Pasta (2010) User Reviews

Food and Romance

[ottemis · 8/10 · 21 September 2019]

More Sun-kyun Lee as male lead please. I saw him in Coffee Prince and happy to say he performs well as the main male love interest. I've seen not everyone agrees reading the reviews but I found his character to be appealing. Making unlike-able decisions early on which become relate-able and understandable the more we learn of his backstory. And as we learn more about him, he slowly grows. It's subtle because he was always going to remain that stern ball-breaking chef, his strength professionally comes from that unbiased approach so it could not be compromised or he'd have lost all credibility. Even so, his struggle finding balance was fortunately still noticeable.

Hyo-Jin Kong is always a winner. I don't think anyone will disagree with me there. I am slightly bothered by the amount of abuse her character had to shoulder. I'm not just talking about the male lead but also her father who seems to show affection mainly by making her feel inferior. Are we supposed to see beauty in the one or two times her father shows a modicum of support because of that? While it should show how strong and determined she is, I couldn't help feel like she needed more magic in her life to make up for all the pressure she was under. I just would have liked to see more intimacy between the leads. Some more sparks and some fire! Why did they make me wait so long for a proper kiss! Eurghhh

In that lieu, i AM happy to see both second leads really were no match in threatening the main pair. I never felt like their interactions with the main pair would throw a wrench in their progress and I'm happy that was the case.

Lastly, the friction with the old president ultimately made him nonredeemable in my eyes, even though they tried to show his growth in the last episodes. Overall, this was a really enjoyable watch, but definitely not a rainbows and butterflies romance story.

I LOVE IT!!!!

[Meliiiika · 9/10 · 25 March 2022]

I love the comedy of this show and make me laugh every time I watch it. The cast are so cute tho.

You should definitely watch it and enjoy! I like it.

If realize it reflects dated male to female relations and are not looking for warm fuzzies it stands as a period piece

[leahcubed · 8/10 · 21 July 2020]

8/10 is my rating. This is a 2010 South Korean romantic tv drama with 20; 60 minute, episodes.

Seo Yoo-kyung (Gong Hyo-Jin) has worked for three years at an upscale Italian restaurant, La Sfera. Her dream is to become a pasta chef at last place her mother took her to before her death. Finally Yoo-kyung gets to move up and start making pasta but suddenly a new chef is hired and, due to a past incident, he does not like women in the kitchen. Chef Choi Hyun-Wook (Lee Sun-kyun) finds reason to fire all the women including Yoo-kyung. He trained in Italy and brings three Italian chefs who worked for him in Italy to fill the gap left by the women. Not one to give up, Yoo-kyung keeps showing up to work despite being fired. She is determined to fulfill her dream by learning all she can from this Italy trained Chef. Admiration turns to something more but Oh Sae-young (Lee Ha-nul), Chef's ex appears and she is determined to win him back. Sae-young is friends with the owner, Kim San (Alex Chu) who insists she get a job as Co-chef. Kim San has a secret crush on Yoo-kyung. With a cooking war between the Italian and Korean Chefs, a grouchy head chef who scolds at every turn and multiple love triangles, things really heat up in the kitchen.

I could tell this took place 10 years ago as the male to female relations were dated. South Koreans, in everything else I have seen, have closer equality between men and women than they did 10 years ago. I thought the chef was overly harsh in his methods and that she was treated unfairly at times for the simple fact she was a woman. Any time there was an undesirable task, all the men would suggest Yoo-kyung do it as the lowest ranking chef. I actually liked 2nd guy, Kim San, way better as he was very kind to everyone and watched over her for three years, hiding his identity and pretending to be a customer. I was really disappointed with the ending was because she had the opportunity to go to Italy and cook and he, without her knowledge, substituted one of the male cooks so that she was an able to go. He did not want her to leave which is understandable but it was selfish. She was concerned about her father and his health but I think if he had told her he would watch over her father while she was gone then she would've went. It seemed all the chefs that had not been trained in Italy were at a disadvantage and as a woman she already had a disadvantage. He had the opportunity to go to Italy as well so it would've been good had they just gone to Italy together. Heck the father was also a cook he could've gotten some training in Italy as well or at least lived there with them. I don't know I was just disappointed overall with the way she was treated and the fact that she didn't speak up for herself more. The second guy was actually much better to the women and I really like that. Overall it was good but the whole woman thing just kept it from being great for me. And I am not somebody who is strongly women's liberation I think a balanced approach is best. I think there are things women do better and things men do better but if a woman wants to do something or a man that is traditionally one sex or the other I think they should have all equal opportunity with it. It really bothered me the way the South Korean team treated her throughout. So I would recommend it as it is interesting to see what it may be like in a South Korean Italian kitchen but with the awareness that it is a period in time and the way the women are treated could be annoying to some.

