I had been seeing posts about Wala Pizza Private Dining and the raves about this place, and that really piques my curiosity. So when Wala Pizza is collaborating with Anto Pizza e Aperitivi for a limited time, I immediately secured a reservation in order to satisfy my curiosity.
The Truffle Carbonara from Wala Special Menu is really unique and very flavourful. The dough has the texture similar to that of a super fluffy bread and an inherent sweetness similar to that of sour dough bread. I love this dough. In fact, the pizza tastes better when eaten with the fluffy edge of the dough to balance the strong flavours.
This pizza is full of goodies such as bacon, guanciale, runny eggs, truffle oil and yes, pepper! In fact, I feel that the pepper is the highlight of the pizza because it makes the taste unique and exciting.
Overall it is a good and interesting pizza.
The exterior of the restaurant is of nice quaint shophouse covered with gorgeous pastel green tiles with floral designs. The interior is like this cool stylish bar. Since I’m seated at the outside, I just caught a fast glimpse of the interior only. All in all, this is a nice place to chill and enjoy some hearty Italian treats.
Though an outing here makes me realise that ambience is so important for me to enjoy my dining experience. Being seated right at the entrance, right beside the reception, right at a low table, right behind a high table makes me feel like an afterthought. It’s like I was the last patron to secure a seat (I’m not) and they begrudgingly squeezed out a corner for me, where my space and comfort is of least concern.
Yes, I do feel slightly better when I see previous photos showing that low table beside the reception is always there actually. But this doesn’t take away the fact that I do not have the space I expect in a fine dining establishment. The constant stream of patrons passing by me (I lost count of the number of hips in close proximity to my head while I was eating), me being constantly present to hear every greeting by the friendly nice service staff (not her problem since she is doing her job, the problem is where I am seated), the need to constantly shift my not-so-long legs out of the narrow pathway for people passing by (there is less than 1 metre distance between my table and the high table, and my table is too low for my legs to go under comfortably) and the constant view of 3 persons at the high table towering over me (the height difference in close proximity gives the illusion like I’m eating off the floor beside them), all makes me want to quickly finish my pizza and get out of there.
I don’t really enjoy the pizza despite it being good (note that I say it is good while I have used bigger words in my other posts). Okay, to be fair, the dough is fantastic. And luckily I didn’t order wine straightaway upon arrival (I will always order wine or sake or cocktail if I start to feel good at the restaurant or patronise my favourite restaurants) since I totally lose the mood to wine and dine soon after. And I regret taking a cab to get there on time when obviously nobody is going to take that seat for the whole night anyway.
For the record, I had dined al fresco before at another restaurant, and I like the experience there. High tables, cool crowd, a distance from the reception and ample space, you know the deal.
If you are dining solo or in pair, and comfort is top priority to you, or if you are very tall, avoid that table beside the reception. Request to change or just cancel. I wish I did that, but I was thinking, “Um, this looks weird, but it may be fun and relaxing.” Well, it is not.
Thoughts: Nice Pizzeria
2 Jiak Chuan Road