Menyu

Local guide · California

Your Los Angeles restaurant, with dishes your guests can read in Spanish

In Los Angeles, 56.4% of residents aged five and over speak a language other than English at home, and 6.4 million of the 49.5 million people who visited in 2025 came from abroad, Mexico and China among the top markets. This page sets out what that asks of your menu, and how far Menyu goes for a US restaurant today.

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Café table in a sunny Los Angeles sidewalk dining area with pastel stucco storefronts and palm trees, a red QR code stand, soft tacos and a spirit-free citrus drink
AI-generated illustration

Visitors and languages

More than half of Angelenos speak another language at home

Census Bureau figures for 2020-2024 put the share of Angelenos aged five and over who speak a language other than English at home at 56.4%. In the same city, 47.2% of residents are Hispanic or Latino and 35.7% were born abroad.1

The City’s BusinessSource Centers, which help owners apply for outdoor dining among other things, work in Spanish, Armenian, French, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Vietnamese and more, depending on the location.2

For your menu

More than half your neighbors speak another language at home; a menu that offers it saves them guessing at dish names.

Visitors and languages

49.5 million visitors, with Mexico and China among the top markets

Los Angeles Tourism counted 49.5 million visitors in 2025: 43.1 million from within the United States and 6.4 million from abroad. Its top international markets include Mexico, China, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Korea.3

Visitors generated $42.6 billion in business sales across the region and supported more than 530,000 jobs in Los Angeles County. The FIFA World Cup 26, Super Bowl LXI and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are next on the calendar.3

For your menu

A family from Seoul or Guadalajara reads your menu on the sidewalk before choosing a table.

Economy

3.9 million residents, $17.4 billion in hotel and restaurant sales

On July 1, 2025, Los Angeles had 3,869,089 residents, the second-largest city in the country after New York; its population is 0.8% below the April 2020 base.14

Accommodation and food services, hotels and restaurants together, sold $17.4 billion in the city in 2022.1

For your menu

In a market that size, an online menu is one more place where guests can find you before they walk in.

Local food

165 MICHELIN restaurants, and two national James Beard awards

For Los Angeles and surroundings, the MICHELIN Guide lists 165 restaurants: 2 with three stars, 4 with two, 19 with one, 44 Bib Gourmands and 96 selected addresses. Its filters flag vegetarian options at 91, vegan at 53, gluten-free at 24, kosher at 12 and halal at 10.5

At the 2026 James Beard Awards, Providence won Outstanding Hospitality and Kato won Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program.6

For your menu

Fewer than one restaurant in six of the selection flags a gluten-free option: if you have one, say so on the menu, with the allergens of each dish.

Local rules

LA Al Fresco: sidewalk dining, permitted once

Outdoor dining in the city falls under LA Al Fresco, permanent since February 1, 2024. Each setting has its own office: the Bureau of Engineering for the sidewalk, the Department of Transportation for on-street dining, and Building and Safety for private property. Temporary authorizations stay valid until April 1, 2027.2

A new sidewalk applicant files a plan or sketch of the site, and the lease where there is one, through the Revocable Permit portal. The Bureau of Engineering reviews it, lists the requirements, such as liability insurance, and issues the permit once they are met; the timing depends mostly on how fast you complete them.2

Fees are paid once, with nothing annual: a new applicant pays $556 for the revocable permit and $504 for the fire inspection, at the rates in force on January 1, 2026. The permit does not expire and needs no renewal; it lasts until it is revoked or the business changes hands. Sidewalk questions go through a Customer Service Request at engpermits.lacity.org/public.2

For your menu

A permit that never needs renewing is worth the paperwork once: the tables outside become part of the restaurant for as long as you own it.

Local rules

California’s honest pricing law and your service charge

Since July 1, 2024, SB 478, amended by SB 1524, has made it illegal in California for most businesses to list a price that leaves out a mandatory fee. Government taxes such as sales tax may stay out of the listed price.7

Restaurants and bars get an exception: a mandatory fee may stay separate as long as it is clearly and conspicuously displayed wherever prices are shown. Tips left freely by guests are not covered by the law.7

For your menu

If you add a mandatory service charge, it must show wherever your prices do: the printed menu, the board, an online menu.

