Intimate Settings: Haute 5 Private Dining Rooms in Los Angeles

Conversations over dinner can really run the gamut from awkward small talk to game changing proposals and from light and breezy company to dysfunctional family arguments.  There are times when you’d really rather share those conversations with your table and your table alone.  The happy, pregnant couple in the corner, for example, doesn’t need to see your entire family bickering (and subsequently crying) over who chose this place and why.   Likewise, it’s much less romantic to share your date-night with the bickering couple next to you.  Thank goodness for restaurants that have planned in advance and cordoned off private dining rooms for those of you who really can’t be brought anywhere.  Here are Los Angeles’ tres haute 5 private dining rooms so that once and for all, you can swear like a sailor in a restaurant without worrying if there are little ears listening nearby.  (Okay, it’s also so you can plan some fabulous private dinner party – so chic!)

The Wine Library at Terroni

Everyone’s favorite reservation-free, delectable Italian restaurant that came from Canada, Terroni has a fun and social atmosphere not conducive to whispered sweet nothings.  The Wine Library in the back of the restaurant, on the other hand, is a beautiful private room with as many or as few tables as you’d like.  The walls hold, quite literally, a library of wine complete with a rolling ladder to help you grab that Barolo up on the top shelf.  It’s awe-inspiring to see rows and rows of wine bottles just anticipating the forthcoming loss of cork and contents.  They serve whatever you’d like in the Wine Library as well – anything from Terroni’s regular menu, that is.  Which is lucky.  You’ve always wanted to eat their food and simultaneously hear what your dining partner is saying.

Terroni is located at 7605 Beverly Blvd. in West Hollywood 323.954.0300

Campanile

When you’re planning a dinner for a whole host of nit-picky, loud, and unimpressed characters (more commonly known as your immediate family), there are a few key places that you know will make everyone happy.  Campanile is one of those places.  Whether it has to do with Mark Peel’s mouth-watering cuisine or the fact that it’s housed in a building originally built for the eternally comical Charlie Chaplin, no one needs to know.  You can choose between the Front Patio Room (gorgeous and equipped with bubbling, calming fountain), the Garden Room with a front-row view of the kitchen, or the Second Floor dining areas that offer slightly more privacy.  Or if your parents have each married and procreated enough times, rent out the whole space with a dinner capacity of 180 people.  Crazier things have happened.

Campanile is located at 624 S. La Brea Blvd in Los Angeles  323.938.1447

Drago Centro

Slide in to Celestino Drago’s newest and sleekest jewel in the Drago brothers’ crown – Drago Centro, so named for its central location in Downtown LA.  If you’re a small, but rowdy party of up to 16 people, take over The Flower Room, in which you’ll feel like Italian culinary royalty.  The décor has an edge that the dining room doesn’t and it really achieves an intimacy for your party, even though your closed in with clear glass doors.  Good thing you’ve never had a problem being put on display.  The Vault may be more your speed if you’re into the whole renovated-bank-vault-turned-demonstration-kitchen-and-private-dining-area thing.  With an array of multimedia capabilities, a sound system, and a literally underground location, Drago Centro’s Vault is just what you need to revive your reputation after that last place you chose.  We won’t name names.

Drago Centro is located at 525 S. Flower St, Ste 120 in Downtown LA  213.228.8998

Valentino

To really flex your Italian muscle a little a la Goodfellas or The Godfather without booking a trip to the old country, head into Santa Monica for Valentino. An LA-icon, Valentino is the kind of place that can impress even the most cynical of diners.  The décor is like that of your Italian villa and the chef is a stellar example of what Italian cuisine should be.   With five different options for private dining, it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to impress a large or small group – they can all be accommodated. The Gold Room (we thought you’d like that) seats up to 50 of your closest friends or the enclosed Patio can be booked for up to 30 of the really special ones.  Lucky them.

Valentino is located at 3115 Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica  310.829.4313

Il Cielo

Let’s say you’ve just proposed and for your sake, we’ll assume she said yes.  Why would you want to share that with the entire restaurant when you can, instead, make a grand entrance into the main dining room yelling “she said yes!” in the most dramatic way possible?  We’ve got the perfect place—Il Cielo in Beverly Hills.  One of the most romantic restaurants in Los Angeles County, Il Cielo is likewise one of the most beautiful.  The restaurant, whose name means “the sky” in Italian, is all about star-gazing before being blissfully unable to gaze anywhere but her eyes.  (Yes, you can use that one.)  You can rent out any of their separated rooms and plan the menu in advance.  The restaurant is also known for being a coveted space to throw a wedding.  Again, make sure that what she said was indeed “yes.”

Il Cielo is located at 9018 Burton Way in Beverly Hills  310.276.9990