All 28 of L.A.’s Michelin star restaurants, updated for 2025

Despite being in a city with its fair share of haute Japanese cuisine, there's something special happening at Hayato. Tucked behind traditional noren that hang over the door, chef-owner Brandon Go prepares a multicourse, traditional kaiseki dinner ($450) every night of service. The space is intimate, the ceramics are handcrafted and imported from Japan, and Go’s precision and technique come by way of training under Michelin-starred Japanese chefs. Artful simplicity is the name of Go’s kaiseki game, by way of dishes like steamed abalone with an unctuous liver sauce, an owan course of delicate crab meatball soup, and fresh fruit coated in a salted sake jelly. Note: These stunningly artful kaiseki dinners typically fill up a month in advance after going live on Tock on the first of every month, so plan ahead.

Over a decade after its first starred recognition by the guide, Josiah Citrin’s Santa Monica fine dining stalwart is back to two-star status after being rebuffed in 2019 and undergoing a pre-pandemic pivot away from an ultra-formal white tablecloth experience. Now seating only 14 diners at a time in a hidden alcove within the more casual (but still upscale) Citrin, Mélisse continues to deliver one of the city’s best—and most expensive— tasting menus ($399), with luxurious, detail-oriented dishes like caviar in chawanmushi topped with imported Hokkaido uni and a rich chestnut soup with even more decadent truffle foam.

Now known the world over as one of the most inspired—and perhaps bizarre—tasting menus ($395) ever conceived, Jordan Kahn’s otherworldly Vespertine has not only returned, it’s regained both of its Michelin stars. The part sci-fi dreamscape, part fine-dining theatrics experience takes place in a wavy obelisk in Culver City, just across the street from the chef’s casual daytime spot, Destroyer. Unlike pre-pandemic Vespertine, Kahn’s dishes now lean more primordial than futuristic, with ingredients made with fungi and plants that date back to the Cambrian Period and other touches that hark back to the dawn of human civilization.

715's Seigo Tamura has sushi in his blood. The Osaka-born chef's grandfather owned a restaurant in their native Sakai City, where Tamura watched him hone his craft as a child. At this high-end Arts District sushi bar, Tamura and his younger brother offer an ever-changing 20-course menu of Edomae-style nigiri and kaiseki dishes, sourcing all seafood from Japan and dry-aging several types in-house. Clocking in at $350 before tax and tip, the omakase experience here doesn't come cheap, but the little details, like Tamura's blend of Hitomebore and Koshihikari rice, and 715's laidback atmosphere make for one of the city's best new high-end sushi meals.

At Camphor, light-as-a-cloud French cuisine feels more than apt within the restaurant’s airy white and blue dining room, where old-school touches and a featherweight culinary approach combine in a stunning blend of elegant, yet nontraditional, fine dining. Inside the former Nightshade space, Alain Ducasse veterans Max Boonthanakit and Lijo George offer what looks like the usual French bill of fare, albeit with subtle nods to Asian cuisine. A delicate amuse bouche pays homage to the South Asian street snack pani puri, while the gunpowder anchovies call to mind the tiny, salty fried fish favored in the Philippines and South Korea. Phenomenal desserts round out the Camphor experience, whether you're digging into a vanilla ice cream-topped seasonal fruit pudding or breaking the kiwi trompe l'oeil atop a delicate, refreshing glacée.

When Josiah Citrin reimagined his Michelin-starred Santa Monica fine dining menu, he carved out space for another, slightly more casual affair. At his eponymous eatery, you'll find comforting but wholly gourmet takes on classics we could eat every night: pitch-perfect roast chicken coated in garlic and breadcrumbs; refreshing oysters under sorrel and cucumber; and, of course, Josiah Citrin's cult-classic lobster bolognese under truffle foam.

At the intersection of fine dining and fashion lies Beverly Hills’ Gucci Osteria, a shiny new Italian restaurant created with guidance from world-famous chef Massimo Bottura, who runs the original in Florence (which also has a Michelin star). Sitting above Rodeo Drive, with a view of the shoppers and luxury cars down below, a meal here by head chef Mattia Agazzi is the epitome of opulence and excess. Whether you’re partaking in the $195 or $285 tasting menu, expect what Michelin calls a "whimsical and grounded" take on modern Italian cuisine. Incorporating uniquely California ingredients like Santa Barbara uni and Monterey seaweed, Agazzi's food combines with a beautifully designed indoor-outdoor dining room to produce an opulent, over-the-top experience fit for Rodeo Drive.

Curtis Stone’s Hollywood steakhouse and butcher shop greets you with high-quality cuts as soon as you open the door, tempting you with coils of lamb sausage or hefty cuts of steak to take home. But not everyone is a wiz when it comes to cooking their own meat, which is why Gwen’s evening restaurant component is always worth a visit. The glitzy dining room, where chandeliers dangle above, also features an open kitchen for an entirely elegant, modern steakhouse experience.

