Mitaly in Yeongam: Pasta and Pepperoni Pizza, Compared With Rolling Pasta

On May 4, 2026, my wife and I went to Mitaly's Yeongam Samho branch for a late lunch. We had skipped lunch and showed up starving. I usually go to Rolling Pasta, the chain from Korean celebrity chef Baek Jong-won, but this time I wanted to try another brand, so we gave Mitaly—a pasta and pizza franchise with locations across the country—a shot.

From the outside, it looks like a plain delivery joint, but once you step in, the room stretches back much farther than you'd expect. We ordered two vongole pastas, the Signature Gambas Pasta, and the Mitaly Pepperoni Pizza, and below I've written up how everything compared with Rolling Pasta, the place I usually go.

The building is an ordinary one-story strip of shops, and each storefront is narrow. Because the frontage was so slim, I wondered before going in whether there was anywhere to sit, and I assumed it was a delivery-only restaurant—even with a menu board standing out front. Once inside, I was relieved to find the room ran a long way back. We had driven all the way from Daejeon to Gwangju and made another stop on the way, so a place where we could sit down and eat was especially welcome.

The dining room was quite clean. A long upholstered banquette runs along the wall, the tables have a marble look, and the lighting is warm, and it struck me as a space women would like. Sure enough, a lot of the customers were women. The neighborhood also seemed to have a lot of foreign residents.

The same white palette from the previous photo carries over to this wall. With the arched wall niches and warm lighting, it felt closer to a café than a pasta restaurant. From the entrance it looked like a delivery-only spot, so the cute, carefully decorated interior was a real contrast.

You order your food and pay on a tablet at each table.

Most people in Korea pay by card or mobile, and cash use is fairly low, which is why ordering works this way.

If you want to pay with cash or gift vouchers, you have to order through a staff member instead of the tablet, and a sign above the tablet says, in both Korean and English, that cash (voucher) orders should be placed at the counter. The screen in the photo was showing a promotion for the Basil Cream Gnocchi and Mushroom Basil Risotto.

The menu board out front listed a promotional bundle called the All Day Set.

You choose two mains (pasta, risotto, or pilaf), one pizza, and one fruit ade, and the board showed the price as 34,800 won, down from up to 37,900 won.

That board reflects what I saw on my visit, and since some time has passed, the promotion or prices may have changed. Check the current menu when you go.

What landed on our table: vongole pasta, the Signature Gambas Pasta, the Seafood Jjamppong Pasta, and the Mitaly Pepperoni Pizza.

The vongole came with plenty of clams, and I'd give the deep seafood flavor high marks. On heat alone, though, Rolling Pasta's version was a little better. Mitaly's noodles had more bounce.

The gambas pasta came with shrimp, garlic, and slices of baguette, but I honestly don't remember much about the flavor.

The seafood jjamppong pasta—named for the spicy Korean seafood noodle soup—came in a red broth with mussels and crab. The pepperoni pizza tasted better to me, someone who has always found Rolling Pasta's pizza lacking, and it was the dish I'd praise most that day.

We ordered two bowls of the vongole pasta. The menu describes it as pasta flavored with garlic and clams in an olive oil base. In the photo you can see clams still in their shells, dried chilies, and parsley, and the noodles have a glossy coat of oil.

I'd give the deep seafood flavor high marks. If heat is all you're judging, though, Rolling Pasta, my usual spot, was a little better. Mitaly's noodles, on the other hand, were bouncier and had a nicer chew. If spice matters a lot to you, keep that in mind.

Up close, open clams were tucked all through the noodles. The meat was still sitting in the shells, so they were easy to pick out one by one. Golden pieces of toasted garlic and dried chilies were scattered throughout, and a long green garnish and chopped parsley sat on top of the noodles. A shallow pool of oily broth had collected at the bottom of the bowl, which looked perfect for coating the noodles.

Gambas is Spanish for "shrimp," and the dish usually means shrimp and garlic gently simmered in olive oil. Mitaly's menu describes its version as a Mediterranean-style pasta flavored with plump shrimp in olive oil. The Signature Gambas Pasta I ordered had several shell-on shrimp, thinly sliced garlic, dried chilies, and a long green garnish on top of the noodles, with two slices of baguette on the side. Oil had pooled around the edge of the plate. The olive oil flavor came through strongly, but it wasn't greasy. I don't remember the rest of the flavors well, so I can't say much more.

