There are apparently reasons to go to a restaurant that don’t necessarily involve the food. That’s a hard sell for me, but I will admit that a couple of dinners in recent memory bear it out.

The first is Little Dom’s, the Los Feliz red-sauce Italian neighborhood mainstay.

One good reason to go is that it’s within Uber-distance of the Greek Theatre. (Believe me, you don’t want to get enmeshed in that parking chaos and pay through the nose for the privilege.) My fellow concert attendees and I wisely chose to street park and meet early at the restaurant.

The place is packed, even at 5:30, which speaks as much to its ambience as its location. Owners Ebbink and Boudet replicated the retro vibe they’d found success with at Dominick’s in West Hollywood, outfitting the space with a vintage wood bar, dinette-type tables, white marble and fabulous ‘30’s era wallpaper; P.J. Clarke’s meets Mamma Leone’s for you old New Yorkers.

Happily, there were menu items, too that truly delighted. My gluten-free, semi-vegan bestie was thrilled with the strozzapreti, a mushroom Bolognese available sans gluten and cheese-substituted nutritional yeast which she declared “artisanal”. It was a nice surprise to see how many old standards on the menu could be vegan-ized. Inventive mocktails and delish beef carpaccio with fennel and arugula hit their mark, though, sadly the rice balls did not meet expectations; over-fried outside, un-melted inside cheese. Tasty enough, but the texture should have a better gooey-to crispy ratio.

Regardless, the atmosphere and convenience ruled the day. We had a lovely stroll back down from the park after the show while hordes of cars inched their way out of the morass. GET MORE DETAILS.

Second on the mood- over- menu list is Jones Hollywood.

Even though I seem to have missed its heyday by about 40 years, the joint is still funky and cool; dim lighting, red booths and checked tablecloths with a hopping bar scene. Again, the formula seems to call for Italian-American cuisine, accent on the American. I will say, as an aficionado, they scored high on the linguine and clams scale and thin crust white pizza was satisfying, (though can it really be called white when there are sun-dried tomatoes involved?)

I won’t nitpick because apple pie on a sizzling platter in brown sugar sauce with vanilla ice cream made up for any shortcomings in the entrée department, (I’m talking to you, crispy artichoke and steak salad). My recommendation: go for the solid cocktails, linguine and dessert, and just soak up the old-school Hollywood dive atmosphere. GET THE DETAILS.

Don’t even get me started on the parking sitch!