The 12 Most Fun Dinner Spots In LA - Los Angeles - The Infatuation (2024)

Those seeking a polite meal, click away now. This guide is reserved for anyone who’s wondering, “Where’s the place to be?” and might have a penchant for mid-dinner photoshoots and post-dinner bar hopping. Chairs aren’t just for sitting in some of these restaurants and, while food is important, a good time takes priority. They range from new spots flooding your feeds to classics where successful meals are determined by how many martinis you drink with your server. These places may not all be the best new restaurants in town, but you'll always walk out with a story or two. And if you happen to be looking for some fun bars in LA, we know just the ones to prioritize.

THE SPOTS

Dinner at MXO is the closest you can get to eating at a high-end resort in Mexico without crossing the border. That’s because this clubby Mexican steakhouse on La Cienega from the chef behind Ka’teen offers similar elements: women in Rococo Sand dresses, a bumping bar area with flashy agave cocktails, and a dining room that looks like a millionaire’s dude ranch, complete with patio fire pits. The mesquite-grilled meats here are solid, but MXO works best for a boozy, snacky night out with friends. Start with the impressive (free) chips and salsa spread, a round of michelada oyster shooters, and some sweet potato taquitos. Just be prepared to spend: MXO can feel like a vacation, but it can cost as much as one, too.

Bar Sinizki specializes in the kind of European fantasy that would make Rick Steves jealous: checkerboard floors, copper tile ceilings, a lot of white marble, and people who look like they take month-long holidays every summer enjoying brown butter pierogies and Fernet spritzes. The good news is it can easily be your fantasy, too. This bubbly all-day bistro in Atwater from the Elf Cafe people is walk-in only, so elbow up to the bar or find a table on the leafy patio where you can debate Sartre versus Camus over steak frites until last call at midnight.

This dark and moody bistro on Melrose doesn’t shy away from Old Hollywood touches. There’s a long bar where Manhattans flow, booths the size of jacuzzis, and a wedge salad buried under a metric ton of bacon. But don’t mistake The Benjamin for a living museum. By 6pm most nights, the place packs in a crowd dressed like they’re auditioning for a Stüssy print campaign. Huddle with your personal Brat Pack in the corner over strip steaks and caviar baked potatoes, or join the neighborhood scene at the bar that sneaks in for martinis and burgers. There are many ways to do a meal right at The Benjamin and none of them are snoozy.

Among the countless Koreatown drinking dens nearby, this blonde wood wine bar by the Chimmelier folks belongs in your rotation simply because it can be used in so many ways. Jilli is low-key enough for post-work beers and fried chicken. It’s moody enough for a candlelit wine date at the bar. And if you show up after 8pm with your soju-drinking friends, this narrow restaurant plays 2000s hip-hop to help kickstart a night out. It’s a great catch-all to keep in your back pocket, and the cheeky spins on Korean bar food are so good we’d order them in Buca di Beppo-sized portions.

At this neighborhood izakaya in Virgil Village, the energy in the dining room is so infectious you'll feel like you just hopped off a flight to Vegas. Friends crowd into dimly lit booths passing dishes like fermented Thai sausage and wagyu yakisoba. A glowing Orion beer sign casts a pink sheen over dates ordering shochu cocktails at the walk-in-only bar. Lauryn Hill and '90s Kylie blast over the speakers. We love that drinks arrive in adorable little penguin mugs, and servers will pull up a chair to discuss the restaurant’s Spotify playlist like it’s a family heirloom (it’s that good). It’s rare to find a legitimate party restaurant, let alone one with great food. Budonoki pulls off both.

Justine’s is a campy wine bar, listening party, and (vegan) Italian restaurant rolled into one. On busy nights, this Frogtown spot is packed with fashionable people holding tiny designer bags in one hand and a glass of Austrian orange in the other. Still, it’s more of a hangout spot than a “chug pet-nat and be seen” kind of place. Dates and friends sink into velvet booths, dream pop trickles from the vintage sound system, and everyone blurs away in this colorful, dimly lit room. Great ambiance aside, the plant-based red sauce Italian menu is why we'd gladly spend a night here eating crispy mushroom calamari and the saucy Sunday-only lasagna.

You’ve done dinner at the hot fancy restaurant. You’ve done drinks at the cool new bar. Now what? The Baked Potato, that’s what. This legendary jazz club in Studio City is one of the strangest and most objectively delightful spots for a night out. On any given night, the grungy, one-room bar on Cahuenga is packed with tatted octogenarians, burly musicians, and someone’s nephew getting his mind blown by the power of improvisation. As the name suggests, the menu is comprised almost entirely of baked potatoes. There are 24 different topping options, and you should definitely order one—even if it’s just to take a picture of how big it is. Be sure to grab tickets well in advance.

Arguably one of the best red sauce joints around, Donna’s in Echo Park doesn’t make you choose between a good time and a great meal. Groups crowd into leather booths and use their outdoor voices to discuss friend-group gossip. Complimentary limoncello shots flow like water. And the Italian American comfort food is just as considered as the nostalgia-core backdrop. So if you’re in the mood to take down a plate of chicken parm in a loud room covered in teal floral wallpaper, a night at Donna’s will make you very happy.

Đi Đi's main selling point is that it's bumping. This West Hollywood Vietnamese restaurant functions like church for people who want to dress up, listen to Drake, drink coconut-washed rum, and take flash photos with tiger-embossed throw pillows. The walls? Leaf-covered. The seating? Low and curved couches, naturally. The Vietnamese food? Totally fine. If the idea of putting on a bodycon dress and strutting across a dining room delights you, you'll thrive at Đi Đi.

During dinner time, this East Hollywood pasta-and-pét-nat spot lures influencers and off-duty A-listers looking to have candlelit catch-ups with friends. But the real fun starts just after 8pm when the bar overflows with groups of art school dropouts who just bought six-packs of wine from the bottle shop around back. It won’t be long before you’re three glasses deep, nibbling on grilled prawns, and chatting with a stranger you’ll never see again.

Checker Hall feels like a bar and a Mediterranean restaurant wrapped in one, which is why a night here always goes late. It’s located on the second floor of an old masonic lodge in Highland Park and will please all your friends who want to chill in a booth and eat branzino and whipped feta. But no one will feel out of place spending the night flirting at the bar and drinking good cocktails (like the spicy, tequila-based Carmen #6). In reality, everybody in your group will probably partake in both approaches.

This Korean tavern in Ktown is late-night LA canon. It's where one hour turns into three in the blink of an eye. Meats sizzle and knives scrape on the central grill. Smoke hangs over the dark, wooden booths, and groups of friends pound Hite with an exorbitance typically reserved for the end of the world. As for the food, the menu has over 100 different anju designed for snacking while you drink. We recommend loading up on kimchi pancakes, sweet and spicy tteokbokki, and more skewers than you can adequately count. If you don't want to wait an hour (or more), arrive before 8pm.