Lawry’s The Prime Rib

Verdict

Lawry's The Prime Rib is one of the few Los Angeles restaurants where the format has never needed fixing. This Beverly Hills institution has been carving tableside prime rib since 1938, it holds a Pearl Recommended designation for 2025 alongside back-to-back recognition from Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list (ranked #455 in 2024, recommended in 2023). If you want a classic, high-ceremony steakhouse meal in Los Angeles without the uncertainty of a tasting menu format, book here. If you want a broader à la carte steakhouse menu with more cuts and sides, Gwen is worth comparing.

The Experience

The dining room at Lawry's runs on ritual. Servers in period uniforms carve prime rib tableside from a silver cart; a format that has defined the restaurant for over eight decades. The atmosphere is warm and formal without being stiff: the kind of room where conversations carry easily during the early evening, before the room fills and the ambient hum rises. For the leading atmosphere and the most comfortable pacing, arrive at opening (5 pm weekdays, 4 pm Saturdays) rather than at peak dinner hour. The room seats a large number of covers and the energy at full capacity leans celebratory and social rather than quiet or intimate.

The bar and counter seating deserve specific attention if you're dining solo or as a pair. Sitting at the bar puts you closer to the action of the room and lets you engage with the tableside service format without the full ceremony of a booth or table reservation. It's a practical option on weeknights when the main dining room is busier, it's worth requesting when you book. Walk-ins may find bar space available on weeknights, but don't rely on it; reservations are easy to secure here and there's no reason to gamble on availability.

Sunday brunch (11 am to 2 pm) runs on the same prime rib premise and offers a different rhythm than weeknight dinners. If you're visiting Los Angeles from out of town and want to fit Lawry's into a Sunday without sacrificing an evening, the brunch service is a legitimate option rather than a compromise.

Practical Details

Lawry's is open Monday through Thursday from 5 to 9:30 pm, Friday from 5 to 10 pm, Saturday from 4 to 10 pm, Sunday for brunch (11 am to 2 pm) and dinner (4 to 9:30 pm). Booking difficulty is rated Easy, you can typically secure a reservation within a few days, though weekend evenings and holidays fill faster. For a special occasion or a large group, book at least a week in advance to secure your preferred time and seating arrangement. The restaurant is located at 100 N La Cienega Blvd in Beverly Hills, positioned conveniently for visitors staying in West Hollywood or along the Westside corridor. For accommodation nearby, see our full Los Angeles hotels guide.

Groups are well-suited here. The format, a fixed prime rib carving with sides, simplifies ordering for large parties and removes the usual coordination headache of a varied à la carte menu. If you're planning a group dinner in Los Angeles and want a room that handles volume without sacrificing quality, Lawry's is a more reliable call than many of the city's trendier options. For further dining options across the city, see our full Los Angeles restaurants guide.

How It Compares

Among Los Angeles steakhouses, Gwen offers a more contemporary approach with a broader cut selection and a butcher shop component, making it the better pick if you want à la carte range or a more modern room. Bazaar Meat skews theatrical and tapas-influenced, which suits groups looking for variety over ceremony. Fia Steak and Nick & Stef's Steakhouse are both solid alternatives if you want a more traditional steakhouse menu with multiple cut options. Arroyo Chop House in Pasadena works if you're on the east side. None of them replicate Lawry's tableside carving format, which remains its defining differentiator.

If your evening is more about the full Los Angeles fine dining circuit, Kato (New Taiwanese, $$$$) and Camphor (French-Asian, $$$$) represent the city's more ambitious tasting menu options. Hayato and Vespertine are for diners who want a more conceptual, chef-driven experience. These are different propositions entirely, Lawry's wins on accessibility, format clarity, occasion suitability, not on culinary ambition.

For context beyond Los Angeles: the tableside prime rib format Lawry's pioneered is rare at this level of consistency. If you've experienced comparable carving service at places like Capa in Orlando or A Cut in Taipei, Lawry's original is worth the comparison visit. And if your travels take you to other major US dining cities, Le Bernardin in New York, The French Laundry in Napa, and Alinea in Chicago sit at the other end of the ambition spectrum, useful reference points for calibrating where Lawry's sits in the broader range of American special-occasion dining.

For more on what Los Angeles has to offer beyond dining, explore our full Los Angeles experiences guide and our full Los Angeles wineries guide. For reference points at the top of American fine dining, Lazy Bear in San Francisco, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, and Emeril's in New Orleans each offer a useful contrast to Lawry's format-driven approach.