THE BEST KD EVER

[backnblack-06123 · 10/10 · 28 February 2019]

This is hans down the best Korean Drama ever made its starts out slow and builds through out the 20 episode, the only KD that didn't get stale or repative.Learn the characters and let it breath

You will love it if you love food... and drama!

[elcarlos · 8/10 · 14 June 2012]

"Pasta" is the first Korean drama I saw in Netflix (Hulu also offers a lot of Asian shows) attracted for the theme focusing in a restaurant and food. I enjoyed this show because I like learning about different cultures and after watching the first episode I was totally captured for the plot and the high quality of this production.

"Pasta" is about a girl who wants to become a chef of an Italian restaurant in South Korea. At this point I should say that Korean dramas are very close related to Mexican soap operas but also have a lot of Manga elements. There is always a love story (many times a love triangle), a lot of comedy and, of course, a lot of drama. "Pasta" in particular has a lot of fun and you learn some cooking too.

So far I have watched three Korean dramas and I noticed that they usually have between 16 to 20 episodes of one hour each. The only thing that could bother a little bit about Korean dramas to Americans is the way women are portrayed kind of passive, but seeing this behavior in the three shows I guess is part of the culture over there. I can recommend also "You Are Beautiful".

A decent KTV Drama that's not without its problems!

[cremea · 6/10 · 4 October 2014]

Pasta is a 20 episode Korean TV Drama that aired in 2010.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Story: Yoo Kyung is a lowly kitchen assistant working at an upscale Italian restaurant. She works hard and dreams of becoming a top chef one day, but her life is soon turned upside down when an abrasive new head chef takes over the restaurant she works at and promptly makes everyone's lives miserable. The new chef (Hyun Wook) is a skilled yet demanding boss, and he's also a smug misogynistic prick who belittles everyone he comes across. Inexplicably, Yoo Kyung and Hyun Wook start to develop feelings for each other and soon begin a cautious relationship.

From there, it's standard K-Drama fare that employs the mismatched budding romantic leads plot, along with two alternative love interests with their own back stories, and a host of side characters along the way. Just follow along with everyone's personal & professional lives to see where it all goes. It's the same pattern as always, only this show takes place in a kitchen/restaurant environment (instead of a hotel, hospital, etc.).

PROS

• It's Predictability: There is something to be said for how comfortably familiar these shows often are. It's like wearing your favorite old jeans or sweatshirt, or, perhaps a better analogy would be eating your favorite comfort food; If you're a regular viewer of these types of shows, you know exactly how this particular show is going to "feel & taste" right from the get go.

• Lead Actress: Gong Hyo Jin plays Yoo Kyung; she's become one of the go to actresses for these types of shows in recent years, and she's really good in general at playing the "girl just trying to get by in life who stumbles into a romance". However, this is not one of my favorite roles for her.

• The Food: DO NOT watch this show on an empty stomach!...There aren't many shows that consistently presents food on screen so exquisitely as this one does; we're talking hard core food porn here as this show often focuses on the kitchen chefs creating and producing one fantastic looking dish after another. It's mostly Italian cuisine, with some Korean flair mixed in, along with lobster, filet mignon, fine dining meals, entrees, various presentations, and so forth. And, of course, lots and lots of pasta. Everything looks absolutely delicious!

• Soundtrack: Nobody does TV show soundtracks & musical scores like KTV does, and I think this is one of the most regularly undervalued aspects of all of these shows. As usual, there are a half dozen recurring melodies or so that are utilized to suit the varying moods as needed throughout this show, plus (if I remember correctly) a couple of a KPop stars on hand to sing a duet or two as per norm. This is not my favorite OST by any means, but I don't know how many times I've watched these shows and thought "that's a catchy & appropriate tune", "that's a nice song", etc.

• Pacing: This show does keep everything moving along. There is some repetitiveness to it, but very little of the endless pauses and longing stares of people reminiscing about stuff that just happened. I have very little tolerance for that nonsense in my K-Dramas.

