The Best Restaurants In Westwood

Originally from Anaheim, House of Mandi is a Yemeni restaurant that's the best spot in Westwood for a big group dinner. And when we say big, we mean UCLA dining hall big. The cavernous space on Gayley has long tables, banquettes, and a row of majlis—traditional sitting areas with low, U-shaped sofas. Groups of students and extended families gather around the namesake mandi spreads (available until 1am nightly), featuring roasted lamb, chicken, or fish over a mountain of yellow rice and soft Yemeni flatbread. if you’re not showing up with your entire dorm floor, they also have individual lunch specials and a la carte menu.

If you’re headed to this classic daytime-only shop on Westwood Blvd., chances are the beef tongue sandwich is on your agenda. And rightfully so, this iconic sandwich is a meaty, tangy masterpiece and one of the most well-known dishes in the neighborhood. That said, it shouldn’t be the only thing you order. We love their kuku sabzi, an aromatic, herb-based frittata, that you can get either as a sandwich or as an entree. Get both and fight about which one is better with your friends. And then grab a seat in the courtyard patio for some of the best people-watching in the neighborhood.

Sichuan Impression is one of the best restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, so when they opened a new location on the southern edge of Westwood in 2018, our excitement was palpable. Update: It’s even better than the original in Alhambra. The menu is full of fragrant, intensely-flavored dishes that stay on your lips for days (the tea-rubbed ribs and mapo tofu are must-orders) and the sprawling, second-story dining room is perfect for large groups of friends. When the menu is as stacked as it is at Sichuan Impression, you’re going to need all the help you can get.

Hero had the unfortunate luck of opening a few months before the pandemic, so this tiny izakaya on Westwood Blvd. started as a bit of an unknown commodity in the neighborhood. That's no longer the case, as the line of regulars waiting for a table might tell you. From pork tonkotsu shabu shabu and daily sashimi platters to perfectly moist teba gyo (jidori chicken wing gyozas), everything on Hakata’s tremendous menu is shareable and designed to be eaten with a big glass of beer or sake to wash it all down. This is the kind of place you might roll into at 6pm with a few friends and accidentally stay for three hours—with concrete plans to come back next month.

Westwood is home to the cultural heart of Southern California's massive Iranian population. If you only have time for one meal here, make it Shamshiri. Open since 1981, this Westwood landmark is one of the oldest restaurants in the neighborhood and a place you can walk into any night of the week to find first dates, family meals, and friend get-togethers all happening at the same time. We’d rank their tahchin, a baked basmati rice cake layered with yogurt, saffron, and barberries, as an essential dish of the neighborhood, and their curry stew isn’t far behind. You can get it as its an entree, but we prefer to order it as part of the tahdig appetizer, which comes with crusty rice and another stew of your choice.

This tiny, order-at-the-counter shop makes our favorite kabobs in the neighborhood. They’re juicy and tender, while still maintaining a light crunch, courtesy of the grated onion inside. And at $15 for a full plate with rice and tomatoes, it's a solid quick lunch option that also isn't going to put a hole through your debit card. While the meats are a priority here (their citrusy cornish hen kabob is another standout), we recommend getting involved with the dips, too. The mast-o-mousir, which is strained yogurt mixed with chopped shallots, is tangy, sour, and thick. We usually order one for the meal itself and then another for the road to spread on everything else we eat throughout the week.

Toranj is a Persian spot located in the heart of Westwood Village making it an ideal lunch option if you can’t veer too far from campus. They do a brisk takeout service, but if you’re interested in dining in, there’s also a large sidewalk patio. As far as the food goes, the priority here absolutely needs to be the Juicy Chicken. It’s slightly sweet, somewhat buttery, and so unbelievably tender you’ll forget you’re actually eating chicken. If you want some heat on it, order the spicy version, which has been marinated overnight in their special housemade spicy sauce. We also like their ghormeh sabzi, which is a bit more sour than other versions in the neighborhood, and goes nicely with the tahdig you should order as an appetizer.

You’ll find the best shawarma in Westwood at this classic Lebanese spot. The order-at-the-counter cafe has quick service if you’re coming in on your lunch hour, and a fairly large interior if the rest of your team wants to join as well. Though you can’t beat the shawarma, we never leave without an extra order of fried cauliflower and a side of falafel.