Key facts

Los Angeles in figures

of residents aged five and over speak a language other than English at home (2020-2024)1
56.4%
visitors in 2025, 6.4 million of them international3
49.5 million
restaurants in the MICHELIN selection for Los Angeles and surroundings, 44 of them Bib Gourmands5
165
residents on July 1, 2025, second in the country4
3,869,089

With Menyu

Menyu for a Los Angeles menu, as it works today

Menyu publishes your menu behind a QR code that keeps its address, in your colors. Choose US dollars and the Los Angeles time zone in the settings, and a Los Angeles restaurant gets dollar prices and local hours along with the translated menu and the dietary filters. The opening status still reads in French.

Limits

What Menyu does not do

  • Online payment needs an account created in France, so guests of a Los Angeles restaurant cannot pay through the menu.
  • The allergen list is the EU’s 14, not the nine major allergens named by US law; there is no separate wheat entry, and five EU allergens, from celery to sulfites, are not major allergens under US law.
  • Orders taken on the menu have no tip line and no service charge, whatever California allows.
  • Dishes can read in Spanish, but the menu’s buttons stay in English (or French), and the opening status shows in French only, even on an English menu.
  • Your Menyu plan is billed in euros, whatever currency the menu shows.

According to the guides

Five Los Angeles tables chosen by MICHELIN and the James Beard Awards

All five appear in the MICHELIN Guide’s current selection for Los Angeles, and two of them also won national James Beard awards in 2026. They run from a taco counter downtown to a three-star seafood tasting menu on Melrose.

None of these restaurants uses Menyu, and none was contacted. The picks come from the MICHELIN Guide and the James Beard Foundation; on October 21, 2026, every one of their websites listed hours, a menu, online orders or reservations.

  1. Sonoratown

    Downtown8 · Mexican · $

    • Bib Gourmand 20265

    Tacos, burritos and quesadillas on house-made flour tortillas, ordered at the counter, with a line that often stretches down the block.9

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website8

  2. Langer’s

    Westlake10 · Deli, American · $$

    • Bib Gourmand 20265

    Ladling matzoh ball soup since 1947, when it was a 12-seat counter; first-timers are pointed to the No. 19 hot pastrami sandwich.11

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website10

  3. Holbox

    Inside Mercado La Paloma12 · Mexican, fish and seafood · $$

    • 1 MICHELIN Star 2026512

    A seafood counter whose tacos come on house-made heirloom corn tortillas; its tasting menu is served by reservation only, on Wednesdays and Thursdays.12

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website13

  4. Kato

    Row DTLA14 · Asian, contemporary · $$$$

    • 2 MICHELIN Stars 2026512
    • James Beard Award, Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program 20266

    Jonathan Yao’s tasting menu draws on his Taiwanese background and his LA upbringing; the BYOB days are over, replaced by a wine list, cocktails and spirit-free drinks.14

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website15

  5. Providence

    Melrose Avenue16 · Seafood · $$$$

    • 3 MICHELIN Stars 2026512
    • James Beard Award, Outstanding Hospitality 20266

    Michael Cimarusti has cooked here since 2005 and buys only wild fin fish rated yellow or green by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.16

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website17

Questions

Questions and answers

Do I need a permit to seat guests on the sidewalk in Los Angeles?

Yes, a revocable permit under LA Al Fresco, issued by the Bureau of Engineering. You apply online through the Revocable Permit portal with a plan or sketch of the site and, if you rent, your lease. The Bureau reviews the file, lists the requirements, such as liability insurance, and issues the permit once they are met.

Questions about sidewalk dining go through a Customer Service Request at engpermits.lacity.org/public; on-street dining is handled by LADOT at [email protected].2

What does LA Al Fresco cost, and do I renew it every year?

