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Tomato and burrata salad from the Matheson The Matheson

17 Top-Notch Restaurants in Sonoma County

Taste the laid-back side of wine country

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As far as wine country goes, some might say that Sonoma is Napa’s more low-key, down-to-earth little sister — dotted with small, charming, family-run wineries, relatively few of which command the tour-bus crowds you’ll find in the Napa Valley proper. So it goes with the food scene as well. Sure, there are a couple of fine-dining destinations in the region, but for the most part, Sonoma County is defined by restaurants that tend to be more low-key than that — little wine bars, hole-in-the-wall bistros, and all-day cafes.

Here are 17 of Sonoma County’s most delicious destinations. And if you’re looking for excellent dining options in some of the area’s cities, we’ve got you covered with some of Santa Rosa’s essential restaurants and Sebastopol’s most well-loved dining options.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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For a seriously luxurious experience, Cyrus delivers a progressive dinner during which diners move between various rooms including the Bubbles Lounge, Kitchen Table, and Chocolate Lounge. The many-coursed meal will cost a cool $295 for the tasting menu, plus $250 for an accompanying wine pairing, but chef-owner Douglas Keane did earn two Michelin stars before closing the restaurant a decade ago — only to bring it back in fall 2022.

Cyrus

Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria

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The original pizzas from the wood-burning ovens at Diavola are excellent (like the Dictator, topped with marinated short rib, Korean barbecue sauce, garlic, serrano chiles, green onions, kimchi, and kewpie), but you can still have the meal of your life without them. Chef-owner Dino Bugica, who spent 10 years in Italy mastering the art of butchery, is a salad savant, and the main courses — which might feature sea urchin or offal cuts — reward trust.

SingleThread

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Even just a few years in, SingleThread’s reputation precedes it — for its tough-to-secure reservations, its lofty $300-plus per diner price tag (especially if customers are also booking a night at the on-site inn), and its hyper-hyper-seasonal approach. (Famously, owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton speak in terms of 72 “microseasons.”) The restaurant has its own farm and three glittering Michelin stars, and chef Kyle’s elegant, Japanese-inflected tasting menu is a thing of beauty that’s almost too pretty to eat.

Little Saint

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Little Saint is an ambitious project from Kyle and Katina Connaughton of SingleThread, taking over the former SHED space in Healdsburg with a plant-based restaurant at its center. The menu at the restaurant features seasonal vegetables grown at SingleThread and Little Saint’s farms with dishes that will change based on what’s brought in that day. And there’s much more to explore beyond the restaurant including a coffee bar, cafe, wine shop, and a provisions area to pick up produce and food items to go, which would be perfect for a picnic.

Little Saint

The Matheson

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Dustin Valette has been a part of the Healdsburg dining scene for years, and you’d still do well to check out his eponymous restaurant just around the corner from this impressive newcomer. Anyway, it’d be hard to miss the Matheson, with its premier location just off the main plaza and tall three stories. Step inside and you’ll be welcomed by a wine wall, complete with 88 by-the-glass options, and a view into the open kitchen where the team pushes out plates like Brentwood corn soup, aged Sonoma duck with stone fruit, and 28-day dry-aged steaks. Upstairs, a rooftop bar and more casual restaurant Roof 106 serves pizzas and small plates.

A plated chocolate dessert from the Matheson The Matheson

Osake Japanese Restaurant

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This is a local favorite for Japanese food, specifically sushi (think rolls, sashimi, and nigiri) and robata-grilled skewers loaded with chicken, Black Angus beef, yellowtail collar, or lamb. Expect to find owner Gary Chu behind the counter, and you’ll want to explore the sake menu, too.

Blue Ridge Kitchen

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This 2020 addition to Sebastopol’s the Barlow (set in the space that formerly held Zazu), serves mouthwatering mashups of California fresh and Southern comfort. The result: a wood-grilled portobello muffaletta, shrimp and grits with cauliflower florets, smoked bacon, and sweet peppers, and even a Mississippi Mud Pie (Kinda). Blue Ridge, which also offers one of the best brunches in town, manages to strike the perfect balance between classic Nola and West County’s funky, hippy vibes. 

