The best new restaurants in Los Angeles to try right now

Let’s not mince words: Daniel Son’s freshly opened Gardena sushi counter is easily one of this year’s best new omakase experiences. Though the weekend-only $200 seatings sell out quickly (Tock reservations drop at midnight on a 30-day rolling basis), it’s worth the booking hassle to see the chef behind Katsu Sando in action. A bold sweetness in the housemade soy sauces adds a distinctively Korean dimension to the ever-changing sushi menu here, while the nearby Torrance Farmers’ Market lends seasonality to the courses here. We loved Sushi Sonagi so much, in fact, that we recently gave it five stars. Read our full review here. On-site parking.

What was once James Beach is now Si! Mon, the hands-down most exciting new restaurant to hit Venice in years. Led by Panama City-based chef Jose Carles, the stylishly appointed restaurant serves a delicious, destination-worthy introduction to Panamanian cuisine. Chinese, Spanish and Afro-Caribbean culinary influences pepper the seafood-heavy menu, as does yuca, the oft-fried root vegetable indigenous to Latin America and the Caribbean. Delicately flavored raw bites like the tuna yuca tostada balance out heartier dishes, including a delectable clam guacho, a seafood and rice stew with a consistency somewhere between congee and risotto, plus fried chicken that uses rice powder for a craggy, flavorful crunch sans gluten. In fact, Si! Mon might be one of the best meals we’ve had all year—so if you’ve written off the Westside’s dining scene as boring, this sleeper hit of a fall opening just might change your mind. Outdoor dining available. Street and nearby private lot parking.

With a dazzling family-style mezze spread and other unique Middle Eastern culinary delights, this elegant, destination-worthy Lebanese concept inside the Kimpton La Peer is the best hotel restaurant we’ve visited all year. Run by Top Chef Middle East winner Charbel Hayek, Ladyhawk serves the Beirut native’s winning dish—Spanish ahi tuna crudo—and other California-inspired fare, but the best parts of the concise menu draw from the chef’s heritage cuisine. Highlights include a refreshing, crunchy fattoush (pita salad), a flavorful muhammara (walnut and red pepper spread) and a butterflied dorade with a spicy zhoug (spicy cilantro sauce). Start your meal with the beautifully presented za’atar manoushe, which dresses up the traditional Levantine spiced bread with dots of tomato purée, herb purée and labneh that resemble the Lebanese flag. Outdoor dining available; $20 valet parking and limited street parking.

After a one-day trial run in September, Florence’s most famous sandwich shop has opened up on Abbot Kinney, and honestly, this is a rare case where the hype is justified. Filled with prosciutto, mortadella, pistachio cream and any other high-quality Italian import you can imagine, All’Antico Vinaio’s schiacciata creations puts most of L.A.’s imitation focaccia sandos to shame. The crusty, slightly oily Tuscan flatbread is the perfect canvas for everything from lardo and gorgonzola (the truffle honey-adorned Dolcezze d’Autunno) to the signature La Paradiso, which combines mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream and toasted pistachios into a must-try sandwich. Of course, lines are already stretching to an hour or more on the weekends, but arrive early—10:30am is when they open—or try your luck on a weekday to cut down on your wait time. Outdoor dining available; Street parking and nearby private lots.

Bold L.A. flavors and market seasonality are on full display at Best Bet, the hotly anticipated Cal-Italian restaurant from Jason Neroni of the Rose Venice. Three styles of pizza (fried, focaccia and wood-fired) and a rotating array of salads, small plates and housemade pastas make for a memorable meal, no matter how you order, though we loved the ricotta zeppole giostra starter—a delectable nest of fried dough slathered in avocado honey, aged parm and black truffle shavings. The chef’s personal design touches, including a stained glass Pizza Hut lamp and Star Wars memorabilia, add a unique dimension to a meal here, whether you’re seated within the former IHOP A-frame building itself or enjoying a plein air meal on the heated patio out front. To put it succinctly: We simply can’t wait to go back. Outdoor dining available; $15 valet and limited street parking.

It’s all hits and no misses at Liu’s Cafe, a Chinese American daytime spot in Koreatown, where locals are already lining up for delicious rice bowls and breakfast sandwiches, plus Asian-inspired pastries from Isabell Manibusan, who previously oversaw the dessert program at Maude in Beverly Hills. Run by the team behind nearby Tokki, the tiny, sleekly appointed café also serves an extensive menu of tea-based drinks, a more limited coffee selection and a few ultra-premium blends geared towards tea connoisseurs. On our visit, we loved everything we tried, but particularly the braised pork belly rice, the vanilla-inflected egg tart and Manibusan’s distinctive pineapple bun, complete with a concha-like streusel crust. In the near future, Liu’s Cafe plans to open earlier, add new menu items (including a Hong Kong-style French toast) and offer an Asian-inspired afternoon tea service. Street parking and nearby private lots.

