Mum Aroi in Naklua - UPDATED May 12, 2014

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

Whenever the best restaurants in Pattaya are discussed, Mum Aroi is quickly mentioned. It's a mega-seafood restaurant on the beach in North Pattaya, more precisely on Naklua Road Soi 4. Depending on traffic, it can take 20 minutes or more to get to Mum Aroi from Central Pattaya by taxi or chartered baht bus.



--

Most of the diners are Thais and other Asians, which is usually a indication the food is good. There may be seafood restaurants in Pattaya that hold the same standard as Mum Aroi, but none that is better, especially when it comes to the sheer number of dishes on the menu. And like several other restaurants in Thailand, you can even order fried horse crap - with lime!







I've never attempted to count the number of tables at Mum Aroi, but I've read it has about 100 and can easily handle 500 guests at once. Even with this high capacity, it's often full during peak hours between 5.00 pm and 7.00 pm. If you aspire to a seaside table that gives the best view of the sun setting over the ocean, you should make a reservation.







Mum Aroi is all about seafood done Thai style. If you're looking for some other type of food, you'd better go elsewhere. I didn't notice one single farang dish on the menu. The service staff speaks very little English, so if you don't speak Thai and aren't content to order by pointing to the pics, you should have a Thai speaker with you.

Although busloads of Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese tourists visit Mum Aroi every night, farang diners remain a small minority. I believe this depends to some degree on Mum Aroi's location, but also to the fact that many short-term vacationers simply don't know it exists.

The flavor of the dishes can't be faulted, but they tend to arrive in no particular order. If you want the dishes to arrive in a set order and spaced out over time, order them separately. That is, when you're half-way through the first two dishes, order the next two. When those dishes are close to finished, order the next dishes and so on.


The meal we had the night before I flew to the U.S. was relatively simple.

Crab:







Fried whole fish:






Squid with preserved eggs, a personal favorite of mine:






Seafood stir-fry:







There are a few Thai dessert dishes on the menu, but if you want ice cream or cake, there's a little place attached to Mum Aroi:



The total bill, including a large Singha for me and Coke for the lady, was 850 baht. I have more pics from earlier visits to Mum Aroi, but they'll have to wait until I'm back in Pattaya at my PC.

Bottom line: Visit Mum Aroi if you want great seafood. You won't be disappointed.

Evil

Edited May 12, 2014 by Evil Penevil

[Gabor 296]

Thanx for the report....really useful... I will stick to the Lung Suway... despite many times played with the idea to try this restaurant too...

[steamer 158]

I went one night with oddball and a Thai girl. The waitstaff were lying arrogant cunts so we decided not to even order after the fiasco with our drinks. We then found the taxi touts outside quoting crazy prices so we walked a bit and grabbed a bahtbus.

[jacko 8,899]

I have given up on this place, my last visit being a year ago.

My views are not as extreme as steamer, but do go a little way down that road.

 

It isn't far from where I live so always an attractive option, rather than driving into town and struggling with traffic and parking.

The problem is, the place is so popular....... and a single couple, falang and Thai wife, well you are likely to get a table near the toilet or kitchen,and as EP suggests, that is what the crowds are doing. The large groups seem to be ordering throughout their meal.

The food was certainty, good, the menu extensive ++, but the large groups will dominate the staff and kitchen.

I also felt I was treated offhandedly once.

[bigmick 840]

I like the location, but agree the service is shite, and the dishes ordered come out over a long period of time and sometimes they forget some of what you ordered. I wont go back as I found they had tried to "add" drinks to our bin.

 

For a great mean out with friends, I still prefer the Vientiane on South Pattaya Road / Soi 1

[Fatboyfat 361]

Have to agree with the shit service quotes. I have always gone there as the only farang in a reasonably large party of Thais (6-10). The Thais complain about the service and we no longer go there. I was told that "they only care about the tour bus loads", and therein lies the other problem with the place.

[Odense 509]

Thanx for the report....really useful... I will stick to the Lung Suway... despite many times played with the idea to try this restaurant too...

 

Where is Lung Suway (or is that Uncle Suway) ?

[MM 6,562]

Where is Lung Suway (or is that Uncle Suway) ?

 

Far south end of Jomtien Beach Road.

