Occasion
Best Special Occasions Restaurants in Los Angeles
The best LA spots for special occasions, pulled from our guides and picked by taste, price, and vibe — with who each one is really for.
Diddy Riese
$Cookies / Ice Cream · Westwood / Sawtelle
Diddy Riese is a UCLA institution: warm cookies, fresh ice cream, and an ice cream sandwich — pick two cookies and a scoop — for just a couple of dollars. The line wraps down the block on warm nights and it's worth it. There's no cheaper way to feel like you treated yourself in Westwood Village, and it's the unofficial post-dinner ritual for half of campus.
Tsujita LA Artisan Noodle
$$Ramen / Tsukemen · Westwood / Sawtelle
Tsujita on Sawtelle is the ramen spot UCLA students make the short trip for. The tsukemen — thick noodles served alongside an intensely rich, concentrated dipping broth — is the signature, and the tonkotsu ramen is no slouch. The pork broth is simmered for 60 hours and it shows. Lines form fast at lunch; go early or off-peak. Worth every minute of the wait.
Marugame Monzo
$$Japanese / Udon · Westwood / Sawtelle
Marugame Monzo makes udon by hand in the open kitchen, and the difference shows — the noodles are chewy, springy, and a world apart from the packaged version. The uni cream udon is the cult favorite; the classic kake udon in dashi is the purist's pick. A short trip from campus and one of the best comfort-food meals in Sawtelle.
Chichen Itza
$$Yucatecan Mexican · USC / South LA
Inside Mercado La Paloma, a few minutes from campus, Chichen Itza serves some of the best Yucatecan food in Los Angeles. The cochinita pibil — slow-roasted pork in achiote and sour orange — is the order, in a torta or on a plate with black beans and rice. It's affordable, deeply flavorful, and a genuine introduction to regional Mexican cooking that most students walk past for years without trying.
Holbox
$$$Mexican Seafood · USC / South LA
Holbox shares the Mercado La Paloma food hall with Chichen Itza and has earned a Michelin star for its Mexican seafood. The aguachile, ceviche, and seafood tostadas are pristine — the kind of food you wouldn't expect to find at a counter five minutes from a college campus. It's pricier than your average student meal, but it's a destination restaurant hiding in plain sight near USC.