The Best Los Angeles Restaurants

The best Los Angeles restaurants to try. Our favorite top Los Angeles dining places with pictures and a restaurant guide with reviews from LA natives, of the best restaurants in Los Angeles, that's what this page is all about.

My husband and I love to eat out and sample the wonderful cuisine in Los Angeles and we have personally eaten in all these great restaurants.

My insiders Los Angeles restaurant guide contains a selection of quality restaurants in Los Angeles that are highly rated, and within a wide range of budgets and cuisines, from luxurious to more modest establishments who nevertheless serve delicious food.

All these fine restaurants in the Los Angeles area have wonderful ambiance and decor, some with fabulous ocean views, and stand out for the exceptional quality of their food, as well as providing a great Los Angeles dining experience.

There are many fine and great restaurants in downtown Los Angeles. If you click on the highligted link above, it will take you to a page with the top and most exciting dining spots Downtown Los Angeles.

Spagos Restaurant Beverly Hills

Spago is the famous chef Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills restaurant. You can try to get a reservation for the patio, but it might be hard because A-listers tend to rule. But the beautiful pyramid shaped dining room is a pretty grand spot to dine in as well.

Spago's award winning winning cuisine is all about California cooking, with an obsession for fresh, seasonal ingredients. My favorite dish is the grilled Squab served over a mixture of pancetta, bacon, mushrooms and brussel sprouts. I also love their pizza with smoked salmon. The beet salad with goat cheese and hazelnuts is a wonderful appetizer.

Moonshadows Restaurant Malibu

20356 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. Phone: (310)456-3010. You can't come to Los Angeles without going to the Moonshadows restaurant in Malibu. People come here for the delicious California food, ocean view panorama, and the soothing sound of the surf beneath the open air dining deck.

The place has recently undergone a total remodel. The food is solidly American and Californian, and it's very good. I love their Spicy Sashimi Ahi Tuna Tartare with Avacado Mousse, the Seafood Showder with Halibut, Clams, Salmon and Shrimp, the Kobe Beef Burger, and the Moonshadows Fish and Shellfish Stew, soo good!

At night, the young, beautiful and elite crowd show up to toast the amazing sunsets, and to socialize and mingle. It's a great place to hang out and one of the fun Los Angeles restaurants. I love Moonshadows! Lunch and dinner daily.

This is a Los Angeles celebrities hang-out, and they show up regularly at the Ivy on Robertsons. The Ivy serves up a killer Caesar Salad. Crab Cakes and Cajun Prime Rib are house specialties. And they are very delicious, in fact every dish served is wonderful and very good.

The outside patio is the place to sit when the weather is nice, which is usually the case from May-December. You must make reservation several days, or more, ahead of time, in order to eat here. Don't even think of just dropping by, unless it's during between hours. Even then it's very busy.

This is one the most famous and romantic Los Angeles restaurants. Be aware paparazzi's are permanently stationed across the street with their cameras. Lunch and dinner daily. Brunch Saturday and Sunday.

Musso and Frank Grill Hollywood

6667 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood. Phone: (323)467-7788. This is one of Hollywoods oldest restaurant. Many movie stars, famous directors and screenwriters have dined here since it first opened in 1919. In fact I think every single celebrity in Los Angeles has been eating here, at least once. The menu is classical and mostly American. I think the menu is the original from 1919 and it includes great steaks, seafood, sauerbraten etc.

Eating in the leather lined wooden booths with the memory of Hollywood greatest star is reason enough to eat here. But the food is divine as well. Lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday.

My husband is Italian, and we really know the best and most popular Los Angeles Italian restaurants. If you click on the highlighted link above, you will come to my page were I list the absolute best Italian restaurants in the Los Angeles area.

Some are more pricey and exclusive and some are just great Italian Family restaurants serving wonderful Italian food that you will love to eat, and with good prices. Anyone of these restaurants I personally love to go to.

The Lobster Restaurant Santa Monica

1602 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica. Phone: (310)458-9294. When you enter The Lobster restaurant, fantastic panoramic ocean views awaits you. The huge glass panels in the dining room gives you a view of the Santa Monica Beach and Pier, and of the gorgeous Palisades coastline. Every table has a great view.

They also have an outdoor dining deck, that's where I like to sit. The view is great, but the food is equally great. They serve the most amazing Seafood, and the Whole Live Lobsters are steamed to order. My other favorite dishes are Lobster Showder with Manila Clams, Lobster and Avacado Salad and Lobster BLT Club Sandwich. This is one of my favorite Los Angeles restaurants for seafood.

Gladstones 4 Fish

17300 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades. Phone: (310)454-3474. You'll love this seafood restaurant, especially during summer, or on a warm Southern California day. Gladstones 4 Fish sits right on the beach. The best place to be, is on their large outdoor patio and deck, when the weather is warm.

But you get a great ocean view at the indoor dining room also. On summer weekends it's usually packed, so if you don't have reservations, there is at least an hour wait. However, they have an outdoor bar, so you can enjoy a cocktail on the bar patio while you wait.

