Bar Restaurant

Walking into Bar Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard feels like stepping into an art gallery that hasn’t quite finished setting up. The Silver Lake spot embraces its quirky identity wholeheartedly—think oversized sculptures, eclectic décor, and a vibe that’s deliberately off-kilter. Beyond the intentionally unconventional name lies one of LA’s most inventive French-inspired kitchens, where the cooking is as bold as the atmosphere.

The menu here thrives on unexpected pairings that somehow just work. Take their moules frites: instead of traditional frites, you’ll find seasoned curly fries alongside perfectly cooked mussels swimming in bright Dijon cream. It sounds odd on paper but tastes fantastic on the plate. The frisée salad arrives atop what amounts to an elevated homemade tater tot, while the massive dry-aged NY strip delivers serious steakhouse quality without the stuffy pretense or eye-watering price tag.

The space itself offers variety—a sprawling plant-covered patio with its own wine cart, a sociable bar scene, and a dining room thoughtfully divided by small partitions that provide intimacy without isolation. It’s the kind of place where you can have a serious conversation without broadcasting it to neighboring tables, making it particularly well-suited for dates or catching up with friends.

Bar Restaurant rewards diners who can look past the unconventional exterior and embrace a little weirdness with their dinner. The cooking here is genuinely inventive and consistently delicious, proving that sometimes the most interesting restaurants are the ones that refuse to play it safe.