LA, Santa Monica Restaurant for Lunch
 

We will be in LA on a Monday with time to kill. Any suggestions for a top restaurant in the area or something with great food/great atmosphere to spend for a long lunch. Oceanside or view would be nice, but outside dining would work as well (we are from the cold Midwest).

Thanks!

Look at Melisse and Michaels

The Lobster, at the base of the SM Pier, has good ocean views. Mélisse and Michael's are excellent, well-established eateries in the area. If you like seafood, Ocean Ave. Seafood is consistently marvelous, and you can ask for ocean view seating. I. Cugini, a block down Ocean, has fine Italian cuisine, as does Il Fornaio della Spiaggia. An outpost of the Beverly Hills power eatery, the Ivy, is next door and gets a power clientèle-- and the food's pretty good too.

There are places on the Third Street Promenade with outdoor seating, some better than others (Locanda del Lago and Trastavere are both pretty good). Bon appétit!

On my recent trip to LA I ate at Duke's on the PCH in Malibu. The food was surprisingly good and you can't beat the view. It's a sweeping oceanfront view. We were all visiting from New York and we had a difficult time tearing ourselves away from the ocean and the warmth of the sun.

While it might be a bit far for just lunch, but we had a great dinner at Gladstones in Malibu, right on the ocean. The food was good but secondary to the wonderful views!

I second Ocean. It is my favorite restaurant in LA. Great seafood, wonderful selection, fair prices, lovely place, great service. Can't beat it.

After lunch you can walk down to the pier, take a walk across the street in the park, or go back a block and walk around on the Third Street Promenade for shopping and people watching. Fun place, lots to do and see.

The Ivy is way expensive. I am talking $20 Ceaser salads. Cute place though. Never been to Lobster.

I adore lunch at the Lobster. It's reserved for special treats but the view is stunning, the food terrific and the drinks excellent! It's also romantic (if a little crowded) at night.
also terrific is the dining room at Casa Del Mar (a hotel right on the beach.) The food is marvelous, and the service excellent. It's more upscale than the Lobster so it might depend what you prefer. The hotel is very beautiful with an amazing tile mosaic floor in the lobby.

Lunch at Shutters on the Beach (hotel) is lovely and can be lazy, sit in garden or inside and you are at beach level, watching everyone go by on the "concrete boardwalk" or whatever it is called that leads down to Venice.