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Culver City has always been better known for its famous movie studios, including Sony Pictures Studios and Culver Studios — where films like King Kong , Gone With the Wind , and The Wizard of Oz have been made since 1912 — than its culinary scene. However, the city’s food offerings have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, welcoming newcomers like Helms Bakery , located in a historic building, and Afuri ramen , while beloved legends like Mayura and Father’s Office continue to satisfy the community. Here are the best restaurants in Culver City.
New this update: Globally-inspired cookie shop Lei’d, Dominican restaurant Karibbean Cuisine, power lunch destination Laurel Grill, old school Mexican standby Tito’s Tacos, and José Andrés’s Zaytinya. ˆ Matthew Kang is a Tito’s Tacos defender and camped out at Helms Bakery the day it opened. Rebecca Roland is also a Tito’s Tacos defender and could easily write a multi-page defense of why the bean and cheese burrito is a must-order there.
Hatchet Hall With an expansive outdoor patio, charming indoor dining room, and a Southern-inflected menu, Hatchet Hall remains a solid Westside dining option for dinner and brunch. The restaurant, owned by Louie and Netty Ryan, has seen several chefs come and go throughout its nearly decade-long run including Brian Dunsmoor and Wes Whitsell but the menu continues to deliver with crowd-pleasing hits like the cast iron cornbread, loaded baked potato gnocchi , and baked oysters. — Cathy Chaplin, former senior editor Also featured in: The Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The 18 Best Restaurants With a Fireplace in Los Angeles Fat + Flour Nicole Rucker’s lauded pie shop Fat + Flour delighted Angelenos when it opened up a permanent counter at Grand Central Market in 2020.
In late 2023, when Rucker opened a standalone bakery on a quieter stretch of Washington Boulevard in Culver City, Westsiders also celebrated. Fat + Flour offers indoor seating, shoppable items like kitchenware and cookbooks, and of course, the pies that put Rucker on the map. Flavors rotate, but you can’t go wrong with classics like chess pie with decadent chocolate custard or the cult-favorite Key lime with its towering sour cream-tinged whipped cream and salted graham cracker crust.
The gluten-free cosmic brownie is so rich that it may have to be eaten in phases. Tito's Tacos For such an old-school spot, Tito’s and its signature crispy tacos continue to be pretty polarizing. For those who love it, there’s nothing like it, and it satisfies a craving that nothing else does.
Naysayers may disagree, but it’s a legend for a reason. The crispy-shelled tacos are essential in any order, but don’t neglect the beef and bean burrito, or just a classic bean and cheese. The not-so-secret strategy for achieving the ideal Tito’s meal is to slather on the salsa, which just adds another level of flavor.
The food here is best enjoyed on-site to prevent the crispy shell from going soft. Also featured in: Even in Taco-Loving LA, These Burritos Reign Supreme The Most Popular Restaurants in LA, Ranked by Wait Times Lonzo's Bakery Everyone loves a local Peruvian restaurant, and the one almost hiding in plain sight in Culver City remains one of LA’s best. In recent years, Lonzo’s expanded its menu to include huge bowls of shareable ceviche, grilled beef heart anticuchos, and lomo saltado.
These days, it’s caught the attention of influencers and content creators, giving it a new audience hungry for seafood-packed arroz con mariscos and more. Mayura Indian Restaurant Long a favorite of the late restaurant critic Jonathan Gold, this strip mall gem features cuisine from Kerala, India, which melds a thousand years of influence from its numerous trading partners. The menu features towering masala dosas, pitch-perfect chutneys, and fluffy biriyani plates.
Bring a group to share the Southern Indian feast. Also featured in: The 21 Best Indian and South Asian Restaurants in Los Angeles 15 Worthwhile Lunch Deals for dineLA Restaurant Week, Fall 2021 Sign up for our newsletter. Check your inbox for a welcome email.
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S & W Country Diner While the surrounding Downtown Culver City area has waxed and waned over the years with celebrity-owned restaurants, fast-casual concepts, and sports bars, S & W Country Diner has remained a constant, serving affordable breakfast plates since its debut in 1997. Expect typical diner fare like eggs, pancakes, patty melts, club sandwiches, and cheeseburgers, with some specialties like a pork chop served with mashed potatoes, corn, and a biscuit. The perpetually busy diner only serves from 8 a.
m. to 2 p.m.
and is cash only. Also featured in: The 22 Best Breakfast Restaurants in Los Angeles 13 Rib-Sticking, Down-Home Southern Comfort Breakfasts in Los Angeles Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken Vincent Williams, or chef Vinny, has mastered the art of fried chicken at his bustling Culver City restaurant. Sporting shatteringly crisp skin with extreme consistency, these juicy birds could be the finest fried chicken in Southern California.
