UCLA Campus Guide: Where to Eat, Drink & Stay in Westwood (2026)
Find the best restaurants, bars, hotels, cafes, and campus landmarks near the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with a saveable map for students, parents, and visitors.
Whether you're
a UCLA student who has run out of ideas on Gayley, an admit walking the campus
for the first time, a parent in town for move-in or commencement, an alum back
for a Pauley game, or a family here for graduation weekend, this guide pulls
together the restaurants, bars, hotels, and campus landmarks worth knowing
around UCLA.
UCLA sits in
Westwood, on the Westside of Los Angeles, with Beverly Hills, Century City,
Brentwood, and Santa Monica all within a short drive. What makes a UCLA visit
unusual is how much of it you can do on foot: Westwood Village starts at the
campus's southern edge, and most of the food, the two campus-adjacent bars, and
half the hotels in this guide are inside a fifteen minute walk of Royce Hall.
Two things are not walkable, and both matter. Football is played at the Rose
Bowl in Pasadena, about 25 miles northeast. And the more interesting bars sit a
mile or two west in West LA, for reasons explained below. Everything here is
ordered closest to campus first.
Best Restaurants Near UCLA
Westwood food
sorts itself into three bands. The Village core, along Broxton, Gayley, and
Kinross, is where students eat between classes, and it's a genuine five to ten
minute walk from campus. The Wilshire edge picks up at the Hammer Museum and is
where a nicer lunch or a parent visit tends to land. Then Westwood Boulevard
keeps running south past Wilshire into Persian Square, the heart of Tehrangeles
and by some distance the best eating near UCLA. That last stretch is the reason
this guide is worth reading rather than skimming.
Featured restaurants to check out
Diddy Riese
926 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Cookies pressed into made-to-order ice cream sandwiches since 1995, from a Broxton counter that's been there since 1983: pick two cookies, pick the ice cream, hand it over. Lines run down Broxton on warm evenings and it's the single most photographed food item in Westwood. Closed Mondays, which catches people out.
KazuNori: The Original Hand Roll Bar
1110 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Kazunori Nozawa's hand roll bar, from the team behind Sugarfish, has been on Gayley since June 2016. Sit at the counter, order a set, eat each roll the moment it lands so the nori is still crisp. Fast enough for a weeknight, good enough for a parent dinner, which is a rare combination in the Village.
Northern Lights Cafe
Royce Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
A cozy on-campus café in UCLA’s North Campus, Northern Lights is a convenient stop for coffee, paninis, poke bowls, and quick bites between classes. With plenty of seating and a relaxed atmosphere, it’s also a popular spot to study or meet up with friends.
Falafel Inc
933 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Cheap falafel and hummus plates on Broxton, a few doors from Diddy Riese, and the West Coast debut of a chain founded by Ahmad Ashkar that donates a refugee meal through the UN World Food Programme for every $10 in revenue. Quick, filling, and the sort of place that earns its spot on price and speed.
Gushi
978 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
A Korean barbecue walk-up counter on Gayley that has been feeding UCLA students for years. The combo meat plate is what people order: two meats over rice with salad, kimchi, and a drink, at a price The Infatuation politely describes as impossible to match anywhere else in the area. No seating to speak of, and no need for any.
In-N-Out Burger
922 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
The Gayley location is the late-night anchor of the Village, open to 1am on weeknights and 1:30am Friday and Saturday, with a drive-thru. It functions less as a burger stand than as the place everyone ends up, which the Daily Bruin documented at length earlier this year. Bring a visiting friend here before you bring them anywhere else.
Lamonica's NY Pizza
1066 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Open since 1980 and still making its dough in Brooklyn with New York City tap water before shipping it west, which is either a gimmick or the whole point depending on where you grew up. Slices by the counter, folded and eaten standing up. It's the default late-ish slice in Westwood.
