Hongdae pasta restaurant with a self-serve pickle bar: Pasta Go

Pasta Go, a super value-for-money pasta spot near Sanulim Theater in Hongdae, is hugely popular.

It's been a while since I went for Western food. Korean food is great, Japanese food is great, but sometimes you've got to indulge in Western food too. Hongdae is basically a sanctuary for all kinds of international folks, after all.

What we ordered at Pasta Go Hongdae Branch

Pasta Go Hongdae Branch has really reasonable pasta for the price. Plus the mini pizzas are under ₩5,000 — total bang for your buck. I'm the type who wants to try the original version wherever I go, so I ordered the original tomato. The mini pizzas come in three kinds — gorgonzola, pepperoni, and sweet potato — and I skipped the sweet potato one haha. Not really a fan of that.

Inside Pasta Go: the room and the crowd

The inside of Pasta Go Hongdae Branch is really clean, so there were a lot of groups of women meeting up as friends. Most people seemed to be there on planned meetups with friends.

Of course it's not only women — there were male customers too. One guy came alone and really enjoyed his Hongdae pasta before leaving.

Jihee ordered the garlic butter cream, and wow, this was way tastier than the original. Is that even allowed? I think I ended up stealing most of it.

I've been deep into interior design research lately, and I noticed the built-in speakers here were really well installed. Great sound, good placement, good speakers — the built-ins were done really well.

Is the self-serve pickle bar easy to use?

Pasta Go Hongdae Branch has a self-serve pickle bar, and since we're the type who eats a ton of pickles with pasta or pizza, we went back about three times. But since it's self-serve, it doesn't feel awkward at all. Great taste and portion for the price, and eating them alongside all that pasta, I could actually see the end of that huge portion.

The kitchen is fully open, clean, and the cooks' hands move incredibly fast and professionally. There were about three people in the kitchen, and every single one of them had exceptional skill.

Delivery orders kept coming in nonstop, and honestly, this place deserves it. The taste satisfaction is high, the portion is enough even for big eaters with just one serving, they don't skimp on ingredients, and the staff are kind on top of it all.

Among the photos and framed pictures hanging as decor, the dog drawing was my favorite. So cute. Those squiggly lines are so cute too, and look at that expression, those eyes — what am I supposed to do about that.

Two pastas and two mini pizzas on one table

Garlic butter cream pasta, gorgonzola pizza, original tomato pasta, and pepperoni pizza all came out. They brought everything at once, which made it easy to carry.

The arugula was so fragrant. When freshness is kept up like this, it means the turnover is really fast. Restaurants with low satisfaction don't get much delivery business either. This place clearly cares a lot about quality.

The pepperoni pizza had a thin crust, which is exactly my style — I wondered when I'd finish it, but it disappeared in no time. Actually we shared one pizza and took the other to go, but we ended up scarfing that one down too, leaving nothing behind.

Choosing the spice level for the garlic butter cream pasta

The garlic butter cream pasta was completely delicious. You can adjust the spice level, and setting it to about Shin Ramyun level hit the spot exactly. Spicy and rich at the same time — caught both rabbits at once. No wonder it was so good.

The gorgonzola pizza, topped with sliced almonds, gets dipped in honey.

The dinner rolls get dipped into the cream sauce. I think I ate in a total daze.

My two picks were both red sauce — tomato and pepperoni. I've made pasta at home with store-bought tomato sauce a few times, but it's definitely different from the store-bought stuff.

What the flat noodles taste like

The noodles at Pasta Go Hongdae Branch aren't the round kind — they're a bit thin and flat. I'd actually never had pasta made with this kind of noodle before, and the texture came out cooked al dente in a subtly appealing way. Now I want to try using different noodle shapes when I make pasta at home too.

It tastes like fresher tomatoes. The sauce clings well to the noodles and has really great savory depth. Seasoning pasta well isn't easy, but the seasoning here was spot on.

The cream got a bacon topping, and the tomato got shrimp. You can choose your topping ingredient. I think it would've been delicious either way.

Wow, how do they even make this cream sauce? Pasta Go near Sanulim Theater in Hongdae was totally charming. Whenever I think of pasta, I think this is the first place that will come to mind. Ate really well, thank you!