195 Best Restaurants in Napa and Sonoma, California

Chef Joshua Smookler and his wife Heidy He, who formerly ran a foodie-favorite New York City ramen shop and later the upmarket Animo in Sonoma, opened this white-walled roadside establishment whose menu favors painstakingly conceived pizzas and pasta dishes. Starters like scallop or tuna crudo and a Bibb salad with produce from a garden steps away whet the appetite for the Italian fare and shareable entrées that might include lamb saddle, whole chicken, or a dry-aged porterhouse.

Northern California's diverse farm-fresh and ocean-fresh ingredients and global culinary influences converge exuberantly at this brick-walled bistro with brass-colored wire chandeliers, teal walls, and plush mahogany-brown booths. The food, much of it prepared by wood fire, matches the polished yet informal atmosphere, with pickled vegetables, oysters, and caviar whetting the appetite for shareable starters like ceviche, fried calamari, and roasted beets, followed by entrées that might include grilled fish or hanger steak, a pasta plate, or a heritage pork chop.

An upmarket Old West–themed haven for quality slabs paired with muscular cocktails and tannic Cabs, this two-story steak house on Healdsburg Plaza's north side takes its name from a 19th-century Texas Ranger turned cattleman. Appetizers and small plates might include crispy mushrooms with chimichurri, raw oysters, or shrimp cocktail, with sufficient seafood, pasta, and vegetarian entrées to placate diners forgoing the splendid cuts of red meat.

Shortly after graduating from a local college's culinary program, chef Carlos Mojica opened this Latin American–Caribbean restaurant with a handful of tables inside and out front. Loyalists pine for chicken or pork sliders, halibut crudo, and pupusas (corn tortillas stuffed with cheese and pork or vegetables), a prelude to entrées like fish tacos with chili-yogurt sauce and Caribbean-style paella suffused with smoky-garlicky tomato broth.

Asian tapestries, Nepalese tunes, images of precipitous peaks, and the fragrant scent of curries transport patrons of this storefront restaurant to the Himalayas, at least for an hour. Locals enamored of the flavorful cuisine and solicitous service often pack the place for dinner, served indoors and on the adjoining patio.

Sonoma County food lovers and national food writers are among the fans of Healdsburg’s premier butcher shop, whose products include hand-crafted salumi and jerky and other snacks. You can order a charcuterie board or sandwiches, pizzas, steak, and a lone salad to go or enjoy at tables inside or out.

From the limestone floor to the cedar walls and cypress tabletops, most of the materials used to build this downtown Napa restaurant specializing in seasonally changing, multicourse kaiseki meals were imported from Japan, as was the ceramic dinnerware. Delicate preparations with sea urchin, Hokkaido scallops, bluefin tuna, and slow-roasted Wagyu tenderloin are typical of the offerings on the prix-fixe menu, which also includes impeccably fresh, artistically presented sashimi and sushi courses.

The chefs behind this open-kitchen storefront eatery have mastered the art of fusing northern Thai and Northern California techniques without sacrificing authenticity. Hits such as whole fried chili-pepper fish, green papaya salad, and curry-marinated duck breast captivate even before the first bite with their fragrant aromas, colorful presentation, and obviously fresh locally cultivated ingredients.

Todd Humphries has overseen swank haute-cuisine kitchens in Manhattan, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley, but he focuses on multicultural comfort plates at his high-ceilinged industrial-contemporary restaurant downtown. The signature dishes include a silky cream of mushroom soup, flatbreads, pho, Vietnamese noodle salad, duck banh mi sandwiches (go for the voluptuous duck jus add-on), and sweet, spicy, and succulent chicken wings, among many other crowd-pleasers that keep this place hopping even in the off-season.

Born in the Azores and raised in Sonoma, chef-owner Manuel Azevedo serves cuisine inspired by his native Portugal in this warmly decorated spot with a heated patio out front. The wood-oven roasted fish is always worth trying, and there are usually boldly flavored pork dishes, along with a casserole, pot roast, stew, salted cod, and other hearty fare.

