20 Best Restaurants in Sonoma County
Wine Country overflows with delicious and award-winning restaurants—so much that it can be difficult to know where to start. True to the refined-yet-laidback spirit of Sonoma County, the restaurants on this list encompass everything from epic tasting menus to no-frills eateries serving some of the most vibrant Mexican and Thai food you'll find this side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The one thing they all have in common? They're all supplied by an endless bounty of local, seasonal ingredients thanks to Sonoma County's many farms and food producers.
In no particular order, here are our top 20 best restaurants in Sonoma County for every occasion.
1. SingleThread, Healdsburg
The only restaurant in Sonoma County to earn three Michelin stars, the wildly creative SingleThread added to its award chest in 2022 with a Michelin Green Star for sustainability. Set in a grand building owned by the Seghesio wine family near Healdsburg Plaza, the elegant space is home to equally sophisticated cooking.
The concept is kaiseki—elaborate, multi-course meals crafted as art—and donabe—rustic clay pot cooking. Menus change daily, but might bring delicacies like black cod Fukkura-san (donabe style) with root vegetables, cabbage, charred onion, and walnut-nori pesto; or wild salmon donabe, smoked over cherry-blossom wood, with fermented rice, salmon roe, and wild ginger. To paraphrase the Michelin guide, exquisite barely begins to describe it. Reservations are highly competitive, so plan ahead—way ahead.
2. Folktable, Sonoma
Recognized with Michelin Bib Gourmand honors, FolkTable showcases locally grown ingredients at down-to-earth prices. Conveniently located among a handful of other highly recommended shops, tasting rooms, and restaurants at Cornerstone Sonoma—and literally surrounded by some of Sonoma County’s best-loved wineries—Folktable’s eclectic menu is full of crowd-pleasers, from Chicken Fat Rice to farm salads composed of kales and chards, pickled apples, pecans, ricotta, and sumac dressing.
3. Bird & The Bottle, Santa Rosa
Matzoh ball soup, prepared ramen style. Cheesy grits topped with pickled shiitakes, grilled chicken, cured egg, and spicy schmaltz. They seem like odd recipes, but restaurateurs Mark and Terri Stark are professionals, so their modern tavern melting pot works well. There are grilled and chilled shellfish accompanied by Southern saltines and Korean chile buerre blanc; clam chowder studded with kielbasa; kimchee latkes with sour cream and garlic chives; chicken fried oysters with shiso leaf and spicy mayo; and schmears like smoked black cod with sour cream, onion, and fresh horseradish. Try it, you'll likely be happily surprised.
4. Khom Loi, Sebastopol
In recent years, Sebastopol has become a simmering hotpot of global cuisine, and this Thai restaurant is one of its shining stars. Khom Loi is what you get when you combine authentic Thai cooking with the bounty of Sonoma County’s small farms. Whether you’re in the mood for funky-sweet green papaya salad, a comforting plate of silky Pad Thai, or a new-to-you-Thai dish (and there are probably a few), you’re in capable hands at Khom Loi.
5. Valley Bar and Bottle, Sonoma
Another Bib Gourmand selection in Sonoma, Valley’s self-described “California comfort food” menu revolves around simple food driven by seasonal produce. Veggies are elevated to main attractions, like roasted carrots with curry yogurt and braised greens with chili oil, but meat- and seafood-fans will find plenty to love as well. Serving weekday lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, this restaurant is also a wine shop focusing on wines grown with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, and traditional agricultural practices.
6. Barndiva, Healdsburg
Barndiva’s stunning garden terrace and Wine Country cuisine sourced from nearby farms, ranches, and waters have made it a Sonoma County favorite since 2004. Just take it from the Michelin Guide, who bestowed Barndiva with its first Michelin star back in 2021: “The cooking, as conceived by chef Jordan Rosas, hones in on prime local produce and sustainability. There is a tangible deftness in such aromatic flavor combinations as seared day boat scallops with kohlrabi, grapefruit and lemongrass-ginger butter sauce. Of course, it should be unlawful to forgo the creative goodies from pastry chef Neidy Venegas.”
7. Diavola Pizzeria + Salumeria, Geyserville
You can’t go wrong with pizzas pulled from the wood-fired ovens at this gem in downtown Geyserville, especially the signature pie, the Dictator (topped with marinated short rib, garlic, mozzarella, scallions, serrano chiles, kimchi, and kewpie mayo). But the menu is full of surprises in the form of excellent salads, mains, and pastas (the Gnocchi with Cacao & Oxtail is just one example of the culinary creativity on display here).
8. Hazel, Occidental
Owners Jim and Michele Wimborough wow with Cal-Med cuisine at this cute cottage, in savory signatures like scallop crudo dressed with Santa Rosa plums, or grilled octopus with River Dog cannelini beans, shaved fennel, watercress, orangen, and olives. Most ingredients are local, like the Valley Ford cheese on the sweet corn, cherry tomato, and jalapeno pizza, or the just-caught salmon roasted in the oven with leeks, Yukon creamers, tomatoes, spring onions, and Greek olives. Local wines? You bet.
9. Valette, Healdsburg
Former Dry Creek Kitchen talent Dustin Valette rocks the food world, bringing in crowds for his contemporary Cal-global cooking and a sexy, reclaimed wood-trimmed open kitchen ambience. Reservations are recommended to score a table laden with seasonally (and often weekly) changing dishes like slow-cooked celeriac soup with toasted pistachios, yellow beet tartare, and goat cheese meringue, or crispy skin local sable fish with MIX garden bok choy, roasted ginger dashi, toasted soba noodles, and spicy kimchee purée.
