Best Restaurants in Downtown Los Angeles 2026: The Ranked Guide
Our ranked guide to the best restaurants in Downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District for 2026, from Bestia and Bavel to the rooftop views at 71Above and Cara Cara.
Why we wrote this guide
Downtown Los Angeles went from a place you left after work to the most exciting dining neighborhood in the city, and the Arts District is the engine that pulled it there. Within a few square blocks you can eat one of the hardest reservations in America, a Middle Eastern room that reinvented what wood fire can do, and a rooftop nearly a thousand feet up with the Pacific on one side and Dodger Stadium on the other. This is our ranked guide to the best restaurants in Downtown Los Angeles in 2026, built from the rooms our guests ask for by name. Every venue below is one we know well and send guests to. Last updated September 2026.
Looking for the table, not the reading? Tell us the night and the group and we will route you to the right room. The order below blends the quality of the room with the occasion it fits best, not just the size of the dining room.
The ranked guide
1. Bestia (Arts District)
Getting a table at Bestia is the first test, and it has been since the night the place opened in 2012. When Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis took over a vacant warehouse down a dimly lit alley at the edge of downtown, they did not follow a trend, they started one, and the Arts District dining scene that exists today traces a direct line back to what they built here. The room does a lot of the work: exposed brick, steel beams, raw concrete, and an open kitchen anchored by a wood-burning hearth. The pasta is the reason people book three months out, from the lobster-studded squid ink spaghetti to the ricotta cavatelli with truffles and sausage and the much-cited bone marrow gnocchetti. See Bestia.
Best for: the marquee downtown dinner, the reservation that is supposed to be impossible.
2. Bavel (Arts District)
Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis's second Arts District room, and its own restaurant entirely, not a Bestia repeat. Bavel sits inside a converted brick warehouse on Mateo Street with sawtooth skylights and clerestory windows, with planters trailing greenery from the ceiling that cast shadows across the whitewashed brick after dark. Menashe cooks with a palate shaped by his family's roots in Israel, Morocco, Turkey and Egypt, pulled through a Los Angeles sensibility. Start with the hummus and its ring of masabacha, order the malawach, and field the questions everyone asks about the slow-roasted lamb neck shawarma. See Bavel.
Best for: the group that wants to order widely and share the whole table.
3. Girl and the Goat (Arts District)
Stephanie Izard's Los Angeles outpost, opened in summer 2021 in the Arts District, with soaring warehouse ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. Izard, a Top Chef winner and James Beard Award recipient, built the menu around California produce and bold family-style small plates meant to be ordered three to five per person. The lamb curry, the goat empanadas, the sticky glazed pork shank, and the grilled kalbi-style short ribs are the ones the regulars steer newcomers toward. The room fills fast on weekends and turns lively as the night goes on. See Girl and the Goat.
Best for: the group dinner built on sharing, with real energy in the room.
4. 71Above (Financial District)
The view no other downtown room can match. Perched on the 71st floor of the U.S. Bank Tower, nearly 1,000 feet above the street, 71Above opened in 2016 as the highest restaurant west of the Mississippi. The circular dining room wraps you in 360-degree floor-to-ceiling windows, the Pacific and Malibu one direction, the San Gabriel Mountains and Dodger Stadium the other, with sunset seatings that turn the horizon over as you eat. The kitchen runs a seasonal three-course prix fixe built around California ingredients. Prime sunset slots and window tables go first. See 71Above.
Best for: the special-occasion dinner where the view is half the reason you came.
5. Perch (Historic Core)
One of downtown's original rooftop rooms, and still one of the most atmospheric. Perch occupies the 15th and 16th floors of the historic Pershing Square Building, a dual-level French bistro with fire pits warming the terraces. The 360-degree view of skyscrapers, distant mountains, and city lights frames the whole evening, and the weekend energy climbs with DJs and live bands into late-night lounge hours. Order the ahi tuna tartare, the French onion soup, the charcuterie plate, and the truffle cheese fries everyone ends up eating. See Perch.
