Best Restaurants for Birthdays in Echo Park

For full disclosure, we were already huge fans of their Tsubaki. With Camelia, Chef Charles Namba and the superb Courtney Kaplan have created a remarkable dining experience. The menu offers choices for everyone at the table. By offering small plates or larger communal options, Camelia allows you to enjoy an exciting and delicious dinner. My husband and I happily cruised through just a small part of the menu. Starting with Chef Charles' version of Uni toast and his spin on Dungeness crab on purple yam blini, we were primed for the elevated Chicken liver mousse toast that followed. These small bites each built flavors and tastes. Our meal was further enhanced with Courtney's perfect choice of sake. Her deep knowledge and instinct for what a guest will enjoy is unique. If there is any such thing as a "Sake Sommeiler," Courtney would be the grand master. We moved to larger plates with Scallops, dashi lime cream, maitake & king trumpet mushrooms, Tokyo negi, and chestnut date purée, a series of complex tastes. And the Abalone and Florida wild pink shrimp pot pie!!! A perfect sized bowl of magic! We finished up with the Koshihikari risotto, grilled Monterey Bay squid was a perfect ending, creamy with and rich with deep flavors. The grilled squid were lightly spiced, crisp, soft and with a bit of chew all at the same time. GM Kristen Dumandan leads a warm and welcoming staff. Everyone was knowledgeable and helpful guides through the menu. Happily, dinner was perfectly paced, without more plates arriving to distract from what we were enjoying or getting cold. We didn't leave room for dessert. But we're coming back because there is so much more we want to enjoy.

Went for my anniversary and overall it was great. The staff were attentive and the vibes definitely fit with the occasion. Food was great, tried something new such as escargot and steak tar tar. For me it was okay I wanted to try it but to others it’s probably better, Still was fun to try. Live music so it was a bit loud and hard to hear my boyfriend but it was still a fun experience. Expected to pay a lot more than I did so that was a surprise to see. I’d definitely go there again to try more of their menu.

This is our favorite location by far. We come here at least once a month and more recently started coming pretty frequently for brunch. We have other locations that are much closer to us but the food and service at the Silverlake location is unmatched so we happily make the extra drive. No matter how big or small our party is they have been more than accommodating to our needs. We’ve celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, hallmark holidays and even had our club gatherings here. Any time we have friends visiting from out of state or country we bring them here too. The food is always exceptional & affordable by LA standards. You will definitely get the most bang for your buck here and the best part is not only will you have full from the amazing food but your friends will be impressed and it sets the bar high! Highly recommend the bottomless drinks for both brunch and dinner.

Beautiful rooftop; Mexican riviera ambiance. Nice assortment of shareable food items and drink selections. Warm heat lamps, not noisy but with eclectic music playing. Great views and easy parking! Reservations recommended

I like the decoration and atmosphere. I can also tell that the restaurant put a lot of thoughts into the food as the food combination is very creative. I would probably rate the restaurant 4.5 instead of 5 because 1. we asked for grilled medium rare wagyu but it came out to be almost well done. Plus the meat doesn't really taste like wagyu, so I'm guessing it's probably american wagyu. 2. the lobster fried rice has too little lobsters in it.