3 Pastas + a Pizza for $32 — Mitaly Budget Pasta Review

A Sudden Pasta Craving in the Middle of a Beach Trip

My wife and I had driven down from Daejeon for a weekend trip to Sinan, a cluster of islands on the southwestern coast of Korea. After a full day of exploring, we crossed over into Mokpo — a port city nearby — on May 4th, 2026, the day before Children's Day. We sat in the car going back and forth about lunch, and after eating nothing but seafood since morning, we both suddenly wanted pasta. Eating out for pasta or pizza in Korea usually runs about $11 to $15 per person, which adds up fast. But Mitaly — a pasta franchise with locations all over the country — sells full bowls of pasta for under $7. They cover the whole Italian spectrum: spaghetti, risotto, pizza, you name it. Paying that little for made-to-order pasta and pizza honestly felt too good to be true. I searched to see if there was one near Mokpo, found the Yeongam Samho branch, punched the address into the GPS, and we were off.

Pulling Up to Mitaly — Not Gonna Lie, I Was Skeptical

When we pulled up, I had my doubts. The sign said Mitaly, sure, but the entrance was dead quiet — just a lone menu board propped up by the door. I genuinely couldn't tell if they were even open. My wife hit me with the "Are you sure this place is actually running?" and refused to get out of the car, so I walked up to the door myself to check.

Don't Judge This Book by Its Cover

But the second I walked through the door, it was a completely different vibe from the outside. The building extends deep, so it's way more spacious than you'd expect. Sky-blue walls, marble-top tables, chairs with gold legs — honestly, I thought I'd walked into a café. The wall lighting was warm-toned, and the whole space felt bright and clean, almost too nice for a pasta joint. I already knew Korean restaurants take their interiors seriously, but I didn't expect this level of effort from a place charging under $7 for a bowl of pasta. A family with a kid was eating at one table, and right by the entrance stood a kiosk — a self-ordering touchscreen machine where you pick your food and pay without talking to anyone. My wife came in and immediately said, "Okay, I feel silly for worrying." Honestly, same.

Ordering at a Tableside Kiosk — Standard Practice in Korea

We ordered straight from a kiosk sitting right on our table. Every table has one, so you just sit down, tap through the menu, insert your card, and your order plus payment are done in one shot. My wife was swiping through the screens picking out dishes, and it took a while because there are so many options. That said, browsing through all the choices is half the fun.

The Accidental Double Clam Pasta Order

So here's where I messed up. I accidentally tapped the vongole pasta twice on the kiosk. Didn't notice until after I'd already paid. But a staff member came over before I even had a chance to flag it down and asked, "Did you mean to order two vongoles?" She swapped one out for the seafood jjamppong pasta on the spot, and all I had to pay was the $0.75 price difference. No annoyed looks, no hassle — just handled it right away. That kind of service sticks with you.

Three Pastas and a Pizza Start Rolling Out

About 10 minutes after ordering, the seafood jjamppong pasta and the vongole came out first. The jjamppong was on the left — red broth loaded with mussels and shrimp — while the vongole on the right had a clean look with clams sitting on top of the noodles. The plates were bigger than I expected, and both servings looked generous.

A Full Pizza Plus Three Pastas for Two People, Under $35

Then the gambas pasta and pepperoni pizza arrived, and the table was completely packed. The gambas had slices of baguette resting on top, and the pepperoni pizza was big enough that it felt like almost too much for two people. All of this together for $32.25 — I'm still kind of in disbelief. A whole pizza and three bowls of pasta for under $35? My wife looked at the spread and said, "Where else on earth do you eat like this for that price?" I had absolutely no comeback.

Vongole Pasta for $7 — This Much Clam at This Price?

Vongole pasta, $7.15. Vongole is basically a clam-based oil pasta, and I wasn't expecting this many clams at this price point. The shells were open with plump, meaty clams inside, and you could see the olive oil coating the spaghetti with a nice sheen between every strand. There was a dried red chili and a shishito pepper sitting right in the middle — that dried chili is no decoration, it's the real deal. My wife popped it in her mouth without thinking and immediately reached for the water, and I just sat there laughing. The noodles were slightly overcooked, I'll admit, but given how many clams you're getting for this price, I could let that slide. The oil base kept it from being heavy, and mixed with the clam broth, it finished clean.

