There's so much good stuff on this site for restaurant recommendations. Not too much, though, for those in the downtown area of Napa.

We are staying near downtown Napa at a timeshare (I know. Next time we'll stay in Sonoma). Last time we stayed there, we were pretty wiped out after all the tastings and tourings. We did get to eat at Celedon and a steak house (that I can't remember the name).

For this trip (in a couple of weeks), I've made reservations for lunch at Bistro Jeanty and Mustards (based on all of your great recommendations on this site). But, for dinner, we thought somewhere closer to where we're staying may be better.

Here are some we found. Any favorites or rankings?

Zuzu's
Julia's Kitchen
Bistro Don Giovanni
Pearl

I'm not sure how far of a drive Yountville is, but it does seem that there's more choices out there.

Thanks (in advance) for your help!

Bistro Don Giovanni, a couple of miles out of Napa towards Yountville, is our favorite but Redds in Yountville is better.

Yountville is about 8 miles north of Napa and takes about 10-15 minutes (after 6pm when all of the traffic has settled down).

For brerakfast and lunch in Napa
Gillwoods is locally own , really good food-not open for dinner.It is in the center of the "small Mall": in center if town
One inYountville that I don't like is Napa Valley Grill.. It is a chain (saw one in the Mall of America)food is just O.K. a bit over priced for SMALL portions...I also like ZuZus

Thanks for the local advice! Especially the breakfast place, Gillwoods. I almost forgot about the most important meal of the day!

Here's our itin:
Thursday, 5/17 arrive in Sacramento
overnight there

Friday, 5/18 drive to oakville
Taste at Opus One
lunch at Bistro Jeanty
Tasting at La Sirena
Del dotto tour
Check in at Napa RiverPointe
Dinner at Zuzu's

Saturday, 5/19
Breakfast at Gillwood
Cakebread sensory tour
Lunch at Mustards
Tasting at Frog's Leap, Peju, St. Supery
Dinner at Hurley's or Redd

Sunday, 5/20
Platypus Tour (all day)
Dinner at Bistro Don Giovanni

Monday, 5/21
Drive back to Sacramento for a 9:55 a.m. flight.

Does this sound do-able? I'm not sure how far Calistoga (La Sirena) is from Bistro Jeanty.

Also, for the Napa restaurants, do you recommend reservations (Gillwoods, Zuzu's, Bistro Don Giovanni's)?

Is there any "must do's"

Lastly, I have to thank all the frequent posters on this site. Our entire itin (besides the hotel, since it's a timeshare) was based on your recommendations. I know we'll have a great trip thanks to all of you!!

Yountville is about 30 mins from Calistoga. Have you arranged for a private tasting at La Sirena ?

R5

I've enjoyed several great meals at Brix.

http://www.brix.com/

R5, I just sent them a email requesting a tasting. wow. I didn't realize Calistoga is that far from Yountville. Maybe we'll have to pick another place since we have a Del Dotto Tour at 3:30.

Your timeshare is on the Napa River and there is a pleasant, paved walking trail there for you to enjoy. You've selected some good restaurants. ZuZu is in downtown Napa and is a fun place to eat. Be aware that the food is presented in "small plates" (tapas) and the portions are quite small. However, it is very tasty and you get to eat all kinds of different foods. ZuZu's does not take reservations.

If you decide you are too tired to drive outside of town for a dinner, and if you would enjoy a little more casual setting, try Pearl (really good quality food) or Kellie's No Bad Days Cafe ( she often uses fresh vegies and lettuce right from her own garden) and Kellie is a good chef that doesn't take herself or much else too seriously. There's humor in the signs, menu, the tchotchkes... These restaurants are on Pearl St in downtown Napa.

Bistro Don Giovanni is excellent. It is just outside of town on the north side of Napa, about 5 to 10 minutes from your lodging. Reservations are a must.

Have a wonderful time!

Thanks for the helpful hints on downtown. It seems we'll see how we do when we're there. Especially if some of those downtown restaurants don't require reservations. Kellie's sounds interesting!

We just took a weekend trip to Maui this past weekend, so I wanted to also share just like you nice folks have been doing.

If you are ever in Maui, the Pineapple Inn B&B is fabulous!! It's reasonable, beautiful gardens, salt water pool, jacuzzi and right in Wailea. It's not too far from the beach. This is the best kept secret in Maui.

Back to Napa, I'm still researching Calistoga and see if we can work that into our itin. Is it very different than other towns in Napa?

Yes. Calistoga is an old resort town. The mineral waters and geysers have drawn travelers seeking relaxation and healthy soaking for many years. It has a charm all its own, not at all like the rest of the valley. It's an easy, pleasant drive there, about 30 minutes without traffic, maybe 45 minutes otherwise. It is our northernmost town in the Valley. If the weather is warm, you might enjoy lunch in the vine-covered courtyard of Wappo Bistro.

Thanks elnap29.

We're getting there. We leave next week and I'm finalizing our itin.

I'm still debating whether to visit Calistoga and Sonoma for Saturday. We're going to Cakebread in the morning for their sensory tour (10-11:30). Then, we have Mustards reservations for 1 p.m.

