Los Angeles, California is, of course, the American film and TV industry center. Behind-the-scenes tours are available at all three studios: Paramount, Universal, and Warner Brothers. On Hollywood Boulevard, the TCL Chinese Theater shows the hands and footprints of celebrities; the Walk of Fame honors thousands of stars. In Los Angeles, you are also surrounded by stunning beaches, breathtaking mountains, and huge deserts. This city is full of artists, visionaries, and world-class entertainment options, so residents and visitors will never run out of things to do.
This article lists fifteen of the best restaurant architects in Los Angeles, California. These remarkable firms were chosen for their impressive portfolios, solid track records, awards, as well as their overall ability to consistently exceed client expectations.
RDCollaborative
245 East Third Street, Long Beach, CA 90802
RDCollaborative has been an industry leader in the retail design and architecture industries since its inception in 1979. The firm has won many awards for its work, proof of its impressive quality and outstanding service. With 43 years of extensive experience, the firm can create a retail experience that reflects the client’s brand, personality, and feel. Over the years, the firm has built strong relationships with its clients and stakeholders, resulting in consistently exceptional projects. It is also committed to continuous improvement and keeps up-to-date on significant changes in the retail industry. The firm’s integrated approach is shaped by the fact that its staff has been in the business for a long time and has plenty of experience.
One of the firm’s notable projects is the District, a restaurant in Los Angeles, California. Working closely with design architect McCARTAN, RDC created a unique design that used deconstructed materials and repurposed plumbing, mechanical, and construction parts. Inspired by downtown LA redevelopment projects, the atmosphere has an impressively curated art-meets-craft. Inside, there is natural walnut, quirky light fixtures, leather-covered armchairs, carpeted walls, and a large red velvet curtain along the dining room wall.
Bestor Architecture
2030 Hyperion Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Barbara Bestor founded Bestor Architecture in 1995 as a Los Angeles-based architecture and design firm that could deliver exceptional designs that cater to each client’s unique taste. Over the years, Bestor Architecture has completed several projects that have won awards, showcasing its ability to deliver high-quality craftsmanship and impeccable professionalism. Its impressive portfolio includes many restaurants, offices, small-lot housing developments, and several experimental homes and businesses. Its design approach features a varied, creative, and aesthetically forward-looking body of work that moves architecture into the realm of atmospheric urbanism.
Over the years, the firm has won several awards, including AIA National Design Award for Interior Architecture and AIA California Council Design Awards. The most recent Pitfire Pizza project that Bestor Architecture built is Pitfire NOHO. The inside is bright and modern, with light colors that are easy on the eyes. The street-side has a large beer garden and a kiosk.
AUX Architecture
2404 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 12 D, Los Angeles, CA 90057
AUX Architecture, led by Brian Wickersham and based in Los Angeles, has won many awards and works worldwide on high-end residential, mixed-use, multifamily, and performance space projects. Over the years, the firm has been devoted to thoroughly investigating the built environment’s functionality, spatial qualities, and materials. Since its foundation in 2008, the firm has worked on two performing arts centers, an art gallery, a multifamily townhouse that won an award, and many high-end residential projects. Its dedication to excellence and outstanding services has resulted in high-quality projects delivered on schedule and within budget.
One of the firm’s impressive projects was for client Chef Christian Page. The TIONE’S ON the MAIN is a restaurant in Los Angeles that serves as a testament to its quality and craftsmanship. It features a bar and deli 2,500 square feet in size with a luxurious, contemporary feel. The project was completed in 2015.
Assembledge+
6255 W Sunset Boulevard, Suite 920, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Assembledge+ is a full-service architecture and design firm based in Los Angeles. The firm focuses on custom designs for the residential and commercial markets. Its approach to architecture is based on contemporary modern design, which is primarily rooted in the history and climate of Southern California. Since its inception in 1997, the firm has won many design awards for its projects, including several features in ArchDaily, Archinect Dezeen, Coast Magazine, and AD PRO. Its impressive portfolio has earned plenty of positive feedback from many clients who have experienced the firm’s smooth and seamless project delivery.
