Here's a look at the best new Los Angeles restaurants, hotels, party rooms, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open this spring. These new and renovated Los Angeles venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, meetings, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Following a makeover, the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey opened the Cast & Plow restaurant in March. The venue has panoramic views of the marina and specializes in community-made, local, sustainable cuisine. It has 80 indoor and outdoor seats with a patio, terrace, fire pit, fireplace, bar, restaurant, communal table, and private space. Each setting offers the restaurant’s full breakfast, lunch, dinner, wine, and bar menus. There is an on-property herb garden, and the restaurant also offers hand-picked ingredients from local farmers' markets and farms.
Coastal Luxury Management opened Faith & Flower on March 31. Executive chef Michael Hung helms the kitchen. Designed by AvroKO, the design and decor is meant to pay homage to two major renaissance periods—the 1920s and modern day—that shaped downtown Los Angeles. Design elements include a partition wall of distressed doors from the 1920s, a handmade sunburst wall installation, and a mural by local street artist Robert Vargas. Handcrafted chandelier lighting illuminates the 140 leather and textured seats both inside and out on the restaurant’s hedge-lined patio. The entire space seats 175 or holds 400 for a reception. A large private room seats 50 or holds 80 for a reception. A small private dining room seats 18.
The newest restaurant from perhaps Los Angeles’s buzziest chef, Roy Choi, is Pot at Choi’s Line Hotel. Opened in March, the Korean-American restaurant got its name from the signature menu items: hot pots meant to be shared among a group or ordered in individual sizes. Jude Parra-Sickels heads up the kitchen, and Sean Knibb designed the minimalist, intimate space. There's room for 92 seated guests and the venue is available for buyout.
W Los Angeles—Westwood unveiled renovated meeting spaces in March. The renovations included updates to the hotel's three distinct "Studio" spaces, along with a complete makeover of Studio Four, transformed into what’s now known as Strategy. The space is a new take on the traditional boardroom and features adaptable conference equipment. All four studios have refreshed design and audiovisual equipment. The meeting spaces mimic the property's landscaping in the carpet patterns and light fixtures, and there’s a wall mural with gold textured paint. Overall, the hotel has close to 5,000 square feet of meeting space and almost 16,000 square feet of total event space. Along with the meeting room renovations, W Los Angeles—Westwood has revamped its second-floor outdoor space, Terrace, to include heating, tenting, and lighting. Mister Important Design led the design.
Whisper Restaurant and Lounge at the Grove reopened in March after an extensive $500,000 remodel. The revamped interior space has a custom crystal chandelier, tufted banquettes, barrel-back lounge chairs, and marble cocktail tables, as well as a mirrored wall and original artwork by photographer Jim McHugh. The furniture‘s textured upholstery is done in plum and gray tones. Healthy lunch options include a vegan Cobb salad and a kale Waldorf salad. The space holds 100.
In March, restaurateur Jacques Fiorentino returned to the Los Angeles food scene after a 25-year break to open L’Assiette. L’Assiette, which means “the dish” in French, focuses on one dish: steak frites. The simple menu also offers an extensive cheese and dessert selection as well as a variety of complementary imported and domestic beers and wines. The Melrose restaurant seats 50.
Dave & Buster’s opened its first Los Angeles location at the Howard Hughes Center near the Los Angeles International Airport in February. The 42,000-square-foot location offers close to 200 games, a sports bar with a massive wall of televisions, food, and craft beers. The flexible space comes with audiovisual systems and modular furniture available for events. Events of as many as 170 can take place within the venue, or the entire space is available for buyout for 1,800.
City Tavern opened in February at Figat7th downtown. The space includes large booths and pub-style tables, plus a cocktail lounge and patio. The menu offers market-driven, seasonal American pub fare presented as approachable small plates and shareable bites. There’s also a large selection of California wines as well as locally sourced craft beers. The main indoor dining area seats 235, and the patio seats 50.
Ohm Nightclub opened in January in Hollywood. The venue offers more than 150 LED screens linked together to create a dramatic light show and a sound system powered by 150,000 watts of bass. There are three rooms within the club, each with its own ambiance and independent sound and light system. The space is located on the fourth level of the Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex and has a giant patio located directly above Hollywood Boulevard. Overall, there is 20,000 square feet of event space with room for 1,400 people.
For Orange County-area events and meetings, the Embassy Suites Anaheim-Orange opened in February after a $12 million renovation including a complete makeover of suites, meeting space, and indoor and outdoor pool facilities. The redesigned contemporary lobby has an atrium restaurant and bar, Cloud 9. The hotel’s suites have been redesigned with bathrooms that include a separate shower and tub as well as separate living rooms with a sofa bed, microwave, refrigerator, work desk, and ergonomic chair. Of the 230 suites, 18 have two bedrooms. The hotel holds 100 for meetings in 4,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. Breakout rooms hold 50 people, and a boardroom with executive-style chairs seats 10.
