Update On The Pizza Situation In Pai

[lsemprini]

For those who live in or frequently visit Pai and enjoy the pizza there as much as I do:

In mid-May, the large bamboo building housing Amido's Pizza was razed. The landloard kicked the tenants out of that whole riverside area. But fear not, Amido's will open again in a new downtown Pai location in a few months. This will be at least the fourth location of Amido's Pizza in Pai, so they are used to moving.

In the meantime, I just found out that the Thai lady Daeng who cooks the pizzas at Amido's is taking special orders by telephone every Saturday and Sunday from 5pm-7pm. She will come deliver your pizzas to your location! Her number is 081-179-7283. I hope this delivery precedent takes off...lord knows how hard it is to get out of your hammock and walk 5 minutes to get some pizza!

Other pizza options in Pai include "Baan Pizza/Latina," which has a very nice all-cheese pizza (with the much thinner European style pizza dough) and a nice fondue with focaccia bread. Tuna salad also very nice.

There is also Christina. I gave them two tries and both times received something with dry, cardboard-thin burnt bread with no cheese and few toppings. All of my friends who tried Christina had the same report. That was a year ago; I heard they might have improved since then, but I have not ventured to try. I did enjoy some pastas I ordered there.

It seems almost every restaurant in Pai has "pizza" on the menu, but I haven't heard anything good about the pizza from the non-dedicated restaurants.

Edited May 30, 2009 by lsemprini

[Ulysses G.]

Amido's Pizza is indeed excellent, but I do not see how "Baan Pizza/Latina" could possible have a thinner crust. I do not usually like it, but, somehow thin crust works for Amido's Pizza.

[thecatman]

The 2 times I've eaten pizza in Pai has been at Christina's, I enjoyed it the first time, so popped in there again on my visit the following year, It was good in there (for me at least).

I've never tried Amido's.....a 'must do' on my next visit I guess. It'll be a while before I next go again....that'll give them time to get their new HQ up and running.

[Shah Jahan]

I know somethings have shuffled around Christinas so I cannot vouch for the quality last year.

but as of this year, it is best pizza hands down in pai.

Amidos is good for his steak and lamb feasts, but not the pizza.

[ovenman]

Pizza Pai... now there's a business name for somebody (assuming it's not already taken).

[wayfarer108]

I find Christina's dry and a bit bland by comparison, and the service sloooow. Amido's still my first choice, tastier toppings, and they make the fastest pizza in town.

[wayfarer108]

I know somethings have shuffled around Christinas so I cannot vouch for the quality last year.

but as of this year, it is best pizza hands down in pai.

Amidos is good for his steak and lamb feasts, but not the pizza.

I just reread your post and realized I haven't been to Christina's since last year. Will give it another try next weekend.

Edited May 31, 2009 by wayfarer108

[lsemprini]

There is also Christina. I gave them two tries and both times received something with dry, cardboard-thin burnt bread with no cheese and few toppings. All of my friends who tried Christina had the same report. That was a year ago; I heard they might have improved since then, but I have not ventured to try. I did enjoy some pastas I ordered there.

I decided to give "Da Cristina" (spelling corrected) a third chance. To maximize my chances of success given the problems I had before, I ordered the all-cheese 4-cheese pizza. I got something that was a definite improvement from last year: the dough was quite a bit thinner than Amido's, and crispy (it kept its shape more than Amido's) but not burnt to a distasteful charcoal crisp like the two previous times I had been there. There was a reasonable amount of tasty cheese too, and a few spices. Another customer had a Napoli pizza that also seemed to have a reasonable amount of cheese. I did find the dough kind of tasteless though; it almost reminded me of a cracker or matzah bread. Price was around 200 baht, slightly higher than Amido's would charge if Amido's had a cheese-only pizza (given that the Amido's pizza with basil and tomato costs around 160 baht), although the Cristina pizza included several kinds of cheese. When I looked at the menu, I remembered another problem I had encountered at Cristina: several pizza recipes had sweet bell peppers, which I love on pizza, but it turned out (last year) that they were pickled sweet peppers from a jar, rendering the whole pizza almost inedible. The last thing I want on a pizza is vinegary formaldehyde preservative taste, plus it's really unnecessary as they do sell nice sweet bell peppers here in the day market in Pai. I haven't checked whether or not they still use picked peppers now, but beware...

Overall, I definitely still like Amido's better. I prefer the thicker crust, which I find much tastier, even though it is not crispy.

Word of advice: avoid the veggie Pizza at Amido's because, unlike any of the other recipes, it is too liquidy and the pizza becomes soggy. If you are veggie, get the margherita.

[punkrock192]

in my opinion you can find the best pizza in Pai at the Blue Restautant down by the river. has been good for 4 years now...

[Pond Life]

Seems to be all the pizza talk is centering around Amidos & Da Christina.

For my pennies worth I says Baan Pizza is very good.

Nice location, clean pleasant restuarant, fair prices.

& I think the pizza is good to.