38 Best Restaurants in Napa and Sonoma, California

A participant in the Slow Food movement, Central Market serves creative, upscale Cal-Mediterranean dishes—many of whose ingredients come from the restaurant's organic farm—in a century-old building with an exposed brick wall and an open kitchen. The menu, which changes daily depending on chef Tony Najiola's inspiration and what's ripe and ready, might include spicy duck wings as a starter, a slow-roasted-beets salad, pizzas, stews, two or three pasta dishes, and wood-grilled fish and meat.

A decade after his beloved, same-named Healdsburg restaurant closed, celebrity chef Douglas Keane of Top Chef Masters and other fame reopened a "2.0" version inside an 8,000-square-foot steel, glass, and concrete structure set in an Alexander Valley vineyard. Keane bills his prix-fixe culinary experience as a "dining journey," with guests (couples'-rate only; single diners charged double) changing rooms a few times for multiple internationally inspired courses based on hyper-seasonal mostly Northern California ingredients.

Inside a former residence that received a high-design makeover down to its open-air patio, this restaurant began as an exclusive perk for Stone Edge Farm Estate's wine-club members; though now open to all, it still flies under the radar. Prix-fixe meals built around organically grown ingredients from the winery's nearby farm might include an appetizer like tuna adorned with crispy shallots, kumquats, and cashews followed by a salad of picked-the-same-day greens and a sensitively spiced fish, meat, or vegetarian entrée.

The mixologists at this verdant "bar-focused restaurant" whip up creative "garden-to-glass" cocktails meant for pairing with neo-comfort food whose ingredients, especially the produce, are primarily cultivated in west Sonoma County. "Umami bomb" mushrooms with sticky rice and the tofu with turmeric and peanut velouté entice vegans and vegetarians at dinner, but with lamb sausage, roasted chicken, a smash burger, and pan-seared fish, there's plenty for meat eaters, too.

Gung-ho Culinary Institute of America students in their final semester run this excellent if unheralded restaurant in a historic stone structure. A solid value, the three- or four-course prix-fixe meals—oft-changing, nicely plated dishes—emphasize local ingredients, some so local they're grown on-site or nearby.

Pizza and pastries are the specialties of this tiny restaurant whose owner-chefs, Jim and Michele Wimborough, forsook their fancy big-city gigs for the pleasures of small-town living. Jim's mushroom pizza, adorned with feta, mozzarella, and truffle oil, and the pie with sausage and egg are among the headliners, with Michele's chocolate pot de crème among the enticements for dessert.

Chef Ken Frank's La Toque is the complete package: his French-inspired cuisine, served in a formal dining space, is complemented by a wine lineup that consistently earns the restaurant a coveted Wine Spectator Grand Award. Ingredients appearing on the à la carte and prix-fixe tasting menus often include caviar, Alaskan halibut, Wagyu beef, and rich cheeses in dishes prepared and seasoned to pair with wines jointly chosen by the chefs and master sommelier.

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 roasted Cornish hen, lobster and prawn risotto, and seared wild halibut with gnocchi and wild mushrooms are typical of the imaginative cuisine.

The chef-owners of this neighborly restaurant say their fare "walks the line between comfort and haute cuisine"—mostly California-inspired and "hyperseasonal" items that range from vegetarian butter-bean cassoulet (there's also a pork-belly version) to a 30-ounce tomahawk steak. The same could be said for the casual but knowing hospitality and the decor (bare wooden tables yet linen napkins), but it all works: dining here engenders quiet excitement.

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 local 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 fire-roasted achiote half chicken, wild poached salmon, and potato patties with red lentils and chutney.

Torc means "wild boar" in an early Celtic dialect, and owner-chef Sean O'Toole, who formerly helmed kitchens at top Manhattan, San Francisco, and Yountville establishments, occasionally incorporates the restaurant's namesake beast into his eclectic offerings. A recent menu featured tuna tartare, squash risotto, three hand-cut pasta dishes, a side of mushrooms foraged by a local pro, and Maine diver scallops in a lobster emulsion, all prepared by O'Toole and his team with style and precision.

The founders of Quail & Condor, both formerly of SingleThread Farms, followed up the success of their small bakery in town with this shop and restaurant that by day showcases their naturally fermented sourdough breads in sandwiches ($–$$) distinguished by their expressive flavors. Come evening, the kitchen shifts into fine-dining mode, producing multicourse prix-fixe French-inspired "Le Dîner" meals, served at counters and a communal table, that quickly evolved into a local hot ticket.

Northern Sonoma native Dustin Valette opened this homage to the area's artisanal agricultural bounty with his brother, who runs the high-ceilinged dining room, where the playful contemporary lighting tempers the austerity of the exposed concrete walls and butcher-block-thick wooden tables. Charcuterie is an emphasis, but also consider the signature day-boat scallops en croûte (in a pastry crust) or dishes that might include coriander-crusted duck breast, Duroc pork tenderloin, or pan-roasted trout.

The team behind this wine shop, bar, and restaurant across from Sonoma Plaza revamped a 19th-century adobe (though inside you'd never know it's this old) and expanded its outdoor patio, where most dining takes place. Sustainably produced seafood and meats find their way into "California home cooking"—summer dishes that might include halibut with corn and cherry tomatoes and winter ones like pork adobo or a half chicken with broccoli.

A San Francisco culinary star with establishments worldwide, Michael Mina debuted his first Wine Country restaurant in 2020, its interior of charcoal grays, browns, and soft whites dandy indeed, if by evening vying with outdoor spaces aglow with firepits and lighted water features. Seasonal regional ingredients—Pacific Coast fish, pasture-raised meats, freshly plucked produce—go into haute-homey dishes, prepared open-fire, that include pizzas, handmade pastas, and the signature lobster potpie with brandied lobster cream and black truffle.