Run by siblings Philip and Lauren Pretty, Heritage serves a classically Californian tasting menu ($150) from a converted Craftsman bungalow in Long Beach’s Rose Park. High-quality seasonal ingredients, including produce sourced from Heritage’s namesake urban farm, sets the restaurant apart, as does memorable dishes like six-hour-smoked pork belly, pavlova with parsnip pastry cream and preserved kumquats paired with roasted beets.

Housed inside food hall Mercado La Paloma, Gilberto Cetina Jr.’s Yucatecan-style mariscos counter is a profound revelation for those who enjoy spice, citrus and smoke. The approachable deep-fried fish tacos and well-made coctel mixto, of course, bring in the daytime crowds, but more upmarket dishes like the smoked kanpachi tostadas and freshly shucked oysters more than hold their ground against other seafood heavyweights. For a special occasion (even if that's just a random Thursday night), Holbox's experimental eight-course tasting menu ($130) is the most delicious, inexpensive way to enjoy the best of the Pacific.

Currently operating out of sister restaurant Inaba in Torrance, this intimate sushi bar experience manned by Yasuhiro Hirano offers an ultra-premium omakase made with aged fish and exotic ingredients like mantis shrimp and plump Japanese oysters. This is the kind of place where you can expect a crash course in the art of sushi from the chef himself—plus the appropriate tuition and fees ($280) to match. For a taste of Inaba closer to L.A. proper, head to Sushi Kaneyoshi in the Arts District on Tuesday nights, where Hirano pops up for a reservation-only collaborative dinner that runs $400 per head. 

Formerly known as the supper club pop-up Kali Dining, chefs Kevin Meehan and Drew Langley turned their sporadic dining experience into a neighborhood brick-and-mortar in Larchmont Village, offering fresh and simple Californian cuisine in a casual setting. Made exclusively with locally sourced ingredients, the $250 tasting menu ranges from dishes like prawn crudo and olives and nasturtium for a light appetizer, to more hearty protein plates such as beef tenderloin with onion and fingerling potatoes. The seasonality extends to the à la carte options, too, both at lunch and dinner. An equally extensive beverage menu is available, with global wines, inspired cocktails, a selection of craft beer and even Meehan’s house-made kombucha.

For all the warm sushi rice and dragon rolls, L.A. boasts plenty of excellent Edomae-style sushi bar, with perhaps no better example than this relative newcomer hidden away in the basement of a Little Tokyo office building. Run by veteran sushi chef Yoshiyuki Inoue, Sushi Kaneyoshi tops out in luxury, refinement and overall wow factor. The exact seafood used in Kaneyoshi’s approximately 20 courses changes seasonally, but diners are likely to dig into a delicate Hokkaido crab chawanmushi, along with one of the city’s best preparations of ankimo (monkfish liver) and nodoguro (blackthroat sea perch) for the cool price of $300 per person. A word of warning: Tock reservations here are tough to snag, but the eventual outcome is well worth the time and effort. 

With each passing year, Jon Yao's tasting menu reaches new heights. The lauded self-taught chef—and native Angeleno—blends his Taiwanese and San Gabriel Valley roots to create a tasting menu that’s something new entirely: Asian-inflected fine dining that’s almost too pretty to eat. (We said almost.) Now firmly ensconed in a larger, sleeker space at ROW DTLA, Yao's former strip mall restaurant has evolved to a new—and much more expensive—level. Expect the city's best milk bread and artful, refined takes on Asian classics like Taiwanese beef noodle soup in a tasting experience ($325) that just might strike a chord of nostalgia and a bar-specific tasting menu ($185) that distills the restaurant’s greatest hits.

Year first awarded: 2025

After a nearly yearlong stint at Jordan Kahn’s Vespertine and Meteora, chef Ki Kim is once again pushing the boundaries of modern Korean fine dining. Located in the same Little Tokyo complex as Sushi Kaneyoshi and Bar Sawa, the chef's new tasting experience ($285) reads as a more elevated, satisfying version of Kinn, Kim’s now-closed Koreatown restaurant. Kimbap topped with creamy cod milt serves as a worthy appetizer to a 12-course menu that nods to the head chef’s personal biography and past experiences on both coasts working fine dining. I’ve been familiar with Kim’s cooking since Naemo, his quarantine era dosirak pop-up, and can honestly say that Ki is the chef’s most fully realized project to date. A $190 beverage pairing spanning wine, sake and tea, along with ultra-polished service, befit the high price point and translate into a worthy special-occasion eatery for those who enjoy Korean cuisine, rare seafood, fine dining or all of the above.

Year first awarded: 2024

With a bird's nest-like entrance, Tulum-meets-primordial-ooze interiors and instrumental deep house thrumming throughout the night, the threat of overstimulation is constant at Jordan Kahn’s Meteora. Unlike the futuristic tasting experience at the chef's Michelin-starred Vespertine, the tasting menus here ($95 or $125) draws inspiration from ancient history and the natural world. Despite cloying design, overly precious service and a highbrow premise, Kahn's fastidious approach to running restaurants pays off in spades when it comes to the actual cuisine. Otherworldly, minimally processed dishes present organic and foraged ingredients distilled down to their basic essence—and every dish awakens the senses with the chef's trademark immaculate presentation. 