No renewal: fees are paid once and the permit has no expiration date. At the rates in force on January 1, 2026, a new sidewalk applicant pays $556 for the revocable permit and $504 for the fire inspection, plus charges such as the sewer facilities charge set during review. A temporary authorization stays valid until April 1, 2027.2

Must my service charge appear on the menu in California?

Yes, if it is mandatory. Under SB 478 as amended by SB 1524, a restaurant may keep a mandatory fee separate from its prices only if the fee is clearly and conspicuously displayed wherever prices are shown, online included. Sales tax can stay out of the listed price, and voluntary tips are outside the law.

On a Menyu menu you can write that notice into the menu and change it at any time. Menyu itself adds no service charge or tip to orders.7

Can a Los Angeles restaurant use Menyu today?

For the menu, yes, with limits that matter. Choose US dollars and the Los Angeles time zone in the settings: prices show in dollars, and the opening status and timed categories follow local time, though the status reads in French. Online payment is only available to restaurants with a payment account opened in France. At sign-up, the optional phone field expects a French number; a ten-digit US number would be stored without its +1, so skip it.

The translated menu, the QR code in your colors and the English dashboard work as they do in France.

Menyu in the United States, limits included
Can guests read my dishes in Spanish?

Yes. Menyu translates the dishes into Spanish and 24 other languages, Korean and Chinese among them; you check the translation before publishing. The menu’s buttons stay in English, and the opening status shows in French.

In Los Angeles, 56.4% of residents aged five and over speak a language other than English at home.1

Does Menyu use the US list of major allergens?

No. US law names nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Menyu tags dishes with the EU list of 14, which names eight of those nine, counts wheat as gluten, and adds celery, mustard, lupin, mollusks and sulfites.

The United States page explains the federal list.18

Federal rules for your menu
Do the restaurants listed here use Menyu?

No. They come from the MICHELIN Guide’s 165-restaurant selection for Los Angeles and surroundings and from the 2026 James Beard Awards. None of them was contacted; each entry links to its source.56

Method

How this page was made

Prepared by the Menyu team in Montpellier, France, from the sources cited, each read on October 21, 2026: the U.S. Census Bureau, Los Angeles Tourism, the City of Los Angeles’ LA Al Fresco pages, the California Attorney General, the FDA, the MICHELIN Guide, the James Beard Foundation and the restaurants’ websites. No restaurant named here is a Menyu customer. The picture is AI-generated and does not show a real place. Menyu handles US restaurants with the limits listed on this page; the page describes it as it stood on October 22, 2026.

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: New York city, New York; Los Angeles city, California; Chicago city, Illinois; Houston city, Texascensus.gov · accessed October 21, 2026

  2. City of Los Angeles, LA Al Fresco, BuildLAbuildla.lacity.org · accessed October 21, 2026

  3. Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Visitors to Los Angeles generated $42.6 billion in business sales and supported more than 530,000 jobs in 2025discoverlosangeles.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  4. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Growth Holds Steady in Midsized Cities Amid Widespread Slowdowncensus.gov · accessed October 21, 2026

  5. MICHELIN Guide, MICHELIN restaurants, Los Angeles and surroundingsguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  6. James Beard Foundation, The 2026 James Beard Award Winnersjamesbeard.org · accessed October 21, 2026

  7. California Attorney General, SB 478 - Hidden Feesoag.ca.gov · accessed October 21, 2026

  8. Sonoratown, Sonoratown, official websitesonoratown.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  9. MICHELIN Guide, Sonoratown, Los Angelesguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  10. Langer’s, Langer’s, official websitelangersdeli.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  11. MICHELIN Guide, Langer’s, Los Angelesguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  12. MICHELIN Guide, Holbox, Los Angelesguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  13. Holbox, Holbox, official websiteholboxla.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  14. MICHELIN Guide, Kato, Los Angelesguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  15. Kato, Kato, official websitekatorestaurant.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  16. MICHELIN Guide, Providence, Los Angelesguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  17. Providence, Providence, official websiteprovidencela.com · accessed October 21, 2026

  18. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Allergiesfda.gov · accessed October 21, 2026