LAVO Los Angeles
Permanently Closed
Coastal Italian dining with retractable roof and signature dishes
Coastal Italian dining with retractable roof and signature dishes
"Lavo is an Italian clubstaurant on the Sunset Strip that hails from the mecca of clubstaurants, Las Vegas. But here’s the catch—in the desert, places like Lavo work because everyone’s on a debaucherous vacation and eating an expensive meal while dancing on a table is part of the gig. On the Sunset Strip, though, Lavo isn’t anything close to that fantasy. It’s just a big restaurant with forgettable pizza and pasta, decor straight out of a Home & Gardens catalog, and a crowd made up of tourists and locals who don’t know better. If you’re looking for a rowdy dinner in LA, do yourself a favor and head to one of these spots instead." - brant cox
"What It Is: Lavo is a massive Italian clubstaurant on the Sunset Strip that was recently gifted to us from the mecca of clubstaurants, Las Vegas. While the original version is located inside The Palazzo, complete with an outside terrace and a lounge area that gets wild in a hurry, this location sits on the ground floor of a fairly drab office building. Verdict: In Vegas, places like Lavo work because everyone is on a debaucherous vacation and eating an expensive meal while dancing on a table is somewhat expected. On the Sunset Strip, Lavo isn’t anything close to a clubstaurant. It’s just a big boring restaurant with aggressively mediocre food, generic decor, and a crowd made up of duped tourists and locals who don’t know better." - brant cox
"“I discovered Lavo right before they opened. I feel like I have a special bond with that place because I was eating there when nobody was eating there. I have two different orders. If I'm going during brunch, which I used to do a lot with my family when they would visit, I would get the eggs benedict. If I'm going at night, I like the branzino and the calamari. They do this thing where they crack the fish open in front of you. If I'm taking one of my girlfriends out, or one of my family members, and I'm really in the mood to show off and have an experience, I order that just so that they can see it.”" - brennan carley
"Lavo is an Italian clubstaurant on the Sunset Strip that hails from the mecca of clubstaurants, Las Vegas. But here’s the catch—in the desert, places like Lavo work because everyone’s on a debaucherous vacation and eating an expensive meal while dancing on a table is part of the gig. On the Sunset Strip, though, Lavo isn’t anything close to that fantasy. It’s just a big restaurant with forgettable pizza and pasta, decor straight out of a Home & Gardens catalog, and a crowd made up of tourists and locals who don’t know better. If you’re looking for a rowdy dinner in LA, do yourself a favor and head to one of these spots instead." - brant cox
"Spread across multiple dining and drinking areas and some 250 seats, the jewel-toned Italianate destination Lavo Ristorante is draped in the kind of luxury that has made hits out of spots like Olivetta nearby. Think extra-tall dining space, glittering chandeliers, and a horseshoe bar wrapped in copper and gold. The masterpiece for the property, though, is the retractable roof over the primary dining area, which opens year-round to the sky. Venice locals Studio Collective even added accordion-style windows that breeze right out onto Sunset for near-wraparound airflow and views." - Farley Elliott