The Best Restaurants to Dine Solo in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors

Food writer M.F.K.

Fisher helped to popularize the notion of dining solo, which can be one of life’s ultimate pleasures. There’s something delightful and intimate about not having to engage in conversation with a dining partner or having to explain your presence while simply easing into a meal. Often, staff strike the right balance between banter with customers and peaceful solitude and enjoyment of their meal.



Usually, the best solo dining seats are at a restaurant’s bar , with the bonus that these seats also frequently provide a great vantage point to the rest of the dining room or into a busy kitchen, all while sipping and eating from some of the city’s best restaurants . Here are the best places to dine alone in Los Angeles. New this update: Studio City dive bar Oy Bar, sushi standby Sushi Gen, Cypress Park’s Taqueria Frontera, Chinese restaurant Noodle Art, acclaimed French restaurant Pasjoli, Damian’s taco alleyway Ditroit, burger spot Amboy, and Melrose restaurant the Benjamin have been added in this update.

Rebecca Roland is a lifelong Angeleno and a strong proponent of solo dining. For her, there are few better meals to be enjoyed alone than a steak, fries, and a martini at a restaurant’s bar. Shirubē Japanese restaurants are often very conducive to solo dining, especially at Shirubē in Santa Monica, which has a bustling open kitchen for people eating at the counter to watch.

Assemble a meal of sashimi, chawanmushi, crab croquette, and karaage along with other izakaya bites, all washed down with top-flight sake or ice-cold Japanese beer. Most people are going to order the pre-sliced whole mackerel blackened at the table (or counter seat) with a butane lighter. It’s definitely a must-order, even for solo diners.

Reservations are available, which is good because Shirubē can get busy during peak hours. Also featured in: The 18 Best Santa Monica Restaurants Pasjoli While the main dining room of Dave Beran’s enduring Santa Monica French restaurant Pasjoli serves a tasting menu, the walk-in only bar offers a more casual place to settle in for beef tartare, caviar, and a martini. The bar serves a separate a la carte menu that's a great fit for solo dining, with snack-sized dishes like French tots and charred broccolini, as well as a burger topped with bone marrow aioli.

The five-course prix fixe menu, priced at $95, is also available at the bar. End solo meals here with a burnt Basque cheesecake or the chocolate souffle. Also featured in: The Best Martinis in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The 18 Best Santa Monica Restaurants Coucou Those looking for a friendly, easy place to have a solo meal at the bar, Venice’s Coucou is a solid place to eat without feeling alone, per se.

The bar is casual and approachable, with great cocktails and reliable bistro fare like a juicy burger, steak frites, and soft serve to finish. Coucou has the polish of a fancy place but with the laid-back vibe that Venice locals and solo diners love. Arrive during happy hour for discounts on oysters, wine, cocktails, and more.

Also, Coucou also has a location in West Hollywood, in case Venice is too out of the way. Also featured in: The Best Soups in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Best Restaurants in LA’s Beachy Venice Neighborhood, According to Eater Editors Oy Bar When Jeff Strauss opened Oy Bar in 2022, he took over the shuttered 50-year-old Oyster House and turned the longtime Studio City spot into what some consider a hip dive bar. But dive bars don’t have food or cocktails this inventive.

At Strauss’s nighttime spot (he also owns Highland Park’s popular sandwich spot Jeff’s Table), the room turns into a low-lit place where the rotating menu is not so much seasonal as suited to Strauss’s moods. Diners might find matzoh ball ramen or Oy Bar’s fish chowder, his version of bass en papillote includes Szechuan oil. The current menu has a crowd-pleasing steak frites with a shiro dashi (Japanese soup stock) pan sauce.

The bar menu takes a similar experimental route with a Ford’s Gin and French vermouth concoction called the Freezer Martini. With the no-reservations dive bar set up, Oy Bar is a great choice for solo diners looking to settle in with a bar burger and a drink. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Also featured in: The Best Martinis in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Benjamin When Ben Shenassafar was in the process of opening his art deco den, the Benjamin, he had a vision of patrons coming in, sipping on a cocktail or two at the bar, devouring a burger, and finishing with warm chocolate chip cookies.

