Five Olives

Overview

Five Olives is an Italian restaurant on Pasak Koktanod Road in Thalang, near Bang Tao, holding a MICHELIN Selected listing for the consistency and technical skill behind its wood fired pizza. Notably, the restaurant is run by a Thai chef owner, an unusual and compelling detail for an Italian kitchen, who has developed serious command over Neapolitan pizza making despite the cuisine's distance from local culinary tradition. The pizzas here follow the Canotto style, known for puffy, char flecked rims and a light, airy base, a technically demanding format that requires real mastery of dough fermentation and oven temperature. This combination of an unexpected background and genuine technical achievement is what caught Michelin inspectors' attention, making Five Olives a standout in Phuket's growing Italian dining scene.

What to Order

While Five Olives is best known for its Neapolitan style Canotto pizzas, the menu extends well beyond pizza into a broader Italian repertoire. Expect home made pasta dishes with creamy sauces, built to complement the wood fired cooking that defines the rest of the menu. The pizzas themselves are the clear highlight, with puffy, char flecked rims and airy, well fermented bases that reflect real technical consistency from the wood fired oven, a detail that Michelin inspectors specifically noted. Beyond the food itself, the menu is designed with sharing in mind, making it a natural fit for groups wanting to sample a range of pizzas and pasta dishes together rather than each diner ordering a single individual plate. Vegetarian options are available, ensuring the pizza and pasta focused menu still accommodates different dietary needs within a group.

Atmosphere & Setting

Five Olives is designed around relaxed, casual group dining, with a sharing style menu that suits larger tables and social evenings out. Sea view seating adds a scenic dimension to meals here, while the restaurant's pet friendly policy makes it a flexible choice for travellers who want to bring along a dog rather than leave it behind. The overall atmosphere leans toward laid back and social rather than formal, fitting its moderate pricing and casual Italian focus. This makes Five Olives a good fit for larger groups, families, and travelling parties with varied needs, rather than an intimate, quiet dinner setting. The wood fired oven is likely to be a visual and sensory highlight of a visit, given its central role in the kitchen's cooking.

Location & Getting There

Five Olives is located on Pasak Koktanod Road in Cherngtalay, part of the Thalang district in northern Phuket, close to the broader Bang Tao area known for its resorts and beach clubs. This part of the island has seen considerable development in recent years, with a growing concentration of restaurants, cafes, and boutique hotels alongside its established luxury resorts. Visitors staying in Bang Tao, Layan, or Surin will find Five Olives a short drive away, while those coming from further south on the island should budget more travel time. The area is well served by taxis and ride hailing apps, and rental scooters or cars are a practical option given the more spread out nature of northern Phuket compared to the density of Old Town or Patong.

Good to Know

Five Olives sits at a moderate, mid range price point, priceLevel 2, suiting casual group dining without the premium pricing of some of Phuket's more upscale Italian restaurants. No advance booking is required, though arriving a little earlier on busy evenings helps secure a table with a sea view, particularly during high season when the northern beach areas draw larger crowds. The restaurant accepts card payment and offers a bar, vegetarian options, sea view seating, and a pet friendly policy, making it one of the more flexible dining options in the Bang Tao area. Groups in particular are well catered for given the sharing style menu built around pizza and pasta. Given its position within Phuket's fast growing northern dining corridor, Five Olives also works well as part of a wider evening that might include drinks at one of Bang Tao's beach clubs beforehand or afterward, since several are within a short drive. The restaurant's casual, sharing style format suits exactly this kind of flexible, multi stop evening rather than a single dedicated dinner booking.