What makes a restaurant the highest rated in LA? You could dine at this family-run Thai spot in Sherman Oaks a hundred times and have a completely different—and incredible—experience each time. Come on Tuesdays for dry-aged fish tacos and collaborations with guest chefs, farmers, and foragers. Show up on just about any other night to drink wine that’s been sourced from a Slovenian commune and eat Southern Thai fried chicken you will be thinking about for the rest of your life.

Holbox is our second highest-rated restaurant in the city, and for good reason: this colorful stall at Mercado La Palma in South LA serves Mexican seafood that’s simply sublime, always fresh, and so innovative, it’ll make you question all other seafood in the world. Scallop aguachiles arrive in a tongue-searing green sauce that you can smell a mile away, thanks to the cilantro, jalapeno, and lime. Tacos are topped with tempura rockfish, diver scallops, and our favorite, jet-black pulpo.

This high-end SGV restaurant looks plucked from a Qing Dynasty period drama with its opulent red dining room, expert service, and ornate food that is as stunning to eat as it is to behold. We daydream about the stir-fried angus beef with green peppercorns, glistening peking duck, and braised cod smothered in chili oil as often as we do winning the lottery (which, coincidently, is what it might require to eat here daily).

A meal at Somni is as incredible as it is incredibly expensive. At this theatrical fine dining spot in West Hollywood, dinner costs $645 per person ($495 for the 20-course tasting menu, plus $150 minimum for the required beverage pairing) which officially makes it the priciest restaurant in LA. That said, it’s clear where your money is going. Chefs with Secret Service earpieces present each Spanish-leaning dish with effortless poise.

Anyone who likes meaty prawns and plump oysters, and eating those meaty prawns and plump oysters under a disco ball will care for Found Oyster like a family member. That is to say, after one visit, you’ll continue to check in on this undeniably sexy East Hollywood seafood spot with the devotion of a lioness for her cub. We like coming to this walk-in only spot with a group for a shellfish tower or scallop tostada, but it's also ideal for a glass of Gamay and a wedge salad at the bar.

Gjelina in Venice is the house that kale salad built. Even if kale is rarely on the menu now, there are always vegetables all dolled up with acid, some cheese, and something crispy-crunchy to take the edge off. Whether you build an order around green stuff, or pepper in a pizza and duck confit, a meal here is sure to feel “very LA,” complete with table neighbors who wear large-brimmed hats after dark and say “LOL” out loud unironically.

Everything about Luv2Eat looks and feels like any other LA strip mall restaurant, but the ultra spicy regional specialties and the warm service make it an extreme challenge to drive by without popping in. You’ll find many of the highlights in the Chef’s Special section of the menu, a mixed bag of dishes that showcases the two chefs’ family recipes from Phuket. The Phuket-style crab curry, for instance, takes sweet, salty, and sour to euphoric levels.

If the Ghost of Christmas Present—the jolly one with a robe and a wreath in his hair—opened a restaurant, it would probably look like Dunsmoor. Meals at this refined Southern-leaning spot in Glassell Park have the warm energy of a celebratory feast, even if you’re popping in for albacore crudo and a glass of wine. The menu is filled with incredible ember-cooked dishes that Bear Grylls would fantasize about while wandering the brush.

If you need an Italian restaurant in LA, you can find pretty much anything on the dining spectrum, from red sauce landmarks and new school pasta bars to tourist traps with temperature-controlled rooms. Then there’s Antico Nuovo, a Ktown strip mall spot that doesn’t fall into any established category. Antico makes the best pasta in LA, and yet, the pasta might not even be the best thing on the menu. That award could go to the towering focaccia, juicy pork ribs, or pistachio ice cream.

Bavel is the middle child restaurant from the people behind Bestia and Saffy’s, two of the most famous—and famously crowded—restaurants in the city. Having such well-regarded siblings might seem like a tough gig, but Bavell is our favorite of the family. This upscale Middle Eastern restaurant in the Arts District is a model of consistency, serving deeply personal food that tastes incredible, with reliably great service and a stunning, blockbuster space.

The 19-course, $230 omakase at Sushi Sonagi could only exist in LA, or maybe only at this particular sushi spot in a Gardena strip mall. With help from his parents, wife, and sister, Sonagi’s chef splices together beautiful, meticulous nigiri with thoughtful nods to his Korean-American heritage, some of which are subtle and others that are big and showy, like chawanmushi seasoned with gamtae seaweed, or cut rolls filled with soy-cured crab.

Moo's Craft Barbecue isn’t just home to the best barbecue in LA, it’s home to some of the best we’ve eaten anywhere. This is Texas-style barbecue—meaning brisket is king—but what makes Moo’s even more special is how intricately owners Michelle and Andrew Muñoz have incorporated their East LA roots into things beyond smoked meat. Think side dishes like creamy, smoky esquites, dill-heavy red potato salad, and a tres leches bread pudding we’d rank among the best desserts in the city.

