ITALIAN KITCHEN · PAKSE
ITALAO Restaurant
Street-side pizza Handmade dough Two big characters
ITALAO is a young Italian restaurant in central Pakse where the maestro and Stiki work a street-facing pizza station with handmade dough, strong personalities and a kitchen I keep coming back to for pizza, pasta and, very often, mojitos.
- 01 Meet the maestro and Stiki
- 02 Watch the pizza station
- 03 Pick pizza or pasta
- 04 Stay for a mojito
The food is good, but the personalities at the front are what stop ITALAO from feeling like an anonymous Italian restaurant.
FIELD NOTES
THE QUICK READ
ITALAO Restaurant / Laos
TIME
DINNER
a relaxed central Pakse Italian night
ROUTE
CENTRAL PAKSE
near Sanga Hostel · opposite the market area
BUDGET
ITALIAN DINNER
check the current menu for prices
BEST FOR
PIZZA + CHARACTER
handmade dough · pasta · mojitos · open counter
THE DUO
The maestro and Stiki are half the reason I like the place
There are cooks and servers working behind the scenes, but the two people I immediately associate with ITALAO are the Italian owner and Stiki. They both have strong personalities, they are warm, funny and very much what I would call bons vivants. That matters because you do not feel a hard separation between the people making the food and the people eating it. The pizza station is right at the front, so conversation, jokes and the work itself all happen in the same space. For me, that human side gives the restaurant much more character than a technically perfect but anonymous Italian dining room ever could.
THE PIZZA
You can watch the pizzas being made from the street
The pizza side of the restaurant is deliberately visible. Walking past, you can see the dough being handled, the toppings going on and the two of them working at the front. The dough is made by the maestro himself, and it is one of the things I rate most highly here. Pasta and the rest of the cooking happen farther back in a kitchen guests do not really see, so the pizza counter becomes the public face of the restaurant. It makes the place feel alive before you have even sat down.
MY TAKE
I come back for the food, even if I order a lot of mojitos
The joke, in my case, is that the thing I probably consume most often at ITALAO is the mojito. But I genuinely like the food. The pizzas are excellent, I enjoy the pasta, and the restaurant uses selected products imported from Italy where that makes a real difference to the result. I would recommend the place very easily, but as a personal recommendation rather than because every Italian dish has to fit one fixed definition of authenticity. What I like is the combination of good ingredients, very good pizza dough and two people at the front who clearly care about what they are serving.
THE LAB
A young restaurant that is already building its own little production system
ITALAO only opened roughly a year to a year and a half ago, so it is still a relatively young restaurant in Pakse. The next step is a small laboratory in the neighbouring street where part of the food preparation can be handled separately from the dining space. I find that worth noting because it shows the project is already moving beyond simply opening a restaurant and serving from one kitchen. It is starting to build its own production rhythm while keeping the front counter small, visible and personal.
FIELD NOTE · BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Sit where the pizza counter is part of the evening
For me, ITALAO makes the most sense when you treat the open pizza counter as part of the restaurant rather than background machinery. The front is where the character is: you see the dough being worked, you see the two personalities behind it, and the whole place feels more alive because the kitchen is not completely hidden from the street.
QUESTIONS BEFORE GOING
ITALAO Restaurant,without the guesswork
Five things worth clearing up before you go.
What makes ITALAO different from another Italian restaurant?
For me, it is the combination of the food and the two people at the front. The Italian owner and Stiki have huge personalities, and the pizza station is open to the street, so the preparation itself becomes part of the atmosphere.
Are the pizzas made in front of you?
Yes. The pizza station is right at the front and visible from the street. You can watch the dough and pizzas being worked while the pasta and other kitchen preparation happen farther behind the public area.
What do I personally like to order?
I like both the pizzas and the pasta, and I recommend the food strongly. In practice, though, I probably order more mojitos here than anything else.
Does the restaurant use imported Italian products?
Yes, selected products are imported from Italy. I would not describe every ingredient as imported; the important point is that Italian products are used where they contribute something specific to the food.
Is ITALAO an established old Pakse restaurant?
No. It is still relatively new, opened roughly a year to a year and a half ago, and the team is continuing to develop the operation, including a small preparation laboratory nearby.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
ITALAO Restaurant,at a glance
The practical details worth keeping close before you go.
Pizza station
Visible from the street
The front counter lets you watch the pizzas being prepared while you sit or walk past.
Pizza dough
Made by the maestro
The dough is one of the strongest parts of the pizzas for me.
Pasta
Prepared in the back kitchen
The pasta side of the operation is less visible than the street-facing pizza counter.
Team
Italian maestro + Stiki
Stiki is Lao, spent most of his life in the United States and has now returned to Laos.
Imports
Selected Italian products
Imported ingredients are used where they contribute something specific rather than as a claim that every product comes from Italy.
My drink
Mojito
It is probably what I personally order most often here.
KEEP IT IN YOUR ATLAS
Save ITALAO Restaurant for the road.
Keep this field note close. Add it to My Atlas now, or open the map when you are ready to work out the route.
