Squid ink cream pasta at Gimpo Unyang-dong Italian restaurant Polia

I'd been craving proper Italian food, so I headed to Polia in Gimpo's Unyang-dong. The spot I visited was the Gimpo branch of Restaurant Polia — actually, this was a return visit! Let me share why I went back, along with a detailed review.

Where Restaurant Polia is in Unyang-dong, and what the room is like

Restaurant Polia is on the 2nd floor at 200-9 Gimpohangang-11-ro 438beon-gil, Gimpo, Gyeonggi, South Korea.

The space isn't overly casual — it has more of a proper restaurant feel, great for chatting over a meal, so it looked clean and nice for dates, family dinners, or meals with friends. The reason I came back to Polia was the sheer variety of the menu — pizza, pasta, and high-quality salads all in one place, which I really loved.

The four dishes ordered at Restaurant Polia

What I ordered: ricotta cheese salad, crab pesché, squid ink cream pasta, and margherita pizza

After ordering, the first thing to arrive was the pre-meal bread — a garlic baguette that wasn't chewy at all, moist yet crispy, with garlic flavor blended in so well it was really delicious.

Ricotta cheese salad: why it works before the pasta

After enjoying the pre-meal bread, the next dish out was the ricotta cheese salad. I ordered it to have something fresh before the pasta and pizza, and I was surprised it came out more generous than expected.

Ricotta cheese sat on top of fresh vegetables, so it looked clean and appetizing right from the visual. The soft, nutty flavor unique to ricotta combined with the crisp, refreshing texture of the vegetables made it light to eat without feeling heavy.

Especially if you're planning to eat creamy pasta or cheese-loaded pizza alongside, this kind of salad pairs really well as a side.

They cut the bread portion into easy-to-eat pieces for us.

It was cut into just the right bite-sized pieces, moist and chewy, and eating it with the crunchy vegetables was so good. The bread wasn't thick — it was moist and chewy, which made it great to eat together.

Margherita pizza: thin, crisp wood-fired dough

After the salad, the rest of the dishes came out in order, and of course, pizza couldn't be missing! I ordered the margherita. Pasta alone would have felt a bit lacking, so I added a pizza too — pasta and pizza really do need to be eaten together.

The crust was thin and crispy, wood-fired style, which made it light and clean to eat.

Margherita is basically the combination of tomato sauce, cheese, and basil, so compared to a pizza with flashy toppings, this one let you really taste the dough, sauce, and cheese properly.

Fresh out, the cheese stretched softly while warm, and the tangy tomato sauce blended with the nutty cheese so well — if you like thin, light-style pizza, margherita was a really satisfying choice.

The cheese quality was high too — cheap cheese tends to get hard or salty once it cools, but this stayed moist even after cooling down.

Squid ink cream pasta, with bread the owner slices at the table

And one dish I'd personally been looking forward to was the squid ink cream pasta. The moment it hit the table, the visual grabbed my attention. The bread, rich with the distinctive deep flavor of squid ink, blended with the cream sauce — a bit deeper than a regular cream pasta, with the bread soaked in the cream sauce coming together harmoniously.

After the pasta arrived, the owner personally cut the squid ink bread and gave us just the crispy part separately — the crunchy, toasted bread was really the highlight.

After eating the crispy bread, the rest could be soaked fully in the cream sauce and enjoyed together with the pasta.

It's a dish where the deep umami of the squid ink bread is added to the smooth cream sauce, making for a nutty pasta with real depth of flavor.

Crab pesché: the most satisfying dish of the meal

And the dish I was most satisfied with this time was the crab pesché. Since it's a seafood pasta with crab in it, the seafood aroma hit right away when the dish arrived.

Because of the crab, the broth itself had a much richer umami than a typical tomato pasta. Since the menu already had cream pasta and pizza, which could feel a bit heavy, the slight spiciness of the crab pesché cut through that nicely, and the deep seafood flavor kept me going back for more.

Pasta noodles came with nurungji (scorched rice) underneath, so you could enjoy the broth together — it had that spicy-broth-pasta feel that's great for curing a hangover. If you're ordering something creamy, I highly recommend the crab pesché!! If the cream pasta is soft and nutty, crab pesché has the umami of seafood plus the freshness of tomato sauce and a spicy kick that cuts through richness — such a harmonious balance.

How to order these four dishes as a sharing combination

By the time we finished the dishes, we ordered dessert and got an americano — clean-tasting, and great to enjoy alongside the food. Eating all four dishes together, I really felt the menu combo was well chosen.

• Start light with the ricotta cheese salad
• The nutty, deep flavor of the squid ink cream pasta
• The nutty, light margherita pizza
• The spicy kick and seafood umami of the crab pesché

Each dish had a different character, which made it an especially great combo for sharing when visiting with several people. If you're craving pasta in Gimpo's Unyang-dong, or want a decent-atmosphere restaurant for pasta and pizza together, Polia was a solid choice. It's especially suited to ordering several dishes to share with friends, family meals, or a slightly leisurely date. This time I tried four dishes, but next time I'd love to try the steak menu too. If you're looking for a place in Gimpo to enjoy pasta, pizza, and salad all at once, Polia in Unyang-dong is worth a visit.