This retro pizza parlor specializes in thick, pan-style pies and nostalgic desserts, both of which are responsible for lines forming before the place even opens. Ignore the urge to order takeout and have a sit-down meal in Quarter Sheets’ dining room, instead. It looks like somebody’s uncle’s basement—no singing fish on the wall, but there could be. Just don’t fall in love with any specific dishes. The menu gets overhauled with different pizzas every week.

We can’t imagine LA’s restaurant scene without Dudley Market. It’s the best of the Pacific all in one place, with a fishing boat they use to catch all their bluefin tuna, a view of the coast, and our favorite burger in the city. Beyond the fish and the food, Dudley Market has an incredible natural wine program and a vinyl DJ series. If this all sounds like too much for one restaurant to juggle, that’s because it is. But Dudley Market makes it look easy.

You can come to this tiny convenience store in Northridge and find all the things you’d expect at a local corner store. But what makes Baja Subs different is the secret menu of exceptional Sri Lankan food. You’ll find dishes like biryani topped with caramelized onion relish, garlicky Sri Lankan noodles, and kottu roti, a popular Sri Lankan street food made with flaky roti sautéed with vegetables, eggs, and spices.

Yang’s Kitchen has been around since 2019—and we’ve been huge fans of this bright, breezy all-day Taiwanese-ish spot in Alhambra from the very beginning. But after their more recent introduction of dinner service, we can now say with confidence that Yang’s is not only one of the best places to eat in the SGV, but the entire city. And while there are zero misses on Yang’s menu, the “larger bites” section is where you’ll want to concentrate your attention.

Si! Mon’s beach-adjacent setting in Venice is lush and dreamy, sure, but this splashy Panamanian spot’s appeal isn’t just string lights and a fleet of potted Birds of Paradise. The cooking here is as bold, bright, and inventive as anything in the city. You’ll slurp buttery baked oysters topped with toasted coconut and neon green tigre de leche. Impossibly tender kanpachi arrives wrapped in a banana leaf smelling like coconut oil and Thai basil.

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Bestia. You might even have an opinion on it. But even with all the praise this splashy Arts District Italian spot has accumulated since opening in 2012, we’re here to say this—the hype is still warranted. The oven-blistered pizzas, indulgent pasta, and hunks of wood-grilled meat are all close to perfect, and the energy inside the industrial-chic dining room bounces off the brick walls like surround sound (yes, it gets loud).

LA’s Jewish deli scene has old standbys like Nate 'n Al's and Canter’s, new classics like Wexler’s, and the home of the greatest pastrami sandwich in existence—Langer’s. But the best overall deli? That's Brent’s. There are certainly iconic dishes—black pastrami reuben, stuffed cabbage, and a latke and blintz sampler—but this isn’t one of those delis where the quality drops off if you stray from a few specialties. Every page of this encyclopedic, 650-item menu hits.

At Damian, the Arts District restaurant from the chef behind Pujol in CDMX and Cosme in NYC, Mexican classics you’ve eaten 400 times feel new again. Lobster al pastor oozes juices from its trips around the trompo, nutty caesar salad tops uni tostadas, and slow-roasted duck carnitas and heirloom corn tortillas unite to make the ideal DIY taco. In a city full of great Mexican food, it’s tough for any restaurant to stand out from the pack. But Damian is no typical restaurant.

Rather than offering a trendy take on an onion tart that no one asked for, the French cooking at Pasjoli is all about good old-fashioned animal fat and the technique required to back it up. In the $200 duck extravaganza for two, you’ll eat every part of the bird—from the juices in a wine-cognac gravy to the crispy skin over a simple salad—and go home with duck-leg bread pudding leftovers for breakfast.

The meat at this two-story taquería in Huntington Park is just as good (if not better than) America’s best barbecue—they just so happen to use tortillas as the transportation method. Every cut, from the lime-marinated ribeye to the crispy short rib, absorbs the mesquite charcoal’s woody flavor. The next time an out-of-towner asks you to suggest just one taco place, send them to Los Cholos.

The omakase at Go’s Mart is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a meal you’ll be dreaming about for months, whether you’re a sushi novice or seasoned pro. There’s no menu here, per se. For about $200, you’ll receive a whirlwind meal of over 15 courses, including nigiri, cold appetizers, and grilled seafood dishes. Ahi is seared, salted, and served in more ways than we thought possible; blue crab hand rolls are laced with truffle and taste completely decadent.

Saffy’s, a glamorous kebab house in East Hollywood, is the newest restaurant from the Bavel and Bestia team. Here you'll find the restaurant group's most casual offerings: shawarma sandwiches, tagine platters, and some life-changing hummus, all served in a bright and airy space that you’ll want to hang out in all night. Walk-ins are encouraged and accommodated, servers treat you like an old friend, and most dishes cost less than $25.

The Old Hollywood spot is a beloved LA restaurant category, but the reality is most rely on kitschy history to get people in the door—not great food or an exciting atmosphere. But La Dolce Vita has all three in spades. Dinner at this revitalized Italian American landmark in Beverly Hills feels like a portal to a different era, one filled with excellent red sauce classics, elite service, and some of the most titillating people-watching in the city.