13 year old son birthday celebration while on holidays in LA
 

Hi, my family are on holidays in USA (from Australia) in Nov/Dec this year. While we are in Los Angeles, my son will turn 13. As he is becoming a teenager, he feels we need to celebrate big time!! We are staying in Hollywood, and we are spending the day of this birhday (Nov 28) at Universal Studios. Does anyone have any good ideas for a restaurant for dinner in the Hollywood vicinity suitable/fun for a 13 year old boy. Only ones I can think of are Hooters and Hard Rock Cafe. We want somewhere casual, with American, Thai or Italian cuisine if possible as these are his favourites. Also somewhere fun!! If it could be a real American experience that would be great. Would like him to remember this birthday for the rest of his life. Thanks.

Miceli's is a Hollywood landmark, an Italian place where the waiters might break into some opera at any moment. They host a lot of birthdays and I'm sure you would like it. A 13 yr old might prefer just staying up at Universal as there are many restaurants in the "Citywalk" section and large crowds on weekend nights. However, that's a holiday weekend and the crowds might be just too much for you, it gets a bit scary. So Miceli's, and then after dinner you might head over to Griffith Observatory, it's open until 10pm and you can look through a telescope as well as many exhibits, including one where he can weigh himself to see what he weighs on each of the different planets. Maybe you can find a limo company to take you back and forth to Griffith Observatory after your dinner, as that should be a quiet weekend for weddings and events and a limo for a couple of hours might come fairly cheap...or not too much more than two taxi rides.

I think you should spend the rest of the evening at Citywalk which is fun for kids his age. Buca di Beppo is fun and serves family style food, it is lively and has cute decorations.

http://www.citywalkhollywood.com/din..._di_beppo.html

Citywalk is sort of a destination in itself, good for a birthday celeb for 13.

A friend likes Howling at the Moon at Citywalk but there may be an age limit, I am not sure.

If you want a real American experience, in an Italian restaurant near where you already will be, then I wonder if Bucca di Beppo would be up your alley. It is a rather garish, tacky, but fun Italian-themed chain restaurant.

Now mind you, I am not suggesting it as being gourmet, altho we have eaten there for family graduation parties (not in CA, but I am sure they are all the same) and it was a lot of fun and the food was quite acceptable in quality. If you go, be sure to see the Pope room, even if you do not eat in it. (And just a little FYI, they are not making fun, exactly, as my mother---a devout Catholic---loves the Pope room.) However, it is a fun place and very lively.

PS---I am aware that it is not a *serious* restaurant, but the OP talks about a place a 13 year old might remember and that is why I am suggesting that they consider it!

Here is the address--not sure if it is on Citywalk or just nearby.

Universal City, CA - 1000 Universal Studios Blvd. phone #--818.509.9463

Sea Urchin---how funny!!! We were posting simultaneously!! How funny 3, 000 miles apart from each other! :)

The reason our times do not look simultaneous is b/c I (obsessively) edit my posts!

Great minds!! Maybe Buca di Beppo was channeling though us. It is a fun place, the food is fine and for a birthday it is perfecto.

PS: I posted and then went over to read Project Rungay and then came back to Fodors and saw your post.