13 Awesome Meals and Deals to Hit During DineLA Restaurant Week
From Downtown to the beach, you don’t want to miss these dining deals spanning Mexican, Thai, Chinese cuisines, fancy steakhouses, and more.
You don’t need an extra reason to dine out in what’s become one of our country’s most exciting food cities, but we’ll give you one anyway: Dine LA Restaurant Week. From Friday, October 14 through Friday, October 28, hundreds of restaurants across Los Angeles County—from Santa Monica to Hollywood to Downtown LA—will offer prix-fixe, multi-course lunch and dinner menus that start at $15, with most falling in the $25-$65 range. Pandemic closures may feel like they’re well in the rearview mirror, but the industry is still hurting, so the two-week program is a great way to get out and support an old favorite or a new find, plus have a delicious meal at a decent discount. Here are 13 ideas to get you started, but you can explore tons more on DineLA’s handy website, where you can filter by location, cuisine, and price and take it from there.
Tuk Tuk Thai
The longstanding Westside Thai eatery run by the daughters of the original owners relocated to Sawtelle earlier this year, and DineLA is a nice excuse to check out the new space and feast on some of its new Thai street food-inspired fare. The same three-course menu is available for both lunch and dinner, with first-course options including Marinated Pork Shoulder Skewers with a tamarind dipping sauce and a Green Papaya Salad with dried shrimp. Entrees include Coconut Curry Noodles with a choice of protein and Suki Haeng, glass noodles with a mix of pork, squid, and shrimp. Vegans can participate in the entire menu by going with the curry puff starters and then ordering the Grapow—a chile, basil, and green bean dish—with mushrooms, followed by either dessert option.
The deal: $35 for a three-course lunch or dinner
What to order: Curry puffs, Grapow with pork belly, chicken, or mushrooms, and Thai banana dessert
Cafe Gratitude
Most DineLA menus offer one vegan choice per course (if you’re lucky), but everything is vegan at plant-based palace Cafe Gratitude’s three LA locations, all offering special three-course menus with several dishes created especially for Restaurant Week. Kick things off with apps like the Warm Butternut Squash Dip with focaccia crostini or the Smoked Tofu Salad, followed by entrees including the new Eggplant “Parmesan” with almond burrata or the veggie-heavy Forbidden Black Rice Bowl chock full of brussels sprouts, garnet yams, and avocado. Dessert could be the raw Pecan Cheesecake or a Choco-Flan. To elevate your outing, opt for the wine pairing, which comes with two six-ounce pours.
The deal: $45 for a three-course dinner with optional wine pairing for $20
What to order: Smoked Tofu Salad, Eggplant Parmesan, Cheesecake
Redbird
One of the city’s most stunning spaces, Redbird is hidden within a multi-acre property, with the restaurant housed in a former rectory adjacent to a grand cathedral that now serves as an event space with some lovely outdoor courtyards and garden in between. For DineLA, chef/owner Neal Fraser has created a three-course menu highlighting his New American fare infused with fall flavors. To start, try the Kabocha Pumpkin Soup; Butternut Squash Raviolo with coffee and cinnamon brown butter; or the Chicken Liver Mousse Tartine with fig mostarda. Entree options include Pork Tenderloin with apples and mustard jus, and a Honeynut Squash with pistachio mole and plant-based chorizo. The decadent Chocolate Financier for dessert is a winner.
The deal: $65 for a three-course dinner
What to order: Butternut Squash Raviolo, Pork Tenderloin, Chocolate Financier
How to book: via Tock
Eataly
Dine LA’s $25 dinner deals are few and far between this year (most of the big bargains are available during the daytime), but the Italian marketplace’s La Pizza and La Pasta outpost is offering a $25 two-courser for both lunch and dinner. Go for a classic antipasti like a Tricolore Salad or a plate of prosciutto paired with Eataly’s fabled house-made mozzarella. Then move on to carb heaven either with one of three pizzas or three pasta choices. There’s also a generous drink-pairing option that includes a Bellini or mimosa, a three-ounce pour of vino, and some limoncello as the finisher.
The deal: $25 for a two-course lunch or dinner; $20 wine pairing option
What to order: Tricolore Salad, Bucatini Cacio e Pepe or Pizza Margherita
Maple Block Meat Company
As always, one of the few barbeque spots on the DineLA roster is offering a pretty solid deal for lunch and dinner, all centered around Texas-style meats and sides. The lunch offering keeps it simple with a trio of brisket tacos done up with salsa verde on corn tortillas and paired with house chips and salsa and an agua fresca. Come dinner, you get your choice of either tri-tip or free-range half chicken—both of which are peach-wood smoked—along with one of the joint’s signature sides—perhaps creamy slaw, vinegar slaw, or mac and cheese. Dinner ends with smoked chocolate bread pudding, which sounds like maybe the most ingenious dessert we’ve ever heard of.
The deal: $15 for tacos, chips and salsa, and a drink at lunch; $35 for a dinner entree, side, and dessert
What to order: Tacos, chips and salsa for lunch. Half-chicken, creamy slaw, and smoked chocolate bread pudding at dinner
Catch
For its three-course Dine LA menu, the very grand hotel Casa Del Mar’s on-site, seafood-focused restaurant is offering a mix of fare from both land and sea, so everyone can get what they want while enjoying those sunset views. Start with Wild Salmon Tartare with avocado and cucumber or the Grilled Octopus before moving on to the main event, which could be Dry-Aged Branzino plated with Dungeness Crab and Champagne beurre blanc or Slow-Braised Short Ribs decadently done with roasted mashed potatoes and mushrooms. For dessert, that ricotta cheesecake with berry compote is looking pretty good, but you could also go for the vanilla gelato-topped brownie and be perfectly happy.