LULU Restaurant LA
10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
The restaurant inside the Hammer Museum, UCLA's museum at Wilshire and Westwood, conceived with Alice Waters and opened by chef David Tanis. The three-course market menu changes daily and it holds a MICHELIN Guide listing. This is the parent lunch: the museum is free, the room is calm, and you can walk back to campus afterward. Closed Mondays.
Tacos 1986
10874 Kinross Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Tijuana-style tacos on handmade corn tortillas, about a mile from Bruin Plaza at the corner of Kinross and Glendon. The Baja signature is guacamole on the taco itself, which the kitchen will tell you is a Baja California thing and nowhere else in Mexico. Opened in Westwood in early 2020 after the founders started with carts in parking lots.
Sweetfin Poke Westwood Village
1146 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Fast-casual poke and grain bowls just south of the Village core, useful mostly for one reason: it stays open to 11:30pm Thursday through Saturday, which is later than almost anything else nearby that isn't fried. A lighter option when the Gayley rotation gets heavy.
Emporium Thai
1275 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Family-owned by siblings John and Gina Sungkamee since 2000, with Gina as executive chef, specializing in Southern Thai rather than the usual pad thai run. The Southern Curry is a three-generation family recipe made without MSG or fish sauce. There's a real wine, beer, and sake list too, which is unusual for a neighborhood Thai place and makes it work for a group dinner.
Egg Tuck
1049 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Soft-scrambled egg sandwiches on brioche, plus egg tots, from a small LA chain that took over the old Thai House space in fall 2022. Breakfast and lunch only, closing at 3:30pm, so it's a morning move rather than a dinner one. The easiest breakfast in the Village if a parent is in town and nobody wants to drive.
Mandi House مطعم بيت المندي اليمني لوس انجلس
1083 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Yemeni cooking that opened on Gayley in March 2024, built around mandi and haneeth, slow-roasted lamb and chicken over spiced rice served in portions meant to be shared. There's traditional floor seating with patterned cushions in the back. Owner Faris Alkabass told the Daily Bruin he sized the portions with students in mind, and it's the most distinctive meal you can walk to from campus.
Attari Sandwich Shop
1388 Westwood Blvd #101, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Sitting at Westwood and Wilkins, the corner the city formally designated Persian Square in 2010, in a building actually named Attari Plaza. The beef tongue sandwich is the signature and the shaded front patio is the neighborhood's afternoon living room. Abgoosht, the lamb stew, is served Fridays only. If you eat one thing in Tehrangeles, make it this.
Taste of Tehran Restaurant
1915 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
A counter-service Persian spot several blocks further down Westwood Boulevard, well south of Wilshire and past the point where walking makes sense. The koobideh is what it's known for, and The Infatuation credits the marinade for putting its kabobs ahead of the rest of West LA. Halal certified apart from the shish kabob. Worth the ride.
Best Bars Near UCLA
Westwood's
nightlife is thin, and it's worth understanding why before you judge it. The
Village is not dry and nothing is banned, but the 1989 Westwood Village
Specific Plan layers a conditional use permit on top of the state liquor
license, routed through the neighborhood council and city planning with an
appeal possible at nearly every step. The practical result is two
campus-adjacent bars and not much else. Everything past those two is a short
drive west into West LA, which is where UCLA students, alumni, and anyone
wanting a proper cocktail actually go.
Featured bars to check out
Rocco's Tavern -Westwood
1000 Gayley Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
The UCLA sports bar, sitting at Gayley and Weyburn in the middle of the Village and open until 2am every night. Screens, a late-night menu, and student discounts. Spoon University calls it the cornerstone of the UCLA bar scene, and on a game night it functions as the campus living room. If you go to one bar in Westwood, this is it.
Barney's Beanery
1037 Broxton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
Westwood's branch of the LA institution that started as a West Hollywood chili stand in 1920, though this location is much newer than that. Long menu, a lot of beer, and enough room to absorb a group without a reservation. Between this and Rocco's you have the entire walkable Westwood bar scene, which students will tell you themselves.
