Israeli Restaurant Near Me in West LA: Habayit's Glatt Kosher Lunch on Pico

Habayit closes at 4 pm, and on Fridays at 2 pm, because it is a lunch house first and a glatt kosher one at that. The family-owned cafe sits in a corner of a small strip mall at 11921 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064, a short walk east of Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles. The falafel plate is $17.63. When an israeli restaurant near me search lands on the Westside before mid-afternoon, this is the room for pita, sabich and soup.

Midtown Lunch described the setting bluntly in 2011: a modest kosher restaurant tucked into the corner of a strip mall on Pico near Bundy, sharing the lot with a coin laundry and a food mart, with a FALAFEL sign and arrow on a neighboring light pole. A 2017 Tripadvisor visitor said it hides next to a nail salon. Slow down along this stretch of Pico, because the storefront is easy to drive past at thirty miles an hour.

Coming by train, Expo/Bundy station on the Metro E Line sits a little north and west of the restaurant, roughly a ten-minute walk down Bundy and along Pico. A 2018 reviewer placed the shopping center about a mile west of Sawtelle Boulevard, on what he called an uninspiring run of Pico, and the Infatuation files it under Sawtelle while calling it a Mar Vista spot. Either label works; the address and the light-pole sign are what get you to the door.

Habayit means home in Hebrew, and a reviewer on the restaurant's own homepage writes that eating there gave exactly that feeling. The restaurant says it has been family owned since 1984 and has served West Los Angeles for over 40 years, cooking Israeli and Mediterranean food from family recipes. A 2015 Tripadvisor reviewer named the owners at the time as Amir and Pnina and said they treated customers as guests in their own home.

The kitchen is glatt kosher, and Habayit describes itself as the only glatt kosher restaurant on the Westside; the Infatuation goes further and calls it one of, if not the only, kosher restaurant west of the 405. The restaurant lists two honors: Best Falafel from the Los Angeles Times in 2011 and Best Matzah Ball Soup on the Westside from Los Angeles Magazine in 2016. Midtown Lunch showed up in September 2011, months after an LA Times write-up praised the falafel.

Start with pita. The falafel sandwich is $16.59 and the sabich sandwich, fried eggplant with egg, hummus and Israeli salad in the pocket, is $15.55. A hummus sandwich is $10.35. Midtown Lunch called the house pita small, super fluffy and slit at the top, with a cup of homemade green hot sauce on the side, and judged the sabich every bit as good as the falafel. The Infatuation describes the falafel as extra crispy, chunky and garlicky.

Soup is the other reason people return. The matzo ball soup is $12.43 as a cup and $14.51 as a bowl, and the vegetable soup is $9.31 or $11.39. The Infatuation praised a light broth fragrant with fresh dill around one large, firm matzo ball. From the breakfast board, shakshukah is $18.67, two eggs with salad are $16.59, and the sabich plate is $17.63. Each appetizer, from babaganush at $10.35 to the falafel plate, comes with one pita.

Mains sit on the entrees board: shawarma, kebab grill, baked chicken and shishlik chicken are $26.99 each, salmon and meatballs are $28.03, lamb chops are $40.51 and the rib steak is $47.79. The honest skip is the falafel plate. The Infatuation found its tahini and Israeli salad boring and said it would rather order falafel as a side; here a la carte falafel is listed at $1.77, so pair a few with babaganush, which the same critic orders first every visit.

Hours are 10 am to 4 pm Sunday through Thursday, 10 am to 2 pm on Friday, and closed all day Saturday. A 2015 reviewer explained the short Friday: the restaurant shuts early for the Sabbath. Earlier reviews show the kitchen once ran to about 5 pm and wrapped up then, so a late arrival today means no table at all. Treat 3 pm as the practical last call for a sit-down meal on weekdays.

The dining room is small. A New York visitor in 2019 counted space for only about 28 or 30 people and noted the room was crowded even on a weekday. The website takes table requests through an online reservation form with date, time and party size, and pickup and delivery orders go through the restaurant's own ordering page and app, which earns rewards points. Back in 2011 Midtown Lunch noted that meals came with free pickles, and a 2017 takeout order still arrived with a large container of them.

Catering is its own track. Habayit caters groups of ten or more with at least 24 hours' notice, Sunday through Thursday from 10 am to 4 pm and Friday until 2 pm, covering office lunches, Shabbat tables and weddings. The vegetarian package includes four falafel balls per guest with rice, hummus, tehini, Israeli salad, babaganush, chopped eggplant, coleslaw, pita, pickles and hot sauce.

Office lunchers have long been a fixture. In 2015 a Tripadvisor reviewer came on a coworker's tip while scouting food for an office lunch, ate the sabih on a Friday and returned the next Monday. Grandparents with small children are another: a July 2025 reviewer brought a grandson who loved the art on the walls, praised servers who are great with kids, and said staff can point visitors to other kosher spots or a temple.

Out-of-towners also make Habayit a ritual. A New Yorker who files reviews under the name Trup has posted four times since 2018, saying he and his wife include a lunch here whenever they come to Los Angeles, and that the chicken on skewers is consistently good. A 2019 reviewer described an Israeli-run cafe with plenty of Israeli customers, reminiscent of a simple Tel Aviv lunch spot, though he found portions a little small for the price and sodas sold by the can.

A short walk east on the same side of Pico, The Talpa has been a family-owned Mexican restaurant and bar since 1962. It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with fresh-lime margaritas and house-made salsas, and stays open until 9 pm daily, from 11 am on weekdays and 10 am on weekends. That makes it the nearest plan B when you reach Habayit after 4 pm, after the Friday cutoff, or on a Saturday when the kosher kitchen is dark.

The Talpa notes free parking in the alley directly behind its building, plus metered spaces on Pico out front, which helps on this busy commercial strip. A loop that works: Expo/Bundy station, south on Bundy to Pico, a falafel sandwich and a cup of matzo ball soup at Habayit before 3 pm, then a stroll east past the strip malls to The Talpa for a margarita once the lunch room has closed.

Habayit Restaurant, 11921 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064, in West Los Angeles near Bundy Drive. Hours: Sunday to Thursday 10 am to 4 pm, Friday 10 am to 2 pm, closed Saturday. Glatt kosher, family owned since 1984, with vegetarian options, high chairs and Wi-Fi. Falafel sandwich $16.59, falafel plate $17.63, matzo ball soup bowl $14.51, entrees from $26.99. Pickup, delivery, catering for ten or more and online table requests are all handled through the official website.