I did my PPL at VNY back in 2018. And CFI'd there on and off through the last couple years. 

Active Pilot, LA flight school, Corsair flight school seem to have ok reputations. Ascent came up during the pandemic and blossomed (but my take was they were always riding a wave, and had a bit of a cowboy approach. Allen their Mx guy was the only thing keeping them afloat).

I suggest, visit each of the schools, get a tour, get quotes on prices, mx, and scheduling availability for not only training but for DPE availability (probably most important). Talk to the students, see what they say in front of school staff. See what they say NOT in front of school staff. You will get the more honest review when you talk to a current student on a 1on1 interaction with no staff present. -other big tips, really avoid schools that want you to pay for a whole license in advanced. Ideally you want a school that would be pay as you go. Some block time purchases of 10hrs here and there is ok. Do as much preparation and studying WAYY before you even pay for a flight school, such as accomplishing an online ground school and/or accomplishing your PPL written before you even step into a flight school as a paying customer. --last but not least, remind yourself, you are the customer at the end of the day. You are the one paying like $300+/hr for training. If they arnt doing their part, you can always switch instructors or flight schools. Training is a 2 way street, you need to do your part and study too. They cant or wont spoon feed you everything either.

Encore flight school died (thank god) around the pandemic.