Aria Cucina Italiana

About Aria Cucina Italiana

Twenty-six regional pizzas, one wood oven, and an Italian executive chef who has held this stretch of White Beach for two decades: Aria Cucina Italiana sits in the D'Mall at Station 2, the dining room opening straight onto the sand. Salvatore Vincentis runs the kitchen on imported Italian staples and produce from the restaurant's own organic farm. The pizzas span the regions — a Bufalina at ₱760, a Salmone e pesto at ₱990 — and the Spaghetti alle Vongole is the dish regulars order. Plan on ₱800 to ₱1,000 a head.

The Kitchen

Salvatore Vincentis is the Italian executive chef behind Aria, and the kitchen runs on his standards: mozzarella di bufala and core staples flown in from Italy, vegetables and herbs from the restaurant's own organic farm on Panay. The wood oven turns out twenty-six pizzas keyed to Italian regions — the Bufalina (₱760), the Salmone e pesto (₱990), the Quattro Stagioni, the Calabrese — while the pasta station sends Spaghetti alle Vongole, Aglio olio e peperoncino and a wood-oven baked pasta (₱550). Grilled specials change with the catch.

Aria has worked this beachfront spot in the D'Mall at Station 2 for more than twenty years, which on a fast-turning resort island is its own credential. A full meal runs about ₱800 to ₱1,000 per person before wine, and the list leans Italian. It is the island's most established Italian table rather than its flashiest.

The Room

Aria opens directly onto White Beach at Station 2, the tables spilling from the D'Mall promenade toward the sand, so the room is the beach as much as the building. It runs lively and informal — families, holidaymakers, a steady promenade crowd — with a sound level that rises at sunset and a view that does the heavy lifting. Seating is generous and walk-up casual; dress is resort-casual, swimwear covered at dinner. Service is quick and used to a turning crowd. Sunset is the seating to want.