RFK Cuisine · Spanish · Los Angeles
Best Spanish Restaurants in Los Angeles 2026
Spanish tapas, paella & pintxos · Los Angeles · 7 tables ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Los Angeles is not the city you think of for Spanish food, and then José Andrés opens a wood-fired dining room on Bunker Hill and Teresa Montaño cooks a paella in Highland Park that would hold its own in Valencia. The scene here is small but unusually good: a celebrity-chef flagship at the top, a clutch of serious neighborhood tapas rooms in Santa Monica and the east side, and a new wave of Spanish natural-wine bars pouring fino by the glass. There is no Spanish quarter the way there is a Little Tokyo or a Thai Town, so the map is scattered from Brentwood to Bunker Hill. Ranked here on the cooking, the room and what the bill buys, with the dish to order at each.
1.San Laurel
José Andrés's wood-fired Spanish room above Grand Avenue; book it when the night has to impress and the bill is not the point.
San Laurel sits on the seventh floor of the Conrad Los Angeles, inside Frank Gehry's Grand LA on Bunker Hill, and it is José Andrés's flagship Spanish-Mediterranean restaurant in the city, opened in 2023 with the Agua Viva cocktail bar alongside. The cooking is seafood-forward and built around the wood fire, leaning on the Spanish technique Andrés has spent a career exporting, from jamón and seafood towers to wood-grilled fish and rice. Mains start around $40 and a full dinner clears $120 a head once wine is in, but the room, the terrace and the view earn it. It is the Spanish table in LA for an anniversary, a closing dinner or any night that has to land. Book through the restaurant or OpenTable.
OpenTable or the website, a week or two ahead for weekends; the wood-grilled seafood and a glass of fino.
2.Otoño
Teresa Montaño's Highland Park room cooks the city's best paella; book for the socarrat and a deep sherry list, no white tablecloths.
Otoño, at 5715 North Figueroa Street in Highland Park, is the chef-driven Spanish room the east side has rallied around since it opened in 2018. Chef Teresa Montaño builds a paella for the crackling socarrat at the bottom of the pan, in seafood and seasonal styles cooked to order for two or more, and the croquetas, gildas and tortilla around it are textbook. The list runs deep on sherry and Spanish wine, and the price stays sane until the paella and the fino add up. It is the answer when you want serious Spanish cooking without the Bunker Hill bill. Book on Resy a few days out and order the rice the moment you sit.
Resy, a few days ahead; the socarrat paella, the croquetas and a copita of manzanilla.
3.Xuntos
Sandra Cordero's Santa Monica bar reborn for 2026 around Spanish natural wine; go for pintxos, conservas and a 200-bottle list.
Xuntos, at 516 Santa Monica Boulevard, is chef Sandra Cordero's Galician-rooted tapas bar, and in May 2026 it relaunched as Bar Xuntos, a Barcelona-style bodega built around a 200-bottle Spanish natural-wine list under wine director Scott Baker. The food is the snackable end of Spain: Basque-style pintxos, seasonal croquetas, a griddled bikini sandwich, jamón ibérico and tinned conservas, drawn from Cordero's childhood summers in Galicia. It is the most fun, most low-stakes Spanish room on this list, the place for a glass of something cloudy and orange and a counter full of small plates. Walk-ins work early; book on Resy for a table later.
Resy or walk in early; the seasonal croquetas, a bikini sandwich and a glass of skin-contact Spanish white.
4.Manchego
The Main Street tapas room that has been a reliable Santa Monica date for years; book for Galician octopus and a candlelit corner.
Manchego, on Main Street in Santa Monica, is the neighborhood tapas room that locals have used as a date restaurant for the better part of two decades. The cooking is Californian-inflected Spanish: pulpo a la gallega, patatas bravas, croquetas, a Catalan-style chicken, and a list weighted to Spanish wine, with tapas mostly in the $10 to $20 band. The room is small, dim and built for two, the kind of place where the lighting does half the work. It is not the most ambitious Spanish kitchen in the city, but it is the most romantic, and it has earned the loyalty. Book on OpenTable a few days ahead for a weekend table.
OpenTable, a few days ahead; the Galician octopus, the patatas bravas and a Rioja by the glass.
5.Teleferic Barcelona
The Barcelona tapas import that landed in Brentwood; book for the meatball-potato bomba and a polished, crowd-pleasing Catalan menu.
Teleferic Barcelona, on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood, is the Los Angeles outpost of a Catalan group that started in Barcelona and crossed to the Bay Area before opening here in 2022. The cooking is broad and accessible Catalan tapas: jamón ibérico carved to order, patatas bravas, pan con tomate and the signature "bomb," a crisp meatball-and-potato bomba that the menu is built to sell. It is a chain, and it tastes like a good one, with a wide wine list and a room that works for a group as easily as a couple. Order well and it delivers; order lazily and it can feel safe. Book on OpenTable.
OpenTable, a day or two ahead; "the bomb" bomba, jamón ibérico and a glass of cava.
6.La Paella
The old-tavern paella house in Beverly Grove; go for a straight-down-the-line seafood paella and a room with no pretensions.
La Paella, in Beverly Grove just south of the Beverly Center, is the unfussy tavern-style Spanish room the area has leaned on for years. The draw is exactly what the name promises: a seafood paella around $30 a head, cooked properly and brought to a wooden table, with a tapas list of tortilla, gambas al ajillo and chorizo around it. The room is dark, snug and a little dated in the best way, the antidote to the polished newcomers. It is not where you go to be wowed; it is where you go when you want paella and sangria and no surprises. Call ahead or book online, and order the paella when you reserve so it is ready when you are.
