It’s a cozy booth ... for 35!

IT seats as many as 35 people, spans more than 20 feet in diameter, and its table is so wide that it wouldn’t fit through the front door.

That’s one big booth.

It’s where chummy folks can gather at new restaurant Royale in the Wilshire Royale Hotel. On nights when it isn’t booked by a single party, “you get five people here, four there, eight on this side. People kind of gravitate toward it,” says general manager E. Jaunenito Pavon.

Maybe that’s why it’s called “the circle of love.”

“We wanted a community atmosphere, to mix people in with each other as opposed to doing smaller, separate booths,” says designer John Sofio of Built Inc. “We wanted one large booth where a lot of people can gather in.

“It definitely engages people into ‘excuse me, excuse me, pardon me’ in a sort of rub-up-against-each-other vibe,” he says, referring to getting in and out of the booth. “You can see how close people are willing to get to each other. You can even fit two layers of people if they sit on the table -- if it turns into that kind of night.”

When finishing touches were being put on the restaurant, it was apparent that the 12-foot, oak-finished table wouldn’t fit through the door, so Sofio had to pass it through the front window. “I coordinated when we were replacing the storefront glass with the delivery of the table.”

The booth is so big it has two walkthrough entrances and just enough space between the table and the ultrasuede seats to squeeze past others sitting down, so asking 14 people to scoot out so that you can go to the restroom isn’t necessary.

Above the booth are two photographic murals: one of a young woman in a blue-striped halter top, the other of a mussy-haired fellow with rather grimy fingernails aiming what looks like a .44-caliber magnum. “If you’re standing in the right spot, it looks like the guy is pointing the gun at her back,” Pavon says.

That’s not so loving (or appetizing).

But it can be interpreted in other ways. “It also looks like he might be protecting her,” Sofio says. That sounds more like love. “The best thing about the booth is, where else can 35 people sit and have a conversation all facing each other?” Pavon says.

“We should have called it the U.N.”

Betty Hallock

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Small bites

* Table 8 chef Govind Armstrong just opened Table 8 South Beach last week, and now the renovated Melrose original (designer Thomas Schoos describes it as a “dream in aubergine”) is set to reopen Thursday. The lounge area will be open to the public at 10 p.m. (following a private reception). Dinner reservations are being accepted starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

7661 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 782-8258.

* Dominick’s co-owner Warner Ebbink and chef-partner Brandon Boudet have purchased the space that formerly housed La Belle Epoque in Los Feliz. Ebbink, also an owner of 101 Coffee Shop, plans to open an updated Italian restaurant called Little Dom’s, which will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and will include a deli. Ebbink says he expects Little Dom’s to open this summer.

Little Dom’s, 2128 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles.

* Casual Japanese dining spot Tokyo Table Restaurant & Bar has opened on La Cienega’s Restaurant Row. Infused sake and vodka “sodas” in flavors such as lychee and pink lemonade are served up alongside oxtail ramen, seafood salad and unagi rice. For dessert, honey toast -- a hollowed-out half loaf of bread filled with cubes of toast and drizzled with honey.

50 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 657-9500.

* Belgian-ale-steamed mussels and a pint o’ Guinness more your style? WeHo neighborhood pub the Village Idiot has opened. Take a seat at the mahogany wraparound bar for pub grub such as grilled sausages and steak and potato pie and some Boddington’s.

7383 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, (323) 655-3331.