26 Best Restaurants in Napa and Sonoma, California

Skilled baristas churn out a dizzying array of coffee drinks—drip, cold brew, all the fave espresso options—in a clean downtown space with white walls and teal wainscoting. Pastries, avocado toast, quiche, and egg-inflected sandwiches (some vegan or gluten-free) are the breakfast hits, with banh mi and the like added for lunch.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pink on the outside, with tutti-frutti walls on the inside, Sebastopol’s hands-down favorite for all-natural ice cream and sorbet often appears in feature stories listing the nation's best shops. Mimi's Mud (espresso ice cream, cookies, chocolate chips, and homemade fudge) and strawberry made from local fruit are among the popular ice creams, with lemon, raspberry, and mango among the palate-cleansing sorbets.

The Petaluma-based owners of this hip-homey counter-service restaurant pay homage to Swedish street food, whose influences, it turns out, include Middle Eastern cuisine. Seasonal ingredients, for the most part locally produced and raised, find their way into kebabs, Swedish meatballs, Wiener schnitzel, gravlax, herring, and korv kiosk (grilled frankfurters or sausages), all prepared with élan.

There's almost always a line outside the bakery next door to Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro. The textbook golden-brown croissants star, and the brownies, macarons, kouign-amanns, artisanal breads, and savory sandwiches are equally alluring.

Calistoga's flashy 19th-century entrepreneur Sam Brannan built the depot in 1868 to receive well-to-do spa patrons, but it was looking careworn until a 21st-century equivalent restored the wood-frame building, connected by a boardwalk to vintage railroad cars. One of four dining options amid the Calistoga Depot complex, which includes a few bars, the deli serves plant- and meat-based sandwiches, salads, and wood-fired pizzas.

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.

Sommelier Matt Stamp and restaurant vet Ryan Stetins opened this combination restaurant, wine bar, and wineshop that’s a hot gathering spot for its youthful vibe and eclectic menu. Starters might include deviled eggs, beef tartare, yellow tuna crudo, or harissa lamb, with fried chicken, pork loin, local rockfish, or the Compline burger—best enjoyed with duck-fat fries and, per Stamp, Champagne—as an entrée.

The fuel is more than petrol at this gas station–convenience store whose redbrick exterior recalls the heyday of Route 66 travel. The shop inside sells hot dogs, fresh scones from nearby R+D Kitchen, gourmet chocolates, and (in summer) ice cream—gas up, grab some picnic items, and be ever-so-merrily on your way.

A longtime Bay Area caterer opened this retail shop serving soups, salads, sandwiches, and a few entrées to go or eat indoors or on the front patio. Supplementing staples like turkey, tri-tip, and roasted portobello sandwiches—the Caesar salad is a town favorite—are surprise items, says the owner, "we just feel like cooking, like pot roast when it rains or Thai wraps on sunny days."

Colorful on-a-stick natural fruit bars and ice cream bars known as paletas in Mexico are the main draws at the equally brilliant-hued roadside building where they and a few other sweet frozen delights are made. Mango, pineapple, lime, and guava are popular among the fruit-flavored items; rice pudding's the sleeper hit on the ice cream side.

With Edith Piaf as his background track, Dennis McInnich spent several months toiling to perfect the macaron, the favorite cookie of his wife, Aubrey. Success selling the resulting confections at farmers' markets and elsewhere spurred the couple to open this shop and café serving their brightly colored treats, along with sweet and savory crepes and a few brunch and lunch items.

Thanks to multiple plugs by Oprah, each day's fresh batch of English muffins often sells out, but the scones, croissants, breads, and other baked goods also inspire. Breakfast brings pastries and sandwiches with scrambled eggs, cheddar, and bacon between a buttermilk biscuit; the lunch menu expands to include soups, salads, pizzas, and more sandwiches—turkey-pesto focaccia, ciabatta chicken-Asiago panini, and vegan veggies among them. There are other Model Bakery locations in downtown Napa and Yountville.

An architecturally significant century-old bank now houses the Nimble & Finn's artisanal ice cream parlor and a small room with historical Guerneville displays. Along with cups and cones of ice cream handmade from local organic dairy products, the shop sells cakes, candy, shakes, floats, and coffee drinks.

Built in 1881 as a general store, Oakville Grocery carries high-end groceries and prepared foods. On summer weekends, customers stocking up on picnic provisions—meats, cheeses, breads, pizzas, and gourmet sandwiches—pack the place, but during the week it serves as a mellow pit stop to sip an espresso out front, picnic out back, or taste wines at Oakville Wine Merchant next door.

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.

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.

The scent of waffle cones baking draws patrons into this family-run parlor serving artisanal ice cream made fresh daily. Peach melba, Oreos and cream, and salted caramel are among the alternating flavors that include sorbets and sometimes sherbets, and always vegan options.

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.

The sticky buns at Wild Flour are legendary in western Sonoma—they're often all gone by the early afternoon on weekends—as are the rye bread and sock-it-to-me scones in flavors like maple banana pecan and Meyer lemon blueberry poppyseed. The coffee's good, too.