• Ending: It's (SPOILERS) no surprise that everybody lives "happily ever after" in some fashion or another by the time it all wraps up.

CONS

• It's Predictability: Yes, this is listed as one of the "Pros", but this cuts both ways. If you're hoping for anything out of the ordinary or unexpected to happen here, you can forget it. There is little doubt what will eventually happen to all the players involved by the middle of episode 2. It wouldn't hurt for a few more of these shows to try to be a little more diverse every now and then.

• Endless Over Acting: The main characters don't have to endure this too much, but almost all of the auxiliary characters are forced to over act to the point of buffoonery at times. Sometimes this is cute & effective, but it's simply annoying and obnoxious way more often than not.

• Lead Actor's character: This is by far the biggest problem with this show! The lead male chef character is played by Lee Sun Gyun. He represents the stern teacher figure type that supposed to grow and soften over time as the main love interest, but his evolution is so poorly executed that he rarely ever becomes even an acceptable person (much less a love interest character to root for). What woman in their right mind would want to be with this guy?...He's arrogant, stubborn, childish, condescending, verbally abusive, and offers little in the way of being a desirable mate. And, the stupid smirk he's always wearing on his face doesn't help matters any. By extension, the mere fact that Yoo Kyung actually likes this guy reflects very poorly on her character.

Summary: It has its moments, and is by no means terrible, but the Cons often outweigh the Pros IMO. And, it's severely hampered by its choice to write the male lead character as they did; this guy is just way too much of a jerk for the viewer to identify with why the female lead character would ever like him in the first place. If this were real life, these 2 people would clearly be headed for a depressing relationship, or divorce, or worse, if they decided to be together long term. It would be one thing if this show were aiming for that type of future dismal outlook, but it's not; this is all somehow supposed to be romantic, and you're supposed to be persuaded that the male lead is just perfect for our female lead, and that everything will work out great between them in the end. I, however, think this show fails miserably at trying to accomplish that.

Bottom Line: 6 out of 10 stars!

Kitchen fun!

[TheodoraEh · 8/10 · 26 January 2023]

This was fun to watch, learning more about how a kitchen operates and all. I watched it a bit sped up cause it tended to be slow.

My only issue was the sound mixing, I don't know if it was because I watched it on my phone and this was clearly made for TV back in the day. But the music was unbearable at times, super loud and annoying. A couple songs were fine, but after 20 episodes of listening to the same music all the time, and at such a loud volume compared to the dialogue, I had to keep muting it at some points.

Other than that so I fill up this review, the lead actors are two of the most famous Korean actors and we can see why, they're really good.

Posso Fare !

[alaningle7 · 6/10 · 9 April 2021]

A kitchen assistant dreams of becoming a pasta chef, when her chance arrives a new head chef turns up and has a dramatic affect on her life. Well acted by Lee Sun Gyun playing the head chef and the ever reliable Gong Hyo-Jin playing the assistant. My main problem is the writers made the head chef a misogynist with the lame excuse of the way he was treated by an ex girlfriend and the assistant was consistently stupid and put up with his bullying behaviour. Lots of cooking action and good supporting cast but way too long at twenty episodes.

Tried Hard to Give This a Chance

[wheatley-20230 · 2/10 · 28 April 2023]

I watched 6 episodes of this before giving up on it. The female lead is easy to root for and the usual trajectory of korean romantic dramas means you have every reason to expect her character to triumph by the end of the series. But the male leading character is so objectionable that it becomes ever harder to stick with it. It is also increasingly impossible to believe that she would want to go anywhere near him.

Nevertheless the mismatched couple might have kept me watching.

However, the problems are compounded by virtually every other character offering almost nothing to draw on. Their characters are paper-thin and their behaviours beyond credibility. Korean dramas excel at characters and relationships. It's hard to understand how this one lost the plot so badly.

Poisonous Drama

[winanci · 1/10 · 27 May 2022]

This drama taught you to sacrifice your goals in life to stay in a relationship with an arogant man. Especially poisonous by showing that women should do that and it's ok to be a weak woman.. Very unrealistic... Kdrama with those handsome and pretty characters with pretty clothes and dresses everyday and every moment in their story are more realistic than this one.

Difficult to digest

[supergirlyu · 5/10 · 9 June 2022]

Very bad and confusing plot and characters writing. English translation was quite bad, making it difficult to get the humour or some conversations.

I couldn't make it past the pilot...