Blue Ridge Kitchen

Glen Ellen Star

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Nestled into a quiet, wooded area of Glen Ellen, the Star feels like a mountain retreat. The menu is centered on the wood oven, with roasted vegetable dishes like Brussels sprouts with brown sugar–bacon marmalade, and cauliflower with tahini and almonds. Pizza and pasta are both must-orders. It’s a bustling spot in a quiet neighborhood, with a wine list full of local and cult-favorite bottles.

Yeti Restaurant

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Yeti has two Sonoma County locations, one in Santa Rosa and one in Glen Ellen, but it’s the lively-yet-cozy Glen Ellen spot that the locals love — and yes, it’s totally worth the wait for Yeti’s delicious samosas, momos, biryani, tandoori (with six types of meat and fish), curries, and most important, naan the size of two heads put together. Choose from plain, garlic, olive basil, or honey-butter.

El Molino Central

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This casual, counter-service spot serves high-quality Mexican food, from halibut ceviche tacos to pork tamales. The handmade tortillas are so good and fragrant, you can find them at various Bay Area farmers markets (under the Primavera brand name), but they taste that much better here at the mothership.

El Molino Central

The Girl & The Fig

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A Sonoma Plaza staple for 25 years, the Girl & the Fig faced backlash and temporarily closed earlier this year after management asked an employee to stop wearing a BLM mask, but the restaurant has since reopened, and remains a local favorite on the historic square. A bistro at heart, the Girl & the Fig is dedicated to elegant, French-inspired interpretations of humble foods, like croque monsieur, steak frites, and steamed mussels. In the summer, don’t miss the fried green tomato BLT. 

LaSalette Restaurant

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This is new Portuguese cuisine in a white tablecloth setting, with a focus on seafood for dishes like wood oven–roasted octopus and caldeirada, a fisherman’s stew. Chef-owner Manuel Azevedo translates the plates of his forefathers into seasonal dishes that retain a connection to the ocean. LaSalette makes its own cheese, bread, and sausage. (Locals also love Azevedo’s less formal Tasca Tasca, a tapas-driven version of chef Azevedo’s vision and palate found downtown on West Napa Street.)

Lou's Luncheonette

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Best known under its original Fremont Diner name (with a brief stint as Boxcar Fried Chicken & Biscuits), this wine country Southern comfort food staple hasn’t changed much through all its various iterations, except that the menu is now a little bit more tightly focused on biscuits and various permutations of fried chicken — served on the bone or in a sandwich (or, better yet, biscuit sandwich) form. Lou’s take on Nashville hot chicken is one of the better ones in the entire Bay Area.

Della Fattoria Downtown Café

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A sanctuary for everything leavened, frosted, and baked, Della Fattoria is the product of legendary owner Kathleen Weber, who died in 2020. Weber was widely lauded for her amazing breads, but the salads, sandwiches, and soups were a cut above the rest, too. Weber’s recipes live on at the Della Mercantile, where mimosas and flowers are an additional draw. 

Stockhome Restaurant

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Bright and airy, with cheerful housewares for sale and a full counter of Lördagsgodis (traditional Swedish gummy candy) for sale by the pound, this fast-casual celebration of Stockholm street food is an easy place to love. Emphasizing the city’s explosion of Turkish street food, Stockhome uses pita and kebabs in equal measure to balance out the meatballs and lingonberries and pickled fish you’d expect to find in Sweden. Chef-owners Roberth and Andrea Sundell also owned Plaj in San Francisco but live in Petaluma, bringing the food of Roberth’s childhood just that much closer to home.

Stockhome Restaurant

Angelo's Wine Country Deli

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For many would-be picnickers heading into wine country for a day of wine tasting, Angelo’s is a mandatory first stop. The obvious attraction is the selection of hearty, well-assembled deli sandwiches. For tourists visiting from out of state, this is a great place to get a first taste of Dutch crunch bread, that Bay Area staple — almost always the correct bread choice regardless of what kind of sandwich you choose. While here, make sure to stock up on the fantastic sausages and jerkies.

