La Piazza Pasta Cafe

This Italian cafe on Hollywood Boulevard packs them in, its recipe for success based on the tried-and-true formula of aesthetic setting plus buoyant bar scene plus accommodating service plus fresh, accessible cuisine at affordable prices yields a wait to get in on weekends. It also helps that the menu is made up of ever-popular Italian foods: salads, pastas, wood-burning-oven pizzas, grilled meats and seafoods, and a number of chicken and veal scaloppini dishes. Skip the mass-produced desserts for a cup of espresso and shot of sambucca.