I agree, Kuta is nice for some shopping or drinking a beer in the Hard Rock bar but full of tourists.
If you consider to go to Bali and you want to be among the locals you might want to check out
www.homebalihome.com which is from my friend. He built that house and knows all about the island.
Its in the Jimbaran area, full with nice restaurants at the beach.
Seminyak is super relaxed and with by renting a scooter or car you can explore all the nice areas/beaches in Bali.
Don't let people make your crazy about extreme muslim stuff in Bali because the island it self is Hindu and the locals don't like how the extreme muslims have damaged their lives and tourism.
Even the normal muslims in Indonesia take a distance of the extreme stuff because they bring their religion a bad name.
The more east you will go in Indonesia the more Christian it will be. I'm myself from the island Timur which is is Catholic / Christian and the only muslims there are imported by the governments trans-migration policies.