What's this line for? · United States
The 12 food lines you'll walk past in Los Angeles, and what the people in them are waiting for. For each: what to get when you reach the front, how long it usually takes, whether it's worth it, and how to beat it.
Chinatown
The line is forNashville hot chicken sandwich, ordered medium if you're new to it
The hot chicken line that's been a rite of passage in LA for years.
Worth the waitExpect: Often 1 to 2 hours on weekends
Beat it: Join the online waitlist or go at weekday opening
Mid-City (La Brea and Venice)
The line is forAl pastor, sliced off the trompo with a flick of pineapple
The pastor spit and the pineapple toss are a video in themselves.
Worth the waitExpect: 10 to 30 min late at night
Beat it: Go before 9pm or on a weeknight
Grand Central Market, Downtown
The line is forThe Slut (coddled egg over potato purée) or the Fairfax sandwich
The egg sandwich that made Grand Central Market a stop for every visitor.
Worth the waitExpect: 20 to 45 min on weekend mornings
Beat it: Go on a weekday before 9am
Virgil Village
The line is forA bagel with tomato and cream cheese, or the lox
Hand-rolled bagels with a cult following and lines to match.
Worth the waitExpect: Often 45 min to over an hour on weekends
Beat it: Go at opening on a weekday, they sell out
Koreatown
The line is forAn iced matcha with a layered topping, like brûléed sugar or fruit purée
Part of LA's matcha craze. You'll recognise the cups from your feed.
Worth the waitExpect: Around 30 min on weekends
Beat it: Go on a weekday afternoon
Boyle Heights
The line is forTacos de camarón: fried shrimp tacos topped with salsa and avocado
A truck whose shrimp tacos keep showing up on best-in-LA lists.
Worth the waitExpect: 10 to 30 min at lunch
Beat it: Go late morning
Westlake
The line is forThe #19: hot pastrami, coleslaw and Swiss on rye
Many say it's the best pastrami in America, better than Katz's.
Worth the waitExpect: 15 to 30 min at weekday lunch
Beat it: Go after 2pm, or order curbside
Mid-City
The line is forThe breakfast pastries and the kouign-amann at the counter
A grand 1920s room with a bakery case people line up for.
Worth the waitExpect: 30 to 60 min on weekend mornings
Beat it: Go on a weekday, or skip brunch and just order pastries
South LA
The line is forThe smoked kanpachi taco and a seafood cocktail
Michelin-starred Yucatán seafood inside the Mercado La Paloma.
Worth the waitExpect: 30 to 60 min at lunch
Beat it: Go when it opens, on a weekday
Westwood
The line is forAn ice cream sandwich: two warm cookies, your pick of ice cream
The UCLA cookie shop with a cheap, famous ice cream sandwich.
Worth the waitExpect: Lines down the block on weekend nights
Beat it: Go before 7pm
Chinatown
The line is forA lamb French dip, double dipped, with the house hot mustard
Claims to have invented the French dip in 1908.
Worth the waitExpect: Short to 30 min at lunch
Beat it: Go mid-morning or late afternoon
Hollywood
The line is forA chili dog
A hot dog stand since 1939 and a Hollywood late-night ritual.
Worth it, with a catchA landmark more than a revelation: the wait runs half an hour to two hours. Go for the neon and the history, late at night when it's shortest.
Expect: 20 to 40 min at night
Beat it: Go mid-afternoon
Waits are what people usually see, not live times, and lines move and vanish: check hours before you go. Picked from Chef Amazing's Long lines lists (checked open Oct 23 2026) and checked against the press on 2026-11-12: lamag.com · mashed.com · laist.com.