Drop-style biscuits and packets of honey are served on the side. Honey’s Kettle has found a wider audience thanks to cloud kitchens and delivery across the city. Also featured in: The Best Pies in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Best Chicken Wings in Los Angeles Citizen Public Market There are many ways to explore Citizen Public Market, one of LA’s best food halls .
Swing in during morning hours and settle in for remote work in the market’s many nooks and quiet corners. Or better yet, snag a seat for lunch at Uoichiba for a flight of hand rolls made with dry-aged fish or Shaanxi-style noodles at Bang Bang Noodles. The post-work crowd will do well with fried chicken wings from Go Go Bird and a strong drink at Bar Bohemian located on the welcoming rooftop.
— Cathy Chaplin, former senior editor Also featured in: The Best Sushi Restaurants in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors Laurel Grill Dean McKillen, the restaurateur behind celebrity favorite restaurants Laurel Hardware and Ysabel, has expanded into Culver City with Laurel Grill. Set on the top floor of the Culver Steps, which also houses Erewhon, the restaurant looks like something straight out of a Ritz-Carlton with blonde wood, a piano on display, and a few flickering gas fireplaces out front. The menu makes sense with its aesthetic, serving well-executed but not entirely adventurous dishes like chowder, pizza, a burger, and steak.
It's a restaurant where everyone will have a good time, especially since the service is excellent. Zaytinya Culver City Jose Andres’s renowned D.C.
restaurant Zaytinya has landed in Culver City on the ground floor of the boutique Shay Hotel, bringing with it an Eastern Mediterranean menu that draws on Lebanese, Greek, and Turkish flavors. An entire section dedicated to spreads kicks off the restaurant’s offerings, including hummus, baba ghanoush, tzatziki, and labneh. The vegetable-heavy mezze section relies on California produce in dishes like the crispy Brussels and bantijian bil laban with crispy eggplant, roasted garlic yogurt, cardamom apricots, spiced walnuts, and mint.
Signature flatbreads come topped with soujouk or halloumi, which pair well with bone marrow kibbeh and grilled lamb chops. If dining with a group, try one of the larger family-style mains like the lamb shoulder or kebab platter. For pre- or post-dinner drinks, head up to the rooftop of the hotel for Butterfly.
Also featured in: The Best Happy Hour Drinks and Deals in Los Angeles The Best Lunch Deals for Dine LA Restaurant Week, Winter 2025 Father's Office Sang Yoon’s enduring gastropub is known for its fantastic burger, which uses dry-aged beef, arugula, Maytag blue cheese, and caramelized onion for something recalling French onion soup. But the menu offers compelling options beyond the burger, including daily specials like seasonal fried softshell crab and Spanish tapas-inspired dishes. Father’s Office remains one of the most reliable, flavor-packed places to enjoy hearty food and solid drinks (especially the craft beer selection), but the experience comes with some rules.
First, it’s a true bar, so it’s 21 and over only, and second, they don’t serve ketchup. Also featured in: The Best Burgers in Los Angeles 10 French Fries That Are Actually Good in Los Angeles Karibbean Cuisine More than a decade ago, chef “Tia” Ilonka Garcia was cooking at El Camaguey Market in Palms serving classic Dominican food in one of the city’s earliest documented appearances of the cuisine. In 2022, Tia opened a food truck just off La Cienega Boulevard, serving a hungry Dominican crowd with breakfast through the early evening.
Her specialties are soulful stewed oxtails, fried chicken, and fritura (fried snacks), as well as a terrific tray called tres golpes: fried eggs, fried cheese, and sliced fried salami that should quell one’s morning hunger through half the day. Now Ilonka has taken over a full brick-and-mortar on the border between Culver City and Mid-City Los Angeles with an expanded menu and the same fantastic Dominican fare. In this part of town, there isn’t a better place for top-notch Caribbean food.
Also featured in: The Best Caribbean Restaurants in Los Angeles Lei'd Cookies Born as a pop-up at Smorgasburg, Lei’d has settled into its permanent home in Culver City since opening in 2023. In contrast to other bakeries whose cookie selections may be limited to chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin, Lei’d draws influence from around the world, baking it into cookies like mango sticky rice, cannoli, and guava cheese. There are even some gluten-free options like flourless brownie and snickerdoodle.
Also featured in: 20 Exquisite Cookie Destinations in Los Angeles.
