The grammar is fine, probably simpler than Java's (e.g. try/catch is a much less specialized construct, type inference is applied much more consistently). What specifically would you look to cut?

Scala does seem to attract a disproportionate amount of criticism. And a lot of it is vague, nonconstructive, or simply wrong (and "writing something in scala feels like a waste to me" is nonconstructive in my book). Some defensiveness is warranted.