Last verified: March 2026
The First Cannabis Restaurant in America
1201 N La Brea Avenue, West Hollywood
When the Original Cannabis Cafe opened in October 2019, it was not just a new restaurant — it was an entirely new category of venue. No one had ever opened a licensed establishment in the United States where customers could sit down at a table, order food from a professional kitchen, and smoke cannabis served by a tableside "flower host." The concept required years of regulatory negotiation with West Hollywood, a $3 million build-out, and a willingness to invent a hospitality model that had never existed.
The result is a 220-seat restaurant that operates more like a high-end dining experience than a smoke lounge. This is not a room with ashtrays — it is a full-service venue with a host stand, servers, a professional kitchen, and a carefully designed ventilation system that keeps the dining experience comfortable for everyone.
Chef Andrea Drummer
The culinary program at the Original Cannabis Cafe is led by Chef Andrea Drummer, one of the most prominent cannabis chefs in the country. Drummer trained at Le Cordon Bleu and built her career at the intersection of professional cooking and cannabis cuisine — a space that, until recently, did not have a professional class.
The menu follows a farm-to-table philosophy, with dishes designed to complement the cannabis experience rather than serve as an afterthought. This is a meaningful distinction: at most cannabis venues, food (when available) is snack-level. At the Original Cannabis Cafe, it is the point. The kitchen produces dishes that stand on their own merit, with cannabis as a parallel experience rather than the entire experience.
Chef Andrea Drummer's menu is genuine farm-to-table cuisine, not lounge food. The dishes are designed to pair with cannabis consumption the way a wine list pairs with a tasting menu. Come hungry — this is a restaurant that happens to serve cannabis, not a smoke room that happens to have food.
How It Works
The Original Cannabis Cafe operates differently from both a traditional restaurant and a traditional dispensary:
Arrival and Seating
The cafe has a host stand, like any full-service restaurant. You check in, show ID (21+), and are seated at a table. On busy evenings and weekends, there can be a wait — this is one of the most popular dining destinations in WeHo, cannabis or otherwise. Reservations are recommended.
The Cannabis Menu
Your server will present both the food menu and the cannabis menu. The cannabis offerings include flower (pre-rolls and loose), vape cartridges, edibles, and infused beverages. A "flower host" — essentially a cannabis sommelier — can help you choose products and will prepare and deliver tableside joints rolled to your specifications.
Consumption at the Table
You consume cannabis at your table, in the dining room, alongside other diners. The ventilation system is engineered to manage smoke, and the outdoor patio section offers an open-air option. This is the detail that makes the Original Cannabis Cafe genuinely unprecedented: you are eating a professionally prepared meal and smoking cannabis in the same seat, in a licensed, regulated establishment.
Payment
You pay for food and cannabis separately or together at the end of the meal, similar to a restaurant check. Cash is preferred for cannabis purchases; the food side may accept cards. Tipping is expected as at any full-service restaurant.
The $3 Million Investment
The Original Cannabis Cafe's $3 million build-out reflects the complexity of creating a venue that needed to satisfy restaurant codes, cannabis regulations, ventilation requirements, and West Hollywood's design standards simultaneously. The investment was a bet that cannabis hospitality could be elevated to the level of fine dining — and the venue's continued operation and 4.6-star rating on OpenTable suggests that bet has paid off.
The 220-seat capacity makes it one of the largest cannabis consumption venues in the country. The scale matters because it transforms the experience from a niche novelty into something that feels normal — a busy restaurant where people happen to be smoking, not a smoking room where people happen to be eating.
What to Know Before You Go
- Location: 1201 N La Brea Avenue, West Hollywood (not LA city — this is in WeHo)
- Age: 21+ with valid government-issued photo ID
- Reservations: Strongly recommended, especially weekends
- Budget: Plan for both a meal and cannabis purchases. A full experience (dinner + cannabis) can run $75–$150+ per person depending on your choices.
- No alcohol: California law prohibits cannabis and alcohol at the same venue. THC-infused beverages and non-alcoholic drinks are available.
- No BYO cannabis: You purchase cannabis on-site from the cafe's menu. Outside cannabis is not permitted.
- Dress code: Casual but presentable. This is a restaurant, not a head shop.
A full cannabis cafe experience means you will have consumed cannabis. Do not drive. Plan a rideshare, designate a sober driver, or walk if you are staying nearby. DUI laws apply to cannabis in California.
The Significance
The Original Cannabis Cafe matters beyond West Hollywood because it proved that cannabis hospitality could be professional, elegant, and mainstream. Before this venue opened, the concept of a cannabis restaurant existed only in Amsterdam-style coffee shops and illegal pop-ups. The cafe demonstrated that a $3 million investment, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, a 220-seat dining room, and cannabis consumption could coexist in a licensed, regulated, profitable business.
Every consumption lounge that has opened since — in West Hollywood, in other California cities, in states across the country — owes something to the model this cafe pioneered. It is the most important cannabis venue in the United States.
For in-depth cannabis education, dosing guides, safety information, and research summaries, visit our partner site TryCannabis.org
Related on this site: WeHo Cannabis Lounges, More WeHo Lounges, The Woods & Artist Tree.