Mélisse

Why it is on the list

Mélisse holds two Michelin stars in the 2026 California guide and has held two in every California guide since 2021; it also held two in the Los Angeles guides of 2008 and 2009.¹ Josiah Citrin runs it with chef and partner Ken Takayama as a restaurant inside his restaurant: 14 seats at five tables, its own kitchen and team, and one tasting menu of 18 servings built on California growers from San Diego to Napa.²³

It is the wrong room for more than six, for a vegan or vegetarian, or for anyone who may need to change the date. Parties are two to six, the kitchen cannot cook a vegan or vegetarian menu, and a booking cannot be moved or cancelled.³ For a larger group, Citrin, under the same roof, takes private events.³

How to get it

Book through OpenTable; the Mélisse link is on the reservations page.⁴ Tables are released a month at a time in the first week of the month before, so April opens in the first week of March.³ Seatings are at 6:30pm on Wednesday and at 5:30pm and 8:30pm Thursday to Saturday.⁵ The tasting menu is $399; a card hold is taken at booking and settled at the restaurant.³ All sales are final: a booking cannot be cancelled or moved, only passed to someone else, and a no-show is charged $399 plus tax and service a person.³ Write to melisse@citrinandmelisse.com before booking about allergies or a pescatarian menu, and about a party outside two to six, which is sometimes allowed.³ Corkage is $100 a bottle, two bottles at most.³

Discretion

Mélisse has its own door, apart from Citrin's: a down-step entrance on Wilshire Boulevard, where guests ring the bell at their reservation time; there is no walk-in.³ The valet at Citrin, on the corner of 11th Street and Wilshire, serves both restaurants for $16.³⁵