South Beverly Grill belongs to the Hillstone Restaurant Group and can be found along a centrally located, pedestrian-oriented street. Assembledge’s work features an interior defined by reclaimed wood ceiling beams and natural lighting, which was a contemporary take on an old-fashioned dining club. Meanhwile, the restaurant exterior has a custom-designed steel window system and brick planter boxes for a stylish experience for both pedestrians and dining patrons.
Studio Unltd.
1920 Violet Street, #201, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Studio Unltd is an architecture, and interior design firm focused on hospitality design. Founded in 2009, this Los Angeles, California-based firm has since delivered exceptional designs to its clients in Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, and the surrounding area. The firm takes an integrated and collaborative approach to working with passionate customers, trade consultants, artisans, world-class chefs, bartenders, and tastemakers to create a functional and visually pleasing design. Its unique way of working together lets the firm trade ideas that produce successful results. Its emphasis on strong relationships with trade professionals allows it to offer a single-source solution with complete design-build services from start to finish.
The firm has been featured in several well-known publications, including Archiscene, Design Dekko, Newsly 24, and Eater LA. At 189 on the upper floor, the atmosphere will remind you of the end of the day, when you are getting ready to wind down and relax. It features a cozy up in a booth, a sunset gradient bar, and a “garden” lounge under the colorful greenery that has been frozen in time.
Tag Front
1117 N Sherbourne Drive, West Hollywood, CA 90069
In 1989, Mehdi and Mandi Rafaty founded an architecture and design firm called Tag Front. In 1999, the firm moved from Orange County to Los Angeles to be closer to some of its well-known restaurant clients. Since then, the firm has continued to grow and expand with a worldwide reach, including new offices in Asia and Europe. Tag Front has completed projects for businesses, homes, stores, and restaurants. Its services include interior design, furniture design, product design, and conceptual design. Over the years, the firm’s dedication to excellence and customer service has earned it a lot of positive feedback from its many clients.
One of the firm’s notable projects is BOA I in West Hollywood, California. The project includes a trendy hot spot with high-end prime beef and seafood dishes served in a stylish, sleek setting. It offers a modern and sophisticated design with dark walls and warm lighting.
Belzberg Architects
2740 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Belzberg Architects is a firm in Santa Monica offering comprehensive architecture and interior design services. Since it started in 1997, the firm has won more than 50 design awards, including more than 20 from the American Institute of Architects, an indication of its ability to deliver exceptional designs that consistently exceed client expectations. Over the years, the firm has been committed to providing successful results made possible through its hands-on approach, high-quality craftsmanship, and creative design solutions.
The firm created a rustic design for Bar Toscana. For more than a decade, it has been the neighborhood’s go-to place for Italian-inspired small plates and main dishes, craft and classic cocktails, international wines, and lively conversation. The warm and inviting atmosphere with natural design elements and an earth-toned palette makes it the perfect place to relax.
Preen, Inc.
931 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Preen is an award-winning international architecture and interior design firm that focuses on hospitality design. The firm’s design process focuses on building something by describing a place’s soul and spirit and bringing warmth, beauty, nature, style, and meaning into the world. Since its inception in 2005, the firm has earned an impressive portfolio and a solid track record of exceptionally designed projects that reflect the client’s needs and demands. As a result of its superior quality, impeccable professionalism, and exceptional craftsmanship, the firm has earned its reputation as one of the best in the industry, winning several awards, including the 2020 Design Firm of the Year from World Interior News.
One of the firm’s notable projects is Tesse, a chic, laid-back, down-to-earth restaurant in Los Angeles that serves French classics and local food. The restaurant was built in collaboration with Fred Segal and is meant to be the darker, wilder partner to the classic SoCal Americana of the clothing brand. Inspired by their white concrete blocks and trained ivy, the restaurant’s front includes thick pink terra concrete blocks and walls deeply covered in greenery. The inside and outside of Tesse are breathtaking, and it is rare to find a space that flows so effortlessly from public to private.
ORA
923 East 3rd Street, #105, Los Angeles, CA 90013
ORA is an architecture, interiors, and design firm based in the Arts District of Los Angeles, California. The firm specializes in residential, commercial, hospitality, and institutional projects, resulting in a purposefully diverse portfolio that has won several design awards. Its work is both fun and valuable. Its design perspective looks at where space, light, quality, craft, cost, and durability meet. It is dedicated to creating both functional and visually pleasing spaces, something that reflects the client’s preferences while meeting their unique demands. As a result, the firm has earned a lot of positive feedback and testimonials from a long list of satisfied clients.
