13 Best Restaurants in Yountville, Napa and Sonoma

Escargots, cassoulet, steak au poivre (pepper steak), and other French classics are prepared with precision inside this tan-brick country bistro whose flower-filled window boxes, extra-wide shutters, and red-and-white-striped awning hint at the old-world flair and joie de vivre that infuse the place. Regulars often start with the rich tomato soup in a flaky puff pastry before proceeding to sole meunière or coq au vin, completing the French sojourn with crème brûlée or other authentic dessert.

At this softly lit, exposed-redbrick downtown trattoria occupying sections of the 19th-century former Groezinger Winery, the chefs transform local, seasonally changing ingredients into regional Italian cuisine. Staples like ricotta gnocchi with old-hen tomato sauce and the short rib smoked and braised in espresso agrodolce (sweet-and-sour sauce) and served with creamy ancient-grain polenta are rustic yet sophisticated.

The team that created The French Laundry is also behind this place, where everything—the zinc-topped bar, antique sconces, suave waitstaff, and escargots, French onion soup, and salmon and beef tartare starters—could have come straight from a Parisian bistro. Sole Provençale, pan-seared flat iron steak with caramelized shallots, and mussels steamed with white wine, saffron, and Dijon mustard—the latter two served with crispy addictive fries—are among the perfectly executed entrées.

Napa Valley culinary star and longtime Ciccio patron Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood and The Charter Oak is the labor-of-love executive chef at this insiders' favorite for modern Italian. The seasonal growing cycles of Meadowood's herb and produce garden influence the menu, with focaccia appetizers, pasta dishes (including a must-try gnudi when offered), a few wood-fired pizzas, and pork chop Milanese among the likely offerings.

Inside an ivy-laced old stone building and with good reason atop many a Napa Valley visitor's bucket list, chef Thomas Keller's destination restaurant generally lives up to the hype with intricate yet not overthought cuisine. Some courses on the two prix-fixe menus, one of which highlights vegetables, rely on luxe ingredients such as white quail or shima aji (striped jack); others take humble elements like carrots or fava beans and elevate them to art.

Chef Thomas Keller's culinary ventures include part ownership of Regiis Ova Caviar, whose output is often paired with sommelier-selected Champagnes and sparkling wines at his fancy-casual indoor-outdoor restaurant. In addition to the ever-evolving menu's multiple caviar options, small bites and snacks like Wagyu tartlets and hamachi with finger limes might whet the appetite for barbecued quail, a pork katsu sandwich, and other slightly larger plates.

At this low-key southern Yountville dining room, superstar chef Thomas Keller offers a daily-changing, fixed-price multicourse menu whose mains might include smoked beef brisket with baked beans and coleslaw or sesame chicken with radish kimchi and fried rice. Ad Hoc also serves a small but decadent weekend brunch, and the Addendum annex, in a small building behind the restaurant, sells boxed lunches to go (ultra-moist buttermilk fried chicken) a few days a week from late spring to early fall.

A roadside stop 1¼ miles north of Yountville for specialty cocktails, casual lunches, and evening fine dining, Brix shares ownership with Kelleher Family Vineyards, whose Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines surround the restaurant on three sides. Pan-seared fish, house-made pasta, risotto, fried chicken locals adore, and juicy Brix burgers with smoked cheddar and bacon marmalade appear on the lunch and dinner menus, with king and queen cuts of prime rib the crowd-pleasers on Sunday night.

In a modern space radiating offhand elegance, the Bardessono's restaurant seduces with sophisticated flavors, many from fruits, vegetables, and herbs grown in the hotel's on-site culinary garden. Although the cuisine is ultimately modern American, the chef might incorporate other techniques and ingredients depending on the dish.

Cindy Pawlcyn’s restaurant fills day and night with fans of her hearty cuisine, equal parts updated renditions of traditional American dishes—what Pawlcyn dubs "deluxe truck stop classics"—and fanciful contemporary fare. Barbecued baby back pork ribs and a lemon-lime tart piled high with brown-sugar meringue fall squarely in the first category, and sweet corn tamales with tomatillo-avocado salsa represent the latter.

As the name suggests, the chefs at this restaurant with an expansive patio often packed on weekends are willing to experiment, starting with sushi plates that include spicy hiramasa (yellowtail kingfish) rolls with rainbow-trout caviar. Cedar-plank salmon, wild-mushroom meat loaf, the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich topped with Swiss, and a slow-roasted pork sandwich served with coleslaw are perennial favorites.

Regionally farmed fish and other foraged and cultivated Northern California ingredients go into seasonal plates, turned out in an open kitchen that faces a bar serving large-format cocktails and wines by up-and-coming producers and Wine Country mainstays. St. Helena–based designer Erin Martin supplied the mildly offbeat interiors, though most patrons dine on the Tuscan-theme courtyard patio in good weather.

Crystal chandeliers and fountains worthy of a French château supply the pizzazz at Restoration Hardware's street-side café, and the all-day menu's starters (charcuterie, crispy artichokes, burrata with charred peppers and sourdough), salads, and mains (from a burger modeled on one from Chicago's Au Cheval restaurant to whole grilled branzino) easily live up to it. The prosciutto is flown in from Italy, the greens are ever-so-fresh, and the plating impresses.