20 Best Restaurants in Napa and Sonoma, California

Giovanni Scala opened this boisterous roadhouse restaurant in the mid-1990s, and it's still a hangout of Napans who appreciate its Cal-Italian bistro cuisine, prepared with flair by Scott Warner, Scala's executive chef and partner. Warner augments the greatest-hits lineup—fritto misto (deep-fried calamari, onions, fennel, and shrimp), spinach ravioli with lemon cream or tomato sauce, slow-braised lamb shank, and wood-fired pizzas—with daily specials based on seasonal ingredients.

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.

A portrait of restaurant consultant and Campanella co-owner Tom Rutledge's grandmother large in the covered patio seating area of his stylish yet snug restaurant inspired by East Coast Italian-American "red sauce" cuisine. The chef's 21st-century remixes of classics like the ones Nonna prepared in Brooklyn include marinara meatballs, butter beans, eggplant Parmesan, steamed clams with linguine, chicken cacciatore, and gnocchi with Bolognese ragout.

Cookbook author and Iron Chef judge Domenica Catelli returned home to revive her family's American-Italian restaurant, a Geyserville fixture. Contemporary abstract paintings, reclaimed-wood furnishings, and muted gray and chocolate-brown walls signal the changing times, but you'll find good-lovin' echoes of traditional cuisine in the sturdy meat sauce that accompanies the signature lasagna, made with paper-thin noodles and a ricotta-and-herb-cheese filling.

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.

A curved marble bar spotlit by contemporary art-glass pendants adds a touch of style to this downtown restaurant whose northern Italian cuisine pleases with understated sophistication. Mussels with house-made sausage in a spicy tomato broth, chopped salad with pancetta and pecorino, and the daily changing risotto are among the dishes regulars revere.

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.

The brightly lit dining room's mural map of the Naples coastline emphasizes the chef's focus on frutti di mare (seafood) at this downtown homage to southern Italian cuisine from the folks behind valley-fave Bistro Don Giovanni. Raw oysters, cooked whole fish, tuna carpaccio, and pork chop Milanese rank among the hits, along with pizzas hot out of a wood-fired oven.

The broad open kitchen of the second Sonoma Valley restaurant of Ari Weiswasser (who also oversees the kitchen at Glen Ellen Star), which opened to much fanfare in 2025, anchors a brasserie-like dining space flanked on opposite ends by a bar and a rough-hewn stone fireplace. Dishes of fresh-daily house-made pasta laced lightly with earthy sauces like chicken liver ragout vie for attention with well-portioned entrées like half-roasted chicken, a Duroc pork chop Milanese, and whole grilled fish.

A neighborhood trattoria with cream-yellow walls, zinc-top tables, and colorful artwork and banners, Baci bustles with tourists during high season, but after things die down, locals continue dropping by for pasta dishes, gnocchi, risotto, and osso buco, saltimbocca, and other stick-to-your-ribs Italian standards. The Iranian-born chef-owner, Shari Sarabi, applies a pan-Mediterranean sensibility to area-sourced, mostly organic ingredients, and his dishes satisfy without being overly showy.

After Napa Valley fixture Tra Vigne lost its lease, many staffers regrouped a few miles north at the restaurant (the titular Kitchen) of the Brasswood complex, which also includes a bakery, shops, and a wine-tasting room. Along with dishes developed for the new location, the chefs incorporate Tra Vigne favorites such as mozzarella-stuffed arancini (rice balls) into the Mediterranean-leaning menu.

A family-owned restaurant with tables lining wainscoted walls, Bricco aims for old-school authenticity in both its Italian cuisine and no-pretense hospitality. Although the menu isn't as massive as its Italian-American counterparts of eras past, the chefs fire up the greatest hits: arancini, carpaccio, and stracciatella soup starters; penne with vodka-tomato sauce, four-cheese ravioli, and seafood linguine first courses; and veal scaloppine, chicken Parmigiano, and osso buco mains.

Although it occasionally ventures out for special events, this walk-up food truck serving Italian-inflected fast food has a steady gig outside the Clif Family Tasting Room. From 11:30 to 4 (until 6 on Wednesday), order soups, salads, panini, or a mushroom, porchetta, or vegetarian bruschetta to go or to enjoy in the tasting room or on its back patio.

Long a locals' favorite for traditional Italian-American cuisine, this restaurant has a warmly lit, often packed dining room and a heated back patio with Petaluma River views. The chef, who trained in Italy, prepares several pasta dishes a night, along with mains that might include veal scaloppini or saltimbocca, roasted chicken stuffed with arugula and pancetta, and pork tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce.

After three decades of serving Tuscan-inspired cuisine, this restaurant with a plant-filled heated and tented back patio has developed a homey patina enhanced by brickwork, a fountain, family photos, and other old-school touches. Likewise with the food, you won't find belabored technique or froufrou preparations, only soulful renditions of northern Italy's greatest hits—veal scallopini, mushroom ravioli, pappardelle with rich duck ragout—from two generations of family recipes.

A dining area with hardwood floors, a pressed-tin ceiling, and exposed brick walls provides a fitting setting for the rustic cuisine at this Geyserville mainstay. Chef Dino Bugica studied with artisanal cooks in Italy before opening this restaurant specializing in wood-fired pizzas and house-cured meats, with a few salads and meaty main courses rounding out the menu.

A chef formerly with the Stark organization (Willi's Seafood and others) opened this casual restaurant—a good bet for families—whose decor of rich pastels sets a placid tone. Hits here include Parmesan arancini, fried calamari, and burrata with lemon honey starters, as well as shrimp diavolo pasta and risotto, chicken, fish, and beef entrées.

Thin-crust New Haven–style pizzas—including one with goat cheese and a piquant entry with Calabrian chili and honey—top the bill at this funky, boisterous "chalkboard menu" restaurant with wooden-top tables. Chef-owner Rebecca White, who cut her teeth on catering and food-truck gigs and won a Food Network competition, also prepares pasta dishes (tagliatelle with mushrooms and pancetta among them) and baked items like lasagna and chicken, eggplant, and sausage Parmesan.

Chef-owner and Napa native Tyler Rodde is ever on the lookout for fresh produce to incorporate into his rustic southern Italian cuisine. His restaurant, a brick-walled contemporary space with tall windows and wooden tables, is a lively spot to sample thin-crust pizzas and house-made salumi and pasta.

An offshoot of nearby Stellina Pronto! Italian bakery, café, and pizzeria (23 Kentucky Street), this storefront deli, market, and bottle shop sells salads, sandwiches, artisanal cheese and charcuterie boards, and bruschettas that might seem a little pricey until it dawns on you how good everything is. Order your meal to go or enjoy at one of the few tables.