After a year of street vending next to Radna Silom, Malai Data’s amazing boat noodle soup pop-up has found a permanent home just five minutes’ walk from its original location. Step into the bare-bones space for $9 bowls of the best boat noodle soup we’ve ever had. Bits of carefully prepared green onions, pork cracklings, bean sprouts, meatballs and your choice of mixed pork or beef offal arrive in each traditionally small bowl—so order two, or even three, if you’re feeling extra hungry. There’s also larger $15 bowls of tom yum noodle soup and an expanded menu that includes pad thai, krapow and housemade Isaan-style sour sausage. For dessert, order the kanom tuay; the delicate steamed pandan-coconut custards are the perfect way to cap off an affordable meal here. Free lot parking plus limited street parking.

Three years ago, Rustic Canyon alum Jihee Kim built a devoted online fanbase for her seasonally driven banchan pick-ups during lockdown. Now, Perilla LA has opened a permanent storefront on the border of Echo Park and Chinatown, where in-the-know diners have already begun flocking for Kim's delicious, vegetable-forward Korean side dishes and made-to-order lunch plates. Delicate gyeran mari (rolled eggs), ong choy yuba muchim (water spinach and tofu skin salad) and tomato kimchi offer subtle, heady pleasures for your next summer picnic, but you can also enjoy your lunch on the few patio tables outside or in the Alpine Street retail complex's outdoor dining area, which borders a vegetable and herb garden and calls to mind a friend's backyard more than anything else. Outdoor dining available. Street parking.

For a night of Vegas-style debauchery without ever leaving L.A., look no further than the Houston brothers’ buzzy new nightlife destination on the eighth floor of the Moxy Downtown. Over two nights, we experienced literally everything Level 8 had to offer (except yet-to-open raw bar Mother of Pearl). While the price of entry is high, the sheer level of spectacle and solid culinary lineup make a night of dinner and drinks here well worth the money. Which restaurant? Take your pick: There’s Qué Bárbaro, which offers Argentine-style barbecue from chef Ray Garcia; Maison Kasai, a refined teppanyaki experience with wandering magicians; and Lucky Mizu, an upscale shabu joint where a live harpist will work the glittering strings extending across the ceiling as you swish slices of A5 Wagyu through a gleaming golden hot pot. All of this is way less gimmicky than it sounds—and trust us, we’re more surprised than you are. $25 valet for the first three hours.

A good izakaya is hard to find in L.A.—and while we can always count on Little Tokyo’s Kinjiro and Echo Park’s Tsubaki for an excellent booze-centric Japanese meal, this moody addition to Virgil Village is a worthy newcomer to the scene with excellent sake-based cocktails, a selection of pressed sushi and other chef-driven drinking fare. Think chef’s salad brimming with country ham and lemon-miso vinaigrette, Thai-style pork sausage alongside a refreshing herb slaw and yakisoba topped with drizzles of kewpie mayo and a shower of dried seaweed flakes. Look to the daily specials to see where executive chef Dan Rabilwongse (Tsubaki, Urasawa) and chef de cuisine Justin Vu (previously of Morihiro) are getting creative. Street parking.

The slices at this new pizza shop from Last Word Hospitality (of Found Oyster, plus Barra Santos next door) makes us jealous that we don’t live in Cypress Park. If we did, we’d be regulars at Shins Pizza, where an airy, ultra-chewy New York-inspired crust combines with Asian ingredients for a uniquely L.A. slice joint. Sure, Shins does the classic cheese and pepperoni varieties justice, but you’d be remiss not to try the meat lover’s slice, topped with fiery sambal, Chinese sausage and speck. Shins also rides the current mortadella wave with a unique white pie that plops an entire slice of the trendy Italian luncheon meat on top. Side dishes like Asian pear salad, Japanese karaage-like chicken nuggets and barbecue pork arancini add an extra edge to a casual meal here, but be sure to make it quick: You’ll be sitting on milk crates or, during the day, unused patio tables from Barra Santos. Outdoor dining available. Street parking.

This mostly-outdoor Arts District wine bar is bringing more accessibly priced, extremely tasty bistro fare to a part of town better known for tasting menus and other splurge-worthy eateries. Maude alum Justin Hilbert has crafted a menu of tasty bar bites, including cheese gougères, garlicky escargots and housemade pates and terrines. Best of all? Aside from a few family-style specials, nothing at Le Champ is over $30. Naturally, this means portions run on the smaller side, but are still large enough to satisfy, especially at lunch; Le Champ opens at noon and stays open all day, making it the perfect place for a quick midday meal or afternoon snack for anyone who finds themself in this part of Downtown. The charming patio looks more like a dinner party in someone’s backyard—so come in, order a glass of wine and sit a spell. Outdoor dining available. Limited street parking.