Phone or online a day ahead, pre-order the paella; the seafood paella and a jug of sangria.
7.Bar Pintxo
The little Basque pintxos bar steps from the Santa Monica pier; go for a gilda, a tortilla wedge and a quick glass of txakoli.
Bar Pintxo, on Santa Monica Boulevard a short walk from the pier, is the city's most authentic stab at a San Sebastián pintxos bar: a narrow, standing-friendly room where small skewers and toasts line the counter and you point at what you want. The markers of a kitchen that knows the form are all here, the gilda skewer of anchovy, olive and guindilla pepper, a thick wedge of tortilla, croquetas and jamón, mostly in the $4 to $12 range. It is a stop rather than a destination, the place to graze before dinner or after the beach with a glass of txakoli poured from height. Walk in; it is built for it.
Walk in, especially early evening; the gilda, a wedge of tortilla and a glass of txakoli.
How Los Angeles eats Spanish
There is no Spanish quarter in Los Angeles, so the scene reads as a handful of strong rooms scattered across the map rather than a single district to crawl. The west side, around Santa Monica's Main Street and Boulevard, holds the densest cluster: Manchego, Xuntos and Bar Pintxo are walkable from one another, and a pintxos-bar-to-tapas-room evening works there better than anywhere else in the city. The east side has the chef-driven heart of it in Otoño, and Bunker Hill has the splurge in San Laurel. Tipping is the standard LA 18 to 20 percent; sherry and Spanish wine by the glass have finally become normal, so order a fino or manzanilla rather than defaulting to a red.
Booking splits by tier. The tapas and pintxos bars take walk-ins or short-notice tables through Resy and OpenTable; San Laurel needs planning, and Otoño's paella is cooked to order, so reserve and pre-order the rice if you can. For the wider city beyond Spanish, the Los Angeles dining guide maps it by neighborhood and occasion, and the best Spanish restaurants worldwide pillar sets these rooms against Madrid and San Sebastián.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious LA Spanish
Sangria-and-flamenco tourist rooms. The dinner-show restaurants that sell a flamenco set and a pitcher of fruit-heavy sangria are selling a night out, not Spanish cooking; the tapas are an afterthought. If you want the room and the wine done right, sit at the counter at Xuntos or Bar Pintxo and let the pintxos do the talking.
"Spanish-Mexican" mash-ups. A few LA rooms blur Spanish and Mexican on one menu and do neither well. For Mexican, go to a Mexican kitchen; the city's best Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles are a different and deeper scene. For Spanish, stay with the rooms above, where the jamón is Iberian and the rice is built for socarrat.
Frequently asked
What is the best Spanish restaurant in Los Angeles?
For ambition and occasion, San Laurel at the Conrad Los Angeles is the top of the market: José Andrés's wood-fired Spanish-Mediterranean dining room above Grand Avenue, with mains from around $40. For a neighborhood Spanish meal with the city's best paella, Teresa Montaño's Otoño in Highland Park is the pick, with socarrat-crusted rice and a deep sherry list. The two answer different questions: San Laurel for a night out that has to land, Otoño for the cooking and the value.
Where can I get good paella in Los Angeles?
Otoño in Highland Park does the city's most serious paella, built for the crisp socarrat at the bottom of the pan, in seafood and other styles for two or more; chef Teresa Montaño cooks it to order, so allow time. La Paella in Beverly Grove is the old-tavern alternative, with a straightforward seafood paella around $30 a head. San Laurel and Teleferic Barcelona both run rice dishes too. Paella is a cook-to-order dish everywhere, so call ahead or expect a wait.
Is there a José Andrés Spanish restaurant in LA?
Yes. San Laurel, on the seventh floor of the Conrad Los Angeles at the Grand LA on Bunker Hill, is José Andrés's Spanish-Mediterranean restaurant, opened in 2023 with the adjoining Agua Viva cocktail bar. The cooking runs wood-fired and seafood-forward, with Andrés's signature Spanish technique behind it. It replaced the old Bazaar at the SLS as the chef's flagship Spanish room in the city. Book through the restaurant or OpenTable, further ahead for weekend tables.
How much does Spanish dining cost in Los Angeles?
It spans a wide band. A pintxos-and-wine evening at Bar Xuntos or Bar Pintxo runs $35 to $60 a head with a few glasses. A tapas dinner at Manchego or Teleferic Barcelona lands around $50 to $80 with wine. Otoño sits a notch up once paella and sherry are involved. San Laurel is the splurge, with mains from roughly $40 and a tasting option, so a full dinner clears $120 a head easily. Set the budget before you book.
What Spanish dishes should I order in Los Angeles?
Order the socarrat-crusted paella and the croquetas at Otoño; the Galician octopus and patatas bravas at Manchego; the seasonal croquetas and a bikini sandwich at Xuntos; and "the bomb" meatball-potato bomba at Teleferic Barcelona. At Bar Pintxo, the gilda skewer and tortilla are the markers of a kitchen that knows Basque cooking. Pair any of it with fino or manzanilla sherry, which most of these rooms now pour by the glass.
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Browse the full Los Angeles dining guide, compare the global picks in the best Spanish restaurants worldwide, see the best Mexican in Los Angeles, read up on the best Spanish in Madrid, book a room for a first date, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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