About Mélisse
Josiah Citrin opened the original Mélisse on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica in 1999 and spent nearly two decades building it into the finest French-Californian restaurant on the Westside, earning two Michelin stars and a dedicated following that treated the dining room on Wilshire as a necessary stop on any serious culinary itinerary. Then, in a move that surprised even his most ardent admirers, he closed it entirely — and rebuilt it as something smaller, more precise, and more personal.
The current Mélisse seats fourteen guests nightly, in a space where the boundary between kitchen and dining room barely exists. Citrin and Chef/Partner Ken Takayama guide those fourteen through an eight-course menu that represents the full accumulation of Citrin's training — under Joël Robuchon in Paris, through years of mastering Californian produce — applied with the focus that only a very small room can produce. The cooking is contemporary Californian with a deeply French sensibility: the technique is classical, the sourcing impeccably local, from San Diego to Napa Valley, the execution without excess.
The price of $399 per person includes the full eight-course experience bookended by canapés, amuse-bouches, and mignardise. Wine pairings are offered separately. The wine list, compiled with the authority of a restaurant that has been serious about wine for a quarter century, covers France and California with particular depth in Burgundy and the Santa Barbara coast.
Fourteen seats make Mélisse one of the hardest reservations in Los Angeles. The intimacy also makes it one of the most rewarding — guests who arrive expecting a conventional fine dining experience leave understanding why Citrin chose to shrink his room rather than expand it.
Two Michelin stars and fourteen seats communicate something specific and powerful: this is not a restaurant for everyone, and being here means someone thought carefully about the evening. The intimacy of Mélisse's room removes the anonymity of larger fine dining restaurants — Citrin and Takayama are visibly present, the service is personal, and the client across the table cannot avoid understanding that the experience has been chosen rather than defaulted to. The $399 price point, which some Westside dining rooms match with considerably less care, is fully justified by what arrives.
The intimate format of Mélisse is precisely what milestone birthdays deserve — an evening that feels constructed around you rather than around the machinery of a large kitchen. The service team, working fourteen seats, can give the table genuine attention. The menu, which Citrin adjusts seasonally, can be arranged around preferences or allergies without the usual tasting menu limitations. The eight-course pacing gives an evening the rhythmic pleasure of ceremony. The mignardise that closes the meal is a celebration in its own right.
Diner Reviews
Occasion: Birthday
My wife's fiftieth birthday. Fourteen seats, eight courses, Josiah Citrin visible in the kitchen from where we sat. The sourcing is extraordinary — a dish built around Santa Barbara sea urchin and Napa valley truffle that tasted of California in a way I'd never experienced. The service had clearly been briefed on the occasion; we felt celebrated without being performed at. One of the three best meals of my life.
Occasion: Impress Clients
Brought a French investor who has eaten at Robuchon's restaurants in five countries. He said Mélisse was better. The Burgundy wine list alone justified the trip. Citrin's cooking is technically immaculate and the intimacy of fourteen seats transforms fine dining from performance into genuine hospitality. The client signed within a week of the dinner. I cannot say there is a causal relationship. I believe there is.