Persian-style pizza is one of the most popular street foods in Tehran, and in Westwood, our favorite version can be found at Café Glacé. The crust is thin and crunchy, there’s no tomato sauce, and there’s a lot of cheese on top. The spinach and goat cheese pizza is a standout, but our favorite pie on the menu is the “Mix.” Topped with beef mortadella, hot dogs, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella, this is a salty, savory masterpiece and should be on any LA pizza aficionado's shortlist. Also, it’s open until midnight on the weekends, making it a great stop for students who are tired of their usual late-night routine.

At Lima Nikkei you’ll find high-quality sushi rolls with Peruvian influence—though you’ll literally have to find them first. This handroll bar is located in the easy-to-miss upstairs food court of 99 Ranch Market in Westwood, which is consistently a ghost town. That’s a shame because the open-faced temaki here are unique as they are tasty: grilled shrimp with aji amarillo, buttery tuna, and crispy quinoa seasoned with a ponzu kiss, and king crab in leche de tigre. The sushi isn’t cheap, so come during the weekday Happy Hour from 2-6pm when the filling three-piece handroll set is discounted to $25. And make sure to flash your receipt and get 90 minutes of validated parking in the market’s underground garage.

Lulu is a giant, serene restaurant with a lovely patio at the Hammer Museum in Westwood that's the perfect place to lounge around on a sunny afternoon and pretend you’re deeply embedded in Alice Waters’ inner circle. There’s an approachable a la carte menu full of fresh focaccia sandwiches, vegetable soups, and rainbow-colored salads, but the restaurant also offers a three-course prix-fixe option that changes every day. Nothing on the menu blew us away, but Lulu’s simple dishes are made with top-notch local ingredients that taste good. 

We never thought we’d say this, but the most romantic patio in LA might be in Westwood. Violet is a big French restaurant in the Village that serves expensive, fussy dishes that are pretty good across the board if you’re into the finer French things. The trout amandine, for instance, holds plenty of moisture and the almonds on top have the right amount of toast. It seems like this is the go-to date night destination for couples who live in the area, so the crowd leans a little mature.

This tiny Korean BBQ walk-up window is a Village classic, and home to some of our favorite on-the-go food in the neighborhood. They have everything from bibimbap to udon, but at lunchtime, we go for the combo meat plate. Two meats of your choice over rice (we usually do chicken and thinly sliced beef), plus salad, kimchi, and a drink. You won’t find that amount of good food (it's easily two meals) for the same price anywhere else in the area.

Believe it or not, the ice cream cookie sandwich was not created by a Santa Monica-based influencer in 2012. We don’t know the exact origin story, but Diddy Riese’s 30+ years of business proves our favorite dessert sandwiches existed long before everyone started taking selfies with them. Diddy Riese is a Westwood classic and the first stop for anyone in the area. The lines are treacherous, but stick with it. Because the reward is an ice cream/cookie mix-and-match showdown of your dreams. (Don’t miss the brownies either).

When you don’t have the patience to wait in line at Diddy Riese, head a few blocks south of Wilshire to Saffron & Rose. The tiny spot has been cranking out thick, aromatic Persian ice cream for almost four decades, and still has lines out the door. First-timers can’t leave without trying the saffron-pistachio flavor, but we never leave without getting at least one scoop of the orange blossom as well.

For all the great Thai restaurants you’ll find in this city, there’s a bit of a lull surrounding Westwood/West LA when it comes to great curries and Thai noodle dishes. It’s also why knowing about Emporium is so useful. This family-run spot on Westwood Blvd. is our favorite Thai spot in the area (also, Cardi B endorses it) with a fun, lively dining room perfect for big groups and an expansive menu that assures even your pickiest roommate will find something to eat. That said, our favorite dish here is the bright, slightly sweet southern curry seafood (a family recipe) with a side of crispy Phuket wings. The wings come with the same southern curry sauce, so we recommend switching it out with tamarind to give a nice tangy balance to the spicy seafood.

From the outside, Hamasaku looks like one of those uniquely-LA strip mall sushi spots, but inside, it feels like you might actually be in Japan, not next to a Coffee Bean. Their $85 omakase plays the same trick - you get a pretty high-quality product for a reasonably fair price. On top of all the sushi (including less-common options like cuttlefish and sardine), the omakase includes miso soup, egg custard, and dessert as part of the deal. The fish is fresh, the crowd is low-key, and you’ll definitely leave full.

Bella Pita is another UCLA staple and home to something called the Wowshi, which is essentially a giant pita stuffed with everything from koftah to black beans. Open super-late every day of the week, Bella Pita is where you go when you aren’t feeling late-night pizza at Lamonica’s and In-N-Out is an absolute zoo. Our move is always the half chicken/half falafel Wowshi, and all the hummus we can pump from the condiment bar.