LouLou

Here are places we’d rather drink at than Third Street Promenade: onboard a Disney cruise, at an awkward high school reunion, or literally anywhere else. But if you work in the area or need a fruity cocktail after an exhausting day on the Santa Monica Pier with your hyper niece, LouLou is a solid option. This Mediterranean rooftop in the Santa Monica Place mall resembles a generic beach club on Mykonos, complete with beige wicker lamps and trance music that lulls you to sleep as you sip Aperol spritzes (which are actually pretty good here). Dinner leans heavily on French classics like steak frites and coq au vin, but the brunch and happy hour menus throw a bit of everything at you: salmon belly tacos, buffalo wings, and kobe beef sliders with so much dijon mustard your eyes will water. There’s no question that a place as sceney as LouLou feels random inside a shopping mall, but if you’re looking for kitschy escapism on the Westside, it will probably do the trick.