A bright-yellow slice of France in downtown Glen Ellen, this combination pâtisserie, boulangerie, and café takes its name from its husband-and-wife owners, Pascal and Pascale Merle. Pascal whips up croissants, breads, turnovers, and sweet treats like napoleons, galettes, and éclairs, along with quiches, potpies, and other savory fare; Pascale creates a cordial environment for customers to enjoy them.

West County's most handsome restaurant, softly lit, with a fireplace, an open-trestle ceiling, wooden floors and tables, and long mauve-cushioned banquette benches running down the middle, hides in plain sight at the Dawn Ranch resort. The cuisine is ultimately modern American, but the lead chefs' South American influences reveal themselves in small plates that might include a fried tapioca and cheese appetizer or large ones like Wagyu striploin with house-made chimichurri.

Christopher Kostow gained fame as the award-winning chef of the Restaurant at Meadowood, the essence of Napa Valley haute fine dining, but the fare and mood are more down-to-earth at the order-at-the-counter deli he and his marketing-whiz wife, Martina Kostow, opened at the Oxbow Public Market. Bagels and bagel sandwiches anchor the breakfast menu, with pastrami and smoked-whitefish-salad sandwiches appearing for lunch and early dinner, along with matzo ball soup, latkes, and other stalwarts.

A vintage-style neon sign outside this bungalow restaurant announces "Great Food," and the chefs deliver with well-plated dishes served in two buildings, one a Craftsman gem, or on street-side patios that are especially festive during weekend brunch. The offerings at women-owned and -run Lovina change often, but a recent menu's chicken breast and gnocchi with heirloom tomato and vodka sauce and seared wild halibut with gnocchi and wild mushrooms are typical of the imaginative cuisine.

The strip-mall location a mile southeast of Windsor's town green only adds to the cachet of this what-a-find combination charcuterie shop and bistro whose croque monsieur a local magazine anointed Sonoma County's best (madame's mighty fine, too). Chef-owner Marc-Henri Jean-Baptiste's Haitian-French roots, training under culinary icons Daniel Boulud and Alain Ducasse, and affinity for his local purveyors' "European mentality of respect for the environment and traditional agriculture practices" all inform Maison Porcella's dreamy cuisine.

The location of Dustin Valette's farm-to-table restaurant holds a special place in his heart: the bar and its Wine Wall taps dispensing mostly Sonoma County wines occupy the space where the Geyserville native's great-grandfather ran a bakery a century ago. Valette describes the menu—aged meats creatively adorned, local fish with recently plucked vegetables—as a "love letter" to regional agriculture, a point driven home by the large, bright paintings of farm and culinary activity hanging above the dining-room floor.

The redwood-timbered main dining space of this comfort-food haven recalls the 19th-century heyday of the former sawmill (later a grist mill) it occupies, though when the weather's nice most patrons take their meals on a plant-filled outdoor deck with timeless Sonoma Creek views. Culinary influences from Latin America to Southeast Asia underlie dishes that might include butternut squash risotto, poached salmon, and a porterhouse pork chop with a chipotle glaze.

Seasonal pies that include Meyer-lemon-blueberry baked custard are the specialty of this white-walled, brightly lit pie palace with a few tables and barstool window seating. The bakers use heritage grains like buckwheat and farro in the crusts, filling them with local fruits and other ingredients, and, if desired, topping the ensemble with ice cream in flavors from Swiss chocolate and vanilla bean to Thai tea, salted caramel, and cornflake maple.

Northern Thailand–born chef-owner Lalita Souksamlane decorated her Wine Country restaurant with the same upscale flair—Thai wall ornaments, ornate wallpaper, cushy leatherette chairs, quartz tables adorned with roses—as her longtime San Francisco flagship. The decor signals that in their delicacy and finesse, her aromatic entrées (some garnished with orchid buds) are on par with similarly bedecked fine-dining establishments.