The seafood here is great. I love the Broiled Seafood Sampler platter, it's huge, and their many Fish Sandwiches are also very good. In fact I never had a bad meal here. Gladstones 4 Fish is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

Restaurant Frida Los Angeles

There are so many wonderful Mexican restaurants in the Los Angeles area, I have devoted a whole page to them, so if you click on the highlighted link above you will get there. But first I want you to find out about Frida, another great and unusual Mexican restaurant, that I failed to put on that page. My husband said, how come you didn't review Frida? He adores Frida's food. So I am doing that now.

236 S. Beverly Boulevard, Beverly Hills. Phone: (310)278-7666. Frida's interior is very artistic, colorful and sophisticated; and it creates the perfect setting for the gourmet Mexican traditional dishes served here. Wonderful and generous dishes that are true to the different regions of Mexico.

We love the grilled Filet Mignon with the Avacado Tomatillo Sauce with a side of Poblano Chile Mashed Potatoes. Simply delicious! Mon - Sat lunch and dinner. Sunday dinner only.

The Koi Sushi Restaurant Los Angeles

730 N. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles. Phone: (310)659-9449. Koi, one of the most popular Japanese Los Angeles restaurants that serves Sushi, is frequented by rock and movie stars. Lots of attention has been made to the Asian decor, and the same attention is given to their signature dishes, such as Baked Crab Hand Roll with Crispy Rice.

They serve lots of innovative dishes such as California Rolls with Baked Scallops, Sauted Shrimp and Tuna Tartare on crispy Wonton, Kobe Beef Carpaccio with fried Shiitakes and a Yuzu Citrus Sauce. Every dish is outstanding and delicious. Be prepared for paparazzi out front ready to snap pictures of celebrities. Dinner daily.

Nobu Los Angeles

903 N. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles. Phone: (310)657-5711. This is another Matsuhisa Sushi restaurant with unique flavorful cuisine. Signature dishes include live Scallops Tiradito, sliced thinly with Lemon Sauce, Red Snapper Sashimi with Olive Oil and Sea Salt.

Fish is delicately steamed and beautifully garnished. Nobu is one of the best Japanese Sushi restaurants in Los Angeles.

Geisha House Japanese Restaurant

6633 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood. Phone: (323)460-6300. The Geisha House restaurant's movie set look and the Kimono dressed Geishas roaming the floor is bound to distract you and delight you. Even the waitresses look delicious.

The Geisha House serves wonderful shareable dishes from Sushi, Hand Rolls, and Robata Yaki to the delicious miso marinated Black Cod, the house specialty.

The restaurant is perfumed with incense and your senses are likely to explode as you enter this fantasy eatery. Fabulous food and a killer atmosphere is what the Geisha House is all about. Not a bad combination. Dinner daily.

Ita Cho Japanese Restaurant

7311 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles. Phone: (323)938-9009. It's not easy to find a good inexpensive lunch or dinner in this area of Los Angeles restaurants, but Ita Cho can give you both. Simple and well prepared delicious dishes such as Steamed Shu-Mai filled with Sweet Shrimp and served soy hot mustard sauce.

Their Sushi and Sashimi dishes are fresh and beautifully presented. I love their steamed White Fish on a bed of wilted Chrysanthemum leaves. Mon - Fri, lunch and dinner. Saturday dinner only.

Crustacian Restaurant Beverly Hills

9646 South Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills. Phone: (310)205-8990. This fabulous Vietnamese restaurant takes Vietnamese food to a new level. Just ask the Beverly Hills crowd who practically mob this place. It's that type of place. I am crazy about the place. It's a bit pricey otherwise I would eat here a lot, which I probably do anyway, according to my husband.

The fantastic exclusive dishes such as Whole Roasted Dungeness Crab with a delicious garlic sauce and secret spices, are cooked in a hidden kitchen where only family is allowed.

The gorgeous interior is French Colonial Hanoi, and features a stunning glass walkway over a Koi stocked "river" that runs from the entrance all the way into the two story dining room. This is a place you must treat yourself to when in Los Angeles. Mon - Fri lunch and dinner, Sunday dinner only. Enjoy!

Melisse Restaurant Santa Monica

1104 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica. Phone: (310)395-0881. Melisse serves exquisite French cuisine and is one of the finest Los Angeles restaurants. It has a classically French kitchen with dishes that are fabulous and beautifully prepared.

I love their Lamb course with three main Lamb ingredients: a chop, a thick stew, and an herb crusted leg tenderloin. Magnefique! Wonderful French desserts are served as well. Tue - Sat, dinner only.

2842 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica. Phone: (310)829-6792. If you like French provincial decor and simple French cafe food, you'll love Le Petit Cafe. Dishes are tre's Franqais, with pate' appetizers and 'plats principaux' including Duck Confit and Steak au Poivre.

I love their Provencal Chicken Breast in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce. Mon - Fri, lunch and dinner, Saturday dinner only.

Return to Los Angeles City Guide

Return from Los Angeles Restaurants to Home Page