LAGuide
The Best LA Restaurants For A Birthday Dinner
20 places that take the pain out of birthday plotting.
In theory, birthdays should be fun and easy. You’ve done the hard work of staying sane and likable for another trip around the sun, and in turn, your friends and family are supposed to treat you like the angel that you are. So why does planning your birthday dinner always end up so stressful? We're here to help.
These are places with enough space to accommodate a group, enough ambiance to feel like a party, and enough drinks to make you forget about the inexorable march of time. So rifle through your closet, grab your crown, and pat yourself on the back for being amazing—here is our updated guide to the best birthday dinners in Los Angeles.
THE SPOTS
Farmhouse Kitchen is a colorful, kitschy Thai restaurant in West Adams with neon pink lighting, a giant back patio, over-the-top shareable entrees, and cocktails that are served in foot-high plastic crowns. In other words, if you like your birthdays to be a bit over-the-top, take care of that reservation now. The yellow curry, Thai-style fried chicken, and the panang neua, a giant short rib shank slathered in panang curry, are all excellent. The elaborately plated dishes here are pricier than your average Thai spot, but the portions are huge and perfect for a sort of silly, energetic night where everyone’s celebrating the most important person in the world: you.
For those with spring and summer birthdays, it’s wise to keep track of any great new rooftops around town. Enter Lemon Grove. Perched atop The Aster in Hollywood, this place is much more tolerable than the words “Hollywood rooftop” might imply. The breezy space offers views that you can enjoy with a lavender-infused gin tonic, and creative food that’s better than it needs to be. There’s a tom kha lemon pasta covered in tangy yellow foam (yes, the foam tastes good), a creamy hamachi tartare, and a fluorescent pink dragon fruit panna cotta that’ll look great on your birthday photo carousel tomorrow. Most importantly though, Lemon Grove is smack in the middle of LA’s nightclub capital, making it a good dinner option before going out.
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We get it—birthdays at breweries are pretty played out. A person can only take so many rounds of cornhole and hazy IPA flights before blocking all emails with the subject line “Hoppy Birthday.” But then there’s Homage Brewing, an objectively cool place to hang out whether you drink beer or not. The Chinatown brewery does, in fact, have good beer, but they also offer natural wine, and if you get hungry, a food menu with interesting dishes like scallop crudo with salsa macha and masa-battered chicken wings. Be sure to bring your dancing shoes, too. Around 9pm, Homage turns into a sweaty, disco ball-adorned dance party that goes deep into the night.
This upscale Mexican spot in Los Feliz is a great option for a birthday simply because it’s so massive, you can have any kind of dinner you want here. In the mood for a sexy, intimate dinner with a significant other? Find a dimly lit corner in one of Mirate’s multiple dining rooms. Perhaps you’re rolling with a bunch of friends looking to drink cocktails and snack? Take over the open-air back bar area or the indoor bar area (we told you this place was big), and eliminate all anxiety about being bogged down in a giant booth all night. The food here can be a bit hit or miss, so we recommend sticking to the tacos arabes, churros, and any of the cocktails.
You promised yourself no big group birthday dinners this year, and yet, here you are with 12 solid RSVPs, and the pressure of booking someplace your friends will actually be impressed by. Go to Monarch. Walking into this maximalist Hong Kong-style cafe in Arcadia feels like you accidentally crashed the Mad Hatter’s tea party. The technicolored dreamscape includes plush, tie-dye chairs surrounding giant circular tables, wavy blue wallpaper, and a waterfall mosaic made from thousands of glass beads. Even the monogrammed dinner plates will have everyone at your birthday dinner pulling out your phone. But Monarch isn’t just vibes and aesthetics—the family-style dishes are delicious, too. We particularly love the salty, slippery egg crab fried fun and the curry noodle with briny squid ink noodles.
From the moment you pull up to Mun and hear Usher blasting from the speakers, it’ll be clear that this KBBQ spot delivers more than just nice cuts of meat. The room feels as much like a nightclub as it does a restaurant: there are flashy black marble tables outfitted with grills, and the drinks—like Japanese whiskey, cognac, and lychee martinis—flow freely. The energy at Mun is perfect for when you want a premium barbecue experience without sacrificing a good old-fashioned party atmosphere. Meals should balance high-end meats (the $200 variety combo includes flat-iron steak, honeycomb-cut pork belly, pork jowl, and short ribs) with fun a la carte items for the table.
There are several stylish French spots in Hollywood these days, but our pick for a big birthday dinner is Mr. T. The dining room at this sexy bistro is bright and minimalist, decorated with red neon signs, and a long bar that overlooks an open kitchen. Hip-hop blasts from the speakers as a sommelier breaks down the extensive wine list. Outside, there's a patio full of clubby lounge seating and big round tables where you wouldn’t look out of place uncorking a bottle of Dom. As for food, everything is tasty and shareable, melding global street food with traditional French cooking. Think roasted lamb kabobs, uni with koshihikari rice, and a mac and cheese that’s blow-torched tableside.
Trying to appease all your friends’ tastes is a nightmare that no one deserves, particularly on your birthday. That’s why we recommend going to Quarter Sheets. This Echo Park pizza shop only really does two things—pan-style pizza and dessert—and if that’s an issue with anyone in your friend group, it might be time to make some cuts. The dining room is charming and retro, a perfect mash-up between a funky wine bar (there’s a rotating list of four to five wines) and a '90s-era pizza joint where you might’ve…also had a birthday party. The pizza and dessert specials rotate weekly, but whether it’s gooey, crunchy pepperoni pie or decadent princess cake, everyone’s going to walk out happy.