The Agnes is an adaptive reuse of a historic landmark renovation of 1922 horse stable to a restaurant. It has 4,600 square feet of interior space, with additional 1,270 square feet of outside patio, and extensively used sustainable design. The renovation can accommodate large gatherings with room for cheese wine tasting and other workshops. It further opens to courtyard that can transformed into a private dining room at nightime.
Design, Bitches
2718 W Ave 34, Los Angeles, CA 90065
Catherine Johnson and Rebecca Rudolph started Design, Bitches in 2010 with the bold and irreverent goal of making architecture an essential part of everyday life. The firm is backed by an expert design team from California. It works in architecture, interior design, branding, graphics, and art. Since its inception in 2010, the firm has provided years of diverse experience in design, art, and pop culture—the kind of broad backgrounds that, combined, generate unique ideas. Although the firm is based in Los Angeles, it has worked on many international projects in different markets, including brand identities and commercial spaces for new residential and cultural buildings. It is dedicated to working closely with clients to develop creative solutions that fit the area and the user’s needs.
The Nong La—a family restaurant that serves pho, banh mi, and other Vietnamese food and beer and wine in an excellent, modern space—is one of the firm’s notable projects. It features a clean design with white walls and large windows that generate a light and airy atmosphere. The firm added a few pops of color to accentuate the sophisticated design.
Studio MAI
Venice, CA
Studio MAI was founded in 2008 as an architecture firm to provide multi-disciplinary design, fine art, branding, interior, graphic and industrial design for residential and commercial projects. The firm has served Los Angeles and its nearby areas with exceptional projects for fourteen years. It has worked with creative owners, chefs, and developers, resulting in long-lasting relationships that provide smooth and seamless transactions. The firm has an international portfolio that includes boutique hotels and restaurants that have won a number of awards.
Verve Coffee features a design where community, camaraderie, and teamwork are celebrated. Flora, handcrafted components, and natural materials with intended faults reflect design progression influenced by 1960s Los Angeles. As a result, the space offers a warm, layered atmosphere ripe with textured refinements inducing a homey, comfortable feeling. Old brick and other traditional materials combine contemporary nostalgia with vibrant colors, clean lines, and modern workmanship.
SFJones Architects
4218 Glencoe Avenue, Studio 2, Marina del Rey, CA 90292
SF Jones Architects provides architecture, interiors, and design services that serve Los Angeles, Southern California, and beyond. The firm approaches each project by looking at the whole project, from the idea to the day it opens. It puts together the design concept and the brand identity to make a design that works. It takes a whole-person strategy to design, including interior design, lighting, and art and furniture selection. The firm is committed to ensuring that every project’s expectations match reality by constructing schedules and budgets that fit the client’s needs and desires.
Joya is one of the firm’s renowned projects. This is an amenity space we designed including a full operational kitchen and bar. It is part of three new office buildings and serves both as amenities to the office space as well as the community. It features a restaurant called Joya, but also has a conference room, relax/study areas, gym, outdoor seating and outdoor gathering space for larger events both commercial and private parties.
Kelly Architects, Inc.
2404 Wilshire Boulevard, 1E, Los Angeles, CA 90057
Kelly Architects is an architectural design firm that focuses on restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Since it opened in 2003, Kelly Architects has helped some of the most well-known places in Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles succeed. The firm’s impressive portfolio features concepts, ideas, beliefs, cultures, wants, materials, interior design, budgets, city and code requirements, timing, personalities, location, rights, and architecture. The firm is backed by a studio of young, inventive, creative architects and interior designers who work with creative entrepreneurs.
The team worked on the Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills. It is a series of Italian and contemporary restaurants found in different world cities. Inside this beautiful structure is an interplay of opulence and light designs. Contrasts of dark velvets seats and light-colored walls, of wooden floors and marble floors decorate the interiors of the Osteria, while the top floor opens to a veranda with marble sidings and light blue steel beams.
