56 Best Restaurants in Napa and Sonoma, California

A vaulted wood-beamed ceiling and paper-topped tables set the scene for romance at this softly lit French bistro inside an 1890s boathouse. Look for clever variations on classic dishes such as croque monsieur (grilled Parisian ham and Gruyère) and salade niçoise for lunch, with veal sweetbreads, cassoulet, beef bourguignon, and, in season, steamed mussels for dinner.

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 rock shrimp), spinach ravioli with lemon-cream or tomato sauce, slow-braised lamb shank, and wood-fired pizzas—with daily specials based on seasonal ingredients. 

Escargots, cassoulet, steak au poivre (pepper steak), and other French classics are prepared with precision inside this tan-brick country bistro whose flower-filled window boxes, extra-wide shutters, and red-and-white-striped awning hint at the old-world flair and joie de vivre that infuse the place. Regulars often start with the rich tomato soup in a flaky puff pastry before proceeding to sole meunière or coq au vin, completing the French sojourn with crème brûlée au chocolat or another authentic dessert.

The team that created The French Laundry is also behind this place, where everything—the zinc-topped bar, antique sconces, suave waitstaff, and traditional French onion soup—could have come straight from a Parisian bistro. Pan-seared flat iron steak with caramelized shallots and mussels steamed with white wine, saffron, and Dijon mustard—both served with crispy, addictive fries—are among the perfectly executed entrées.

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 paper-thin noodles and ricotta-and-herb-cheese filling.

From pintxos and paellas to Iberian cheeses and fish à la plancha (flat-grilled), the chefs at this Wine Country offspring of Michael Chiarello's successful San Francisco restaurant Coqueta reimagine Spanish classics with a 21st-century farm-to-table sensibility. The frenetic pace in the flame-happy open kitchen, inside Yountville's redbrick former railroad depot, keeps the mood lively in the relatively small dining space, with the vibe on the patio out back even more so.

In a high-ceilinged former barn with plenty of outside seating, Farmstead revolves around an open kitchen whose chefs prepare meals with grass-fed beef and lamb, fruits and vegetables, and eggs, olive oil, wine, honey, and other ingredients from nearby Long Meadow Ranch. Entrées might include wood-grilled trout with fennel and bacon-mustard vinaigrette; caramelized beets with goat cheese and chimichurri; or a wood-grilled heritage pork chop with jalapeño grits.

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.

Chef Ari Weiswasser honed his craft at The French Laundry, Daniel, and other bastions of culinary finesse, but his Sonoma Valley outpost revolves around haute-rustic cuisine, much of it emerging from a wood-fired oven. In 2022, Weiswasser turned the day-to-day reins over to a new chef de cuisine, but the mainstay crisp-crusted, richly sauced Margherita and other pizzas continue to thrive in the oven's torrid heat, as do tender whole fish entrées and vegetables roasted in small iron skillets.

Shortly after graduating from a local college's culinary program, chef Carlos Mojica opened this warmly lit Latin American–Caribbean restaurant with a handful of tables inside and out. Loyalists pine for enchiladas with salsa verde and pupusas (corn tortillas stuffed with cheese and pork or vegetables), a prelude to signature entrées like pescado en salsa con coco (fish in sweet coconut) and Caribbean-style paella suffused with smoky-garlicky tomato broth.

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.

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 whole-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.

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. Beyond the aesthetic pleasure the decor provides, it also signals that in their delicacy and finesse her aromatic, flavorful entrées (some garnished with orchids) are on a par with similarly bedecked fine-dining establishments.

Even restaurateurs as famous as Thomas Keller test out concepts via pop-ups, though in retrospect his pairing of mostly French sparkling wines with caviar from a company (Regiis Ova) the chef co-owns was always destined for permanent glory. Intended as a palate-cleansing pit stop between Cab tasting and dinner, the place, furnished in insouciant, faintly decadent style by Bay Area celeb designer Ken Fulk, tempts patrons to stay put, order more bubbly and roe, and call it a meal.