Regulars of this southern Petaluma "daytime café" with indoor and outdoor seating rave about its eastern Mediterranean–inflected cuisine—immediately downplaying their enthusiasm lest this quiet gem become more popular. The menu changes often, but mainstays include shakshuka (a tomato-based stew with baked eggs) and a lamb burger dripping with fennel tzatziki.

Longtime resident and community favorite Mags van der Veen runs this bakery and gourmet shop, for years called Big Bottom Market, where she serves soups, salads, and sandwiches with well-thought-out flavor combos. The sweet and savory biscuits are her variation on the recipe of a previous owner whose mix made Oprah's Favorite Things list.

Chef-owner Leah Scurto has won awards for creations like the Mush-a-Roni (pepperoni, cremini), the Nico (olive oil, mozzarella, roasted garlic, Parmesan), and the spicy Old Grey Beard (two kinds of cheese, sausage, Calabrian peppers, honey, orange zest). She serves her pies—plus salads, calzones, meatballs, and other items—in a minimally decorated strip-mall storefront with a spacious entryway patio.

A cavernous casual-chic restaurant with a contempo-barn interior and wraparound patio steps from neighboring vineyards, Press has long been a preferred upvalley stop for a top-shelf cocktail followed by a well-prepared meal paired with a high-scoring local wine. Chef-partner Philip Tessier, formerly of Yountville's The French Laundry and Bouchon Bistro and New York City's Le Bernardin, prepares refined five- and seven-course tasting menus, much of whose produce is grown nearby.

A wife and husband with upper-echelon fine-dining credits run this bakery (set to relocate during 2025 from its original site at 149 Healdsburg Avenue) that the New York Times lauded as one of America's best. The recognition confirmed what locals have known since the shop opened about the ingredients, craft, and imagination that go into creating the bread, cakes, cookies, and pastries sold here.

Chef-owner Rachel "Ray Ray" Williams's Southern background, education at the Culinary Institute of America, stint at Meadowood resort, and experience as a graphic designer all inform the Austin-style gourmet tacos she serves in a stone-walled old building. Williams first gained notice at the St. Helena's Farmers Market for breakfast tacos whose novel combinations, high-quality ingredients, and balanced flavors and colors inspire pilgrimages from fans throughout the Bay Area.

The chef at this café, wine bar, and bottle shop prepares the primarily small bites—among them yellowtail crudo, ricotta tartine, duck-liver mousse, and baba ghanoush—in a semi-open kitchen, while her sommelier husband and his cheerful front-of-house team suggest pairings from the local-to-international natural wines the couple champion. With bar seating, high-tops, and several tables, the space is too big to feel like you're at a friend's party, but that's the vibe.

Possibly the most romantic roost for brunch, lunch, or dinner in all the Wine Country is a terrace seat at the Auberge du Soleil resort's illustrious restaurant, and the Mediterranean-inflected cuisine more than matches the dramatic vineyard views. The prix-fixe dinner menu (three or four courses), relying mainly on local produce, might include caviar or diver scallop starters, delicately prepared fish or vegetable middle-course options, and mains like prime beef pavé, spiced lamb loin, or Japanese Wagyu A5.

The 1877 farmhouse that gives this restaurant its name contains two warmly lit dining rooms, one with a wraparound mural depicting the founding family's five generations in Sonoma County agriculture. It's a fitting flourish, given the emphasis in the featured tasting menu (à la carte also available) on produce and proteins so "hyper-local" that the inn's gardener cultivates many of the former on-site and one of the owners raises some of the latter on a nearby farm.

Pick up town gossip along with your beverage—regular, espresso, and cold-brew coffees; various teas, enlivened kefir, and wellness beet, matcha, and turmeric lattes—at this combination shop and café committed to green and sustainable practices. Gluten-free bread and bagels (regular, too) are available for all sandwiches.

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.