George Lucas's Skywalker Grill Reminds Me of Applebee's in the Best Way

Skywalker Grill sits on the top floor of the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a project that cost over $1 billion to build. With its plush interior and sweeping views of the Los Angeles skyline, it seems like the kind of place that would serve fussy little plates with foams, sauce squiggles, and $500 tasting menus. Instead of any special effects, the restaurant features a menu of crowd-pleasers.

Among the undulating walls (there are zero right angles), soaring ceilings, and completely custom furniture, diners dig into familiar favorites like spinach and artichoke dip and grilled salmon. Of course, the ruffled potato chips that arrive with the dip are made in-house, and the fish is lacquered with a honey miso glaze. Imagine Applebee’s had a cousin that grew up in Bel-Air and insisted on only the best ingredients.

Legendary filmmaker George Lucas and business executive Mellody Hobson, his wife, founded the museum with the ethos that everyone should feel welcome. It’s why many spaces at the Lucas Museum are open to the public without needing a ticket. Entry to the museum is free for people under 17 and anyone who lives in the same zip code, and the lobby cafe has a $2 grilled cheese. The dress code on Skywalker Grill’s Resy page says it all: “Come as you are. Stay for the experience.”

Diego Cardoso, the culinary director for the museum, developed a menu that nails the balance of high-low. Chicken tenders are served with a generous ramekin of caviar-topped ranch. The pigs in a blanket are the best I've ever had—snappy Wagyu beef hot dogs wrapped in the most buttery puff pastry, sprinkled with everything-bagel seasoning, and served with a truly exceptional grainy mustard—also made on-site.

Every leaf of the Caesar salad is perfectly coated in a garlicky dressing. The sizable chicken milanese is crispy and golden. And the mac and cheese (made with shells, the ideal pasta shape) is so creamy it deserves to be promoted from a side to a main. A chicken and wild mushroom crepe is an ode to a Lucas favorite from a long-shuttered chain called the Magic Pan.

Not every dish is a hit: a vegetarian pasta that featured patty pan squash and zucchini was reminiscent of plane food, and a side of brussels sprouts arrived limp and soggy.

Those looking for something spendier can order a $35 blue crab cake, a $52 lobster salad, and a $38 Wagyu burger made with grass-fed beef raised on Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. Most items still manage to feel like a value given the generous portion sizes for the price point and many tables around me had leftovers boxed up to take home.

Since it opened in late September, Skywalker Grill has remained a tough table to get. The highly anticipated museum is already popular among locals and tourists, and the restaurant is no exception. According to its Resy page, there are zero tables for two available for the rest of the year.

Skywalker Grill is part of a growing trend of museum restaurants that are as much of a draw as the institutions that house them. In LA alone, the Hammer Museum is home to Lulu from David Tanis and Alice Waters. Fanny’s, in the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, is a scene-y 10,000 square feet. LACMA has a café from Erewhon.

In its mission to be one of the most welcoming restaurants, Skywalker Grill is definitely one of the most comfortable. Velvet chairs feature sturdy back support and plush cushions, and sleek black marble tables are spaced out so that it’s nearly impossible to hear another party’s conversation. The wave-like architecture of the banquets means each nook of the restaurant feels private. The extensive use of cherrywood, renowned for its durable patina, speaks to Lucas’s desire to build a place that will outlive him.

The restaurant has been busy, but it doesn’t feel packed. Thanks to felt under the tables and the liberal use of an acoustic plaster that absorbs sound, it’s easy to forget that there’s a rambunctious toddler two tables over treating the space as his personal jungle gym.

While Skywalker Grill isn’t Star Wars themed, there are subtle nods to the franchise throughout. The curved bar, constructed from cast-glass beams covered in silver leaf, takes on an intergalactic glow when illuminated at night. In the private dining room, the chandelier is modeled after a specific dust cloud in space. The more obvious tributes come from diners who proudly show up in their most prized Star Wars shirts.

For all the cosmic flourishes, the restaurant’s greatest trick is unpretentious cooking: the room may transport you to another galaxy, but the food is down-to-earth.