The Best Restaurant in The Bay Area, California

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The Bay Area is home to popular, innovative restaurants such as Chez Panisse in Berkeley and Commis in Oakland—for which reservations must be made well in advance. Expect an emphasis on locally grown produce, hormone-free meats, and California wines. Many Marin cafés don't serve dinner, and dinner service ends on the early side. (No 10 pm reservations in that neck of the woods.)

Adega

$$$$ Fodor's Choice

Previously San Jose’s only Michelin-starred restaurant (it had one prior to closing in 2023, only to then reopen in the same space a year later) and the most ambitious destination for Portuguese-influenced cuisine in the Bay Area is this fantastic tasting menu-only spot. At around seven courses with a few extra bites, each dinner weave together meat and seafood plates, where a delicate squid salad comes with a warm cilantro sauce, before leading to a slow-roasted suckling pig belly with sweet potato puree and collard green puree. Each plate is meticulously composed and presented. Adega also has two terrific casual offshoots in San Jose for pastries (Pastelaria Adega) and casual Portuguese cuisine (Petiscos Adega).

1614 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose, CA, 95116, USA
408-926–9075
Known For
  • High-level fine dining in a city that isn't known for it
  • Enormous selection of Portuguese wines
  • Intimate, refined setting with several unique artistic touches
Restaurant Details
Closed Mon. and Tues. No lunch
Reservations essential

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