The Top 28 Places to Eat and Drink in Santa Monica
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Rank 1. Seline
Californian
Chef Dave Beran's tasting menu at Seline pivots between high-concept ambition and playful surprise, serving ice cream mid-meal and edible succulents in caraway soil. Black cod with wild bay laurel and lamb with burnt strawberry jus demonstrate his gift for balancing sophistication with an edge.
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: California · Dave Beran
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #13 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 1. Petitgrain Boulangerie
French Bakery
- The Infatuation Our Favorite Bakeries In The Country Right Now
- Eater Best New Bakery
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles
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Rank 1. Pasjoli
French
Dave Beran's Santa Monica bistro channels unapologetic French cooking in a wood-and-brick dining room that hums with purposeful ease. Brioche with chicken liver mousse and pressed duck for two stake his claim; a chocolate soufflé clinches it.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 4. Mélisse
Modern French
Chef Josiah Citrin's Santa Monica flagship enters through a discreet side door into an underground room where French decadence—truffles, wagyu, dry-aged duck—arrives with tableside ceremony. Two decades running, it remains unabashedly luxurious, indulgent without apology.
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Rank 5. Rustic Canyon
Market-driven New American
Rustic Canyon treats the farmers market as its playbook, building a menu of unfussy, sturdy dishes—terrines and roasted chicken alongside bay scallops in saffron—within a Santa Monica dining room whose warm light and close booths feel made for lingering. The seasonal cocktails arrive with the same market logic, and twenty years of community traffic has only deepened the place's sense of purpose.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- LAist 2025 · Chochoyotes · Best Bites
- Los Angeles Times 2025 · #48 · The 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles
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- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Jeremy Fox
- Time Out #22 · The 40 best restaurants in Los Angeles you need to try right now
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Right Now
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Rank 6. Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese
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Rank 6. 1 Pico
Coastal New American
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Rank 6. Orla by Michael Mina
Refined Mediterranean
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Rank 6. Citrin
French-California New American
Chef Ken Takayama's kitchen marries French discipline with California's seasonal abundance, offering both à la carte and prix-fixe paths through dishes like artichoke agnolotti and skin-on rouget in bouillabaisse. The cooking justifies its ambitions whether you're gilding with caviar or content with the craft alone.
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Rank 14. Cobi's
Southeast Asian Thai
A pink cottage with mismatched tables and petal-strewn corners serves spirited Thai and Malaysian food, from crispy curry puffs to wood-grilled prawns in ginger sauce. The dining room's floral chaos matches an ambitious menu that refuses to settle on a single Southeast Asian voice.
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Rank 15. Colapasta
Modern Italian
A few blocks from the Pacific, Chef Stefano De Lorenzo's modern trattoria trades pretense for clarity: hand-rolled pasta, a rotating soup, simple antipasti. The calamarata arrives tender in bright tomato sauce with stracciatella and oregano, each element tasting of deliberate choice rather than excess.
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Rank 17. Milo & Olive
Wood-fired Pizza
A cheerful Santa Monica corner where wood-fired pizzas emerge with leopard-spotted char and paper-thin crusts. Tender gnocchi arrives tinted orange from garnet yam, studded with hazelnuts and charred radicchio; a wood-fired pound cake finished with honey and whipped cream closes the meal with quiet authority. Seasonal cooking built on farmers' market sourcing, executed with genuine craft.
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Rank 17. Shunji
Sushi
Chef Shunji Nakao's counter in this minimalist Santa Monica space opens with delicate appetizers—smoked mackerel, sesame tofu—before progressing through nigiri of uncommon precision. The sea perch and eel justify prices that reflect uncompromising sourcing and a sushi veteran's refusal of the ordinary.
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Rank 17. The Lobster
Seafood
A seafront dining room with Pacific views and tightly packed tables devoted to Maine lobsters and regional catches. The kitchen steams them to perfect tenderness, the butter almost ceremonial; crab cakes arrive seared and meaty, their crisp edges tempered by peppery greens. Efficiency over intimacy, but the ocean and the shellfish justify the trade.
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Rank 17. Élephante
Southern Mediterranean
From a rooftop perch overlooking the Pacific, Élephante deploys Southern Mediterranean technique across small plates designed for sharing—whipped eggplant, rigatoni verde with mushroom ragù—with the confidence of a kitchen that knows its craft. The cactus garden and sunset room, all natural wood and stone, feel less like backdrop and more like the point.
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Rank 17. Cosetta
New-School Italian
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A block from the Promenade's chaos, this industrial space channels Indian cooking through a clay tandoor that deepens every protein it touches. The dosas arrive crisp and various—stuffed with spiced potato or reimagined as dessert with Nutella—marking a kitchen unafraid of both tradition and invention.
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Rank 17. Fia Steak
Contemporary
Beneath century-old pines strung with lights, Fia unfolds as a sprawling courtyard where Italian sensibility meets Los Angeles ease and local sourcing. The spicy tuna arancini and porcini tortellini signal a kitchen that refreshes tradition without pretense, finishing with lemon mousse and Limoncello granita.
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- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- Wine Enthusiast 2023 · Forward 50 Restaurants
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Rank 27. Tacos 1986
Tijuana-Style
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Rank 27. HomeState
Tex-Mex