The seafood jjamppong pasta arrived with noodles sitting in a shallow red broth, along with mussels and crab. The menu bills it as a good hangover pasta. I expected a sharp, tomato-based jjamppong pasta, but it turned out to be spicy, with a heat level on the higher side. It also tasted a bit like a Korean-style pasta. My wife didn't like it as much as we thought she would. A review of Mitaly's Seolleung POSCO branch also named this dish, along with the spicy Rosé Maepje Pasta, as one of the hotter items, and called it a decent lunchtime hangover pasta. Everyone feels heat differently, so keep that in mind when you choose this one.

The dish I'd praise most that day was the Mitaly Pepperoni Pizza. The menu board out front listed it at 11,800 won. Even in the photo you can see the thin crust browned at the edges and cheese covering the entire top. The pepperoni was spread evenly across the pie, and up close you can even see oil seeping out through the melted cheese.

Above all, the cheese was really delicious. I think cheese makes or breaks a pizza, and this one was very satisfying on that front. I usually eat at Baek Jong-won's Rolling Pasta, and while I like the pasta there, the pizza has always let me down. That made this pizza even more welcome, and to my taste it was better than Rolling Pasta's.

I mentioned earlier that I was happy with the value and portion sizes, and this pizza did the most to deliver that. If you're torn between ordering just pasta or adding a pizza, I'd suggest adding the pizza. If you love cheese, I think you'll be happy with it.

I took this photo of the table after we finished eating. What's left on the plates says more honestly how satisfied we were than saying "it was delicious," so I wanted to capture it.

On the Signature Gambas Pasta plate, the noodles and shrimp are gone, leaving only oil and dried chilies.

The vongole plates are nearly empty, too, with only the oily broth and clamshells left. In the photo, just one slice of pizza remains. By the time I took the picture, we had already eaten most of everything. I said I was happy with the value and portion sizes, and the fact that the plates were this empty even though the portions were large shows that satisfaction.

The seafood jjamppong pasta, by contrast, still had a fair amount of noodles left, with the mussel shells sitting on the plate. As I mentioned, my wife didn't like it as much as we expected, and the photo shows how much more was left compared with the other dishes. Since I found its heat on the higher side, I think it's a dish that will split people depending on taste.

All in all, the gambas pasta, vongole pasta, and pepperoni pizza were the dishes we nearly cleaned off that day. Only the seafood jjamppong pasta didn't suit our taste.

We didn't order these—they're dishes I saw on a banner standing on the sidewalk outside.

The yellow and white banner carried the name TONKASTA in big letters, with a line calling it the meeting of tonkatsu and pasta. It showed four items: Carbonara Tonkasta, Tomato Tonkasta, Spicy Rosé Tonkasta, and the Tonkatsu Fried Rice Set.

Each plate looked bright, with a crisp-looking pork cutlet next to pasta in cream, tomato, or rosé sauce, plus cherry tomatoes, radish, and baby greens.

The fried rice set paired the cutlet with sauce and fried rice and was pitched as a filling meal.

We didn't get to try them this time, but I'd love to when I get the chance. After all, there's a branch in our own neighborhood!

Restaurant: Mitaly (MITALY) Yeongam Samho branch. Address: 98 Sinhang-ro, Samho-eup, Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City. Phone: 061-461-1235. Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (last order 8:00 p.m.), as checked on October 27, 2026. Regular closing day: Thursdays (as checked on October 27, 2026). Parking: no dedicated lot; street parking (based on other reviews). Ordering: order and pay on the table tablet; for cash or gift voucher payment, order at the counter. Visit: late lunch on May 4, 2026, two people (my wife and me). Order: two vongole pastas, the Signature Gambas Pasta, and the Mitaly Pepperoni Pizza (43,200 won total, no discount applied); the seafood jjamppong pasta was paid for on a separate receipt. Payment: my wife paid.

We drove all the way from Daejeon to Gwangju for this stop, and unlike what it looked like from outside, the room stretched far back and was clean, so we ate comfortably.

The vongole pasta had a deep seafood flavor and bouncy noodles, and we nearly cleaned our plates of the gambas pasta and pepperoni pizza, too.

The pizza in particular, with its delicious cheese, made up for what I always found lacking at Rolling Pasta, and it was the dish I'd praise most that day.

The seafood jjamppong pasta ran a bit spicy and didn't suit my wife's taste, so think about how much you enjoy heat before ordering it.

I've only been to this one branch, so I can't speak for Mitaly as a whole, but I plan to visit the Daejeon branch in my neighborhood sometime.

I'd also like to try the Tonkasta I saw on the banner out front when I get the chance.