Being one of the most popular cuisines’ locations in the entire world, the city of Angeles provides a great variety of different and affordable restaurants for every taste. The city is home to both the street taco and the fine dining experience and everything in between including Michelin star restaurants. When there are so many choices it can be a bit overwhelming to try and decide where to go for a group dinner. However, when filtered by neighborhood and cuisine, the process of selecting the best restaurant, café or eatery for your party becomes less complicated.
Overview of Los Angeles as a Culinary Hub
Often overlooked in favor of trendier cities like New York and San Francisco, Los Angeles quietly holds its own as a premier culinary capital. The ethnic diversity of LA provides the foundation for its eclectic food scene. You can find authentic dishes from just about every corner of the globe here. From Korean barbecue to Oaxacan mole to French pastries – no cuisine is left behind.
Beyond ethnic fare, LA also incubates some of the hottest dining trends. California cuisine with its focus on seasonal, local ingredients traces its origins to LA chefs like Wolfgang Puck. Today you’ll find everything from vegan cafés to experimental tasting menus pushing boundaries here. The city embraces innovation while respecting tradition.
Importance of Group Dining in LA’s Social Scene
In a city of such vast proportions as LA, communal dining is a vital way of interacting with others. Restaurants serve as focal point for families and friends or as a workplace and a place to have meals together. While bars or clubs do not provide much opportunities for conversations and relationships, restaurants do.
Organizing group dinners is especially common in LA because people mainly use cars to get around the city. Being that people will be coming in from different parts of town, location of the restaurant becomes a very critical factor. Transportation also being easily available also helps in group dining as well. Most people who book limo service do so so that everyone can have a good time and not have to bother with driving or finding a place to park.
Top Neighborhoods for Group Dining
When organizing group meals, choosing the right neighborhood to meet is very important in order to avoid traffic jams and to have a choice of restaurants. Some areas of LA are more appropriate for groups than others depending on the size of your party and what you want to do.
Downtown LA: Diverse Options from Historic Eateries to Modern Venues
Downtown LA has some of the best group dining options in the city and a great variety of cuisines. Being the historic core, Downtown has restaurants that can serve everything from classic steakhouses to modern Mexican venues. With the revitalization of Downtown, modern restaurants with small plates and artisanal cocktails have emerged, and coexist with traditional restaurants.
Grand Central Market is a great choice for group dining because there are more than 30 vendors in one building. Whether you are craving tacos, sushi or vegan food – you will get it here. Collect your team in the middle of the market to make sure each person can choose their own food.
Pasadena: Charming Settings with a Variety of Cuisines
Pasadena is not just a quiet tree-lined street with craftsman homes, it is more than that. Old Town Pasadena is a charming area that features one street after another of active restaurants, cafes, and bars in old buildings. It has good walkways and a good parking area and thus is a perfect place for group meals.
However, Old Town is more on the high-end California food while Pasadena has everything from Vietnamese noodle soup to Mexican tacos to Brazilian churrascaria. Do not be deceived by the laid back atmosphere of this Los Angeles suburb – it is a food lover’s paradise. It is diverse and thus can accommodate anyone’s taste buds.
Unique Group Dining Experiences
While LA offers plenty of traditional sit-down venues for group meals, some of the city’s most memorable restaurants provide uniquely immersive, interactive environments catered more specifically to group events.
Themed Restaurants: Immersive Environments for Memorable Gatherings
Why settle for just dinner when you can be fully transported to another world? LA’s themed restaurants cover everything from tropical paradise tiki bars to prison-themed lockups. Shuttered asylums, vampire lairs and circus big tops await.
For tiki options try Pacific Seas LA or Tiki-Ti. Their rum-filled Polynesian drinks match the decor. Highland Park Bowl with its vintage lanes hosts themed event nights from punk rock bowling to Selena dance parties.
Out in Montclair, The Slanted Door offers a modern take on classic Chinese dishes inside a lavish imperial palace setting. With towering red columns, carved wooden screens and flowing silk robes – it’s dinner and a show.
Interactive Dining: Hot Pot, Fondue, DIY Meal Spots
Why just eat when you can cook your own meal? Los Angeles excels at interactive dining where you become the chef. Chinese hot pot spots like Little Sheep and Lunasia invite you to dip thin-sliced meats and vegetables into bubbling broths simmering at your table. Korean BBQ restaurants from Quarters in Koreatown to Parks BBQ in West LA equip you with tongs and scissors to grill marinated short ribs or spicy pork belly on tabletop grills.
For fondue, The Melting Pot provides a retro throwback evening complete with chocolate fondues for dessert. Or embrace the do-it-yourself trend at cook-in-bag Korean restaurants like Sun Nong Dan where raw ingredients arrive for you to boil into soondae blood sausage soup and spicy budae jjigae right at the table.
