Raw Bar Near Me on Sunset Strip: Saltie Girl in Sunset Plaza

Saltie Girl is the raw bar near me on the Sunset Strip for anyone who wants seafood towers with a cocktail-hour view: it sits at 8615 West Sunset Boulevard inside Sunset Plaza, and its Sunset at Saltie happy hour runs Sunday through Friday from 5 to 6:30 pm, with a $28 Tout Petite Seafood Tower of three oysters, two crab claws and a scallop shooter.

Saltie Girl started in Boston, where the original restaurant still sits at 279 Dartmouth Street in Back Bay. Founder Kathy Sidell writes on the restaurant's site that she grew up on the East Coast on a sailboat with her dad, and that the name reflects a way of life and a passion for eating nature's bounty. The Los Angeles location carries that New England seafood bar into a very different setting, a strip of boutiques and patios on Sunset.

The Los Angeles menu leans on the same pillars as Boston, raw shellfish towers, a long list of tinned fish and plenty of caviar, and adds a California patio. The restaurant describes three places to sit: inside, at the bar, or on a heated patio facing the boulevard. There is also a permanent pop-up inside called SweetBoy, which bakes SweetBuns and cookies to order, so dessert here is a separate little operation of its own.

Happy hour is the best value on the menu and the reason to arrive at 5 pm. Sunset at Saltie runs Sunday through Friday from 5 to 6:30 pm, which means Saturday has no happy hour at all. The Tiny Tinis are $10, offered as a lychee martini or a Vesper, and the Saltie martini served with caviar costs $15. The Tout Petite Seafood Tower at $28 is the right size for two people sharing a drink.

Add the smoked trout deviled eggs at $23 if you want something beyond the shellfish. Put together, two Tiny Tinis, the petite tower and the eggs come to $71 before tax and tip, which is a fair price for a Sunset Boulevard patio at golden hour. Friday is a smart day to plan around, since lunch service starts at 11:30 am and you can roll straight into happy hour at 5 pm.

At dinner, the seafood towers come in three sizes, Petite, Grande and Royale, priced at market, so ask your server for the day's number before you commit. The raw and cold dishes are where Saltie Girl shines. The bluefin tuna tostada is $28 and the salmon crudo is $22. The New England clam chowder is $16 and comes the way Boston would make it, creamy rather than tomato based.

The warm spicy blue crab roll at $29 and the lump crab toast at $26 are both strong lighter mains. The lobster roll, served warm or cold, is listed at market price, as it is at the Boston original. Big appetites can head for the lobster fra diavolo at $56, or the Saltie Girl burger topped with fried lobster at $32, which sounds like a gimmick and is mostly an excuse to eat more lobster.

The tinned fish list is a Saltie Girl tradition and worth exploring here. Tins run from $15 for Matiz sardines up to $52 for grilled sardine tails from Güeyu Mar. Ordering a couple of tins and a glass of wine is a lighter alternative to a tower.

Caviar is everywhere on the menu. The caviar dip is $32, linguine with caviar is $42, and the caviar fries are $48. An honest note: the caviar fries are the most expensive way to eat potatoes on Sunset, and the linguine is the better use of the roe. If you want caviar once, order the dip with the happy-hour Saltie martini and keep the rest of the budget for raw shellfish.

Reservations are strongly encouraged, according to the restaurant, and can be made for inside, the bar or the heated patio. Walk-ins are accommodated where possible, which in practice means the bar on a weekday is your best unbooked bet. Booking is handled through OpenTable. Groups who want a tower and a long dinner should reserve a patio table, since that is where the room feels most like Los Angeles.

Hours change through the week. Monday to Thursday the restaurant opens only for dinner, from 5 to 9 pm. Friday runs from 11:30 am to 10 pm, Saturday from 11 am to 10 pm, and Sunday from 11 am to 9 pm, with weekend brunch from 11 am to 3 pm. Parking is available in the Sunset Plaza lot behind the restaurant, a real advantage on a stretch of Sunset where street parking is tight.

Sunset Plaza is a short run of boutiques, cafés and patios along Sunset Boulevard, and Saltie Girl is listed in its directory alongside them. Sheila on Sunset at 8647 Sunset Boulevard is a boutique that has been in the plaza since 1985, and Ole Henriksen's spa is a few doors away at 8622-A Sunset Boulevard. A slow walk along the row before dinner is the easiest way to kill time if you arrive early for a reservation.

If you come for weekend brunch, plan to walk the plaza first and sit down at 11 am when the doors open. If you come at night, the patio heaters make the outdoor tables comfortable even in October. Should the restaurant be fully booked, BBCM at 8653 Sunset Boulevard is another café in the same plaza for a coffee or a lighter bite, though it does not run a raw bar.

Address: 8615 West Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069, in Sunset Plaza. Email: LA@saltiegirl.com. Hours: Monday to Thursday 5 to 9 pm, Friday 11:30 am to 10 pm, Saturday 11 am to 10 pm, Sunday 11 am to 9 pm. Happy hour: Sunday to Friday, 5 to 6:30 pm. Parking: Sunset Plaza lot behind the restaurant.

Book ahead for Friday and Saturday dinner, aim for happy hour if you want the $28 petite tower and $10 martinis, and ask for the market prices on towers and the lobster roll before ordering. Save room for a SweetBun from the SweetBoy pop-up, and remember that Saturday is the one day without Sunset at Saltie, so a Sunday evening visit gets you both brunch hours and the happy-hour deal.