The brightly lit dining room's mural map of the Naples coastline signals the chef's focus on frutti di mare (seafood) at this downtown homage to southern Italian cuisine the folks behind valley-fave Bistro Don Giovanni opened in 2023. Raw oysters, cooked whole fish, skillet-sautéed mussels, and halibut soup were among the early hits, along with pizzas hot out of a wood-fired oven.

The same people who operate the Willow Wood Market Cafe across the street run this restaurant with a Continental atmosphere and a seasonal menu based on smaller and larger dishes. Entrées might include anything from hoisin-glazed ribs and seared scallops to "Thai Life" staples like chicken curry and crispy five-spice duck leg.

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.

The owner of this four-storefront empire touts it as a "mid-block party": ZuZu for paella, tapas, and other northern Spanish favorites; next door a gin bar (the spirit is big in Spain); third, a takeout window; and finally La Taberna for beer, wine, and pintxos (bar bites). The anchor, which opened in 2002, is still drawing crowds, who come for shareable plates that might include flounder ceviche, tender wood-fired octopus, jamón ibérico, and lamb chops with Moroccan barbecue glaze.

The rooftop's the draw at this three-level brick-walled bar and restaurant opened by vintner Joseph Wagner, who grew up working at his family's Caymus Vineyards before starting Belle Glos Pinot Noir and other brands on his own. Small plates for pairing with updated classic cocktails might include caviar, oysters on the half shell, ceviche, and roasted bone marrow, but it's worth sticking around for dinner items like steelhead trout, pan-seared scallops, and cola-braised short rib.

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, Shari Sarabi, applies a pan-Mediterranean sensibility to area-sourced, mostly organic ingredients, and his dishes satisfy without being overly showy.

The owners of Willi's Seafood, Bravas Bar de Tapas, and other Sonoma County favorites operate this "modern tavern" serving global bar bites and comfort food in a multiroom, nostalgic yet contemporary space that evokes home, hearth, and good cheer. Shrimp wontons, matzo-ball soup, Cobb salad, pork belly, and skirt steak all go well with the wines, craft cocktails, and artisanal beers and ciders.

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.

At his softly lit, exposed-redbrick downtown trattoria, which occupies sections of the 19th-century former Groezinger Winery, chef Michael Chiarello (Food Network, etc.) and his team transform local, seasonally changing ingredients into regional Italian cuisine. Staples like ricotta gnocchi with tomato sauce and smoked/braised short rib in espresso agrodolce (sweet-and-sour sauce) served with creamy ancient-grain polenta show the chef at his most rustic yet sophisticated.

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.

Spanish-style tapas and an outdoor patio in perpetual party mode make this restaurant, headquartered in a restored 1920s bungalow, a popular downtown perch. Contemporary Spanish mosaics set a perky tone inside, but unless something's amiss with the weather, nearly everyone heads out back for flavorful croquettes, paella, jamón ibérico, pan tomate (tomato toast), grilled octopus, skirt steak, and crispy fried chicken.

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.

After running one of Oxbow Public Market's busiest stalls for more than a decade, owner Catherine Bergen jumped at the chance to occupy the complex's largest restaurant space, which her design team transformed into a hip-casual dining spot with a full bar specializing in artisanal tequilas and mescals. Bergen expanded her Baja-inspired menu with meat, fish, and tofu dishes prepared in a wood-fired grill and rotisserie.

When the weather's nice, the inn's outdoor patio and beer garden edging the Napa River are swell places to hang out and sip some microbrews. Among the beer-friendly dishes, the garlic-crusted calamari appetizer and the country paella entrée stand out, along with several pizzas, the burger topped with Tillamook cheddar, and (for lunch) the Reuben with ale-braised corned beef.

After a lengthy closure, an insider favorite for modern Italian was scheduled to reopen by summer 2023 with vintners Frank and Karen Altamura remaining as owners and Napa Valley culinary star and longtime Ciccio patron Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood and The Charter Oak stepping in as executive chef. The seasonal growing cycles of Meadowood's herb and produce garden dictate the menu, with fried-seafood appetizers, pasta dishes, and several wood-fired pizzas among the likely offerings.