Santa Monica French Dip Sandwich Lunch Picker by Ocean
Israeli Restaurant Near Me in West Adams: Mizlala's Pickle Bar and Patio
Mizlala West Adams, at 5400 West Adams Blvd across from Alta Adams, is chef Danny Elmaleh's counter-service Israeli grill with a self-serve pickle bar and a garden patio, open 11 am to 10 pm daily. Pitas run $11.95 to $12.95 and plates come with hummus, pita and a side.
Mizlala West Adams serves its chicken shewarma pita for $12.95 from a counter at 5400 West Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016, and it keeps the same hours every day of the week: 11 am to 10 pm. It is the second location of chef Danny Elmaleh's Israeli grill and sits across the boulevard from Alta Adams. For an israeli restaurant near me in Mid-City or Jefferson Park, this is the patio to aim for: build-your-own pickle bar, beer and wine, and an olive-shaded garden.

Finding the Counter on West Adams Boulevard
The restaurant is on the 5400 block of West Adams Boulevard in the West Adams neighborhood of the 90016 zip code. The Infatuation pins it as right across from Alta, Keith Corbin's California restaurant, which makes the corner easy to spot from a car. The space is small indoors and opens onto an expansive outdoor garden patio, so most of the seating, and most of the atmosphere, is outside under olive trees and umbrellas.
Plan on street parking. A Tripadvisor reviewer who came on a Tuesday at 1 pm described circling the side streets three times before finding a spot, and another called the street parking a questionable entrance that is forgotten once you step through to the open kitchen. Lunch at the noon rush is the hardest time to park, while a mid-afternoon visit between the lunch and dinner waves leaves more curb space on the residential blocks around the boulevard.
From Simon's Cafe to Three Mizlalas
Mizlala's roots are in the San Fernando Valley. According to GAYOT, chef Danny Elmaleh, who previously cooked at Cleo, took over Simon's Cafe, his father's popular Moroccan restaurant on Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. Simon Elmaleh kept making the house beef and lamb merguez sausage while his son modernized the menu. That Moroccan thread still runs through West Adams: the merguez is on the board, and the plates offer harira, the Moroccan lentil soup, as one of the included sides.
The West Adams branch opened in spring 2019. LA Magazine reported that the Valley Israeli restaurant opened its West Adams location in May, and Hoodline listed it in June 2019 among the newest openings in Los Angeles. A third location followed on Romaine Street near Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood. Opinionated About Dining placed Mizlala West Adams on its Casual North America list at number 312 in 2024 and at number 296 in 2025, a climb rather than a slide.
What to Order and What It Costs
Most mains come three ways: in a pita, on a salad or as a plate, and the salmon comes as a plate or salad. On the current online menu, the falafel pita is $11.95 and the shewarma, kefta, pargiyot and merguez pitas are $12.95 each. Plates add hummus, pita and a choice of Jerusalem salad, mejadra rice or harira soup: falafel is $19.95, shewarma and pargiyot are $20.95, and the salmon fish kebab plate is $22.95. A takeout family meal for four is $79.95.
The Infatuation singles out the salty chicken shewarma, spit roasted and shaved thin, and the spiced lamb and beef kefta, and says not to skip the sides. Crispy broccoli with vegan aioli, capers and za'atar is $11.95, as are the Brussels sprouts with almonds, smoked paprika, cilantro and Fresno chili. The whole cauliflower with tahina and shawarma spice is $12.95, and the sumac fries with vegan garlic sauce are $6.95. The pargiyot is marinated chicken grilled over coals, served with grilled onion and roasted Anaheim chilies.
Finish with a tahini shake, $9.95, blended with soy milk and sweetened with medjool dates; the halva cinnamon version is topped with silan and crumbled halva, and the chocolate almond and salted caramel versions are the other two. Bergamot black tea, mint lemonade and hibiscus tea are $4.25 from the fountain, and Turkish coffee is $3.25. One honest skip: do not add the $7.95 side of hummus to a plate order, because every plate already arrives with hummus and pita.
How the Counter, Patio and Pickle Bar Work
Service is counter style. You order inside, take a number stand to your table, and staff bring the food out; a July 2026 Tripadvisor reviewer put it simply as order inside, take the number, sit anywhere. The Infatuation describes the same routine: order, grab pickled sides from the bar and take a seat on the patio. At the pickle bar you build your own plate of turnips, turmeric cabbage, Israeli pickles and harissa Moroccan carrots, which are also sold at 50 cents each for takeout.
There are no reservations to chase here, and online orders through Toast are pickup only. That makes timing your only real tool. The Infatuation files it under lunch and quick meals, so the noon hour is the busiest stretch at the counter, and the gap after 2 pm is calmer. If the counter line runs past twenty minutes on a Friday night, walk across the street to Alta Adams, which serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday from 5 pm to 10 pm and takes reservations.
The patio is the reason to eat in. A 2024 Tripadvisor reviewer described the inner courtyard with a fire and fairy lights after dark, and GAYOT notes the olive trees and that the patio is dog friendly. The same reviewer flagged the downside: almost everything arrives in disposable cups, bags and containers, including every small sauce. An earlier visitor also noted there is no air-conditioned indoor seating on hot afternoons.
Who You Will Meet on the Patio
The Infatuation tags Mizlala West Adams as a good fit for dining solo, lunch, sitting outside, and vegans and vegetarians, and that matches the room. Vegetarians come for the green falafel and the vegetable sides; one vegetarian reviewer wrote that sticking to the greener side of the menu meant not missing a thing. Families fill the larger tables on weekends, and dog owners claim the patio corners.
Travelers find it too. The July 2026 review came from a Connecticut visitor who called the patio a relaxing oasis with a cool vibe, praised the professional and courteous staff, and said the chicken shewarma alone would bring him back. Not every review is glowing: an April 2025 visitor felt portions were small for the price. For a lighter appetite, the $14.95 Mizlala salad with beets, chickpeas, feta, kalamata olives and tahina is the leanest full meal on the board.
A Short Walk Along West Adams
Alta Adams sits across the boulevard at the corner the Infatuation uses as Mizlala's landmark. Keith Corbin, a two-time James Beard Award nominee who started at Locol in Watts, runs a Michelin-recognized seasonal California dinner there. Its wine shop keeps daytime hours, Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 7 pm, so a late lunch at Mizlala can end with a bottle picked up next door before the dinner crowd arrives across the street.
LA Magazine calls this stretch of West Adams Boulevard one of the city's most delicious dining drags, and the block rewards a slow loop after eating. Mizlala's own pitch for this branch is the neighborhood Mediterranean grill, so treat it as the casual anchor of an afternoon: kefta pita and a shake at the counter, a stroll down the boulevard, and Alta's wine shop on the way back to the car. The Infatuation also lists Mizlala among its best restaurants in West Adams.
Practical Notes
Mizlala West Adams, 5400 West Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016. Open daily 11 am to 10 pm. Counter service with numbered table stands, garden patio, dog-friendly outdoor seating, self-serve pickle bar, beer by the glass or pitcher, and wine by the glass or bottle. Pitas $11.95 to $12.95, plates from $19.95, tahini shakes $9.95. Toast online orders are pickup only. Sister locations are in Sherman Oaks on Sepulveda Boulevard and in Hollywood on Romaine Street.
Ask Karpo for more information.
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