The line out the door at 5:30 p.m. along Mission Avenue should tell you something: South Pasadena needed a restaurant like Cannonball. The chef and operating partner duo from places like Highland Park’s Hippo — Matt Molina and Joe Capella, if you’re keeping a rolodex — are behind this charming “all things for all people” restaurant. The menu throughline isn’t entirely clear, going from traditional Spanish to seasonally driven Californian to… a burger, but that trend-averse timelessness still somehow resonates.
Think “nostalgic tavern” — frilly curtains on the windows and a choo-choo train motif (the restaurant’s location sits right on the Amtrak line), spread across two floors and a back patio. On peak evenings, every inch of the space gets packed with date nights, friends catching up, and empty-nest locals toasting to a good night.
There’s a standalone, big boy wine menu — as one might expect from this team with ties to the Silverlake Wine crew — but also an impressively diverse list of glass options and lightly riffed classic cocktails like the Raymond Hill (a manhattan with mole).
Find a cool, semi-private lounge tucked away upstairs, next to the wine room, that would be perfect for a mid-size group celebration.