Best Italian at Times Square Yeongdeungpo: The Place (더플레이스)

I’ll admit it — I’m a snob about Korean-corp Italian. Specifically, I notice when “Italian chain” means a kitchen that buys pre-made sauces from a central commissary, when “wood-fire oven” is decorative and does not actually fire, and when the menu is so safe it could have been written by a focus group in 2009. Most major-corp Italian restaurants in Korea fail at least two of those.

The pizza dough hit the wood oven and 90 seconds later came out blistered black on the bottom and pillowy on the cornicione — the kind of leoparded crust that tells you the oven is actually 480°C, not 250°C playing dress-up.

My parents-in-law go to The Place every other weekend after Times Square shopping — they call it ‘the safe Italian.’ That is half-compliment and half-truth. Korean F&B conglomerates like CJ have spent two decades figuring out how to deliver “Italian that won’t scare anyone.” Sometimes that means flat. Sometimes it means a chain executes its concept better than half of the indie spots in Itaewon. The Place is the second case.

Korean name	더플레이스 영등포 타임스퀘어점
Neighborhood	Times Square Mall, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul (서부 서울)
Subway	Yeongdeungpo Station (영등포역, Line 1) — 타임스퀘어 몰 직결
Price range	₩₩ — ~₩40,000–60,000 ($27–$41 USD) per person
Signature	Wood-oven pizzas + properly built pastas + Crunchy Polpo
English menu	Yes — full English menu, English-speaking staff
Foreign cards	Visa/Mastercard accepted
Hours	Mall hours (typically 11:00–22:00) — check Naver Map
Reservations	Recommended on weekends. CatchTable accepts English bookings.
Map	Google Maps · Naver Map

The Spot — Mall-Located, Walkable, Easy

What We Ordered (Two People, Heavy)

Antipasto — Crunchy Polpo (₩22,000 ($15 USD))

The Pastas

Scallop & Shrimp Olio (가리비 관자 올리오) — ₩28,000 ($19 USD)

Cheese-Crisp Amatriciana (치즈칩 아마트리치아나) — ₩19,500 ($13 USD)

Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi (카치오 에 페페 뇨끼) — ₩26,000 ($18 USD)

The Pizzas

Honeycomb Mortadella Toto (허니콤 모르타델라 토토) — ₩26,000 ($18 USD)

Arugula-Prosciutto with Burrata Add-On (루꼴라 프로슈토 + 브라타) — ₩25,000 ($17 USD)+

Cinque Formaggio (친퀘 포르마지오) — ₩22,000 ($15 USD)

The Wine Note (Important)

• Reds: good selection, with a strong Montepulciano d’Abruzzo bias. The reds we tried were genuinely solid — bright cherry-and-spice, food-friendly, well-priced for the room. Order off the red list.
• Whites: skip. The white selection is thin and the bottles we sampled were forgettable. If you want white, go elsewhere.

Practical Notes for Visitors

• Cards? Yes. All major.
• Parking? Yes — Times Square mall parking with validation.
• Foreign-friendly? Very. Full English menu. English-speaking staff on the floor. One of the easiest Italian places in Seoul to navigate without Korean.
• Reservations? Recommended on weekends — peak mall traffic.
• Best for: date night, group dinner with mixed ages, business lunch, or “we don’t want surprises tonight” dining.

The Verdict

Go. Take Line 1 to Yeongdeungpo Station, walk straight into Times Square Mall, find the dining floor, and order the wood-oven pizzas + at least one properly built pasta + the crunchy polpo. Don’t try to find a hidden alley. Don’t pretend you came for a destination chef’s kitchen — you came for reliable Italian. Reserve on Catch Table for weekends.

P.S. Second visit is when you stop ordering “one of each” and just commit to two pizzas + one pasta + the polpo. (Trust the polpo.)

Been to The Place? Tell me what you ordered — drop a comment below.

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