Nashville-spiced hot catfish, housemade capicola with muffuletta relish and a hearty skillet of perloo brimming with shrimp and oysters—Sammy Monsour’s Preux & Proper may have closed, but the chef is already making up the difference with his new destination-worthy Southern restaurant in Downtown L.A. Lowcountry cuisine manifests itself in Charleston-inspired dishes like the perloo and Gullah Geechee-style braised kale, but Joyce’s menu draws inspiration from all over the map for a flavorful romp through the American South. Located inside the former Red Herring space, the restaurant also offers a fleet of sustainably made cocktails and a late-night tinned fish menu on weekends for night owls. Outdoor dining available; limited street parking and $7 after 6pm at LAZ Parking across the street.

After closing in 2018, Kwang Uh’s critical darling has made a triumphant return in the form of an Arts District tasting menu. Alongside his wife, Mina Park, Uh now offers a $110 seven-course offering that’s admittedly small in terms of portion size, but big on the fermentation-forward Korean flavors that first captivated L.A. during the Obama administration. Highlights include the fried soy-marinated crab and the Hokkaido scallop topped with minari (water celery), gim (dried seaweed) and puffed rice. Delicate soju-based cocktails and a larger selection of Korean rice wines make for a unique, if not exactly filling, culinary experience. Despite that, we’re excited to see where the couple behind Shiku takes Baroo 2.0; if you’re the type to regularly splurge on tasting menus, consider this place a must-visit. $10 for the first two hours inside the Garey Building.

This NYC cocktail bar has launched its hotly anticipated rooftop restaurant at the Maybourne—and while the coastal Italian cuisine is hit-or-miss, the award-winning drinks, ritzy ambience and ninth-floor views have made Dante one of L.A.'s prettiest rooftop dining destination. We’ll be the first to admit mortadella atop pizza and pomodoro pasta aren’t exactly groundbreaking, but these culinary highlights sure taste delicious when you’re sipping the brand’s signature “fluffy” orange juice Garibaldi and taking in sweeping views of the Hollywood Hills. Open all day and already booked solid on weekends (the bar is held for walk-ins), your best bet for a regular dinner hour reservation is to wake up early: Dante releases the next batch of tables, 30 days out, at 8am on Resy. Outdoor dining available. $17 valet with validation at the Maybourne and $6 public parking after 6pm at 241 N. Canon Drive.

For the last five months, this Tokyo-based restaurant chain has quietly served seasonally inflected Japanese drinking fare from the former Musha space in Santa Monica. The Westside location is the family-run company’s first location outside Japan, and the well-priced array of sashimi, fried and grilled dishes and more unconventional pairings (think negitoro over garlic bread) put Shirubē’s on the shortlist of L.A.’s best izakayas. Highlights include the signature flame-seared mackerel, shoyu butter corn ribs and the dan dan udon, all of which make the long trek to the ultra-touristy Third Street Promenade area feel very much worth it. Best of all, the kitchen stays open until 10pm—so you count on a later evening meal here. Metered street parking, or 90 minutes free parking at 1234 4th St, $2 each 30 minutes thereafter.

L.A.’s Spanish dining scene is fairly lackluster, but this Santa Monica tapas bar serves a decent enough selection of traditional bar bites from Asturias, Catalonia, the Basque region and Galicia, where chef-owner Sandra Cordero spent her childhood summers. Pronounced “chuntos” (which means “together” in the Galician dialect), the restaurant offers hallmarks like patatas bravas and croquetas de jamon alongside harder-to-find items like bikinis (tiny grilled cheese sandwiches), tuna empanadas (served in slices, unlike the ones in Latin America) and whole fried anchovies. Not every dish will impress Spanish food snobs, but Westsiders are already flocking to the lofted dining room for calimocho (red wine and Coca-Cola) and a well-appointed list of Spanish wines, sherries and vermouths. Limited street parking and 90 minutes’ free parking at 1444 4th St.

Open since late July, this stylish Vietnamese restaurant comes from the h.wood Group (Delilah, the Nice Guy) and Tue Nguyen, better known as Tway Da Bae on TikTok. Situated along the La Cienega nightlife corridor, the Gen Z social media star offers a creative, slightly uneven menu that walks the line between trendy and traditional. Those familiar with Vietnamese cuisine will appreciate the banh xeo-inspired coconut crepe tacos and the saucy shaking beef salad, though we’d steer you away from the disappointing $65 family-style pho, which we found a little too heavy on cassia and star anise. Throw in the excellent cocktails that draw inspiration from Nha Trang, Vietnam’s leading coastal resort city, plus show-stoppers like the whole fried snapper with “tway ploy” (Nguyen’s twist on Thai sweet chili sauce), however, and you’ve got the makings of a vibey night out in West Hollywood. Outdoor dining available. $15 valet and limited street parking.