Skywalker Grill has the view but plays it safe
Opinion: Skywalker Grill has a striking view atop the Lucas Museum. The food is pleasant, but it rarely matches the building. A museum about storytelling should take more risks.
By LA This Weekend Team · November 11, 20263 views
Skywalker Grill, the restaurant on the fifth floor of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park, has one of the more striking settings in the city. Annenberg Media's review, published Nov. 10, describes a 360-degree panoramic rooftop with sweeping views of the skyline. BizBash reported on Nov. 11 that the museum opened Sept. 22.
The food is less striking. The reviewers found the menu comforting and thoughtful, with some strong dishes, but they wrote that the food "rarely feels as ambitious as its surroundings." I agree with that verdict. The restaurant has a choice to make: play it safe with American comfort food, or let the kitchen take the same kinds of risks the galleries take.
What to know
- The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened Sept. 22 in Exposition Park, in a 300,000-square-foot building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec, BizBash reported.
- Annenberg Media reported that Chef Diego Cardoso's menu "leans heavily into American comfort food," with wagyu in dishes from the appetizers to the main courses.
- Cardoso told Annenberg Media that the goal was a space that is "welcoming, elevated and distinctly Los Angeles."
- The reviewers singled out the burrata salad and the honey-miso glazed salmon, and called the dishes "satisfying and thoughtfully conceived."
- BizBash reported that the rooftop Skywalker Grill is available for private events, with seating for up to 220 guests, including a 40-seat private dining room.
Why it matters
A museum about storytelling should be a place where the food tells a story too. Cardoso's line that "a meal can be another chapter in the experience" is a good one, and the reviewers quote it fairly. A chapter still needs something to say. When the most memorable dish is a salad with tomatoes that taste as if they came from the farmers market, the meal is pleasant and easy to forget.
The restaurant has a built-in advantage. The reviewers describe a chicken and mushroom crêpe that Cardoso reworked from a dish George Lucas remembered ordering, with the flavors Lucas recalled. That is exactly the kind of personal history a museum can build on. The menu would be stronger if it took more risks like that. Instead, the reviewers say, few dishes offer the kind of surprise that would make the meal the main attraction.
I also think the restaurant is being judged on the wrong test. A rooftop room that BizBash describes as available for buyouts and private events is a venue first. That is a fine business. A venue can also be a destination, and the destination test is whether someone travels across town for the food alone. The reviewers say the restaurant "succeeds in creating an experience worth returning to." Return visits are the real measure, and the grill will earn them with the plate.
The building sets a high bar, and the menu has not reached it yet. A good restaurant inside a museum should feel like part of the exhibition, with dishes that make a visitor think about the place the way the galleries do. The grill has the setting and the service. It needs a menu that matches the ambition of the architecture around it.
The other side
The strongest defense is that the restaurant is meant to be a room for lingering, not a culinary target. The reviewers say the greatest appeal is the experience, from the interior to the service, and that the restaurant does not demand a special occasion. In a city full of restaurants that want attention, a calm dining room with a good view and steady service has real value. A museum restaurant does not have to win awards to do its job. My question is whether this one wants to.
Where this comes from
This piece draws on a review by Andriana Yatsyshyn and Sammie Yen for Annenberg Media, published Nov. 10, 2026, and on BizBash reporting by Claire Hoffman, published Nov. 11, 2026, which covered the museum's opening date, its architects and its event spaces.
Photo: the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park by RON RAFFETY, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
About this opinion
This article is an opinion piece. The views in it belong to the writer and the LA This Weekend Team, and they do not represent the views of any business, venue, advertiser or public official mentioned. Facts were taken from the outlets named above as they were reported on the date shown. Restaurant hours, prices and openings can change, so check with the venue before you go. This is not a paid placement and no business paid for coverage. Information here is not professional advice of any kind.
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LA This Weekend Team