Truly Affordable Restaurants For Big Group Meals in Los Angeles

aka group meals that won't test your friendships

Hello! It’s been a truly weird and wild week, the kind that means I am eating a bowl of cereal for dinner at 9pm (honey nut cheerios + fairlife milk, the superior milk!) while writing this newsletter. I am trying to cook more at home lately, but I can’t say I’ve made anything particularly inspired or satisfying. I’ve mostly just made my favorite salad on repeat which is Greek Salad Pasta. This is not pasta salad, to be clear, but salad with pasta. I like to flip the ratios.

Lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper if ya got it, red onions, kalamata olives, feta, and a scoop of pasta of your choice, all tossed with a red wine vinegar/olive oil/oregano situation. Sometimes I cheat and use Olive Garden’s Italian dressing, which they sell, by the bottle at Target. It does everything that I need lunch to do: provide me with fiber and have at least one (1) fun element (pasta! feta!).

Would love to know what you’ve been making for yourself that is that wild combo of pretty good for you and pretty fun to eat in the comments.

This week I was tasked with picking a chill lunch spot for what ended up being a group of 5, which to me means something that is not too expensive, not too fussy, easy enough to get to, with an easy parking situation, decent for all dietary preferences but is still fun. These are also basically all the requirements for any group meal ever, so I thought I’d throw together a list of my favorite back pocket spots for an unfussy group dinner in Los Angeles. As long as you are not rolling up with a stupidly large group, none of these restaurants require booking out the PDR (private dining room) or a set menu. They also shouldn’t cost anyone more than $50 max if people aren’t going hard on the drinks.

As someone who does not eat a ton of meat, and does not drink very much, few things annoy me more than a group dinner, especially a birthday dinner at a spendy spot. I don’t want to subsidize your steak, your uni, and your decision to order a full bottle of the 1983 Barolo. Walking out still hungry after paying $175 or so for a meal is an insane proposition.

Here is where to go where everyone will be happy! full! and not broke!

Save your friendships!