Upper West

Upper West is a Santa Monica restaurant from chef/owner Nick Shipp, with a Contemporary American & Global food lane and a price of about $45 per person. The draw is straightforward: a smart-casual dinner option with enough breadth for diners who want American cooking with wider global influence. It works for a night when diners do not want to debate a narrow specialty, but still want a defined point of view and a chef/owner attached to the experience.

The reliable planning details are the chef/owner, cuisine category, price point, dinner hours, smart casual dress code, and one signature dish: Seared Baja Striped Bass. Rather than reading Upper West through a long list of dishes or a highly specific format, understand it through practical anchors: the city, what kind of food lane it occupies, when it serves dinner, how to dress, and which dish gives the menu its most specific pull.

Order around the signature dish

The clearest dish-level anchor is Seared Baja Striped Bass. Beyond that, expect Contemporary American & Global cooking, not a documented tasting menu, chef-counter format, or fixed progression. If that seafood dish is the reason for your visit, confirm current availability with the restaurant, since menus can change. That keeps the meal grounded in what is known without overpromising a sequence or set of plates.

For ordering, treat the signature dish as the center of gravity rather than proof of an entire menu script. Contemporary American & Global is broad by design, leaving room for dinner that feels familiar while drawing from wider influences. That range helps when diners want different things: one may want seafood, another a polished Santa Monica dinner, and another a smart-casual restaurant with a moderate per-person expectation.

Upper West serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday and is closed Monday. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday 4:30–9 PM, Friday and Saturday 4:30–9:30 PM, and Sunday 4:30–8 PM. Those dinner-only windows make timing worth checking, especially for a later meal or Sunday visit.

Why book it for dinner

Upper West makes sense for a Santa Monica dinner when the priority is a smart-casual dress code, a known chef/owner, and a cuisine category broad enough for different tastes. The appeal is less a hyper-specific dining format than a flexible dinner choice with clear planning details. Its Contemporary American & Global lane signals range, while the chef/owner detail gives the booking a more personal frame than a generic neighborhood pick.

For dress, smart casual is the guidance: neat, but not formal fine dining. It sets the tone for a meal polished enough for a planned dinner, without making clothes the point. For Santa Monica, that balance often fits a night meant to feel considered, comfortable, and easy to fold into a broader evening.

Know Before You Go

• Best use: dinner in Santa Monica when you want Contemporary American & Global cooking with smart-casual dress.
• Food lane: Contemporary American & Global.
• Chef/owner: Nick Shipp.
• Price: about $45 per person.
• Signature dish: Seared Baja Striped Bass.
• Hours: closed Monday; open Tuesday–Thursday 4:30–9 PM, Friday–Saturday 4:30–9:30 PM, and Sunday 4:30–8 PM.
• Dress code: smart casual.

For broader planning around the area, use our full Santa Monica restaurants guide, plus Pearl’s Santa Monica hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences guides to build the rest of the night around the booking.