If you're looking for a beautiful Los Angeles restaurant with sweeping ocean views and a casual menu to please everyone in your group, then Malibu Farm Restaurant is the place.

I had family in town over Christmas. It was nice not to travel at the holidays. Given my recent epic European adventure, I was plenty happy to stay home. There was lots of great cooking (we are now forever a smoked turkey family), much catching up with extended family, and luckily also some exercise time. After some hiking in the Malibu mountains, we rewarded ourselves with great food and great views at Malibu Farm Restaurant.

I had actually never been to Malibu Farm Restaurant. There's a sit-down restaurant at the base of the pier, and a more casual, order at the counter place at the end of the Malibu pier. I was with my sister-in-laws and nieces, and we decided we wanted to be waited on while taking in the beautiful ocean views.

The Malibu Farm Restaurant is on stilts, on top of the water, so yeah, you're getting some nice views. It's full-on shabby chic with white washed beams, long, wood tables and some comfy couch and chair options to take it all in.

There are some heaters in the partial open air restaurant, as well as a fully enclosed room, but still probably not a place to come on a rainy day. Even though we were all a little cold from hiking and sitting outside, my nieces were not deterred in ordering cold shakes - one coffee, and one chocolate. At $9 each, you should try and have your loved one's share a shake. Good luck with that.

The Malibu Farm Restaurant is not a place to go for an inexpensive, value meal. If you want that, hit the Jack and the Box across the street. The burgers here go for $19, but that said, the meat is local, organic and grass fed. Not sure Jack could say the same thing.

The stoplight tacos are $24 for a trio of your choosing. If you want to go for the full stoplight, you'll get green chicken and raw brussels sprouts, black beans and salsa verde. Yellow is a vegetarian squash, sweet corn, beans, cheese and habanero salsa. And red is skirt steak, watermelon radish, pickled onion, cabbage, beans, cheese and salsa roja. There's some spice in the red, and sweetness in the yellow, with the green being a bit more mellow. A nice compilation.

There's also cauliflower crust or zucchini crust pizza for the gluten free crowd. Salads run from grilled salmon kale nicoise to chicken tortilla. I got a sister in law to split the tacos and raw brussels sprout salad so I could sample a few things. The salad had peppery arugula and a light mustard lemon dressing that I've been asked to try and replicate, so stay tuned!

There's larger format plates with things like spaghetti squash lasagna, veggie paella, NY steak, halibut and chicken. The lunch and dinner menu are nearly identical, except for the addition of sandwiches on the lunch menu.

If you can stomach the prices, Malibu Farm Restaurant delivers on the quintessential Los Angeles restaurant experience - great people watching, panoramic ocean views and organic, farm fresh food.

Malibu Farm Restaurant
23000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90265
310.456.8850