Outdoor Patios: Al Fresco Dining Suitable for Large Parties
Los Angeles’ near perfect weather year-round makes outdoor patio dining a prime choice for group meals. From beachside restaurants to Hollywood rooftops, scenic al fresco venues encourage lingering for hours while soaking up the sunshine.
For beach views, Santa Monica hot spots like The Lobster or restaurant row on Abbot Kinney offer oceanfront patios. In Hollywood, hotels like Yamashiro or The Highlight Room situate terraces high in the hills complete with unobstructed views.
Downtown’s many rooftop bars also host “brunch on the roof” perfect for mimosa-fueled group day drinking complete with DJs and games. Patina at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) delivers a hidden urban oasis atop Downtown’s museum.
Budget-Friendly Group Dining
You don’t need an expense account to enjoy LA’s dining scene with a group. Affordable gems hide in plain sight all over the city. Hunt them out to please diverse palates on a budget.
Hidden Gems: Affordable Eateries with Ample Seating
Part of LA’s charm comes from hole-in-the-wall restaurants serving shockingly good food in low frill environments. But don’t let barebones decor fool you. Flavors shine brightly at these hidden gems, some decades-old and still family-owned.
For Chinese hits, try dim sum institution CBS Seafood or the roast meat and noodle specialist Savoy Kitchen. Versailles in Koreatown packs lines out the door for its legendary 24-hour Cuban cuisine.
In Thai Town, Jitlada stands as a peerless outpost for Southern Thai dishes with reasonable prices that belie its quality. With minimal decor beyond some Thai beer signs, the focus stays squarely on intensely flavored curries and stir-fries.
Food Halls: Variety Under One Roof
LA’s ever-growing roster of downtown food halls makes group dining easy with varied vendors collected under one roof. Grand Central Market started LA’s food hall craze but now faces competition from newcomers like ROW DTLA, Smorgasburg and The Fields LA.
Whether you want artisanal pizza, vegan Ethiopian, build-your-own poke bowls or a dozen types of tacos – you’ll find it all at these expansive indoor markets. With communal seating, food halls effortlessly accommodate groups with diverse dietary needs and tastes. They also host movie nights, trivia and other entertainment beyond just eating.
Ethnic Enclaves: Authentic Cuisines at Reasonable Prices
Los Angeles brims with ethnic enclaves serving their native cuisines at wallet-friendly prices. For tacos, East LA’s streets overflow with taquerias and loncheras (taco trucks) serving $1-2 tacos.
In the San Gabriel Valley, Chinese strip malls house regional restaurants dishing out Xi’an cold skin noodles, Chengdu hot pots and more specialties imported straight from China.
Little Ethiopia, Little Bangladesh, Little Armenia and other districts offer similar insider access to cuisine normally difficult to find stateside. Bring a group hungry for adventure to explore these microcosms of authentic flavor.
Tips for Planning Group Dining in LA
With endless dining possibilities across LA, planning group meals requires strategy. Follow these tips when coordinating your next group dining occasion.
Reservations: Importance of Booking in Advance
Don’t just show up and expect a table, especially for groups over 6 diners. Supplying accurate headcounts and reserving in advance ensures the restaurant can accommodate you properly. Let them know if you need separate checks or space for gifts and cakes too.
Popular restaurants book up quickly – sometimes weeks or months out. Make reservations as far ahead as possible once your date and venue are set. Confirm the booking a few days prior as well.
Menu Selection: Considering Dietary Restrictions and Preferences
Discuss any food allergies, preferences or restrictions before deciding where to dine. Reach out to invitees for input to ensure menu options work for vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free needs and religious restrictions like halal or kosher.
Once a restaurant is selected, call ahead to inquire about customized menus, substitutions or off-menu items to satisfy individual tastes. Checking if dishes can be altered prevents awkward moments later asking servers to omit ingredients last minute.
Transportation and Parking: Logistics for Large Groups
Mapping transit plans tops the list of logistical concerns when coordinating group meals. Have a firm headcount before assessing if public transport works or if chartering vehicles makes more sense.
Mapping rideshares by neighborhood helps cut individual fares down. Consider hiring limo service to transport everyone together from a central meeting point. Most vehicles accommodate 6-10 passengers comfortably. Larger sprinter buses allow even bigger headcounts between 20-30 people. Discuss transportation costs upfront to split fare evenly.
Parking availability also factors into venue choice. Opt for restaurants near public parking garages, lots or valet services. Scope out potential spots in advance and supply drivers with exact addresses and entry points to reduce wandering around lost later. Coordinate meet-up times accounting for traffic and parking to prevent anyone arriving too early or late.
Conclusion
Whether you’re after some quick bites or a fine dining experience, Los Angeles has got you covered with lots of options to choose from for group dining at all levels of the price range. Tasting the city’s culinary offer strengthens the friendships, the relationships between families and even between colleagues. Due to the numerous great restaurants to visit, LA encourages revisits to explore more of the delicious cuisine and create more lasting moments while eating with friends and family.
