The Best Fine Dining Restaurants in Los Angeles

Kato Restaurant in Los Angeles offers a creative approach to Taiwanese-inspired cuisine, blending fresh local ingredients with playful techniques. It has earned a Michelin star while maintaining a casual and welcoming atmosphere. The staff is known for being friendly and attentive, helping guests feel comfortable as they enjoy an ever-changing tasting menu.

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Carsten Schmidt

Culinary Explorer

A Michelin Starred restaurant in a strip mall next to a dry cleaner and supermarket, it doesn’t get more LA than that. But what also doesn’t get more LA than that is the freshness of the ingredients, the playful mix of cultures, and just the innovation and fun you can taste in each bite. The Tomatoes were amazing, this explosion of flavors, the steamed fish, and lastly the yogurt/melon were the standout dishes for me. Lastly, let me also just say that the staff was amazing.

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Damian is a CASAMATA restaurant in Los Angeles’ Arts District that serves contemporary food rooted in Mexican culture and inspired by Pacific coastal traditions. Its friendly service, airy decor, and focus on high-quality local ingredients create an inviting atmosphere. With a thoughtful bar program featuring artisanal spirits, it offers a warm and relaxed dining experience.

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Carsten Schmidt

Culinary Explorer

After several visits to Enrique Olvera’s Mexico City Pujol I was truly looking forward to the opening of Damian. It took some tries to get in due to the shut downs last year but then on my most recent trip I was finally able to eat there and it was so worth the wait. I would say the food is somewhere between Pujol and Cosme … a bit more elevated than Cosme but also a bit more accessible than Pujol. The restaurant certainly takes advantage of LA access to fantastic ingredients and you can taste that in anything from the various fish to the Mexican herbs and obviously the avocados. While the food certainly shines and is the star of the show, I have to say the service was outstanding, extremely friendly, and mezcal selection, while selective, was outstanding, and the decor was beautiful. Located right across Bestia in the Arts District this is a place I am already looking forward to coming back to … soon

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Meteora is a one-star Michelin restaurant in Los Angeles led by Chef Jordan Kahn. It focuses on live-fire cooking and sources ingredients from local and sustainable partners, creating a relaxed take on fine dining. Its nature-driven design and welcoming atmosphere make it an inviting spot to enjoy creative cooking without feeling too formal.

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Robert Dentice

Food | Wine Connoisseur

Tulum through the eyes of Mad Genius Chef Jordan Kahn Stunning meal that showcases Chef Kahn’s brilliance. Tulum inspired. A combination of styles and influences that recall some of his best moments at Red Medicine, Destroyer and Vespertine. Latin American influences pair harmoniously with California ingredients. Along with Destroyer, this is now one of our favorites in LA. Don’t let the scene fool you, the food is as cerebral and serious as any in the U.S.

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n/naka is a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Los Angeles that offers a modern California approach to traditional Japanese kaiseki, using local, seasonal ingredients. Its calm atmosphere and thoughtful service create a welcoming dining experience. Reservations are released monthly through their website.

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Geeta Bansal

EIC of Salty Magazine

Chef Niki Nakayama’s 2 Michelin star, Kaiseki California take utilizing local, seasonal ingredients. In full disclosure, a reservation at the 2 Michelin starred Kaiseki style Japanese restaurant is not easy to land but definitely worth pursuing. Chef Niki Nakayama’s version is a modern California take utilizing local, seasonal ingredients, some not usually identified with the traditional multi-course style, instilling a unique sense of place to the dining experience. The vibe at n/naka is serene and elegant, the service gracious, the sake and the wine and non-alcoholic pairing well-curated. While the exquisitely plated courses open a window into modern Japanese food they magically manage to balance the old and new in taste and flavors. The dinner service runs Wednesday through Saturday with a preset thirteen-course menu. The standout course, a Chef’s choice or Shiizakana, is a nontraditional and absolutely delicious spaghetti alla chitarra, a black truffle topped pasta dressed with abalone liver and pickled roe. Since the menu is hyper-seasonal and evolving constantly, the highlights vary with each experience adding unique taste memories. Chef Nakayama and her partner Carole Iida also opened n/soto, a California Japanese style Izakaya during the pandemic offering an evolving bento with a la carte service to follow.

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Shibumi is a cozy Japanese restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles that serves kappo-style cuisine rooted in seasonality. Helmed by chef David Schlosser, it highlights local, organic, and sustainable ingredients in a relaxed and personal setting.

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Nicole Jacobsen

Co-Founder TheFoodOffice

It’s no surprise that Shibumi, a Japanese restaurant that specializes in kappo cuisine, tops our list of food experiences in Los Angeles! To be frank, Downtown LA was a​ disappointment for us but one restaurant not​ to miss out on is Shibumi - a restaurant that specializes in kappo cuisine, which results in an elegant and mesmerizing Japanese dinner with a focus on seasonality. We tried their medium-range omakase, twelve very different and beautiful dishes by chef David Schlosser.

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Housed in a 1920s former bank building in Los Angeles’ Arts District, YESS is a progressive Japanese restaurant that emphasizes local, seasonal ingredients with a nod to tradition. Chef Junya Yamasaki and the team use an old-style wood-fired stove and charcoal grill in a spacious dining room that invites guests to enjoy a down-to-earth experience. Their approach highlights nature’s constant changes, creating a menu that feels both rooted and open to what the day brings.

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Randy Moon

Restaurant Owner

Yess Restaurant, one of the most exciting restaurants in the US. They've spared no expense in turning a former bank building into a supremely ambitious but also uncomplicated meal of local seafood and vegetables, California meats, and old-fashioned cooking.

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