Many establishments in the South Bay close around 9 p.m. There aren’t many hours left in the night to take advantage of outside of your home.
Here is the solution—restaurants that close after midnight.
Here are restaurants, that are not bars, that can satisfy your hunger and your late-night plans.
Follow along this night owl’s guide in an immersive map, click here.
1. Fresh Daily Pho & Grill
Location: 1441 W Knox St. C-400, Torrance
Hours: 11 a.m. – 4 a.m.
Fresh Daily Pho is a safe haven devoid of judgement. No customers are criticized for grabbing a bowl of pho at 3 a.m. and late-working individuals can recharge themselves.
Opened April 23, Pho Daily Pho has quickly become a hidden gem tucked into industrial Torrance, sitting in a plaza beside the railroads.
Open until 4 a.m., the restaurant serves steaming bowls of pho, starting at $11.99, fried rice, $15.99, egg rolls, $9.99, and vermicelli noodle dishes, starting at $13.99, to a steady stream of late-night diners.
The service is fast and efficient. Servers drop off a short two-page menu, and a simple and flavorful bowl of soup arrives at your table within minutes.
Server Rigoberto Gomez, who has worked at Fresh Daily Pho since opening day, says the night shifts can be tiring.
However, reggaeton, house, and techno blasting through the speakers, and coworkers sipping beers between table covers, keep the restaurant lively.
The space is bright and loud and the crowd is a mix of people from every walk of life.
Gomez, naturally sociable, has already gotten to know the regulars.
“Everybody’s a favorite customer,” he said.
The usual late-night crowd includes healthcare workers and police officers on graveyard shifts, along with groups of friends, couples, and solo diners squeezing in a nightly read over a bowl of soup.
2. Chon Dak
Location: 15915 S Western Ave. A, Gardena
Hours: Monday – Thursday: 3 p.m. – 2 a.m. | Weekends: 12 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Located just four minutes from El Camino College, Chon Dak is the go-to spot for large-portioned Korean and Asian dishes served family-style until 2 a.m.
Owners Jenny Lee and her husband Danny Kim have decades of experience, first opening their Korean BBQ restaurant KKO KKO Yang-Gopchang 23 years ago on Redondo Beach Boulevard. They opened Chon Dak 10 years ago, Lee said.
The most popular dishes include pork belly barbecue, $28.99, seafood noodle soup, and whole rotisserie chicken, $18.99. Lee said the three are big enough for six or seven people, usually enjoyed with soju and beer.
Inside, the dim lighting and constant flow of K-pop and pop hits give diners privacy to talk, laugh, and unwind.
Lee knows the neighborhood well.
“I’ve been in the Gardena area for 23 years. I know who is new, who is a regular,” she said, adding that she remembers each customer’s tastes by their second visit.
3. Ricos Tacos El Tio Inc.
Location: 2150 W El Segundo Blvd., Gardena
Hours: Sunday – Thursday 9 a.m. – 1 a.m. | Friday & Saturday 9 a.m. – 2 a.m.
Ricos Tacos keeps a tight and steady operation, serving customers from 9 a.m. to midnight at the storefront and running a drive-thru until 1 a.m.
Opened in 2009, the business was founded by the current owner Jose Gomez’s father. After his father’s retirement and passing, Jose now manages both locations.
He credits their success to strong customer service and loyal employees, some of whom have been with the business for more than 10 years.
Aguas frescas are available to taste, no questions asked.
Gomez prides himself on taking care of his workers.
“I pay them weekly vacations, I give them a raise every six months or a year, give them discounts on the food,” Gomez said, “The way they work as hard as they work I work more.”
The menu is large, colorful and overwhelming in the best way, especially late at night when you’re deciding which combo is going to satisfy your late-night craving.
Rico’s stands by its original menu offerings tacos, starting at $3.97, burritos, ranging from $6.96 – $14.49, and goat birria $16.99, but since Gomez took over, they’ve added tilapia tacos, $5.15, nachos, $16.74, and weekend menudo, $16.99.
They marinate their own meat, make their aguas frescas, and prepare their pickles and salsas in-house.
“We gotta take care of customers. Nowadays everyone serves tacos,” Gomez said, ”My dad had the taste buds, and now I do.”
4. El Cinco De Mayo Mexican Grill
Location: 240 Fishermans Wharf, Redondo Beach
Hours: 9 a.m.–2 a.m.
The last batch of tourists has gone home.
The Redondo Beach Pier is dark except for the dim glow of the Cinco de Mayo Mexican Grill order window lighting the wooden planks.
The building has stood on the pier since the 1960s, previously home to spots including Pretzelmaker and the Olympic Restaurant before becoming Cinco de Mayo.
Brothers Froylan and Oscar Santiago Arellanes took over the space in August 2019 and signed a new five-year lease extension in June 2024.
The colorful store-front is image heavy of all the potential dishes to satisfy your middle-of-the-night hunger.
Some of the most popular dishes include the birria tacos $15.49, the quesa tacos, $13.25, and deep fried tilapia $19.49.
The restaurant also serves sweets and refreshments. To appeal to the pier crowd they serve banana split sundaes and funnel cake.
The menu checks every late-night box: cheap, filling, flavorful food, a peaceful walk along the pier, and friendly service that has kept locals coming back.
5. 3355 Asian Grill
Location: 1955 Torrance Blvd., Torrance
Hours: 5 p.m. – 2 a.m.
A late-night staple, 3355 Asian Grill caters to the after-work Korean crowd, serving shareable plates, spicy wings, noodles, soju and draft beer.
At the entrance, the host asks whether you’re smoking or non-smoking, which determines whether you’re seated inside or outside.
The outdoor section is lively and social. Every so often you see a cloud of smoke puff through the air as the establishment’s outdoor smoking-friendly policy is hard to find.
Customers are able to have an absolute feast with their extensive menu and shareable portions.
Dishes are rich and flavorful.It definitely satisfies a spicy-lover’s itch with the Korean chili at the base of a lot of sauces and dishes.
Some of the fan favorites are the kimchi fried rice $12.99, chicken wings $20.99, the short ribs $29.99, the rice cakes, $17.99, and Korean Army soup, $26.99, amongst other menu items.
The price is not the cheapest, but given the shareable plates and larger portions they are fair.
Located on the corner of Torrance Boulevard and Arlington Avenue, 3355 draws groups who linger long after eating, talking beside their cars and finishing their cigarettes.