FolkTable Restaurant

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Located in Sonoma’s Cornerstone marketplace, FolkTable is run by female power duo Casey Thompson, a Top Chef finalist, and chef de cuisine Melanie Wilkerson. Together, they create one-of-a-kind dishes like chicken fat butter rice and black truffle hand pies for breakfast and lunch. And while you can of course get your avocado toast fix, you won’t regret switching it up for anything else on the tartine menu.

FolkTable

Cyrus

For a seriously luxurious experience, Cyrus delivers a progressive dinner during which diners move between various rooms including the Bubbles Lounge, Kitchen Table, and Chocolate Lounge. The many-coursed meal will cost a cool $295 for the tasting menu, plus $250 for an accompanying wine pairing, but chef-owner Douglas Keane did earn two Michelin stars before closing the restaurant a decade ago — only to bring it back in fall 2022.

Cyrus

Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria

The original pizzas from the wood-burning ovens at Diavola are excellent (like the Dictator, topped with marinated short rib, Korean barbecue sauce, garlic, serrano chiles, green onions, kimchi, and kewpie), but you can still have the meal of your life without them. Chef-owner Dino Bugica, who spent 10 years in Italy mastering the art of butchery, is a salad savant, and the main courses — which might feature sea urchin or offal cuts — reward trust.

SingleThread

Even just a few years in, SingleThread’s reputation precedes it — for its tough-to-secure reservations, its lofty $300-plus per diner price tag (especially if customers are also booking a night at the on-site inn), and its hyper-hyper-seasonal approach. (Famously, owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton speak in terms of 72 “microseasons.”) The restaurant has its own farm and three glittering Michelin stars, and chef Kyle’s elegant, Japanese-inflected tasting menu is a thing of beauty that’s almost too pretty to eat.

Little Saint

Little Saint is an ambitious project from Kyle and Katina Connaughton of SingleThread, taking over the former SHED space in Healdsburg with a plant-based restaurant at its center. The menu at the restaurant features seasonal vegetables grown at SingleThread and Little Saint’s farms with dishes that will change based on what’s brought in that day. And there’s much more to explore beyond the restaurant including a coffee bar, cafe, wine shop, and a provisions area to pick up produce and food items to go, which would be perfect for a picnic.

Little Saint

The Matheson

Dustin Valette has been a part of the Healdsburg dining scene for years, and you’d still do well to check out his eponymous restaurant just around the corner from this impressive newcomer. Anyway, it’d be hard to miss the Matheson, with its premier location just off the main plaza and tall three stories. Step inside and you’ll be welcomed by a wine wall, complete with 88 by-the-glass options, and a view into the open kitchen where the team pushes out plates like Brentwood corn soup, aged Sonoma duck with stone fruit, and 28-day dry-aged steaks. Upstairs, a rooftop bar and more casual restaurant Roof 106 serves pizzas and small plates.

A plated chocolate dessert from the Matheson The Matheson

Osake Japanese Restaurant

This is a local favorite for Japanese food, specifically sushi (think rolls, sashimi, and nigiri) and robata-grilled skewers loaded with chicken, Black Angus beef, yellowtail collar, or lamb. Expect to find owner Gary Chu behind the counter, and you’ll want to explore the sake menu, too.

Blue Ridge Kitchen

This 2020 addition to Sebastopol’s the Barlow (set in the space that formerly held Zazu), serves mouthwatering mashups of California fresh and Southern comfort. The result: a wood-grilled portobello muffaletta, shrimp and grits with cauliflower florets, smoked bacon, and sweet peppers, and even a Mississippi Mud Pie (Kinda). Blue Ridge, which also offers one of the best brunches in town, manages to strike the perfect balance between classic Nola and West County’s funky, hippy vibes. 

Blue Ridge Kitchen

Glen Ellen Star

Nestled into a quiet, wooded area of Glen Ellen, the Star feels like a mountain retreat. The menu is centered on the wood oven, with roasted vegetable dishes like Brussels sprouts with brown sugar–bacon marmalade, and cauliflower with tahini and almonds. Pizza and pasta are both must-orders. It’s a bustling spot in a quiet neighborhood, with a wine list full of local and cult-favorite bottles.

