Dinner on the Westside: with the kids, and without
Our restaurant list has two columns. One is for nights when all five of us go. The other is for nights when my husband and I have a sitter and ninety minutes of adult conversation ahead of us. Both columns live mostly on two streets, San Vicente in Brentwood and Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
Everyone comes
Pizzana, 11712 San Vicente. The pizza is excellent, the room is loud enough that a dropped fork is not an event, and there is always something a child will eat. This is our Friday default.
Jon & Vinny's, 11938 San Vicente. Red sauce, spicy fusilli, a room that feels like a party. My kids think the garlic bread is the main course and I have stopped correcting them.
Reddi Chick at the Country Mart. Not dinner so much as an early evening in the courtyard, but on a warm night it beats most restaurants.
Neighborly, 11770 San Vicente, the food hall that opened in April 2026. Several counters, one set of tables, which means everyone can get something different and nobody has to agree. For a family that is a feature.
The sitter is booked
Toscana, 11633 San Vicente. The Brentwood institution. If you grew up here you have celebrated something at Toscana, and the bar next door is where the neighborhood goes afterward.
Baltaire, 11647 San Vicente. Steak, a good wine list, a patio, and a room that feels like a night out without a drive across town.
Father's Office, 1018 Montana. The burger is the burger. No substitutions, no ketchup, and after twenty years people still argue about it, which is the point.
Forma, 1610 Montana. Pasta finished in a cheese wheel at the table. It sounds like a gimmick until you eat it.
New since last year
San Vicente and Barrington have had more openings in the past twelve months than I can keep up with. Savta, the handroll bar from the Original Farmers Market, opened a second location at 906 S. Barrington. Layla's Bagels and Sora Temaki Bar share the building at 908 S. Barrington. Ggiata, an East Coast-style Italian deli, is at 11640 San Vicente. I am working through them one at a time, and the kids have opinions about the bagels.
Why a real estate agent writes about dinner
Because "can we walk to dinner" is one of the five questions every buyer asks me, and the answer depends on the block. The streets within a few minutes of San Vicente in Brentwood and of Montana in Santa Monica are the ones where the answer is yes. When I show a house on one of them at 6 p.m., I end the showing by walking the client to the corner and pointing. It closes more deals than the kitchen does.
Questions about a street, a house or a number? Text or call me at 310.498.1415, or email cwgrazianorealty@gmail.com.
Christina Woodward Graziano is a California real estate licensee (DRE #02072713) with Keller Williams Beverly Hills, 439 N. Canon Drive, Penthouse, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. This post is general information from one agent, not legal, tax, insurance or financial advice; talk to your own professionals before you act on it. Business mentions are personal opinion. Nobody paid to be in this post.