Signature Gambas Pasta — My Wife's Absolute Favorite

Signature gambas pasta, $8.60. If you're not familiar, gambas is shrimp sautéed in garlic oil — and here they pile the whole thing on top of pasta. There were four or five shrimp in there, and you could see crispy garlic chips fried golden and scattered between the noodles. Two slices of baguette came on the side of the plate, and mopping up the leftover garlic oil with that bread is a whole experience by itself. My wife went absolutely nuts over this one — said it was hands-down the best thing we ate all day. She kept going on about how the shrimp weren't chewy at all, just bouncy and tender, and how the garlic oil had soaked into every strand so that every forkful hit you with a wave of garlic aroma. I stole a bite and, honestly, couldn't argue with her.

Seafood Jjamppong Pasta — Korean Spice Meets Italian Noodles

When this one first hit the table, I thought it was a regular tomato sauce pasta. One bite in, though — totally different animal. Seafood jjamppong pasta, $7.90. Jjamppong is a Korean-style spicy seafood noodle soup, and that fiery, savory kick was woven right into the tomato base, making it completely distinct from a standard tomato pasta. Five or six mussels sat in their shells throughout the bowl, and half a crab was perched right on top, giving it the most dramatic presentation of all four dishes on the table. The broth was generous enough that even after I'd fished out all the noodles, I kept spooning up the soup on its own. I loved the spicy kick, but my wife preferred the gambas, so after a couple of forkfuls she pushed the whole bowl my way. Which meant I got to demolish it solo — not complaining.

Mitaly Pepperoni Pizza — The Standout of the Day

Pepperoni pizza, $8.60. I've always preferred this kind of simple pie over the style a lot of Korean pizza brands do — thick crusts loaded with every topping under the sun. Give me a thin crust with just cheese and pepperoni, like a classic margherita or pepperoni, and I'm happy.

So when this pizza came out, I knew it was my kind of thing — and it actually exceeded my expectations. The crust was thin and crispy, but the cheese was layered on thicker than I expected, so when you lifted a slice, it stretched in that deeply satisfying way. The pepperoni pieces were generously sized, too. A lot of chain restaurants in this price range do decent pasta but drop the ball on pizza. Mitaly felt like the opposite — their pizza game might actually be stronger. Honestly, out of all four things we ordered, this pizza was my favorite. I asked my wife if I could have just one more slice, and she shot me a look: "You already ate that entire jjamppong pasta by yourself." Fair point.

Final Verdict — An Honest Take on This Budget Pasta Chain

Look, if you're comparing it to a high-end Italian restaurant or some legendary spot in Rome, sure, there are things you could nitpick. The noodles were a touch overcooked, and there were moments where I wished the sauce had a little more depth. But those aren't fair criticisms to level at a pasta that costs less than $8. The lack of a dedicated parking lot is a minor inconvenience, but the street parking nearby made it a non-issue for us.

There's a Korean saying that roughly translates to "you get what you pay for." At Mitaly, that saying doesn't really apply. There are definitely places in Korea where cheap pasta tastes exactly as cheap as it costs. But here, I walked away feeling like I got way more than what I paid for. Three bowls of pasta and a whole pizza — two people ate until we were stuffed for $32.25. Considering what eating out costs in Korea these days, that's a pretty incredible deal.

The Trip Ended with Pizza, Not the Ocean

Walking back to the car and heading toward downtown Mokpo, my wife said, "Let's find a Mitaly back home in Daejeon, too." Since it's a nationwide chain with locations everywhere across Korea, you can just search for the nearest one whenever a pasta craving strikes during a trip — and that's honestly the beauty of a chain restaurant like this. On the eve of Children's Day, I never expected a beach trip to Sinan to end with pasta. But looking back, the most memorable part of the whole day wasn't the ocean. It was that pizza.

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