Restaurant in Makati, Philippines
Small room, serious dough, fair wine prices.
A small, focused pizzeria in Salcedo Village, Makati, where three founders — including a Japan-trained pizza maker — produce multiple dough styles with high-quality toppings and a fairly priced wine-by-the-glass list. Easy to book and well below fine-dining spend. The round salami pizza is the order to start with; the gelato is worth staying for.
Three founders, a small room, serious dough, and wine by the glass at fair prices: Crosta is the kind of Makati spot that outperforms its casual format. If you want honest pizza made with high-quality ingredients in Salcedo Village without paying fine-dining prices, this is the right booking. First-timers should go straight for the round pizza with salami — it is the clearest expression of what Crosta does well. Booking is easy, which is rare for a venue this focused.
Crosta sits at the corner of HV Dela Costa and L.P. Leviste Street in Salcedo Village, one of Makati's most expensive and densely dining neighborhoods. The venue is small by design: few seats, a focused menu built around multiple dough styles, and a wine list curated to offer quality at accessible prices. That combination — low fuss, high ingredient standards, genuine craft , is exactly what the casual excellence format requires, and Crosta delivers it.
The team behind it is worth understanding before you arrive. Ingga S. Cabangon Chua brings a deep interest in dough; Thomas Woudwyk handles the wine side with a clear bias toward affordability without sacrificing quality; and Yuichi Ito, the chef and pizza maker, trained for years in Japan before joining. That Japanese precision in technique applied to pizza dough is not a marketing angle , it shows up in the consistency of the crusts across different styles. The toppings move from direct and traditional to more complex combinations depending on what you order, which means the menu works for guests who want something simple and for those who want more to think about.
The gelato is worth noting as a closer. If you are finishing a meal here, skip sourcing dessert elsewhere , it rounds the experience properly.
For context on where Crosta sits in the wider Manila dining picture: it is a neighborhood-scale venue in a city that also has destination restaurants like Toyo Eatery in Manila and ambitious regional operators like Antonio's Restaurant in Tagaytay. Crosta is not competing in that register. It is a well-executed, ingredient-led pizzeria doing something specific and doing it well , which is its own category of value in Makati.
Location: 104 HV Dela Costa, corner L.P. Leviste Street, Salcedo Village, Makati City. Booking difficulty: Easy , the format is casual and walk-ins appear workable, though the small seat count means earlier-in-the-week or off-peak timing reduces friction. Dress: No formal requirement given the casual format; Salcedo Village norms skew smart-casual. Budget: Price range is not published, but the positioning , quality ingredients, neighborhood pizzeria scale, wines by the glass at accessible prices , places this below Makati's fine-dining tier. Expect a reasonable spend per head for pizza and a glass of wine. Dietary restrictions: No published accommodation policy; contact the venue directly before booking if you have specific requirements. Groups: The small seat count makes large groups a logistical challenge , this is a better fit for two to four guests than for a party of eight or more.
If Crosta is the kind of focused, quality-led dining you are looking for in Makati, our full Makati restaurants guide covers the range from casual to destination. For wine-focused venues, check our Makati wineries guide. If you are staying in the area, our Makati hotels guide and bars guide are useful companion reads. Elsewhere in the Philippines, Linamnam in Parañaque and Lantaw in Cebu represent very different but equally compelling regional options. If you are benchmarking against international pizza or casual excellence references, Lazy Bear in San Francisco shows what an refined casual format can look like at the other end of the ambition spectrum, while Le Bernardin in New York City is the useful reminder that technique applied with discipline , regardless of format , is what separates good venues from forgettable ones. For broader Philippines dining, Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill in Pasay and Asador Alfonso in Cavite are worth bookmarking for different occasions.
Go with an open mind about format: this is a small, casual venue in Salcedo Village with a short, focused menu built around different dough styles. Order the round pizza with salami as your reference point , it is the clearest indicator of the kitchen's standard. Finish with gelato. The wine list is curated toward quality at fair prices, so ordering a glass rather than a bottle is a reasonable approach on a first visit. The room is small, so if you have a preferred seating arrangement, arrive early or communicate it when booking.
Booking difficulty is low relative to Makati's harder-to-get venues. That said, the small seat count means you should not assume availability on short notice for a weekend evening. A few days ahead is a sensible minimum; same-week bookings for weekday visits are likely fine. If you are flexible on timing, a weekday lunch or early dinner slot will be the path of least resistance.
