It doesn't get more classic L.A. than The Fountain Coffee Room, opportunely located in the stately Beverly Hills Hotel. It's the kind of place where you can't help but be happy: Not only did you manage to score one of the 20 coveted barstools, but also because somewhere between the thick chocolate malts and nostalgic banana leaf wallpaper, time has stood still since 1949. Swivel in the same counter seats as legendary comedienne Lucille Ball, and dig into heaping plates of French toast or pancakes and eggs, though healthy-alternative egg whites and Hollywood-ized breakfasts (i.e., sour cream and caviar omelets) are now available. Tuna melts, triple-decker sandwiches and burgers grilled to order are the name of the game during lunch and dinner in this retro diner, but an old-fashioned ice cream sundae or slice of warm apple pie makes any guest feel like a kid again, any time. No alcohol available. Serving breakfast, lunch and early dinner daily.
Where the Locals Eat rating
Best Coffeehouse
Top 100 Restaurant, Los Angeles
"Feel like a kid at this basement counter at the Beverly Hills Hotel that seats just 20 lucky people for pancakes and eggs."
—New York Post
"Not exactly your typical coffee shop/diner, this retro beauty resides in The Beverly Hills Hotel. .... In earlier decades, you might well have seen Lucille Ball breakfasting at the counter."
—Gayot
"It's popular with hotel guests, but also with people from the neighborhood who bring their kids for the fountain's classic milkshakes and malts, tuna melts and triple-decker club sandwiches. ... After all these years, Fountain Coffee Shop is still a classic."
– S. Irene Virbila, Los Angeles Times
How others rate Fountain Coffee Room
Zagat 2009
20 (food rating, very good to excellent)