Michael's Santa Monica is known in the hospitality industry as the home and founding location of what we all know today to be California Cuisine. Owner Michael McCarty opened his namesake spot in 1979 with the idea to serve only the freshest local ingredients from farmers in California. He even started the now world-famous Santa Monica Farmer's Market in downtown Santa Monica, where we still shop for our menu ingredients today!

Not only does Michael's hold a dear place in culinary history, but it has also been named one of the most romantic dining locations, with one of the best outdoor patios in Los Angeles. With a fully retractable roof, that same outdoor patio (aka the Garden) can quickly flip to a warm and inviting indoor space, in case of inclement or chilly weather.

The downstairs portion of the restaurant is made up of our Bar, Lounge, Terrace, and Garden rooms. All of these spaces are available together for a wedding of up to 150 guests for a seated dinner reception, and up to 350 guests for a standing cocktail reception.

The two private rooms on the restaurant’s second floor (the Santa Monica room and the Palisades room) can accommodate 6 to 40 guests, ideal for smaller cocktail parties. These spaces are also available as part of a full buyout wedding, and can be used as additional spaces for the reception or as a bridal suite before the festivities begin.

Our typical wedding ceremonies are located in the Garden. Once the ceremony ends, the guests enter the interior rooms downstairs (Bar, Lounge, Terrace) for cocktail hour, while we flip the Garden into a gorgeous dinner reception space. Once the guests are seated for dinner, we make small adjustments to the interior rooms for post-dinner dancing. All of these floor arrangements are determined upon in advance, and executed quickly, without guest disruption.