Q's Billiard Club & Restaurant
11835 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
Two floors of pool hall on Wilshire in West LA, about a mile and a half from campus, with ten billiard tables rentable by the hour plus shuffleboard, foosball, and air hockey. Trivia runs Wednesdays. It self-describes as one of the few authentic pool halls left in Los Angeles, and for a group that wants something to do rather than just somewhere to sit, it's the pick.
The Wellesbourne
10929 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064, USA
A candlelit British-style whiskey lounge on Pico, established in 2010, done up like a private library with live jazz on some evenings. About two and a half miles south of campus, so firmly a drive. This is the grown-up option on the list and the right call for an alumni dinner that turns into a nightcap or a parent visit that wants somewhere quiet.
The Nickel Mine
11363 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
A West LA sports bar with 24 taps, opened in 2016, roughly a mile and a half southwest of campus. The Infatuation rates it the neighborhood's go-to for watching a game and says to stick to the pizza. Worth knowing before you plan around it: the bar advertises a $50 per person minimum on game nights, so it suits a committed group more than a casual drop-in.
Best Hotels Near UCLA
UCLA is unusual
among big schools in having two hotels on the campus itself, and if you can get
into either one you should. Past that, Westwood Village has a cluster of small
hotels within a ten minute walk of the southern edge of campus, and then a Wilshire
and Brentwood group that trades walkability for space, parking, and
availability. All of the walkable options are small, which means they sell out
early for move-in in September and for the commencement weekend in June. Listed
closest to campus first.
Featured hotels to check out
UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center
425 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
UCLA's own 254-room hotel and conference center, on campus next to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, opened in 2016 with a $40 million gift from the Luskins toward a $152 million build. LEED Platinum, seven stories, with the Mediterranean restaurant Plateia and a bar downstairs. For a parent on move-in day or a family in for graduation, nothing else is this convenient. Book it the moment dates are announced.
W Los Angeles - West Beverly Hills
930 Hilgard Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
An all-suite hotel on Hilgard, along the campus's eastern edge, which Marriott accurately describes as steps from UCLA. There's a heated outdoor pool deck, three restaurants including the poolside Beach House, and a 24-hour gym. Formerly the Westwood Marquis, reopened as a W in 1999. Pet-friendly for a fee, and the liveliest of the walkable options.
Palihotel Westwood Village
1044 Tiverton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
54 rooms on Tiverton in the middle of the Village, in a building that held Westwood's first hotel back in 1939. Mid-century design crossed with something more Parisian, SMEG fridges in the rooms, and complimentary pastries in the lobby from 6 to 9 each morning. The design-forward choice, and about a six minute walk to campus.
Plaza La Reina Hotel
10850 Lindbrook Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
45 suites averaging around 650 square feet, which is a lot of room by Los Angeles standards, with hardwood floors and proper separation between sleeping and sitting space. Event rooms and rooftop terraces make it a common choice for graduation gatherings. This is the one to book when the visit runs several nights or the family is more than three people.
Hotel Angeleno
170 N Church Ln, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA
A circular 17-story tower at the Sunset and 405 interchange in Brentwood, less than two miles from campus by the hotel's own reckoning. Every one of the 210 rooms is an outward-facing wedge with a view, and WEST Restaurant & Lounge sits on the top floor. It's a drive rather than a walk, but it's the reliable fallback when Westwood is sold out for graduation.
Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel
11461 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA
A seven-acre hillside property on Sunset west of campus, with a private tennis court, a heated pool with cabanas, and al fresco dining at Sirocco. Rooms run notably larger than the LA average. It reads more like a small resort than a city hotel, which makes it the choice for a longer, slower visit, and it's the closest of these to the Getty Center.