If you’re one of those winter babies who resent not being able to go to the beach on their birthdays, head to Greekman’s. This lively Greek spot in Silver Lake always feels like a remnant of summer that never left. The dining room is adorned with miniature Greek busts, vines dangle everywhere, and there’s a blue and white patio in the parking lot that—at least after a few bottles of Greek wine—starts to feel like a terrace in Mykonos. The menu focuses on small plates, like juicy lamb chops on a bed of tangy tzatziki, tender grilled octopus, and a feta-stuffed phyllo pocket, which are great for a fun, family-style dinner.
Capri Club is one of LA’s most popular places to drink right now, which means weekend crowds can get intense. But if you’re looking to keep your birthday an open house where people can come and go, this aperitivo bar in Eagle Rock is a good option. The interior is small and fills up quickly, so concentrate on snagging tables on the sidewalk. Everything at Capri Club is first come, first serve, so as long as you show up before 7pm—and play the hover game correctly—you should have three tables side by side in no time. Most people are here solely to booze (the house negroni and martinis are particularly good), but it’d be wise to order several plates of the fried risotto bites and pancetta-wrapped dates for your birthday guests.
At a certain age, planning your birthday dinner at a sports bar can feel a bit embarrassing. Pijja Palace erases the stigma. Located on Sunset Blvd. in Silver Lake, this Indian pizza parlor has a little bit of everything going on: a sleek interior that looks like a Nordic thermal spa, a tremendous menu with everything from dosa onion rings to rigatoni with masala, and flat-screen TVs covering nearly every inch of wall space. Yes, it’s an ideal spot to catch the game, but in the event some of your friends aren’t even sure what an inning is, they won’t feel stranded all night. They’ll be too busy talking about all the great food.
From the thatched tunnel entrance and the ethereal club music to constant reminders that it’s “Tulum-themed,” Ka’Teen has a lot going on. But if you’re looking to get dressed up and have a messy, over-the-top birthday in Hollywood, Ka’Teen is where to be. The sprawling, mostly-outdoor space is great for big groups, there’s a $495 bottle of Dom Perignon on the menu (if that’s your energy), and as for the food, the Yucatan-style menu has several bright spots. The ceviches and aguachiles are fresh and citrusy, the mushrooms in mole verde have a rich, spicy kick, and the lamb barbacoa is the perfect thing to put on the table, because everyone can build their own taco. Sure, this place is loud, crowded, and clubby, but it’s also filled with people who want it that way. Make sure you’re one of them before going.
Cobi’s is a Southeast Asian restaurant in Santa Monica that blurs the line between quirky hangout spot and all-out party restaurant. A meal here is certainly loud (soul and reggae music will be blasting all night) and you might not be able to hear the person across from you, but who cares? The food is excellent and the kitschy, floral decor makes it feel like you’re throwing a birthday inside a 20th-century parlor room. If you want to keep things outside though, Cobi’s has one of the best back patios in the neighborhood.
If you want to do something low-key and unexpected, have your birthday get-together at Johnny’s. This iconic late-night pastrami spot has a huge patio where you can gather all your friends around a spread of thick pastrami sandwiches, deeply smoked brisket, and sides that range from tacos to matzo ball soup. But Johnny’s does more than just showcase updated deli classics. There’s a bar next door (which is run by the same people) hosting live music on Fridays, dance parties on weekends, and the occasional surprise DJ set from Kaytranada. We can’t promise that you’ll run into an icon spinning unreleased tracks on your big night, but we can guarantee a fun scene and a spacious dance floor.
Primetime reservations at this scene-y Italian restaurant in Hollywood can be tricky to book, but keep trying, because a birthday dinner at Mother Wolf is a great way to make a splash. The massive, all-pink dining room feels part Las Vegas, part Carbone, and part Roman banquet hall wedding—all crammed inside the Madonna Inn. It’s a place that’ll still be at capacity at 11pm on a Wednesday with people streaming up to the bar for one last negroni. Considering the perfectly made pasta (the cacio e pepe and rigatoni all’amatriciana are standouts) coming out of the kitchen and Italian wine being poured with ease, it's a venue built for indulging.
This gorgeous Baldwin Hills restaurant has everything you want for a birthday: an idyllic patio next to an herb garden, comfort food like shrimp and grits and pecan pie, plus bottomless mimosas on the weekend. Oh, and there’s also homemade cornbread topped with whipped honey butter, a warm, decadent dish that’s definitely way better than the $25 Target gift card your aunt sent you.
It’s only natural to want to feel like a celebrity on your birthday, and at Cha Cha Cha, you will. The Mexican rooftop restaurant in the Arts District has a massive patio with lush vegetation and panoramic views of Downtown. It kind of feels like a garden party for the rich and famous, but a cool one where Lena Waithe might show up. The tuna tostada and steak pa’taquear are both standouts, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything on the menu that won’t appease the varying tastes of your friend group.
If you appreciate Casita’s warm, neighborhood atmosphere and strong margaritas as much as we have, you'll be glad to know this historic Mexican restaurant in Silver Lake is still going strong. There are string lights hanging everywhere, tons of foliage, and even a fountain where you can drunkenly flip coins and make wishes. In other words, it's the ideal place for one too many birthday margaritas with your friends and food that isn't mind-blowing but is definitely crowd-pleasing (i.e., nachos for the table).
We’ve been fans of this Filipino spot since its very first iteration as Lasa—a BYOB pop-up in 2017. While the interior, the management, and the menu have all changed a little over the years, many of the same bright and spicy flavors (the electric orange spicy salsita is a non-negotiable) and friendly faces are still there in its current iteration to welcome you for a fun, family-style meal. For birthday dinners (especially if it's going to be 8-10 people), our move is to do the "Pamilya Style" Set Menu for the group. You get table snacks, veggie sides, a whole chicken inasal and pork lechon, pancit, chicken fat rice, ice cream, and tons of different sides for dipping.
