48 Best Restaurants in Napa and Sonoma, California

Ernesto Martinez, this stone-walled, high-ceilinged eatery's Mexico City–born executive chef and co-owner, often puts a Latin spin on farm-to-table American classics. Although he plays things straight with the chopped salad, Champagne-battered fish-and-chips, and baby back ribs, the organic fried chicken comes with cheddar-jalapeño cornbread, and the fried calamari owes its piquancy to the accompanying peppers, nopales cactus, chipotle aioli, and avocado-tomatillo dip.

The owner of this bright storefront restaurant and marketplace across from Sonoma Plaza's southern edge escorts her customers on a round-the-world journey via street-food mashups like tandoori “tacos” on naan and healthful “blue zone” salads for lunch, retaining many of these items for “supper,” which might also include berbere-spiced chicken thighs. The through line on the dishes is that all are baked (nothing’s deep fried), their ingredients from reputable purveyors employing sustainable growing practices.

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.

Bookended by culinary gardens and constructed of corrugated-metal former shipping containers, redwoods felled by wildfires, and other recycled materials, this 3½-acre open-air hangout has a block-party feel, especially at weekend brunch or when area musicians perform. The gardens (like the restaurant temporarily occupying a site slated for development into a hotel-commercial complex) inspire the seasonal comfort-food menu, with staples like fish tacos, grilled chicken wings, and plant-based variations appearing year-round.

Best for lunch but also open for dinner, Palooza pleases with many beers on tap, jazzed-up pub grub, and an often-packed covered outdoor patio. Pulled-pork and crispy chicken sandwiches and beer-battered fish and fries are among the popular items, with prawn and braised beef tacos and shredded kale salads with sliced apples for those seeking lighter fare.

A few blocks south of Healdsburg Plaza at the busy roundabout, Parish's chefs whip up beignets, gumbo, muffulettas, and heapin' po'boys—from fried oyster, shrimp, and catfish to roast beef, turkey, and ham and cheese—along with other New Orleans delights. Borderline decadent breakfasts served inside a white-trimmed yellow house or on its patio include bananas Foster French toast, egg po'boys, and the crawfish and andouille omelet slathered in Creole sauce.

Tourists and local loyalists mingle at this restaurant whose perpetually in-motion chefs fry, barbecue, and smoke their way through a Southern-tinged menu that also includes Italian chicken soup and vinegar chicken. The baby back ribs, fried-chicken sandwich, cheddar-cheese burger, wedge salad, deviled eggs, and fried pickles score high with patrons, who somehow make room for the Q lime pie, brown-butter chocolate brownie, and other desserts.

The makers of Pliny the Elder and Younger operate this cavernous brewpub with a vast lawn and outdoor patio on the site of their state-of-the-art brewing facility. Choose among 20 beers on tap to wash down beer-compatible pub grub—chicken wings with Pliny sauce, a malted-bacon burger with cheddar fondue, fish-and-chips, sliders and sandwiches, and a few salads.

Dark-wood walls, subdued lighting, and red-leather banquettes make for a perpetually clubby mood at this Rutherford hangout whose patio bar is a popular spot for drinks and appetizers. Many of the entrées served inside—steaks, burgers, fish, rotisserie chicken, and barbecued pork ribs—emerge from an oak-fired grill operated by master technicians.

Tourists, locals, and spa guests—some of the latter in bathrobes after treatments—assemble inside this casual resort restaurant or on its extensive patio for breakfast, lunch, bar snacks, or dinner. Lunch options include thin-crust pizzas, sandwiches, a cheddar burger, and entrées such as chicken paillard, with the burger reappearing for dinner along with fish, steak, the house-made pasta of the day, and similar fare.

Decorated in shades of brown and white and softly lit at night, the Grille is the type of spot where old-schoolers start a meal by washing down oysters on the half shell with a stiff gin martini or cut to the chase with vodka oyster shooters. The menu at lunch and dinner covers all the bases with grilled, baked, or roasted beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and fish dishes, plus risotto and pasta plates.

Joel Gott of nearby Gott's Roadside purchased a downtown gas station and kept the pumps humming, spiffing up the interior retro style and adding shaded outdoor seating. Start the day with quiche, a chipotle bacon and egg biscuit, or avocado-and-egg or smoked-salmon toast, or drop by for lunch sandwiches, salads, and by-the-slice pizzas.

Whimsical art and brightly painted walls set a jolly tone at this casual eatery whose assets include the verdant rear patio. Waffles, eggs Benedict and ham on a Model Bakery English muffin, and the soft-scramble buttermilk biscuit sandwich are among the breakfast hits, with grilled cheese sandwiches done four ways (traditional, chicken avocado, smoked ham, and Waygu steak) and a kale and chicken Caesar salad steady crowd-pleasers at lunch.

The owners of a local-fave tri-tip food trolley opened this comfort-food restaurant in a 90-year-old building originally a gas station and later an inn. In addition to tri-tip, the New Orleans–inspired menu consists of small bites like white-cheddar grits and larger bites that include smoke-braised short ribs, steelhead trout, fried chicken, and a grass-fed burger with cheese and tomato jam.

A clean, white-walled nook ideal for a seafood-oriented lunch or light dinner, Trillium serves oysters raw or cooked (some of the latter pepped up with jalapeño or chipotle bourbon butter), a heavy-cream seafood chowder, hamachi crudo, tinned-fish platters, and a show-stopping crab roll on house-made brioche. The wines range from ones produced down the street to European and South American bottlings; the draft beer selection tilts Californian.

Clam shacks and roadside eateries of days gone by inspired this order-at-the-counter covered-patio restaurant serving ceviche, fried oysters, Louis salads, crab sandwiches, spicy tuna bowls, fish-and-chips, and other seafood-oriented comfort food. Despite the lack of a place to swim, a carefree summer-at-the-pool vibe prevails at this second venture by the Valley Bar + Bottle team, whose penchant for wines from eco-minded, family-owned, small-batch producers shows in the well-priced list here.

Salads, several hot sandwiches, and filling signature entrées like the chicken potpie, French dip, and spaghetti and meatballs appear on this pale-yellow and lime-green eatery's lunch and dinner menus. Sunday brunch is elaborate, and breakfast the rest of the week—specialties include hot creamy polenta and house-made granola—is American down-home solid.

"The Wurst is the best" is the motto at this glass-fronted fast-food joint with a menu of sausages and dogs with specific toppings like the Detroit Polish (with sauerkraut, beer mustard, and onion rings) or augmented with (choose two) caramelized onions, sweet peppers, hot peppers, or kraut. Burgers are another specialty, with the blue-cheese and smoked bacon and barbecue ones from a local beef purveyor among the top sellers patrons enjoy at communal and single tables inside and on the front patio.