 

This link will hopefully show the street view https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=Lung+Sawai+%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A7&data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d100.895883!3d12.860431!2m2!1f145.6!2f88.03!4f75!2m7!1e1!2m2!1sI0bAu7iXNkuQO5G3agupow!2e0!5m2!1sI0bAu7iXNkuQO5G3agupow!2e0!4m32!2m14!1m13!1s0x0%3A0x4b8741242d45aced!3m8!1m3!1d386!2d100.8963098!3d12.8604267!3m2!1i1366!2i610!4f13.1!4m2!3d12.8603757!4d100.896222!5m16!2m15!1m14!1s0x3102961460cd5587%3A0x7e68a9a9cb1a43c4!2sFLB+Niteclub%2C+110%2F3+Moo+10%2C+Walking+Street%2C+Pattaya%2C+Chon+Buri%2C+Thailand!3m8!1m3!1d20715857!2d-95.677068!3d37.0625!3m2!1i1366!2i610!4f13.1!4m2!3d12.925684!4d100.871697&fid=5

 

Click on the BACK TO MAP picture in the lower left to get the map view.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

(or is that Uncle Suway) ?

 

There was (is?) an Uncle Sawai or Swai. You can read about him here: Lung Sawai Seafood Restaurant.

 

Evil

[Odense 509]

Thank you guys

[ikkrang 490]

Odense, ask your current company about seafood restaurants. She loves seafood, and knows a few good ones.

 

I found mum Aroi indeed dissapointing in the service, and also found their quality wasn't always top notch.

 

I believe best seafood restaurant on this coast is Ruan Talay, in Bang Saray. There are about 4 sizable seafood restaurants there, overhanging the sea, Ruan Talay is the furthest, and the best. Great service good ambience and location, and consistently good food.

[oddball 55]

I went one night with oddball and a Thai girl. The waitstaff were lying arrogant cunts so we decided not to even order after the fiasco with our drinks. We then found the taxi touts outside quoting crazy prices so we walked a bit and grabbed a bahtbus.

Oh yes I remember this place well. Long Island Ice Tea isnt a cocktail so we couldnt have a jug errr then why is it on your cocktail list, errrr no hab jug

 

Funny now but at the time was infuriating

[qman 0]

+1 to all who will not return to Mum Aroi in Nakula. I went last year during lunchtime on a weekend with a Thai lady and we received very poor service. They got the order wrong, brought things one by one (not really unusual here) and never brought one item which we had to explain to take it off the bill as we were ready to pay and leave since did not want to wait a lot longer for one last item. Was a great disappointment and I will not make the drive to there again to put up with that level of poor service. View was good but that is about all.

 

However, must say the Mum Aroi on 3rd road north of Pattaya Klang has been a better experience the times I have eaten there. Just avoid the Nakula site. I consider Mum Mai Aroi.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I paid a return visit to Mum Aroi yesterday evening. The food was as good as ever, but this time round, the service proved to e slow, although not otherwise problematic. We had to wait a long time to place our initial order, but once it had been taken, the food came relatively quickly and without any misses. We had asked for and been given a seaside table, so I amused myself with taking pics of the sunset while waiting to order.

 

I didn't mind the wait, but a certain young lady who had accompanied wasn't happy. She declared the wait staff at Pupen "take good care" of guests while the staff at Mum Aroi was rather nonchalant. I don't it's deliberate. Yesterday they had a huge number of guests that streamed out of tour buses. Virtually all were Asians and mostly Thais. I saw only a few other farang.

 

We had wanted to crab, but it was already sold out, even though we got there at 5.45 p.m.

 

The two ladies split a plate of oysters:

 

 

We all shared the deep-fried sea bass in soy sauce.

 

 

 

 

I don't know the name in Thai, but the soup was spicy and sour with fish eggs. I really liked it because of the strong lime taste.

 

 

 

We ordered two other dishes as well, but I didn't take photos of them. The ladies had a spicy seafood salad and we all shared a big plate of steamed shrimp which was particularly good.

 

This dessert won't make you fat.

 

 

 

The total cost of the food for the three of us was 1,500 baht.

 

The place is truly huge and while not crowded, it was indeed busy, which can cause problems with the service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What follows are pics of the view from our table. The sky was cloudy, so there wasn't much of a sunset.

 

Evil

 

[MM 6,562]

EP that's as busy as I've ever seen it. I'm amazed you're not still there waiting for your meal to be served.