Inside the bright-white 1907 Georgian-style structure anchoring the otherwise contemporary Alila Napa Valley resort, Acacia House serves ambitious cuisine—sea urchin cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper pasta), perhaps, or jamón ibérico schnitzel—that generally lives up to the elegant setting. At lunch, the chefs, who source ingredients from top purveyors (the quality duly reflected in the prices), also turn out comfort fare like avocado toast with trout and a burger with slow-cooked tomato and caramelized onion.

The culinary garden guests pass on their way to the Stanly Ranch resort's main restaurant supplies fruit, produce, and herbs for the artisanal cocktails and well-conceived dishes served inside the stone-and-glass structure. A salmon crudo appetizer exemplifies the approach: each of the pristinely fresh ingredients (yogurt, young dill, raw salmon, trout roe, green apple, Japanese spice) registers well enough separately but soars as an ensemble.

Foodies love this grocery for its breakfast biscuits, clever sandwiches, and savory salads to go or eat here. Everything from butter and jam and mascarpone and honey to barbecue pulled pork with pickles and slaw accompanies the biscuits, whose mix made Oprah's Favorite Things list, and the sandwiches include the Colonel Armstrong (curried chicken salad with currants and cashews on brioche).

Artfully plated Southern-inspired cuisine piques the palate at this farm-to-table restaurant inside a vast industrial-looking space whose garagelike doors open up to unite the dining/bar area and spacious patio. Dishes that might include ahi tuna tartare, truffle fries, and cioppino owe as much to California as Carolina (fried chicken with collard greens, once-a-week shrimp and grits special), while options like Cajun shrimp pasta and the portobello muffuletta straddle both coasts.

A roadside stop for specialty cocktails, casual lunches, and evening fine dining, Brix shares ownership with Kelleher Family Vineyards, whose Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines surround the restaurant on three sides. Pan-seared fish, juicy Brix burgers, house-made pasta, and risotto appear on both the lunch and dinner menus, with prime rib the crowd-pleaser on Sunday night.

Sommelier Matt Stamp and restaurant wine vet Ryan Stetins opened this combination restaurant, wine bar, and wine shop. The place has evolved into a hot gathering spot for its youthful vibe and eclectic small and large plates that might include shrimp lumpia (a Filipino-style fried spring roll), half chicken, and the Compline burger, best enjoyed with duck-fat fries—and, per Stamp, Champagne.

This restaurant owes its visual appeal to its clean lines and svelte decor, but the eye inevitably drifts westward to the open kitchen, where longtime executive chef Armando Navarro's team crafts dishes full of subtle surprises. The menu might include ceviche or roasted maitake mushrooms as starters and pan-roasted salmon, fettuccine carbonara, or paella awash with seafood among the entrées.

Anchored by a large heated patio adjoining the pool, the Farmhouse Inn's casual all-day restaurant serves farm-to-table cuisine with ingredients as local as the herbs and vegetables from the on-site culinary garden and livestock from an owners' nearby ranch. Look for avocado toast, brioche French toast, and the hearty farmer's plate (eggs, meat, potatoes) for breakfast, smoked salmon salad and the sandwich du jour for lunch, and quail, bass, or a pork chop for dinner.

Tablecloths, cut flowers, and the soft glow of liquid paraffin candles and strings of lights overhead draw most diners to this casual-elegant restaurant's expansive outdoor patio. Chef Bob Simontacchi relies on local sources for the organic, sustainable ingredients in vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore bistro-style dishes like beet salad, braised red cabbage with bacon and Sebastopol apples, vegetable stew, foraged-mushroom risotto, and duck confit.

Sebastopol’s former Fosters Freeze location, now a 21st-century fast-food palace, won design awards for its rusted-steel frame and translucent panel-like windows. The menu, a paean to coastal California cuisine, includes oysters raw and grilled, fish tacos, ceviche, tostadas, three burgers (beef, vegetarian, and fish), and, honoring the location's previous incarnation, chocolate and vanilla soft-serve ice cream.

Even before diners settle in their seats, the Montage resort's glass-walled destination restaurant captures the imagination with exterior views of vineyards, oaks, and far-off Mt. St. Helena and interior haute-luxury touches like chandeliers of locally handblown Czech glass. The Cali-Continental connection comes full circle in dishes—Pacific oysters with a spicy mignonette, perhaps, or halibut with shrimp, corn, and chanterelles—whose French flourishes elevate the seasonal ingredients.

A dress-up multiroom special-occasion establishment that debuted in 1980, John Ash bills itself as Sonoma County's first farm-to-table restaurant, but its legacy extends even further: the namesake founder, no longer involved, was among several pioneering Wine Country chefs who tailored their cuisine to the region's wines. Though eclipsed as a destination restaurant by rivals in Healdsburg and elsewhere, this remains a worthy stop for well-crafted dishes like rack of lamb, pan-seared dayboat scallops, and brick chicken.

In a modern space radiating offhand elegance, the Bardessono's restaurant seduces with sophisticated flavors, many from fruits, vegetables, and herbs grown in the hotel's on-site culinary garden. Although the cuisine is ultimately modern American, the chef might incorporate Japanese, Mexican, or other techniques and ingredients depending on the dish.

Regionally farmed fish and other foraged and cultivated Northern California ingredients go into this restaurant's shareable seasonal plates, turned out in an open kitchen that faces a bar serving large-format cocktails as well as wines by up-and-coming producers and Wine Country mainstays. St. Helena–based designer Erin Martin supplied the mildly offbeat interiors, though most patrons dine on the Tuscan-theme courtyard patio in good weather.