Best for: a rooftop date night or the group that wants dinner to roll into the night.
6. Cara Cara (South Park)
The rooftop of the Downtown L.A. Proper Hotel, opened in October 2021 in a 1920s building by architects Curlett and Beelman, with hotel interiors by Kelly Wearstler. The room spans indoor and outdoor levels, with an upper platform and a lower garden of fire pits and lounge seating, and 360-degree views over downtown Los Angeles. Executive Chef Jaime Rivas runs a seasonal, California-driven menu cooked without seed oils, with shareable plates like the hamachi ceviche with aji amarillo, grilled octopus with tomato ragout and short rib barbacoa tacos, plus pistachio-crusted salmon and Australian lamb chops with cucumber labneh. Golden-hour tables over the skyline book fast. See Cara Cara.
Best for: a golden-hour rooftop dinner with a serious kitchen behind it.
How to choose, fast
The hardest, most talked-about downtown table: Bestia.
The room to order widely and share: Bavel or Girl and the Goat.
The best view in the city: 71Above.
Rooftop atmosphere, date night: Perch.
Golden-hour rooftop with a serious chef: Cara Cara.
Why the Downtown LA reservation is harder than it looks
The best downtown and Arts District tables book out well ahead, and the prime-time weekend seatings go first. Bestia has run three months deep since it opened, and the rooftop rooms sell their sunset window and skyline tables faster than anything else on the book. Each restaurant's page below carries its current booking link, and we can pair the dinner with the rest of the night.
How the booking works
Outside Las Vegas the dinner reservation sits with the restaurant, not with us.
Book the table direct on the venue's own platform - every restaurant above has its own
page carrying the current booking link - and we build the night around it.
The process for you is short:
Book the table direct. If you are not sure which room fits the night, tell us the
group and the occasion and we will tell you where to book and when the window opens.
Tell us what dinner is the anchor for: the bar before, the club after, the car
between them, the pool day the next morning.
We come back with the rest of the night, and that is the part we arrange for you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles?
For the single most sought-after downtown table, most serious diners point to Bestia in the Arts District, one of the hardest reservations in Los Angeles since 2012. For a view-forward special occasion, 71Above on the 71st floor of the U.S. Bank Tower leads. The right answer depends on the occasion, so the ranking above is by fit, not just reputation.
Which Downtown LA restaurant is hardest to get into?
Bestia is the classic answer, running roughly three months out for prime weekend tables. Bavel and Girl and the Goat, both in the Arts District, are close behind on weekends, and the sunset window tables at 71Above, Perch, and Cara Cara are the first rooftop slots to go. Book those tables as early as each restaurant's platform allows.
Where should I eat in the Arts District specifically?
The Arts District anchors on three of the rooms above: Bestia and Bavel, both from Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis, and Stephanie Izard's Girl and the Goat. All three are family-style, share-the-table restaurants with real energy after dark. Tell us the headcount and we will route the one that fits the night.
Which Downtown LA restaurant has the best view?
71Above, nearly 1,000 feet up on the 71st floor of the U.S. Bank Tower, has the highest and most complete view in the city, Pacific one direction and mountains the other. For rooftop atmosphere closer to street level, Perch atop the Pershing Square Building and Cara Cara at the Downtown L.A. Proper both deliver skyline tables, especially at golden hour.
How far in advance should I book a Downtown LA restaurant?
For a standard weekend prime-time table, 2 to 4 weeks at most of these rooms, and closer to a month or more for Bestia. During awards season and major downtown event weekends, plan 6 to 8 weeks out, and ask about bar seats or chef's counter when the main book reads full.
Booking the table
Book the table direct on the restaurant's own platform - each pick above links to its
page with the current booking link. Then tell us the night and the group and we will
build the rest of it around dinner.
Build a plan with us
Want the full lineup? Browse every Los Angeles restaurant we feature to round out the trip.
Build a custom itinerary with our concierge team. Pair the venues mentioned above into a single concierge-confirmed evening. See the full Las Vegas events calendar for every upcoming DJ and pool party across the city.
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