven on the ground floor, and an upstairs terrace that lifts diners above the street noise. The menu runs broad: brunch through midnight, mac and cheese, truffle fries, lobster pasta, lasagne, and Neapolitan-style pizza that comes out of the oven leopard-spotted. Service is unusually attentive for the volume the room handles. Weekend evenings book out fastest, and the upstairs terrace is the cooler seat.
- Chaweng Beach Road
- Daily, 10:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Walk-ins fine off-peak; book ahead via Instagram for weekends
Nonna & Son
Authentic Italian cuisine in a cozy grandmother's kitchen setting
Prego
Set just back from Chaweng Beach within Amari Koh Samui, Prego has been serving Italian on the island since the early 2000s, longer than most restaurants on this list. The room is polished without feeling resort-stiff: an open wood-fired pizza oven, a spacious indoor dining hall, and a terrace running toward the sand. The kitchen is led by a dedicated Italian chef, and the menu carries one of the broader gluten-free and vegan ranges in Samui's beach dining scene. Daily specials are worth asking about at the table.
- Within Amari Koh Samui, Chaweng Beach
- Mon–Thu 12:00–10:30 PM; Fri–Sun until 12:00 AM
- Reservations recommended in high season
Prego
Authentic Italian flavours by Chaweng’s shoreline
Vero Italian Kitchen & Cocktail Bar
A newer arrival in the centre of Fisherman's Village, opposite the 7-Eleven. Vero pairs handmade pasta and wood-fired pizza with a confident cocktail programme: Aperol Spritz and aperitivo plates pull diners in early evening, and on-site gelato closes the meal. The Sicilian leaning shows up in the small plates more than the menu headers, with truffle arancini and tagliatelle alle vongole among the regular orders. Live guitar a few nights a week shifts the energy from quiet trattoria to something more sociable.
- Fisherman's Village, Bophut
- Tuesday to Sunday, 1:00–11:00 PM (Mondays from 3:00 PM)
- Reservations advisable for weekend dinners
Vero Italian Kitchen & Cocktail Bar
Authentic Italian in Fisherman's Village.
Pepenero
Tucked off the main road between Mae Nam and Bophut, Pepenero is the rare Samui restaurant that commits to a regional Italian focus rather than a national one: Northern Italian and Lombard cooking, prepared with imported ingredients and finished by Chef Alain. Owner Paolo runs the floor and the menu, and the wine list runs to around seventy labels with serious Italian names included, Sassicaia and Ornellaia among them. The garden room is intimate by design, and the Assassina pasta and beef ragu are repeat orders.
- Off the main road, Mae Nam / Bophut border
- Tuesday to Saturday, 6:00–11:00 PM (closed Sundays and Mondays)
- Reservations essential; small room, deliberate pacing
Pepenero
A corner of Italy on Koh Samui with authentic Northern-Italian cuisine
Gusto Italiano
An Italian family business in Fisherman's Village, Gusto runs two adjacent venues on the same stretch of sand. The kitchen, led by Head Chef Gianluca Cervellieri, plates fresh daily pasta, Neapolitan-style pizza, and seafood with imported core ingredients. Owners Roberto and Marco are usually somewhere in the room. Tables are set on the beach at the water's edge, and the dishes that earn return visits include seafood risotto, puttanesca pasta, and burrata. Closed Tuesdays.
- Fisherman's Village, Bophut
- Mon, Wed–Sun, 1:30–10:30 PM (closed Tuesdays)
- Beachfront tables: book ahead via WhatsApp or phone
Gusto Italiano
Authentic Italian dining by the sea in Fisherman's Village
Riva by The Deck
A more recent addition to Fisherman's Village, Riva is paired with the boutique property The Deck Cottages and serves breakfast through dinner. The room sits just off the beach rather than directly on it. The menu is shorter and more focused than its neighbours', and the dishes that recur in reviews are caprese salad, lobster pasta, truffle chicken pasta, and grilled squid. Cottage guests can also order to their rooms, which gives Riva an easier in-and-out feel than a typical evening restaurant.
- Fisherman's Village, Bophut
- Daily, 7:00 AM – 10:30 PM
- Reservations recommended for dinner
Riva by The Deck
Italian comfort dining in Fisherman’s Village
Pizzeria Sorte
Thailand's only Pizza DOC certified Neapolitan pizzeria. Sorte's Bophut branch runs a single-craft kitchen with the ritual that implies: 24-hour leavened dough, San Marzano tomatoes, imported Italian flour, and owners who travel back to Naples each year to keep their technique current. The room is functional rather than scenic, with full air-conditioning indoors and outdoor seating for evening breezes. Margherita DOC and Napoletana are the orders to start with; large pizzas open at around 290 baht, which is unusual value for the standard.
- Bophut, near Fisherman's Village
- Tuesday to Sunday, 1:00–11:00 PM (closed Mondays)
- Walk-ins generally fine; WhatsApp the venue for weekend tables
Pizzeria Sorte
Thailand's only Pizza DOC certified authentic Neapolitan pizzeria
Sassy
On the second floor of the Haven Samui mall a short walk from Chaweng Beach, Sassy is best read as an Italian wine bar and grill rather than a beach restaurant. Handmade pasta, Australian steaks, fresh local seafood, and a wine list with a strong glass-pour selection. The dining room is contemporary, fully air-conditioned, and built for the evening rather than the lunch crowd. Service is attentive, and the venue is linked by reputation to an earlier sister beach venue, which keeps regulars coming back.
- Haven Samui mall, second floor (near Chaweng)
- Daily, 12:00–11:30 PM
- Reservations recommended in high season
Sassy
Italian wine bar flair above Chaweng
Villa Luna
The northernmost venue on this list. Villa Luna sits directly on the quiet sands of Bang Po Beach with views across to Koh Phangan. The kitchen is French-Italian rather than purely either, with a wood-fired oven driving pizzas and slow-cooked meats, and homemade ravioli on the regular menu. Tables can be set on the sand at sunset, and a rotating evening programme of live music, jazz, and themed events makes some nights livelier than the location suggests. Getting to Bang Po from Chaweng is a deliberate choice.
- Bang Po Beach, north Samui
- Daily; check the evening programme before booking
- Phone or walk-in; advance booking advisable for sunset
Villa Luna
Wood-fired French–Italian dining on Bang Po beach
Italian cooking on Samui isn't one thing. It's a Lombard wine list in a hidden garden, a Neapolitan oven keeping monastic discipline on dough, an Italian family running tables on the sand at the waterline, and a French-Italian kitchen at the quiet end of the island. The ten venues above don't agree on what good Italian food on Samui looks like, which is exactly what makes the scene worth eating through.
Run a venue on Koh Samui?
Samui Beach Club lists every beach venue on the island free of charge, with paid tiers for verified listings and priority placement in discovery. List or upgrade your venue here.