A happy hour near me search in West Hollywood produces a long list of rooftops, most of which are hotel bars charging for the view. EP & LP on Melrose is a two-level venue where the ground floor is a serious Southeast Asian restaurant and the roof is a large open-air bar, and the two halves reward completely different plans.
Going up before sunset and going up after it are two different evenings at two different prices. Ask Karpo when the sun sets today and how busy the Melrose rooftops are right now.
Two venues, one building
EP is the restaurant on the lower floors, serving a menu drawing on Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Chinese cooking with a strong emphasis on shared plates and grilled dishes. LP is the rooftop, which is a bar rather than a restaurant and operates on its own rhythm.
The design of the roof is deliberately unusual: a large open deck with plants, low seating, and a wall that has historically been used to project films, an oblique reference to the drive-in and to the neighbourhood's entertainment-industry history. It is more spacious than most LA rooftops, which tend to be narrow decks with a rail.
The practical implication is that you should decide which venue you are going to before you arrive. Eating downstairs and then going up is a good evening; trying to eat properly on the roof is not what the space is set up for.
When to go up
The hour before sunset is the whole proposition. The roof faces out over West Hollywood toward the hills, the light is good, the crowd has not yet arrived in full, and the happy hour pricing typically runs in that window.
After dark the roof becomes a nightlife venue with the volume and the door policy that implies. That is a legitimate thing to want, but it is a different evening and costs more. If you are deciding between the two, the sunset version is the one that justifies the trip.
Weekends are busy enough that arriving without a plan around 9pm can mean a queue at street level. Weeknight early evening is reliably walk-in.
What to drink and eat
The cocktail list leans tropical and aromatic, which is the correct register for a rooftop and matches the food downstairs. Anything built on rum, lime and a Southeast Asian aromatic is going to work; the more European, spirit-forward drinks are less at home in this setting.
There is bar food on the roof, but the kitchen downstairs is the real reason to come to this building. The grilled and charred dishes are the strength, and the shared-plate format means a table of four can cover a lot of the menu.
If you only have time for one thing, eat downstairs. The roof is pleasant; the food is the part that is actually distinctive.
What the kitchen actually does
The menu is pan-Southeast Asian rather than tied to one country, which is usually a warning sign and here is not, because the technique is consistent: a lot of charcoal, a lot of fermented and funky seasoning, and dishes built to be torn apart and shared rather than portioned per person.
The grilled meats are the strength. Order two or three of those, one vegetable, one noodle or rice dish, and let the table sort itself out. Heat levels are moderate by regional standards, so if you want it hot, say so when you order rather than assuming.
The Melrose context
This stretch of Melrose Avenue, west of La Cienega and into West Hollywood, sits in the design district: furniture showrooms, galleries and the Pacific Design Center a few blocks west, with its three enormous blue, green and red buildings visible from most of the surrounding streets.
It is a daytime commercial district that turns into a nightlife corridor after dark, which is why a rooftop works here. The surrounding blocks have a high density of bars and restaurants within a five-minute walk, so a full roof is not a lost evening.
Rooftops in Los Angeles, honestly
The city has an enormous number of rooftop bars and most of them are mediocre because the view is doing all of the work. The test is whether the drinks and the food would be acceptable at street level, and whether the space is designed for lingering rather than for photographs.
This one passes on both counts, mostly because it is attached to a restaurant with a genuine kitchen rather than being a hotel amenity. That is the thing to look for generally: a rooftop with a real kitchen underneath it is almost always better than one without.
Practical notes
Address: 603 North La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, at Melrose in West Hollywood. Evening service with the roof and the restaurant keeping different hours; confirm both before planning. Reservations are advisable for the restaurant and the roof takes walk-ins earlier in the evening.
Go up an hour before sunset, drink something rum-based and aromatic, eat downstairs rather than on the roof, and check whether there is a film projection scheduled. Valet is the practical parking answer here; street parking on La Cienega is scarce and enforcement in West Hollywood is strict.
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Ask Karpo first
Want to know what time the sun sets tonight, whether the EP & LP roof is taking walk-ins, and what else is open on Melrose? Ask Karpo for tonight's happy hour window, the current wait, and a five-minute-walk alternative.