The Inn at UCLA
330 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
The former UCLA Guest House, renamed but doing the same job it has done for nearly four decades: 61 rooms on the northeast side of campus, a short walk from Royce Hall and Powell Library. UCLA describes the feel as closer to a bed and breakfast than a hotel, and its regulars are visiting scholars, guest speakers, medical patients and their families, and parents. Quieter and smaller than the Luskin, and the better pick if that appeals.
Kimpton Hotel Palomar Los Angeles Beverly Hills
10740 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
On the Wilshire corridor a little under a mile south of campus, so walkable in about fifteen minutes or a two minute drive. Double Take restaurant and a lobby bar downstairs, an outdoor pool, and a retro game room. Forbes has named it among the best pet-friendly hotels in Los Angeles, which is the practical reason to choose it over the Village options if you're travelling with a dog.
Royal Palace Westwood Hotel
1052 Tiverton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
This is the value option in the Village, on the same block as the Palihotel. What makes it worth listing rather than just cheap is free parking, which in Westwood is a genuine saving given what UCLA charges visitors by the day. Free continental breakfast, family rooms, guest laundry, and extensive accessible rooms including roll-in showers. No pets except service animals.
UCLA Campus Landmarks
UCLA's core is
compact and genuinely beautiful, and you can see all six of these in a morning.
The route below starts at the bottom of the historic quad and works north, then
loops back down to the athletic side of campus. Wear something you can walk uphill
in.
Featured campus landmarks
Royce Hall
10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Completed in 1929 and modeled on the Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, with the twin towers that appear on roughly every piece of UCLA merchandise ever made. It's a working performing arts venue seating about 1,800, home to CAP UCLA and the LA Chamber Orchestra, and it has hosted Einstein, Gershwin, Ella Fitzgerald, and JFK. A $70.5 million seismic rebuild followed the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Check the calendar; catching a show here beats photographing it.
Powell Library
10740 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Facing Royce across Dickson Plaza, dedicated in 1930, with an octagonal dome and a Main Reading Room that students call the living room of UCLA. Look up at the 447 historic ceiling panels and the Renaissance printers' marks. Ray Bradbury drafted Fahrenheit 451 on a rented typewriter in the basement here in 1951, which is the detail most visitors remember afterwards.
Bruin Statue
Bruin Statue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Billy Fitzgerald's bronze bear, dedicated in September 1984 as a gift from the UCLA Alumni Association: ten feet long and better than two tons. It sits in Bruin Plaza by Ackerman Union and is the default meeting point and graduation photo on campus. In rivalry week UCLA encases it in a protective black box and members of the student group The Den keep an overnight watch on it, which tells you what the USC game means here.
Kuruvungna Steps
Kuruvungna Steps, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Eighty-seven steps built in 1928 by architect George W. Kelham, climbing from Wilson Plaza up to Dickson Plaza, and the original ceremonial entrance to campus. The view back down from the top is the shot everyone takes. Students sit and study on them all afternoon, and the grass slopes flanking them are where UCLA's ice blocking tradition happens. You may see the steps referred to as Kuruvungna Steps on some maps, after a student-led renaming campaign, but Janss Steps remains the official name.
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, 245 Charles E Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
More than five acres of lawn and over 70 sculptures on north campus, laid out in 1967 on what had been a parking lot. Rodin's Walking Man, Calder's Button Flower, and Henry Moore's Two-Piece Reclining Figure are all here, along with Hepworth, Noguchi, and David Smith. It's managed by the Hammer Museum, it's free, and it is the quietest place on campus to spend an hour.
Pauley Pavilion
301 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Opened in 1965, rebuilt in a $136 million renovation completed in 2012, and holding 13,800. Eleven NCAA men's basketball championship banners hang inside, alongside titles in women's basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics, and no conference banners at all, which is a deliberate statement. It hosted Olympic gymnastics in 1984 and the 1988 presidential debate, and it's where most UCLA commencement ceremonies happen. Unlike football, this one is on campus and walkable.
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