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The Best Places To Eat In Century City

Good food in Century City exists—really.
The Best Places To Eat In Century City image

Let's not sugarcoat it, the eating situation in Century City is grim. This neighborhood has towering skyscrapers, a mega-mall that houses most of the area's restaurants, and the highest concentration of talent agents in the city. It's a recipe for high stress. And if you're trying to survive an emotionally turbulent job or simply enduring the Westfield Century City mall, we think you deserve a decent meal. Here are the restaurants to prioritize, from great takeout options to a sit-down spot that your boss will like.

THE SPOTS


Bakery/Cafe

Century City

$$$$Perfect For:BreakfastCoffee & A Light BiteLunchQuick Eats
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Clementine is proof that Century City does indeed have a soul. On a corner spot opposite the mall, this bakery and cafe is the best place in the area for a casual lunch. The chicken salad doesn't skimp on the mayo (embrace it), and if it's been one of those days, the tuna melt can fix things. Bonus: they do a killer catered spread. So when it comes time to plan a 75-person meeting, you know what to do.


photo credit: Karolina Wierchigroch

Din Tai Fung is the most popular restaurant in Westfield Century City, which means weekend wait times can reach up to two hours. But the Taiwanese dim sum is still worth ruining the timeline of your afternoon plans. We love the crispy-bottomed dumplings and the famed pork xiao long bao, which are thin enough to be nearly translucent. So put your name down and get lost in the mall until they text your table. 

Eataly is a high-end retail jungle inside Westfield Century City where you can buy overpriced pepper mills and pretend you're Stanley Tucci sampling imported Italian cheeses. It's a fun place to shop, but there are also a handful of solid dining options inside the Eataly depths, like Terra. The rooftop spot specializes in grilled meats and vegetables, including a bone-in ribeye and charred, balsamic-covered brussel sprouts. For a quick grab-and-go option, get a slice at Eataly's Roman-style pizza counter.

$$$$Perfect For:LunchBusiness Meals
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Does anyone ever need to go out of their way for a $16 bowl of soup? If it's the French onion soup at Lumiere, the answer is yes. The upscale French brasserie on the ground floor of the Fairmont Century Plaza works well for a client lunch. But it's the soup that's worth ducking out of your noon meeting early to eat. If you require something green, the tuna nicoise is surprisingly good (and hefty).

Thankfully, you no longer have to wait 45 minutes for this Tokyo chain's 24-hour-simmered tonkatsu broth. Instead, you can slurp some of LA's best ramen on your lunch break and still get back to your desk in time. The tonkatsu has that quintessential, concentrated pork flavor without Vaseline levels of fat. Their Level 1 spicy isn't very spicy, so crank up the heat or make other adjustments in noodle thickness, broth richness, and garlic potency.

Hinoki & The Bird is one of the more enticing restaurant options in a sea of terribly made salads. The space is dark like a villain's lair, and the menu is heavy on Japanese fusion (i.e., a wagyu burger slathered in tonkatsu sauce and pommes frites with furikake). Most nights, the place ends up filled with lawyers and agents schmoozing clients with three-figure bottles of wine or maybe just drinking cocktails to forget their workdays.


Spend enough time tangled in sweaters at the H&M sales rack and you'll need to decompress with a good meal at Westfield Century City before navigating that maze of a parking structure. Go to Meizhou Dongpo, a Beijing-based chain that makes some of the best Peking duck outside the SGV. It gets carved up by a chef tableside. We usually throw in some dan dan noodles and spicy chili chicken covered in Sichuan peppercorns and call it a day. 


A sandwich is only as good as the bread it's on. So the simple fact that Potato Chips Deli in the Westfield mall uses really good ciabatta puts it ahead of most lunch places around Century City. Then, once you consider their pastrami with a thick rim of black pepper or the crunchy chicken milanese with spicy aioli, there's no contest between this place and any other sandwich shop in the area. Come on your lunch break or for a midday pick-me-up after scavenging the clearance section at Anthropologie.

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