About Somni
Somni — the Catalan word for dream — is the project to which Chef Aitor Zabala has devoted his professional life. It opened in its original form at the SLS Beverly Hills before a long closure, and reopened in 2024 in a dedicated space at 9045 Nemo Street in West Hollywood that Zabala designed precisely around the experience he intended to deliver. The Michelin Guide responded in 2025 with three stars, making Somni one of the two highest-rated restaurants in Los Angeles and one of the most acclaimed in the United States.
The experience begins in a private garden. Guests arrive to find their first five or six bites already waiting — small, hand-assembled compositions that set the register for what follows inside. The wooden chef's counter seats exactly fourteen. Over the next three to four hours, thirty-two bites arrive in a sequence that Zabala constructs as a complete narrative. His Catalan and Basque heritage appears in the technique and the philosophy; Southern California provides the ingredients. The collision is perpetually surprising.
The $645 per person pricing makes Somni the most expensive tasting menu in California, and the transparency with which Zabala defends it is instructive. The kitchen operates at a scale — fourteen covers, full brigade — that has no precedent for efficiency. Every course involves technique and sourcing that would be implausible at commercial restaurant margins. The wine pairing at $225 per person (Spain and California only) and at $415 per person (full range, included in private dining) is among the most considered in the country.
Reservations release in batches and are claimed within hours. The waitlist operates on its own terms. This is the restaurant that, as the Hollywood Reporter put it, "even Jeff Bezos can't buy his way into." Plan six to eight months ahead for any event that matters.