The deal: $65 for a three-course dinner
What to order: Wild Salmon Tartare, Dry-Aged Branzino, Ricotta Cheesecake
Trejo's Tacos
Proving there’s more to Trejo’s than just tacos, both the Santa Monica location and Trejo’s Hollywood Cantinaare offering an array of dishes to dig into during DineLA. The Cantina’s deal includes your choice of a large plate like Shrimp Diabla served with rice, salad, and tortillas, or a trio of tacos stuffed with barbacoa, chicken tinga, carnitas, or jackfruit, plus a margarita flight and a seasonal cheesecake. In Santa Monica, you’ll get chips and guac, an agua fresca, and a bowl of your choice that you can customize with steak asada, spicy shrimp, or mushroom asada, among other options.
The deal: $35 for an entrée, dessert, and a margarita flight for lunch or dinner at Trejo’s Hollywood Cantina. $25 for chips and guac, a protein-topped bowl, and agua fresca for lunch or dinner in Trejo’s Tacos Santa Monica
What to order: Shrimp Diabla and a Mango, Strawberry, and OG Margarita flight at the Hollywood Cantina. Mushroom Asada bowl and Guava Lime Agua Fresca in Santa Monica
How to book: Walk-ins welcome
Sparrow Italia
The historic Hotel Figueroa’s coastal Italian eatery set on a sexy covered patio is highlighting its Italian-Med menu during DineLA with a three-course feast. Start with Braised Wagyu Meatballs with whipped ricotta or a Tomato and Eggplant Bruschetta Duo, move on to an entree of Branzino with charred lemon or Chicken Paillard in a caper beurre blanc, and finish things off with an Olive Oil Cake garnished with orange marmalade and a passionfruit gel.
The deal: $70 for a three-course dinner
What to order: Wagyu Meatballs, Branzino, Olive Oil Cake
How to book: via SevenRooms
Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery
Have you ever just wanted cheese—and really good cheese at that—as your meal? Well, this Old Town Pasadena spot by chefs and partners Vanessa and Thomas Tilaka Kalb (head cheese and head chef, respectively) are about to make your dairy dreams come true. The lunchtime DineLA offering includes a “Mongers Choice” of three cheeses served with accoutrements including crackers, jam, dried fruit, grapes, and corn nuts followed by a house-baked cookie. The deal also includes a glass of house red or white wine or a spirit-free spritz.
The deal: $25 for two courses and a drink. Lunch only
What to order: House white, Mongers Choice, Snickerdoodle Cookie
Same Same
The Eastside Thai eatery and wine bar is offering a three-course menu with starter options including a flavorful grilled Beef Salad or a crispy Veggie Spring Roll alongside sweet chili sauce. For entrees, try the Thai Sausage Fried Rice or Coconut Curry Noodles you can get with either chicken or tofu in a yellow and red curry sauce, and then finish with a Tapioca Pudding with young coconut dessert. The DineLA deal also includes either a sangria, any beer you want from the menu, or a non-alcoholic beverage. Cheers!
The deal: $35 for a three-course dinner with a drink
What to order: Crispy Veggie Spring Roll, Coconut Curry Noodles, Tapioca Pudding with Coconut
How to book: Walk-ins welcome
Manhattan Beach Post
Chef David LeFevre has made all of the choices for you with the DineLA menu for his Manhattan Beach locale, but it’s a pretty hard deal to pass up: four courses plus a three-ounce pour of wine for $65. You’ll kick things off with a Crispy Chickpea Fritter amuse bouche, move on to a Burrata and Barley Salad for the first course, and then get an Oak-Grilled Pork Porterhouse with peach kimchi and black mustard as an entrée. Your meal culminates with a Maple Crème Caramel Dessert with a rosemary shortbread crumble. Bonus: a pour of Prosecco is included in the price, but we suggest moving on to one of the restaurant’s killer cocktails afterwards.
The deal: $65 for a four courses and Prosecco
What to order: Everything on the menu
Mr. Chow
Yes, we know Mr. Chow is an uber-pricey, see-and-be-seen hotspot where nearly everyone is dining on an expense account, but with a few friends and a reservation during DineLA, you too can rub elbows with the kind of Angelenos who drop a few hundred each on a random Tuesday—without actually dropping a few hundred each on a random Tuesday. There are four options for starters, including Water Dumplings and the signature Mr. Chow Spareribs, and four options for entrees, like Fiery Beef and Green Prawns, so if your table of four orders one of each you can sample a ton of good, old-fashioned, high-end Chinese-American fare. In addition to the starters and entrees, your table will also get sauteed rice and seasonal veggies, plus a choice of sorbet or ice cream.
The deal: $65 for a two courses, sides and dessert
What to order: Water Dumplings, Squab with Lettuce, Green Prawns, Mixed Sorbet
The Hideaway
Check out the bright and plant-strewn patio at this new Baja Mexican-inspired steakhouse during their DineLA lunch deal, which offers three courses to help fuel the rest of your day. Starter options include Guacamole or Guacasabi—which is guacamole with a dose of mouth-numbing wasabi—then move onto a main course of tacos with fillings like sous vide chicken breast, filet mignon with chimichurri, and grilled swordfish, plus two side choices including cilantro rice, esquites, refried cranberry beans, mango slaw, and papas fritas. Finally, you’ll finish with Flan that’s spiked with añejo tequila or Churros with chocolate mousse and strawberry prickly pear jam.
The deal: $35 for a three-course lunch
What to order: Guacasabi, Grilled Swordfish Tacos, Flan