LAGuide
The Best Restaurants In Inglewood
Inglewood might just be the most famous neighborhood in South LA. Legends like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg have written songs about it, it borders LAX, and a couple of massive venues now call this area home. What’s even more impressive is the sheer number of great restaurants packed into this historic neighborhood. Some have been around for decades and others are still pretty new, but this guide is dedicated to our all-time favorites. From classic soul food spots and healthy cafes to destination restaurants for Somali and Belizean cuisines, these are the places you should be eating at in Inglewood.
THE SPOT
There are tons of fusion restaurants in LA, and truthfully, most of them make us wish we’d stayed home—but Two Hommés is different. This refreshing West African-Latin spot serves mash-up dishes that are wholly original without getting gimmicky. Formerly a pop-up, this casual sit-down operation is located in a colorful, brick-walled space on La Brea that used to house Comfort LA. Expect to share huge portions of fluffy Ghanaian jollof rice topped with BBQ jerk salmon, passion fruit ceviche that glows in the sunlight, and berbere-dusted chicken bites that will inspire you to spruce up your spice cabinet. Drop in for a date night, Sunday brunch, or whenever you’re in the mood to try something new, but not too complicated.
photo credit: Stephen Mastrocola
When the frantic pace of city life feels like too much, head to Sunday Gravy. The all-white, brick-walled space in Inglewood feels like a trendy hangout in an old-school Italian restaurant’s body. And the comforting food coming out of the kitchen is exactly the kind of stuff you'd want for dinner on a lazy Sunday. From spaghetti and meatballs to a chicken parm sandwich, the red sauce classics here are masterful. But Sunday Gravy also takes the classic Italian dishes we know and love to glorious new heights with their weekend-only specials, like white lasagna with creamy spinach and mushrooms. Just be sure to get here early before they sell out.
Located in someone's literal backyard, 106 Seafood Underground is a cash-only restaurant specializing in all things mariscos. This Inglewood operation is run by the chef who co-founded Coni’Seafood and every dish here is slap-the-table good. From shrimp ceviche punched up with tart green apple to fish chicharrón so delicately battered we’re suspicious of sorcery, the citrus-slicked seafood here is unforgettable. The food comes out fast, so use the few minutes you have after ordering to take in the lush backyard landscaping as LAX-bound flights roar above.
If fast-casual Persian food becomes a new trend in LA, we can thank Kuku Cafe for helping get it started. The menu at order-at-the-window cafe in Inglewood has various rice and salad bowls on it, but what fun is that? Go for the specialties instead. That includes tanchin, a crispy saffron rice cake filled with chicken, braised lamb shank, and ghormeh sabzi, a sour beef stew made with dried black limes. This place is a lunch hour no-brainer, but keep it in mind for the next time you’re coming in for a concert or football game—parking is easy, there’s a serene astroturf patio, and the adorable, beret-wearing owner will come out from the kitchen and chat you up until showtime.
This iconic Mexican seafood spot on the southern tip of the neighborhood was the area's original go-to spot for marsicos before the arrival of 106 Seafood Underground (see above), and honestly, we'd be over the moon to eat a meal at either spot. But Coni'seafood does have an actual indoor dining room, takes credit cards, and has more regular hours, though. You can’t go wrong with any of the ceviches or aguachiles, but the marlin tacos and whole snook need to hit the table, or you can’t actually tell your friends you came here.
Banadir Somali is a family-run restaurant just south of downtown Inglewood and a community institution. The bare-bones space feels like you’re in the basement of a neighborhood rec center, and everybody inside is treating it as such. Big groups gather around large tables, eating massive platters of tremendous Somali food. Goat is the house specialty here, and it’s so packed with flavor it’ll ruin most other versions of goat you’ve ever had. If you arrive around 11am, you’ll be able to order from both their breakfast and lunch menu, which is ideal, because the shakshuka, ful (bean stew), and crepe-like anjero bread is just as good as the goat.
Trini Style in Inglewood serves classic dishes from Trinidad & Tobago on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Turmeric-colored doubles are filled with generous scoops of chana and tangy tamarind sauce. Garlicky goat curry is simmered until it’s fall-off-the-bone tender. But the star of the show here is their bake ‘n’ shark—a glorious sandwich of puffy fried bread and crispy chunks of shark, all smeared with avocado, tamarind sauce, and mango chutney. This dish in particular is only served on Fridays, so be sure to check out their current menu on Instagram to see what you’re in for.
photo credit: Garrett Snyder
Cadoro is a decades-old wholesale operation that originally got its start baking bread for Beverly Hills' La Scala. These days, aside from supplying restaurants all over town, they run a small take-out cafe with covered seating attached to their bakery in an industrial section of Inglewood. We'd happily send someone here for just a loaf of their whole wheat sourdough, but the best way to use Cadoro is for a quick pull-off-the-405 breakfast or lunch: get the folded egg breakfast sandwich with gruyere, a vegan strawberry muffin, and a perfectly frothed latte before heading on your way.
photo credit: Wings 2 Go
A top-tier wing spot located in an Inglewood strip mall, Wings 2 Go is basically the homegrown rival to American Deli in this part of town. They do brisk takeout business and it shows: ultra-crunchy, jumbo wings arrive freshly fried and neatly packed, the veggie sticks come with housemade ranch, and they never, ever forget the wet naps. The best flavors here are the lemon pepper with a hot sauce drizzle (R.I.P. your sodium levels), jerk-style BBQ, and their garlic parmesan, which involves a creamy white garlic sauce drizzled on top.