Then, we don't have any set plans for the rest of the day.

I'm wondering if we should do lunch in Sonoma or Calistoga instead and hang out for the day just to see a different area than downtown Napa.

All the posts seem to sway to Sonoma, but I'm not sure how long that will take us on a Saturday. Is Sonoma town a place we could just walk and browse the shops?

If so, I'm hoping to re-schedule Mustard's for dinner. Hope it's not too late!

So many restaurants..so little time.

There are 2 valleys next to each other, separated by a mountain range. Both valleys (Sonoma and Napa) are lovely and provide different experiences. If you decide to go to the TOWN of Sonoma, it will be about a 25-30 minute drive from your lodging. It is a sweet little town with a town square (park) surrounded by small shops and restaurants. Most of the posters who talk about Sonoma are really talking about Sonoma County wineries, spread over a wider area.
If I were you, I would talk to Platypus Tours about where you will be visiting on Sunday - that way you can decide if you want to spend extra time over in Sonoma on Saturday.

Whatever you decide, be sure to have a dinner reservation for Saturday night - that is the toughest night to get in anywhere as a walk-in. And Bistro Don Giovanni is always in demand, so a reservation is pretty much necessary there, too.

My pick for a fabulous restaurant with great food and the best view in town is Auberge du Soleil. It's also very romantic. Reservations are a must.

Mustard's is a Napa institution with great casual dining and wonderful food. Try their Mongolian pork chop and lemon meringue pie if it is on the menu!

The Napa Valley is easy to get around. From the city of Napa to Calistoga takes around 30 minutes if there is no traffic (which is often a problem in the summer). The Silverado Trail runs parallel to highway 29, and often has less traffic, so try to use that when you can. Napa Valley is around 30 miles long and 3 miles wide, so everything is packed in pretty tight and right next to each other with 2 main roads running through it.

Sounds like you have a great trip planned!

Try this link for approximate driving distances-
http://www.napavalley.com/visitorsinfo/mileage.html

Keep Pearl on your list of possible restaurants also. It is a casual restaurant but everything is excellent. Fresh. Friendly. A local favorite. You may want to make a list of restaurants and their phone numbers so you can change your dinner plans if you're having fun in one location that's too far from your dinner spot. There are so many good restaurants that you can hardly go wrong. (Although there are some places I would avoid as not worth the prices).
And yes, I agree Auberge is really fabulous with the best view in the Valley.

Thank you, thank you, for all your great suggestions. That is a terrific idea to keep all the phone numbers of the restaurants on-hand!

Over the weekend, we decided to keep our Mustard's res for lunch, but moved it later (2 p.m.) to give us more time.

So, all that's left is dinner for Sat & Sun. I'll research both Pearl and Auberge du Soleil and (crossing my fingers that I can get it) make reservations for one/both of those.

If not, you all have given such great advice for many others (Bistro Don Giovanni, Hurley's, Redd, etc.)

Thanks again for the posts and great expert advice!

We are in Napa and I wanted to give a trip report, although our trip is not quite comeplete (one more day to go)

Yesterday, we started with the opus one tasting. Got lost from Sacramento (and a little car sick). Do not follow mapquest to Opus One. Wrong directions.

Once we got there, the grounds were very beautiful and the weather was perfect, sunny and cool.

Then, it was lunch at Bistro Jeanty. More casual than I expected (which I liked) and very good food. I had the pork chops.

Then, we did the Del Dotto tour. They gave us WAY too much wine and we ended up spending WAY too much on wine. But, they were really good wines, though.

We went to Pearl for dinner. The chicken verde was great. We don't get polenta in Hawaii very often. The ahi sandwich was just so-so. Very fresh tasting, but a little bland.

Today we started with the Cakebread sensory tour. That was educational w/o being fed too much wine.

We then visited Revana and Dutch Henry. We loved the Revana 2004 Cab.

Lunch was at Mustards. The calamari was superb.

Dinner was our best suprise. Kelli No Bad Days Cafe in downtown was a great recommendation (thanks elnap29!!) The wine (Rutherford 04 Cab), the atmosphere was fun and the food (tomato basil soup, thai spinach salad, taquitos, chicken satay, scallops) were all excellent.

One more day to go. We're going on Platypus Tours, so no driving, which will be nice.

Thanks again for all the recommendations! It made our 2nd Napa experience a much more full (tummies) and rich one!

Thanks for posting back! Glad you had fun at Kellie's No Bad Days Cafe.
Looking forward to hear how the rest of your trip goes!

The last day, we took the tour with Platypus Tours. Our driver Valerie was relatively new (8 months) but seem to be very keen on where to go and already made some good relationships with wineries.

We visited, Arger Martucci, Jessup, Paoletti, an antique store winery?, and the new castle (V. Sattui?) that is still being built. Being that this was our third day, we didn't buy as much wine as the other two, but still had a nice time. Of those, I liked Jessup the best for the wine and joined their wine club. My first one!

We did have a wonderful time, but as with most vacations, it's great to be home.

Thank you, again, for helping make our time in Napa an enjoyable one. We feel much more comfortable driving around now and have a good feel for the place. Maybe next year, we'll be back. Until then...cheers!