Year first awarded: 2025

A sense of restrained elegance threads itself throughout each meal at Mori Nozomi, the newest omakase experience to occupy the former Mori Sushi space. Five nights a week, Ginza Onodera alumna Nozomi Mori serves an exquisite omakase ($250) with a touch of Osaka-style flair and elements of traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The all-female team—a rarity in the predominantly male world of sushi—has crafted a standout high-end sushi experience complete with minimalist floral arrangements, an optional artisan tea pairing ($50) and Mori’s delicate one-of-a-kind wagashi at the end of every meal. I loved the thinly sliced penshell clam wrapped in nori and tamago soaked in hot dashi broth, but what really sets the restaurant apart is the grace and beauty of ceremonial tea-serving on display every night of service. 

This omakase-only sushi bar in Atwater Village is the latest eponymous venture of esteemed local chef Morihiro Onodera, whose previous time at Mori Sushi on Pico Boulevard also helped propel the latter toward one star in 2019. With nearly four decades of experience and full control over every aspect of the sushi-making process at Morihiro, Onodera’s legendary craftwork shines at this tiny space—which has just six seats at the counter and a handful of tables. With a sushi bar omakase that tops out at $400 per person (and a $250 experience at tables), this isn't your everyday sushi meal, but the serene ambience, artisanry and diverse array of fish make a meal at Morihiro absolutely unforgettable.

Netflix’s first season of Chef’s Table (2018) may have shone a national spotlight on n/naka, but the Palms restaurant—which opened in 2011—has long been front and center in the L.A. food world. Chef-owner Niki Nakayama is a former protégé of the legendary Morihiro Onodera, whose current and former sushi bars are also on this list. Unlike her omakase-specialized mentor, Nakayama focuses on kaiseki: a classical style of Japanese cooking that dictates a specific progression of tastes, textures and temperatures while incorporating seasonal ingredients. Both running 13 courses, the chef’s $365 modern kaiseki and vegetarian tasting menus change regularly, but there’s always something to delight in: a glass filled with sea urchin and lobster in a bath of chilled dashi, maybe, or a seared diver-harvested scallop cuddled next to a warm okra pod.

The crown jewel of Jerry Greenberg's Sugarfish empire, Nozawa Bar bears the family name of Kazunori Nozawa, the sushi chef whose Studio City restaurant started it all. Tucked inside the Beverly Hills Sugarfish, the chef has resurrected his L.A. institution with the same elements: impeccably fresh fish served on warm, loosely packed rice. By omakase standards, the $225 per head price here is a steal, with generous cuts of fish and nigiri graced by prodigious amounts of salmon roe and uni. The decadence continues with hand rolls, enormous rectangles of tamago, and rich monkfish liver dressed with miso. The only catch? There are merely 10 seats at this 20-plus course experience, so you need to make a reservation—and also get there on time. Much like in the Studio City original, tardiness is a huge no-no.

The pandemic may have shrunk chef Josef Centeno's Downtown restaurant empire, but his Italian-Japanese concept Orsa & Winston has not only survived the worst crisis the restaurant industry has seen in living history, it’s retained its Michelin star rating. On the Fourth Street restaurant's $150 tasting menu, expect hyper-creative, genre-bending dishes like scallops and uni in a flower-dotted rice porridge or tempura-like fried shiso leaf under abalone. Across every dish, you'll find lots of L.A. love, global inflection and a deep understanding of balance that make every meal here enjoyable. Even factoring in tax and tip, it's still one of the less eye-poppingly expensive fine dining experiences around town.

Most dishes require extreme, almost obsessive effort at Shibumi, a kappo-style Japanese restaurant by chef David Schlosser—the only one of its kind in the city. This sort of Japanese tasting menu might serve bites of prawn ripened and fermented—for months—in their own juices, or slow-smoked salmon that cooks over cherry bark. In an almost-hidden dining room in Downtown L.A., Schlosser grinds nubs of fresh wasabi and steams pork jowl with California-grown rice in a heavy iron pot, and experiments and waits, patiently, to create some of the most intricate flavors that can take weeks to develop. These days, Schlosser offers both an à la carte menu and a seasonal omakase for $125 per guest.

Hidden strip mall gems might be a regular hallmark of L.A. dining, but even within this realm, Encino's Shin Sushi punches above its weight class. Taketoshi Azumi's cozy omakase den in Encino serves seasonal, a variety of delicately aged and seasoned fish—about 18 courses' worth—in a casual setting, where guests can keep them coming if they so wish. With only eight seats at the counter, reservations are all but required.

Year first awarded: 2024

This ultra-traditional kaiseki experience ($350) hidden on the top floor of Ovation Hollywood comes from chefs Yoshitaka Mitsue and Shingo Kato, who previously worked for a Japanese government entity vis-a-vis the United Nations. All fish is sourced from Japan and flown in weekly, but as with all kaiseki, the menu rotates with the seasons.