Daegu Italian restaurant for creamy pasta: Dana Dongseong-ro

A Dongseong-ro Italian restaurant busy even on weekday evenings

If you have been looking for an Italian restaurant in Dongseong-ro, you may have heard of Dana Dongseong-ro Main Branch (다나 동성로본점) at least once! This was not my first visit either—I have already been here several times. The prices are not too burdensome, the portions are good, and above all, the atmosphere is lovely, making it a nice spot for a Dongseong-ro date or blind date.

Dana is near Exit 10 of Banwoldang Station, close to the telecom alley.

I made a Naver reservation the day before and arrived around 7 p.m. on a weekday evening. Even then, it was nearly full. There were especially a lot of group diners that day, and people who came in after me had to wait on-site.

There was a tablet for walk-ins, where you enter your number if you need to wait and receive updates through KakaoTalk.

So if you are planning to come at dinner time, I recommend making a Naver reservation in advance. Reservations can be made from one day before your visit, and you can also receive a free drink coupon when booking.

A cozy atmosphere with floor-to-ceiling windows and mezzanine seating

The restaurant is right at the top of the stairs on the second floor, and it is more spacious than expected. With floor-to-ceiling windows, high ceilings, and a split-level layout, there is seating all the way up to the third floor. Most tables seat four, but tables can be joined for groups.

The soft lighting gives the whole place a cozy feel, which I personally loved. There were quite a lot of couples dining there when I visited, too.

It has an open kitchen. You order and pay in advance at the counter, then the food is brought to your table.

Cutlery and high chairs are available. And the wet wipes here were a little unusual: they are round, compressed wipes that soak up water and gradually puff up when you pour water on them.

What comes with the Signature Set and drink refills

As you would expect from an Italian restaurant, the menu includes a wide range of pasta, pizza, risotto, steak, wine, and more.

In particular, Dana is a little more affordable when you order one of its set menus.

I ordered the Signature Set! It includes baked risotto, one pasta of your choice, and one soft drink for ₩28,500. Add ₩1,000 and you can swap the included soft drink for an ade. Choose from blueberry, raspberry, mango, or soda ade!

After finishing, you can also get one free refill of a soft drink, so I refilled mine with cider. Considering the value, it seems like a solid set.

Pasta with a rich, thick cream sauce

There is one dish I always order when I come to Dana: the Cheongyang chili bacon truffle cream pasta. It is one of Dana's best dishes, with bacon and vegetables sautéed in butter, cream sauce, and Cheongyang chili peppers added to cut through the richness. I recommend it if you love cream pasta like I do!

For anyone who cannot handle spicy food, there is also a regular cream pasta without Cheongyang chili peppers. I ordered the version without the chilies today.

They use natural butter and cheese, and the cheese on top of the cream pasta is Grana Padano. I love cream pasta so much that it is almost all I order at Italian restaurants, and I liked this one because the portion was generous and the sauce was so thick and rich.

The bacon pieces were big, and the rich sauce went so well with the pasta. I ended up scraping up every last bit of sauce, haha.

Crisp outside, soft inside: baked risotto

I also ordered Dana's signature baked risotto. Apparently, it is Dana's signature dish among the rice options. Bacon, shrimp, and spicy cream sauce are mixed into the risotto, then topped generously with cheese and baked in the oven for around 10 minutes. That leaves the outside lightly crisp and the inside soft!

It was my first time trying risotto in this form, and the rice inside had a lightly spicy cream flavor that was completely my style. It tastes even better dipped in the sauce drizzled around the outside.

At first, I tried to cut it neatly with a knife, but it collapsed a little, haha. Rice is definitely easiest to scoop up with a spoon. The cheese stretched beautifully and its savory saltiness went wonderfully with the risotto.

Pepperoni and bulgogi half-and-half pizza

We ordered the pizza half-and-half. A regular large pizza is about 30 cm, and they use dough pre-baked in a wood-fired oven. You can choose two from cream cheese tomato, Hawaiian, pepperoni, bacon mushroom, bulgogi, and margherita. Gorgonzola cannot be ordered half-and-half because its base sauce is different.

We chose pepperoni plus bulgogi! They use tomato sauce simmered in-house for a long time and natural mozzarella, and perhaps because it is baked in a wood-fired oven, the dough was nicely chewy.

And of course, I did not eat the pizza plain. Like the food expert I am, I piled cream pasta on top of the pizza… and made a pizza wrap (?) haha. You have to fill your mouth like this for it to feel like a proper meal.

Hot sauce, garlic sauce, and pickles are served alongside, so you can enjoy them however you like.

Receipt review event and reservation tips

If you write a receipt review, you can choose one of five side dishes for free as part of the event. Make good use of the set menu and the receipt review event, and you can have an even more generous meal.

After visiting Dana Dongseong-ro Main Branch several times, I would recommend it to anyone looking for an Italian restaurant with a great atmosphere. Most of the diners there that day were couples. It was a weekday between 7 and 8 p.m., but customers kept coming in—it is that popular—so if you are worried about waiting, I think it is best to reserve ahead. In particular, Naver reservations can be made up to a day before your visit, so book in advance if you are planning to go!

From pasta to risotto and pizza, there are plenty of menu choices, and ordering a set makes the price easier to manage. It is somewhere I would recommend at least once to anyone looking for a good restaurant in Dongseong-ro.

The pizza crust I had to leave because I was so full, haha. If you love cream pasta like I do, give this Dongseong-ro pasta spot a try :)