What makes a “best” restaurant in Sonoma County, where the produce is always impeccable, the wine is award-winning, and the offerings dazzle to the point of choice paralysis? When surveying one of California’s most abundant regions, we focused on the following — an elusive combination of intentional vibes, high-quality food worth driving for, location and variety, combined with a mix of price points. Are the restaurants on the list the absolute “best” in Sonoma? In many ways, yes. Is the list below comprehensive beyond scrutiny? Not at all. And yet, these are our favorites.
The 12 Best Restaurants in Sonoma County
Find flavor in every corner of the county
The 12 Best Restaurants in Sonoma County
Find flavor in every corner of the county
What makes a “best” restaurant in Sonoma County, where the produce is always impeccable, the wine is award-winning, and the offerings dazzle to the point of choice paralysis? When surveying one of California’s most abundant regions, we focused on the following — an elusive combination of intentional vibes, high-quality food worth driving for, location and variety, combined with a mix of price points. Are the restaurants on the list the absolute “best” in Sonoma? In many ways, yes. Is the list below comprehensive beyond scrutiny? Not at all. And yet, these are our favorites.
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 the Chocolate Room. The restaurant retains its one Michelin star, and the experience is exactly what you’d expect: exquisite plating, canapes in every flavor - including Bitter and Umami. While the Dining Journey menu is certainly lavish, a more accessible Sunday night gochujang fried chicken meal is available for $95 per person, with limited seating.
Brandon Borrman
The Matheson
It’d be hard to miss the Matheson, with its premier location just off the Healdsburg main plaza and its tall three stories. Step inside and you’ll be welcomed by a wine wall, complete with a robust by-the-glass wine section, and a view into the open kitchen where the team prepares dishes like shrimp arrabbiata bucatini, and local halibut with crispy polenta. Upstairs, a rooftop bar and a more casual restaurant, Roof 106, serve pizzas and small plates.
The Matheson
Pizzaleah
Pizzaiola Leah Scurto’s been slinging pizza for over 25 years, and now she’s luring pizza fanatics to Windsor with her restaurant Pizzaleah. Expect Scurto’s take on New York pizza, but infused with their touches, such as a slow, cold fermentation process to make the dough. There are pizzas for traditionalists, such as the Standard with red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, and sausage, or the Triple Threat with pineapple, pepperoni, and pickled peppers. But the menu shines when you let Scurto run wild, such as with the award-winning Old Grey Beard, a red-sauced pie that combines mozzarella, fontina, and Italian sausage with Calabrian peppers, hot honey, and orange zest.
Emma K. Morris
Boon Eat + Drink
Chef and entrepreneur Crista Luedtke is a local legend in Guerneville, with a popular hotel and three eateries in tow. This is her most personal restaurant and a mainstay on the town’s busy strip. The menu leans vegetarian and light, with standouts like roasted cauliflower with whipped tahini, but large carnivore mains are also present. The wine selection is spot-on.
The Spinster Sisters
For more than a decade, chef Liza Hinman has kept a warm light glowing in Santa Rosa’s artsy SOFA district five evenings a week, serving hyper-seasonal fare that’s updated even more frequently than the dining room walls, which are hung with the output of local artists. Offerings make the most of the nearby farms’ produce, such as summer plum salad or local halibut with Brentwood corn, plus affordable weekend brunch, and burger nights on Wednesdays. Skin-contact wines and house-made shrub sodas are standout libations.
The Spinster Sisters
Khom Loi
Those looking for a hit of Thai food would do well to visit Bib Gourmand-listed Khom Loi from the team behind fellow Sebastopol restaurant Ramen Gaijin. Don’t skip “the classics” such as the pad Thai and the Thai fried chicken in fish sauce caramel, and seafood fans may want to splash out for the showstopper, whole crispy-fried rockfish served with spicy tamarind and bird’s eye chile sauce.
Khom Loi
Glen Ellen Star
This unpretentious, locally beloved restaurant does everything right — from crispy chicken roasted beneath a brick to wood-fired branzino to Brussels sprouts coated with a brown sugar bacon marmalade. Helmed by chef Ari Weiswasser and chef de cuisine Julio Aguilera, the open-kitchen restaurant sources most of its produce from nearby biodynamic Glentucky Family Farm, and the extensive wine list includes categories for “interesting” whites and reds.
Glen Ellen Star
El Molino Central
This casual, counter-service spot serves high-quality Mexican food, including beer-battered fish tacos, pork tamales, and a Yucatan turkey lime soup. Picnic tables on the huge shaded patio make for a pleasant place to sip a cerveza and dunk house-made tortilla chips into the made-to-order guacamole.
El Molino Central
Valley Bar and Bottle
Located on the town square, this quaint restaurant and wine bar leads with a stylish atmosphere and an excellent wine selection. The succinct, always elegant menu changes with the season, but always includes fresh salads, creative mains, and a big comforting plate of mortadella. The weekend brunch is also excellent, and best eaten on the spacious patio.
Wit and Wisdom
Chef Michael Mina’s Sonoma outpost is a busy, indulgent good time. The dishes here celebrate wine country bounty with flair — the lobster pot pie is a large-format celebration, the wood fire pizza sizzles, and the desserts are a must, especially the lemon and raspberry napoleon cake. For a more casual affair, grab a couple of appetizers and a cocktail.
Catherine Dzilenski
Bijou
Bijou is the latest — and slightly more casual — spot from chef Stéphane Saint Louis of the Michelin-acknowledged Table Culture Provisions. The cuisine is French with a California touch, and the menu changes frequently, but technique and presentation remain solid throughout. Don’t sleep on the desserts, which will be thisclose to transporting you to Paris.
Bijou
Blooms End
Blooms End is a bakery led by Mary Denham, who bakes all sorts of cakes, croissants, bostocks, and more, using seasonal produce. The summer, in particular, boasts themed weeks, such as Blackberry Jamboree and Tomato Days, folding them into fantastical pastries like blackberry tart with vanilla bean-bay leaf pastry cream or honey ricotta and candied tomato tart. Add on the (charming) fact that these pastries are sold out of a custom-made wagon with a repurposed schoolhouse next door selling produce. The bakery is only open Fridays and Saturdays — this is a one-woman operation, after all — so plan accordingly.
Patricia Chang
