Koi

On our lists of the best romantic restaurants and special-occasion restaurants in Los Angeles.

On the east side of La Cienega just north of Melrose, Koi is a candlelit room laid out by feng shui, with bamboo and a fireplace out on the patio. It opened in 2002, the first of what became the Koi group, and has drawn a Hollywood crowd since. The cooking is Japanese with California habits: crispy rice under spicy tuna, miso-bronzed black cod, peppercorn filet mignon, and rolls built on lobster or soft-shell crab, one finished with gold leaf. Book ahead, and expect valet.