Yeti Restaurant

Yeti has two Sonoma County locations, one in Santa Rosa and one in Glen Ellen, but it’s the lively-yet-cozy Glen Ellen spot that the locals love — and yes, it’s totally worth the wait for Yeti’s delicious samosas, momos, biryani, tandoori (with six types of meat and fish), curries, and most important, naan the size of two heads put together. Choose from plain, garlic, olive basil, or honey-butter.

El Molino Central

This casual, counter-service spot serves high-quality Mexican food, from halibut ceviche tacos to pork tamales. The handmade tortillas are so good and fragrant, you can find them at various Bay Area farmers markets (under the Primavera brand name), but they taste that much better here at the mothership.

El Molino Central

The Girl & The Fig

A Sonoma Plaza staple for 25 years, the Girl & the Fig faced backlash and temporarily closed earlier this year after management asked an employee to stop wearing a BLM mask, but the restaurant has since reopened, and remains a local favorite on the historic square. A bistro at heart, the Girl & the Fig is dedicated to elegant, French-inspired interpretations of humble foods, like croque monsieur, steak frites, and steamed mussels. In the summer, don’t miss the fried green tomato BLT. 

LaSalette Restaurant

This is new Portuguese cuisine in a white tablecloth setting, with a focus on seafood for dishes like wood oven–roasted octopus and caldeirada, a fisherman’s stew. Chef-owner Manuel Azevedo translates the plates of his forefathers into seasonal dishes that retain a connection to the ocean. LaSalette makes its own cheese, bread, and sausage. (Locals also love Azevedo’s less formal Tasca Tasca, a tapas-driven version of chef Azevedo’s vision and palate found downtown on West Napa Street.)

Lou's Luncheonette

Best known under its original Fremont Diner name (with a brief stint as Boxcar Fried Chicken & Biscuits), this wine country Southern comfort food staple hasn’t changed much through all its various iterations, except that the menu is now a little bit more tightly focused on biscuits and various permutations of fried chicken — served on the bone or in a sandwich (or, better yet, biscuit sandwich) form. Lou’s take on Nashville hot chicken is one of the better ones in the entire Bay Area.

Della Fattoria Downtown Café

A sanctuary for everything leavened, frosted, and baked, Della Fattoria is the product of legendary owner Kathleen Weber, who died in 2020. Weber was widely lauded for her amazing breads, but the salads, sandwiches, and soups were a cut above the rest, too. Weber’s recipes live on at the Della Mercantile, where mimosas and flowers are an additional draw. 

Stockhome Restaurant

Bright and airy, with cheerful housewares for sale and a full counter of Lördagsgodis (traditional Swedish gummy candy) for sale by the pound, this fast-casual celebration of Stockholm street food is an easy place to love. Emphasizing the city’s explosion of Turkish street food, Stockhome uses pita and kebabs in equal measure to balance out the meatballs and lingonberries and pickled fish you’d expect to find in Sweden. Chef-owners Roberth and Andrea Sundell also owned Plaj in San Francisco but live in Petaluma, bringing the food of Roberth’s childhood just that much closer to home.

Stockhome Restaurant

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Angelo's Wine Country Deli

For many would-be picnickers heading into wine country for a day of wine tasting, Angelo’s is a mandatory first stop. The obvious attraction is the selection of hearty, well-assembled deli sandwiches. For tourists visiting from out of state, this is a great place to get a first taste of Dutch crunch bread, that Bay Area staple — almost always the correct bread choice regardless of what kind of sandwich you choose. While here, make sure to stock up on the fantastic sausages and jerkies.

FolkTable Restaurant

Located in Sonoma’s Cornerstone marketplace, FolkTable is run by female power duo Casey Thompson, a Top Chef finalist, and chef de cuisine Melanie Wilkerson. Together, they create one-of-a-kind dishes like chicken fat butter rice and black truffle hand pies for breakfast and lunch. And while you can of course get your avocado toast fix, you won’t regret switching it up for anything else on the tartine menu.

FolkTable

Related Maps