If you’ve already eaten through L.A.'s best restaurants and sipped cocktails at the hottest bars from the Westside to Downtown, you’re probably the type of person who loves checking out the city’s hottest eateries, but hates spending money on overhyped duds. With our heavily vetted list of newly opened restaurants (yes, we've personally checked out every single one), we’re helping you decide where to head next—since there's nothing worse when it comes to going out than wasting one’s precious, typically limited free time and, of course, money, especially with rising inflation.
Updated on a monthly basis, our best new restaurants list takes into account the quality of cuisine, overall ambience, price and value. We steer clear of the social media hype cycle, give thoughtful ordering tips and let you know exactly what to expect in terms of crowd, vibe and cuisine at upscale Hollywood hot spots, laidback fast-casual joints and everything in between. If necessary, we also make recommendations as to when, and how, to fit these red-hot restaurants into your finite leisure time and budget—whether they're worth driving out of your way for, or perhaps better suited for locals in the neighborhood.
In the interest of price transparency and reader convenience, we also strive to include valet costs and parking availability for every restaurant—further taking the headache out of your next great new meal in Los Angeles. Read on for January and February's best new restaurants, ranked.
January 2023: With a relatively sleepy start to the new year, only a handful of recent mid-winter openings have caught our attention, so we're doing a joint update for both January and February with six new additions. They include a vegan sushi spot in West L.A., a sceney Mexican-ish restaurant in West Hollywood and, unsurprisingly, Saltie Girl, which has earned rave reviews from our Boston and London teams. For those hoping to lower their risk of getting Covid-19, we're still including outdoor dining callouts.