Best LA Restaurants for Sealing the Deal

La Dolce Vita's been around since the days when the Rat Pack ruled LA, though its website boasts that presidents were as likely to dine there as Frank Sinatra. Warm brick … walls and cozy booths are the perfect setting for the rich Italian comfort food on the menu, most of which comes laden with cheese, and all of which is served in copper pans and finished at the table. As an added bonus, the cocktails are the perfect size, by which we mean disproportionately huge. [link]

Melisse is romantic in an unpretentious, relaxed sort of way; the dining room is dimly lit, and the menu offers ample opportunities to pronounce the names of entrees in a … sexy accent. But the food's really the star of the show; the $95 tasting menu gets you an appetizer, fish, a main dish, and an extremely indulgent dessert, and each course is better than the one before it. [link]

Malibu favorite Geoffrey's offers the usual candlelit tables, starry patio, and expensive cuisine, but adds an elegant twist in the form of ocean views, which somehow … manage to make even the snottiest service forgivable. The food is amazing (try the osso buco if you're not shy about animal cruelty), and the rail-side tables for two have the best views and breeze in the house. [link]

Located way Downtown in an incredible old Art Deco building, Cicada offers a northern Italian menu in a sumptuous setting. The food is as rich and satisfying as the … ambiance, and on Thursday nights a Sinatra-style crooner serenades you while you eat, topping off the old Hollywood feel. Be forewarned: it's usually closed Saturday nights for private events. [link]

This sexy little spot features unconventional variations on the usual Americanism; the coup de grace is the donut dish, which is magically transformed from a fattening … breakfast snack into an elegant dessert. An extensive (and expensive) wine list offers the opportunity to show off your knowledge of oenology, or at minimum your ability to memorize the Wikipedia listing for merlot. [link]

If you listen to morning radio shows, Il Cielo is probably already a part of your consciousness, as it's incessantly getting plugged by Ryan Seacrest as the most romantic … place in LA. Much as we'd love to argue with him just for the sake of it, he may well be right. Yet another courtyard restaurant offering up the classic romance of twinkle lights, Il Cielo's knockout atmosphere compensates for its relatively standard Italian fare. [link]

The Little Door actually consists of four different spaces, but take our advice and opt for a candlelit table on the patio, where you can savor your very delicious and … very expensive food with the optimal lighting. The menu's French and Mediterranean, and they even serve oysters if you're in the mood for clichés. The only downside is the notoriously rude staff. But buck up -- you'll look like a prince (or princess) by comparison. [link]

Sushi restaurant Bar Hayama boasts an Asian garden courtyard with a center communal table and smaller candlelit tables off to the side. Inside, the gleaming sake bar … offers the usual customized dinner service, as well as ample opportunity to get wasted the stylish way via reasonably priced sake "flights" with names like Petals. Bottoms up. [link]