Part of that vision was offering an experience that solo diners could enjoy, just as much as those who come with a group. Grab a seat at the bar and start with the signature Ben’s Martini, which stands out from the pack with a careful balance of floral Monkey 47 Gin and dry vermouth accented with lemon oil. On the side, a small stack of Ruffles-style chips made in-house offers the ideal salty accompaniment.

Also featured in: The Best Martinis in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Best Restaurants Open on New Year’s Day in Los Angeles Sign up for our newsletter. Check your inbox for a welcome email. Oops.

Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again. Clark Street Diner Sometimes it’s nice to be alone with one’s thoughts — and a giant stack of buttermilk pancakes.

Sidle up to a counter seat at this beloved retro-styled Hollywood diner, taken over by the Clark Street Bread group in 2021, and sip on a hot black coffee between bites of updated greasy spoon classics like eggs Benedict, waffles, or biscuits. For lunch, try the cheeseburger, the egg salad sandwich, or a Caesar. With hours extending into the evening on most days and no reservations, Clark Street offers a good all-day option for solo diners looking for a nostalgic breakfast situation.

Plus, the parking lot in back makes it even easier to drop by. A post shared by Clark Street Diner (@clarkstreetdiner) Also featured in: The Best Brunch Destinations in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The Best Restaurants in Hollywood Antico Nuovo Chad Colby’s enduring Italian restaurant, unexpectedly located in a Larchmont-adjacent strip mall, serves what may be the city’s most polished pasta, grilled meats, and rustic Italian fare through an incisive California lens. The menu includes a robust focaccia (“pane”) section with add-ons like burrata and scallion oil, marinated anchovies, whipped ricotta and pistachio pesto, or duck liver pate, while antipasti include seasonal salads and crudo.

The windowless room manages to charm well-dressed diners eager to find stellar vintages on its wine list, and every table orders its share of house-churned ice cream. Those who are dining alone can grab a seat at the bar and watch the action in the kitchen. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Southern California/Southwest Also featured in: The Best Places for Pasta in Los Angeles The Best Splurge-Worthy Restaurants in Los Angeles Dulan's Diners flock to Dulan’s for its namesake cuisine: soul food.

The Inglewood location is a standby for generously sized platters of fried chicken, flavorful meatloaf, tender oxtails, and smothered pork chops. Sides like macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and cornbread round out plates here, but all first-timers should save room for peach cobbler at the end of a meal, or at least take a slice to go. After a nearly two-year hiatus for renovations, the restaurant reopened in January 2024 with a reenergized dining room and the same great comfort dishes.

Holbox While a lot of Michelin-starred restaurants are best enjoyed as a group, Holbox’s counter seating is perfect for one. Gilbert Cetina’s cooking at the Mercado La Paloma restaurant serves mariscos from the island of Holbox, located off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. During the day, the restaurant is walk-up only, serving fish-topped tostadas, aguachiles, and kanpachi tacos.

Wednesdays and Thursdays bring an eight-course tasting menu that's available by reservation only. If the counter is full at Holbox, Mercado La Paloma offers plenty of other tables dotted throughout the spacious food hall. Also featured in: The 38 Best Tacos in Los Angeles The 38 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Langer's Delicatessen There’s a reason why people make pilgrimages to try Langer’s pastrami and even corned beef: There is no better version anywhere in town.

Yes, the No. 19 pastrami sandwich is amazing, but this long-standing deli’s pure pastrami on house-baked rye is simplicity at its best. Try the No.

44, served on griddled rye bread with hand-sliced pastrami, nippy cheese, and sauerkraut, for a decadent take on a Reuben sandwich. But don’t skip the rest of the classic Jewish deli menu either, from potato pancakes to cheese blintzes — it’s all very well executed in one of the best daytime dining rooms in town. — Matthew Kang, lead editor Also featured in: The 38 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles The Best Jewish Delis in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors Grand Central Market Any trip to Grand Central Market should start with a lap around the space to take in all the options, ranging from currywurst to smash burgers to lobster rolls.