Yes. A small, counter-style or compact room with a focused menu is well-suited to solo guests. The wine-by-the-glass list means you are not committed to a bottle, which is practical when dining alone. Order one or two pizzas, a glass of something from the curated list, and finish with gelato , that is a complete, satisfying solo meal without any awkwardness about table size or minimum spends.
The small seat count makes Crosta a better fit for two to four guests than for larger parties. If you are planning a group of six or more, contact the venue directly to confirm availability and whether the space can be arranged to accommodate you. For larger Makati group dinners with more flexibility, Hapag and Kása Palma may offer more room to maneuver.
It depends on what kind of occasion. For a casual celebration , a low-key birthday, an informal date, or a relaxed catch-up with a close friend , Crosta works well: the food quality is genuine, the wine list is considered, and the Salcedo Village address feels appropriately grounded without being generic. For a formal milestone dinner where presentation and ceremony matter, look at Helm or Hapag instead. Crosta's strength is delivering quality without the theater of a special-occasion venue , that is a feature for the right guest, not a limitation.
For pizza specifically, a mano is the most direct comparison and worth evaluating side by side depending on your style preference. If you are open to a broader dining experience in the same neighborhood, Inatô and Celera offer different formats at a similar casual-to-mid tier. For something more ambitious in Makati, Hapag is the benchmark for Filipino fine dining in the city. See our full Makati restaurants guide for a broader view across price points and cuisines.
No published policy is available. If you have specific dietary requirements , gluten intolerance, vegetarian or vegan preferences, or allergies , contact the venue directly before booking. Pizza-focused menus can sometimes be adapted, but a small kitchen with defined dough styles may have limits on substitution. Do not assume accommodation without confirming in advance. See also our Makati experiences guide if you are looking for venues with more documented flexibility.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crosta | We are in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Manila, a true Asian metropolis, for this truly unique little pizzeria. With few seats, pizza and high-quality products, and a selection of wines available by the glass. Crosta is a meeting of three very different sensibilities that creates a one-of-a-kind place. First of all, the entrepreneurs Ingga S. Cabangon Chua and Thomas Woudwyk, the former passionate about dough, the latter a great connoisseur and wine enthusiast who always offers quality novelties at affordable prices. Lastly, but only in terms of arrival time, Yuichi Ito, a chef and pizza maker, has joined Crosta after years of working in Japan. The doughs are of different styles and all of excellent quality. The toppings range from simple and traditional to more complex ones. A must-try is the round pizza with salami, truly balanced and well-made. For dessert lovers, you can finish with a good gelato. | — | |
| Hapag | Michelin 1 Star | — | |
| Kása Palma | Michelin 1 Star | — | |
| a mano | — | ||
| Helm | Michelin 1 Star | — | |
| Inatô | Michelin 1 Star | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Crosta's menu is built around pizza with varied toppings ranging from simple and traditional to more complex combinations, which gives some flexibility. That said, no specific dietary accommodation information is documented for this venue. Your safest move is to call ahead or flag requirements at the door — the small-format, casual setup at Salcedo Village makes direct communication easy.
Go for the round pizza with salami — it's the dish the venue itself flags as a reference point for the kitchen's balance and technique. The format is casual with few seats, wine available by the glass at fair prices, and a pizza program shaped by chef Yuichi Ito, who brings years of Japanese pizza-making experience. Don't come expecting a sprawling menu; the focus is tight and intentional.
Crosta has few seats by design, so large groups are a poor fit. Parties of two or three will be comfortable; anything over four risks overwhelming the room or requiring a wait. If your group is six or more, a venue with a private dining option like Hapag would be a more practical choice.
It works for a low-key, food-focused occasion where the meal itself is the point — quality dough, considered toppings, and wine by the glass in one of Makati's most polished neighbourhoods. For a milestone dinner where service scale and atmosphere are part of the brief, Hapag or Helm will deliver more on that front.
For a step up in ambition and occasion, Hapag is the benchmark for refined Filipino tasting menus in the city. a mano covers Italian-leaning dining with a similarly focused approach. Kása Palma and Helm both offer quality-led menus at different price points. Inatô is worth considering if you want Japanese-influenced flavours in the same Makati corridor.
Walk-ins appear viable given the casual format, but the limited seating at Crosta means the room can fill without much notice, especially on weekday evenings in Salcedo Village. A same-day or next-day reservation attempt is reasonable; booking more than a week out is unlikely to be necessary for a table of two.
Yes — the counter-style, few-seat setup at a focused pizzeria is one of the better solo dining formats. You can work through a single pizza, order wine by the glass, and not feel like the room is sized against you. It's a more comfortable solo experience than larger, table-service-heavy restaurants in the same Salcedo Village neighbourhood.
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