The name of the game at Carnitas El Artista is Michoacan-style carnitas—tender, slow-fried chunks of pork that are beautifully crisp and bronzed along the edges. You’ll find excellent pork shoulder carnitas at this father-and-son operation, but El Artista also goes whole hog by mixing in other cuts, from pork ribs and chicharron to lengua and cabeza. Whether you go with their hefty tacos, a torta, burrito, quesadilla, or big plate of chilaquiles as your carnitas vessel, you’ll catch serious aromas of garlic and lime rising up from the caramelized meat. For our money, you won’t find a more memorable carnitas experience west of the 110.
Located directly across the street from the new SoFi Stadium, Blessed Tropical is a family-run Jamaican restaurant that serves jerk chicken worth driving long distances for. The portions are massive, prices are affordable, and even if you order several different things, you can be in and out in under 20 minutes. And no matter how good the jerk chicken is, let us be clear—you should definitely be ordering other things on the menu, too, from marinated oxtail that falls off the bone to a spicy goat curry we’ll happily eat alone in our car before going back to work.
The Manchester Blvd. location of Dulan’s is an LA soul food staple. Here you order cafeteria-style, choosing from big hot plates full of things like oxtails, smothered pork chops with gravy, and fried chicken. You can’t really go wrong regardless of what you choose, but our go-to is the fried chicken combo that comes with two sides and cornbread. The wing, leg, and breast you get are hot, crisp, and very juicy, and go well with a helping of collard greens and corn and okra. We also highly recommend the macaroni and cheese—they bake it in a sheet pan, so there are plenty of crispy, cheesy edges.
The first thing you notice walking into this family-run Belizean restaurant is that it’s a miniature party. Whether you’re here for a quick lunch, a family dinner, or a karaoke event, expect Little Belize to be crowded, festive, and always a great time. As far as the food goes, start with the panades (fried masa stuffed with hash fish) and garnaches (crispy tortillas topped with fried beans, tomatoes, and onions), and end with either chicken or oxtail stew. Both are immensely savory, but it’s the fried plantains on the side that you’ll be talking about—and eating—on the way home.
Mutiara is a family-run Burmese restaurant and one of the most affordable spots in Inglewood. Whether it’s a giant plate of mee goreng (spicy fried noodles), lamb curry, or some of the best beef rendang we’ve eaten in LA, almost everything on Mutiara’s menu falls under $12. The majority of the menu is available all week, but if you’re able to stop by on the weekends, you’ll be treated to incredible specials like rice noodle fish soup and tea leaf salad which are easily our favorite things on the menu.
A meal at Veronica’s feels like you’re eating inside someone’s house, not an actual restaurant. The simple space has a few scattered tables and a grainy TV in the corner, but what it lacks in objective charm, it more than makes up for in tremendous Nigerian food. Whether you’re familiar with the cuisine or not, your first order of business here needs to be the egusi. It’s a rich, fragrant stew made from dried melon seeds, pumpkin leaves, palm oil, onions, and your choice of protein on top. We usually do a mix of chicken and goat, with a giant ball of fufu (pounded yam and plantains) on the side.
Walking into this classic diner on Centinela is like walking into the center of the neighborhood. You'll find families, big groups of friends, and solo diners who have been coming every week for 35 years, all clamoring to get The Serving Spoon’s Southern breakfast into their stomachs. No matter what day of the week you come, expect a wait, but on the other side of it are tremendous plates of fried catfish, chicken drumettes, and our favorite waffles in town. If you can, snag a seat at the counter to be treated to pleasant conversation with the waitstaff.
Inglewood isn’t the best neighborhood to eat in if you’re a vegan, but luckily, Stuff I Eat is picking up a lot of the slack. This all-vegan restaurant in the heart of Market Street is one of the most popular restaurants in the neighborhood, with lunchtime crowds to prove it. The menu leans mostly Tex-Mex, with everything from breakfast burritos to an enchilada pie, but our favorite dish is the soul food platter, complete with yams, mac and cheese, kale greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and BBQ tofu. If the spicy chili is on the specials board, order that, too. Also, they have an amazing theme song, which you can hear on their site.