Solo diners don’t have to navigate the ever-busy market with a group that can’t quite decide what they want. Instead, opt for a main from one restaurant like Shiku’s dosirak or Ramen Hood’s vegan ramen, and complement it with bites from other vendors like Oyster Gourmet’s freshly shucked oysters or sliced fruit from La Fruteria. The upside to dining alone and ordering from a few vendors is that it basically guarantees having leftovers for a second meal.

Also featured in: Eater Editor Matthew Kang’s Favorite Ramen Spots in Los Angeles The Best Lunch Deals for Dine LA Restaurant Week, Winter 2025 Sushi Gen So many Japanese restaurants come and go in Los Angeles, but Little Tokyo classic Sushi Gen has remained a beloved destination for over 44 years, occupying a strip mall space just east of the neighborhood’s main area. Inside, a cozy and traditional ambience gets filled almost immediately for lunch, stretching into a boisterous dinner service where regulars toast sake glasses with chefs and take bites of fresh nigiri. First timers will find that the best thing to order is the reasonably priced lunch or dinner sashimi platter, which comes chock-full of pristine sliced tuna, salmon, octopus, and whatever else the chefs choose for the day.

Solo diners can brave a table or sit at the bar, where companions will be plentiful. Also featured in: The Best Sushi Restaurants in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The 17 Best Restaurants in LA’s Little Tokyo Ditroit Enrique Olvera’s semi-camouflaged back alley taco stand began its story in Los Angeles at the end of 2020. Ditroit’s lineup of tacos, flautas, and quesadillas has reshaped Angelenos’ conception of what Mexican street food can be: think cornflower-tinged quesadillas filled with melty quesillo and epazote; tacos with smoky suadero, crispy-edged carnitas under seedy salsa roja, or lightly battered eggplant; and the fish flauta, which packs machaca-style fish, cabbage, crema, and salsa verde into a fried corn tortilla.

Visitors can’t go wrong washing it all down with a Mexican Coke, or punctuating the experience with its soft serve of the moment, especially during hotter summer months. Plus, the patio seating setup makes it easy to grab a solo table and dig in. — Nicole Adlman, cities manager Also featured in: The 38 Best Tacos in Los Angeles The 38 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Agnes Pasadena’s expansive Agnes restaurant is a bit of a Swiss army knife, with a full dinner menu and a cheese shop that's easy for grab-and-go or lunch.

During daytime hours, try the prosciutto and butter baguette, crispy tater tots, or a platter of cheese with charcuterie. Evenings bring pasta, a pork chop served with coconut grits, cornbread eclairs, and seared scallops. Co-owner Vanessa Tilaka also regularly hosts cheese-tasting classes, the ultimate activity for one.

Also featured in: The 18 Best Restaurants in Pasadena The Best Desserts to Save Room for in Los Angeles Noodle Art The San Gabriel Valley’s prodigious noodle scene has such a dizzying array of specialists that it would take a lifetime to experience it all. Noodle Art , located in a crowded strip mall in Monterey Park, comes from chef Xibao Wen, who has been cooking Shaanxi cuisine in X’ian since the mid-1980s before opening in Los Angeles in September 2021 . Highlights from the enormous menu include the “three-topping” spicy wide noodles with a combination of tomato and egg, cumin pork belly, and cubed potato bound together with a dry chile mix.

Hand-pulled stir-fried noodles offer the same satisfying bounce of well-made Italian pasta but with heady cumin spices and the tinge of wok-fried aromatics. Chinese “burgers” of minced pork or cumin lamb are always popular, and the tangy-spicy-sweet shredded pork with garlic sauce and julienned wood-ear mushrooms tastes like something from New York’s Chinatown taken to a flavor level of 11. In February 2024, Noodle Art took its talents westward to the Original Farmer’s Market with a slightly truncated but still excellent menu.

— Matthew Kang, lead editor Also featured in: The Best Dishes Eater LA Editors Ate This Year, Mapped.