How and Where to Celebrate Los Angeles Restaurant Week: Featuring Our Favorite Al Fresco and Takeout Options

With restrictions on outdoor dining lifting in counties across California, we are seeing some of our favorite restaurants fill with patrons who’ve been looking forward to eating off of a real plate that didn’t come out of their own cupboards. While there are still risks to al fresco dining, many locally-owned restaurants depend on the revenue from dine-in services as it increases drink and liquor sales, supports the wages of service staff, and allows for dishes meant to be enjoyed immediately to be served in their finest form. Keep in mind that with the return of outdoor dining also come new policies—in Los Angeles specifically—regarding capacity, time limits on dining, and group size to make sure everyone remains as safe as possible.  

That all being said, Restaurant Week in Los Angeles is a great time to try trendy spots, explore new menu items at your go-to’s, and indulge in well-priced preset menus at some of the city’s most upscale dining tables. If you’re not comfortable eating out or have never been a fan of it, this year Dine L.A. has partnered with Grubhub to bring Restaurant Week to your door.

In the past, you might have missed the specials at your favorite spot because you couldn’t score a reservation, or had to endure torturous wait times with an empty stomach; consider those all issues of the past now that the deals can be delivered. Whether you choose to enjoy Restaurant Week at home or al fresco, we’ve pulled our favorite menus and spots to celebrate before the event ends on March 14th, so keep scrolling for our suggestions, and check out the full list of participating restaurants here. 

Al Fresco Dining

Zinque DTLA

Zinque is a staple in downtown Los Angeles. Their restaurant week menu features grilled prawns, steak frites, moules-frites, and more. Their al fresco dining setup is cozy and has plenty of heaters for comfortable dining safely distanced from other guests.

Rao’s Los Angeles

The team behind the popular Italian pasta sauce we all know and love has a brick-and-mortar in Los Angeles where you can get a taste of the classics that make up the brand. The prix fixe menu is set at $55/person and comes with an antipasti, primi, and dolce, as well as a glass of prosecco.

Tesse

With reimagined French classics, Tesse offers bone marrow pasta or short ribs as a main and a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Each course is encouraged to be shared between two and optional wine pairings can be added on for a flat fee.

Openaire

Sitting on the second floor of The Line Hotel in Koreatown, Openaire recently reopened after a long closure at the beginning of the pandemic. What better way to celebrate the reopening of the farm-to-table restaurant than with a delicious family-style prix fixe menu? While they couldn’t reopen their beautiful greenhouse due to COVID-19 restrictions, the terrace still offers elegant features and a relaxed view.

Gracias Madre

Gracias Madre is offering both lunch and dinner menus for restaurant week. The dinner menu comes with a margarita at no extra charge and a handful of plant-based options to choose from. Nestled in a beautiful outdoor garden in West Hollywood, this is the perfect place for date night.

Takeout and Delivery

Cafe Gratitude

Few places encapsulate what it means to serve Californian-style cuisine like Cafe Gratitude. While normally ordering from here can rack up a bit of a tab (as everything is plant-based and made with locally sourced organic ingredients), their prix fixe lunch menu is set at $20 and comes with some tasty options guaranteed to leave you feeling fueled.

AKASHA

The menu at Akasha features California and New American cuisine crafted with cultural influences borrowed from Chef Akasha’s many travels around the world. Their takeout menu for resturaunt week includes entrees like fried chicken and almond-crusted rainbow trout.

Emporium Thai

With simple and traditional Thai dishes like coco mango salad and massaman shrimp curry, Emporium Thai will become your go-to for Thai takeout. They’re also located in Westwood, which means delivery to the valley or the west side should arrive rather quickly.

Poppy + Rose

Back when Sunday brunch was a thing, Poppy + Rose was one of my go-to’s. Their waffle fried chicken sandwich is to die for and lucky for us all it’s on their restaurant week menu. It also comes with delicious starters and desserts that can be saved for later (that’s the convenience of eating at home) because that sandwich will have you as full as can be.

Socalo

Socalo serves conscientiously-sourced, seasonal SoCal Mexican fare out of the Gateway Hotel in Santa Monica. Enjoy the upscale dishes in the comfort of your own home with items like pozole, ceviche, and tortas.