The best bang-for-your-buck restaurant deals in L.A.

After 15 years in business, Jerry Greenberg and Kazunori Nozawa’s fast-casual empire is still one of the best lunch and dinner deals in L.A. (It’s worth noting Sugarfish’s lunchtime prix fixe is slightly cheaper at $30, but contains two fewer pieces of nigiri.) Edamame and tuna sashimi in a light ponzu sauce kick off a sushi meal packed with buttery, crowd-pleasing cuts, including albacore, salmon and yellowtail. In our eyes, however, the handrolls are the best part and apparently, most Angelenos agree—since you can find them at the similarly reasonably priced spinoff concept Kazunori, which has locations in Koreatown, Santa Monica, Westwood, Mid-City and Downtown L.A.

Every Monday, dine out without digging too deep into your wallet at Little Dom's, where a three-course meal goes for an affordable $25 per head. Each week the menu changes—some weeks it might feature a light pasta, others might highlight a seasonal squash farro risotto—but the lineup always includes an appetizer, entrée and dessert. Drinks are discounted, too: Snag a bottle of house blend red or white for $20, or canned Peroni for $4. Check Little Dom's website for the most updated Monday night menu.

Despite inflation and supply chain-related price increases, this longtime Little Tokyo lunch deal, available Tuesday to Friday, is still one of the best in town. Each plate comes with nine or ten different types of high-quality raw and cooked fish, plus miso soup, tofu and a small bowl of pickled vegetables. You might find other similarly priced sushi lunches around town, but few come with as much soul or history as Sushi Gen, which first opened over 40 years ago in Downtown L.A.

Like the name says: This midweek smorgasbord meal is only available on Wednesdays from the Park’s Finest, a Historic Filipinotown restaurant serving up Southern barbecue with plenty of Filipino flavor. Each plate includes portions of coconut beef, a medley of hot links, pulled pork, candy-coated chicken, vegetables and rice, plus a hefty piece of the restaurant’s must-order cornbread bibingka. It’s a hearty meal for the tired and hungry masses, in the best way possible.

For an affordable meal in the South Bay, stop by this cozy mom-and-pop restaurant in  Torrance, where the $17.75 dine-in only “manager’s special” includes your choice of udon or soba, a six-piece nigiri set, mixed tempura and salad.

Ignore the upscale-casual price point and a fancier neighborhood: This cozy Japanese restaurant in Beverly Hills offers a seriously great all-you-can-eat meal deal from 11am to 3pm, every day but Tuesday. Run by the Wagyu-obsessed hospitality group behind Downtown specialist Niku X, Chubby Curry serves a rich, flavorful curry paired with the likes of Wagyu beef and white rice. (Is it Australian or American? It’s certainly not Japanese, judging by the price point, but it’s delicious nevertheless.) Indulge to your heart’s content and pair your meal with some beer or sake to wash it all down.

In a day and age when you won’t find an omakase below $150 per head, this beloved destination-worthy South Bay sushi bar offers one of L.A.’s most affordable, high-quality sushi omakases (unless, of course, you count the smaller but always dependable meals at Sugarfish). With somewhere around 15 courses, including miso soup and dessert, this $75 set meal in Redondo Beach lets you indulge in high-end sushi without completely breaking the bank. Note: Make sure to call ahead for a reservation—given the reasonable prices and old-school Japanese ambience, Sushi Chitose books up quickly.

After opening in fits and starts since the pandemic, this Edomae-style sushi counter along Sawtelle Boulevard has reopened for dinner service with three excellent, budget-friendly set meals deserving of your attention regardless of whether you live on the Westside. Owned by the same group behind some of L.A.’s best ramen bowls, the restaurant was famous for its pre-pandemic lunch specials. While those are long gone, quality and reasonable pricing are mainstays of the current dinner service, where the most expensive offering—the $89 Tokyo set—includes three seasonal appetizers, nine pieces of nigiri, two handrolls and a delectable sake kasu ice cream, which uses the fermented byproduct from rice wine brewing as a base for a creamy non-alcoholic palate cleanser. The less expensive sets ($49 and $69 respectively) swap out premium ingredients like Wagyu and toro out for less pricey cuts, but you’ll still leave here feeling satisfied regardless of which set you order.

With its rotating five-course array of grass-fed New Zealand Wagyu cuts, Matū’s nightly prix-fixe menu isn’t exactly priced anywhere close to cheap. That being said, the main affair at this Beverly Hills steakhouse borders on “how do they make any money off this?” when you factor in the quality and variety of said beef, the skillfulness of the restaurant’s kitchen team and the fact a single steak on the restaurant’s regular menu runs in the $60 to $70 range. Red meat connoisseurs in search of a great value dinner will love Matū’s preparations, which might include bone broth, tartare and a braised cheek stew.

The food isn’t anything to write home about, but if you’re looking for an extremely cheap dinner, this longtime diner at the Original Farmers Market serves an early-bird special from 4 to 6pm where the price you pay for your meal (ordered off a set menu with smaller portions) is the time you walk in at. Yes, that means paying somewhere between $4 and $6. The one kicker is that you have to purchase some kind of beverage, which will run you $3.65 or more. Options on the menu include spaghetti and meatballs, a one-egg breakfast plate, chicken amandine, grilled salmon tapenade or meatloaf.

Buffet-style and all-you-can-eat restaurants in L.A. are usually terrible, unless you’re talking the Korean barbecue at Hae Jang Chon. The K-town mainstay stays busy night after night thanks to lower prices ($44 per head for dinner and all day on weekends) and a dizzying variety of beef, pork, chicken and seafood to choose from. Stop by during weekday lunch (11am–4pm) for an even cheaper deal—you’ll get the same menu for $38. Of the many AYCE places we’ve tried, this place is still the best of the lot, with premium options like spicy octopus, corn cheese and beef tongue and the option to make kimchi fried rice with your leftover meat and banchan at the end of the evening. Just be warned: The wait can be punishing at peak dinner hour and on weekends, so you might want to grab boba nearby to break up the wait.

Available from Tuesday to Thursday, De La Nonna’s package deal for two is the perfect not-too-expensive weeknight dinner date. Each Nonna Pack comes with two of the restaurant’s signature personal-sized focaccia pizzas ( which are craggy, crunchy and packed with gourmet toppings), Caesar salad and an entire bottle of wine. Since most of the restaurant’s bottles are priced above $40, this midweek package is a steal if you and your dining partner are the type of folks who usually polish off a bottle of wine anyway.

(Dinner: $23.49–$30.49)

While $30 might not seem like all that much of a deal at dinner, the lunchtime soondubu combos at BCD’s two Koreatown locations remain a daytime-only steal when it comes to maximizing on flavor and variety. Each combo comes with an assorted soondubu and your choice of main entrée, which includes bibimbap (the cheapest), galbi ribs (the priciest), yellow corvina and our favorite: spicy raw crab. Plus, there’s also the restaurant’s delightful array of banchan, including kimchi and radish and typically at least one kind of spicy salted seafood.

Available 11am–3pm Monday to Friday, the weekday chicken lunch specials at this Mid-City Caribbean restaurant are reasonably priced and full of flavor. Depending on the day, the style of poultry prep varies, but you’ll find that even the heavily spiced $14 jerk chicken is worth the extra few dollars after the first forkful of food. Each budget-friendly plate also comes with plantains and a choice of two heaping sides. Pick from salad, steamed cabbage, rice and peas (beans), callaloo (amaranth greens) and patties—flaky pastries stuffed with meat or vegetables.