Be sure to start with hand-crafted charcuterie from the custom-made curing case, and if you're feeling adventurous, tuck into the "Trust Me" menu where Valette sends out a multi-course feast of his daily picks.
10. Farmhouse Restaurant, Forestville
Offering a six-course menu with optional wine pairing, this restaurant is a perfect extension of the inn where it’s located—sophisticated and carefully appointed, yet refreshingly relaxed. The menu changes frequently, but dishes like white sturgeon caviar, dungeness crab with sea urchin and meyer lemon fettucine, and grilled venison loin with duck liver mousse, braised frill mustard greens, and pickled mustard seeds are good examples of the elevated cuisine you can expect on any given evening.
11. Amy's Drive Thru, Rohnert Park
It may seem odd to be proud of a drive through, except this is a showpiece of locally sourced, boutique products, and it might well be a true café, decorated with a living plant roof and solar panels. There's even table service, and the fast food isn't entirely fast, since all recipes are made from scratch and cooked to-order.
It comes from the creators of freezer staple Amy's Kitchen. All the food is vegetarian, and available as vegan and/or gluten free, and really, you won't miss the meat. Skinny fries are smothered in thick tofu chili and cheese, while the Amy's Burger brings a double patty of veggies, mushrooms, and grains, topped with double cheese, tomato, onion, Sonoma Brinery pickle, and Fred Sr.'s regular or spicy secret sauce, all on a toasted bun. For more farm-fresh flavors, dig into the sweet salad of seasonal lettuces, roasted yellow beets, dried cranberries, candied pecans, and goat cheese with ranch, balsamic, or raspberry vinaigrette, and cap it off with a Sonoma dairy-sourced milkshake.
12. El Molino Central, Sonoma
Dungeness crab tostadas. Enchiladas with butternut squash, caramelized onions, and white cheddar. This is not your mother’s Mexican food—although several menu items were inspired by recipes crafted by owner Zoraida Juarez’s mother. El Molino Central is so good, the San Francisco Chronicle called it “the best Mexican food in the Bay Area.” The regular menu is served 11 a.m.–8 p.m. daily, and you can get your chilaquiles fix with Mexican breakfast on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
13. Dry Creek Kitchen, Healdsburg
Dry Creek Kitchen is an institution on historic Healdsburg Plaza and a perfect special occasion meal. Choose between a three-course prix-fixe menu or a five-course tasting menu and let Chef Charlie Palmer take you on a culinary tour of Northern California, from openers like seared octopus and shortrib agnolotti to the world-class wines that accompany you on the journey. For those looking for something more casual (but no less transcendent), Spirit Bar at Hotel Healdsburg—just a few steps away—offers small and large plates from Dry Creek Kitchen alongside an extensive drinks menu.
14. Guerneville Bank Club, Guerneville
In 1921, this big white building on Guerneville's Main Street housed an actual bank full of money. Now, its vaults are full of ice cream and wine. Doing double duty as a collective retail and art gallery space, the eye-candy design offers an eclectic mix of art shows, homemade ice cream, curated local and imported wines, microbrews, and kitchen accessories, plus a history display of Guerneville compliments of the Russian River Historical Society. The ice cream is the work of Nimble & Finn's, in tempting flavors like Maple Bourbon Bacon Brittle, Lavender Honeycomb, and Strawberry Buttermilk.
15. The Spinster Sisters, Santa Rosa
Located in Santa Rosa's South of A Street (SOFA) arts district, Spinster Sisters has a weekly rotating menu courtesy of chef Liza Hinman that combines expertly grown and crafted ingredients found in Sonoma County with dishes inspired by flavors and traditions from around the world.
16. Hana Japanese Restaurant, Rohnert Park
17. Willi's Wine Bar, Santa Rosa
This iconic Santa Rosa roadhouse has been reborn in an extensively renovated, 3,000-square-foot space less than four miles from its original location. You'll find both locals and visitors here, enjoying a quick bite or lingering over a glass of wine. The menu features international small plates, some wildly inventive and others comfortingly familiar. Popular favorites like goat cheese fritters, Tunisian roasted carrots with mint, Moroccan lamb chops, and filet mignon sliders have landed Willi’s on the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bay Area Top 100 Restaurants list for four years.
18. Layla, Sonoma
First, feast your eyes on the bright and airy dining room, which features vaulted ceilings and abundant light courtesy of ample windows and oversize wicker pendant lights that dangle overhead like upturned baskets. Then, dig into the understated Mediterranean menus that prioritize seasonal ingredients. Lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner all bring new discoveries—like olive oil pancakes, scallops swimming in saffron cream, and lamb meatballs with charred pepper and tomato sauce.
19. Journeyman Meat Co., Healdsburg
Not just a world-class butcher shop, this meat haven is also a wine bar, gourmet retailer, and café specializing in wood-fired pizzas. Run by one of Sonoma County’s oldest wine-growing families, Journeyman is a great place to assemble a gourmet picnic complete with charcuterie, vino, and artisan snacks.
20. Jam’s Joy Bungalow, Sebastopol & Cotati
“Vibrant food for spirited people” is the motto at Jam’s Joy Bungalow, the brainchild of chef Jamilah Nixon-Mathis. This Chinese-Thai-Vietnamese fusion concept began as a food truck and has since expanded to two colorful brick-and-mortar locations, thanks to its loyal local following. The compact menu offers delicious and affordable staples such as Banh Mi and jok, a Thai-style warm rice porridge, but don’t overlook the daily specials, which may include anything from Chili Crisp Crab Noodles to garlicky NYC Halal Cart Chicken & Rice.
For more destination dining, take a look at Michelin-Star Restaurants and Award-Winning Eateries in Sonoma County, and browse more Sonoma County restaurants here.
Written by Sonoma Insider Carey Sweet
