27 Best Places To Eat And Drink In Napa And Sonoma

Forty years ago, Hal and Fiona Barnett found a piece of land at the top of Spring Mountain that stole their hearts. The land, located north of Napa near St. Helena, was unruly, containing forests of trees, wild animals, and rattlesnakes. Still, it was an idyllic place 2,100 feet above sea level at the Napa-Sonoma county line. This site became their home and the home of Barnett Vineyards. It took five years to clear and terrace the steeply sloping land, plant the vines, and eventually produce a vintage worthy of making into wine expressing the concentration and refined character of Spring Mountain fruit.

The small-production winery welcomes guests for outdoor tastings. Sitting above the fog line, the visitors enjoy cooling maritime breezes from the Pacific while taking in the sprawling picturesque views of the mountain landscape and St. Helena. It is one of the most scenic places to enjoy Barnett's Spring Mountain cabernet sauvignon.                                      

Husband and wife teams successfully exist in every sector of business. However, few do it with the precision and style of Kyle and Katina Connaughton of three Michelin-starred Single Thread Farm, Restaurant, and Inn. 

With a focus on gifts from the earth, dishes feature produce from the couple's 24-acre farm tended to by owner-farmer Katina Connaughton. Owner-Chef Kyle Connaughton paints seasonal ingredients on plates to create edible artwork with flavors that meld Californian with Asian. Menus change continuously based on what is in season in the Russian River Valley. If you care to stay a night at one of the inn's quaint rooms, they'll treat you to a full breakfast in the morning.

Ciccio has been a casual Italian neighborhood favorite run by the Altamura family in Yountville for the past decade. It closed in 2022 and reopened in May 2023 under the direction of new managing partners, Michelin-starred chef Chris Kostow and Martina Kostow. Though chef Kostow has the fine dining attributes of a three-star chef, the food at Ciccio remains casual and rustic. Dishes incorporate seasonal produce from Kostow's nearby farm. 

The menu includes wood-fired pizza with imaginative flavors, like artichoke dip with lemon and potato with caper salsa verde. We recommend the spicy Petaluma chicken with Calabrian chili "aigredolci," delivering a sweet heat, a crunchy texture, and juicy meat. Pair with one of the numerous Negroni cocktail options.

At the entrance of wine country, Ram's Gate offers some of the best experiences at their Carneros estate. Known for producing premium small-production pinot noir and chardonnay wines, the winery focuses on hospitality, making visitors feel like friends and friends feel like family. 

With a dozen areas dotted throughout the tasting lounge and winery, guests can enjoy various tasting opportunities. These include wines enjoyed in the outdoor garden or courtyard, enjoying light bites prepared in-house in the energetic tasting lounge, or, our favorite, relaxing bottle service by the pond overlooking the vineyard. Each experience is led by a knowledgeable host who shares the story of the wines with genuine authenticity and passion. 

Napa Valley Distillery is creating world-class artisanal spirits just off Highway 29 in Napa proper. It is the first post-Prohibition distillery in Napa, opening in 2009, focusing on micro-lot craft spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails. Owned and operated by Arthur and Lusine Harutunian, the distillery offers tours and tastings. You can also enjoy a cocktail in one of three lounges dotted throughout Napa, including at the Hollywood Room inside the distillery and the tasting bar in Oxbow Market.

While many tasting rooms in Napa are extravagant and excessive, Goosecross Winery is a small-production operation focusing on accommodating hospitality and quality wine. Named after two geese that have been a part of the property for decades, the Yountville winery sits amid its 11-acre estate in the heart of Napa Valley. 

The winery, led by owners Christi and Dave Ficeli, produces less than 10,000 cases annually, specializing in Bordeaux varieties, like cabernet sauvignon and aromatic cabernet franc. It is a small family winery that welcomes you to relax and unwind with the laid-back style of Napa Valley of yesteryear.

Across the 200-acre estate of Donum Estate Winery in Carneros lies one of the world's most impressive private art collections that is open to the public with a prior appointment. Meaning "gift of the land" in Latin, Donum has 50 works of art throughout the estate, including dozens of open-air sculptures. Each melds into the space, playing off the nature surrounding them and bringing joy and beauty to the vines and visitors. 

Guests can enjoy a walking tour featuring select pieces surrounding the tasting room or a more extensive exploration via all-terrain vehicles transporting guests into the vineyards to experience the open-air collection. Luckily, both feature a tasting of the winery's premium pinot noir wines.

Bird & The Bottle in Santa Rosa is the spot for all things chicken, including flavorful mousse, wings, cracklings, and the best fried chicken. Chef Mark Stark's Santa Rosa restaurant focuses on large and small plates with influences from around the world, like chicken skin fried in shmaltz and Korean barbecued chicken. 

The salt and pepper seasoned, battered, and fried half-chicken makes our mouths water just thinking about it. With an ultra-crispy coating on the outside and tender, juicy meat inside, the dish defines why fried chicken is so delicious.

Tucked off Highway 12 in Boyes Hot Springs in Sonoma County, El Molina Central serves authentic Mexican flavors taking inspiration from the season's flavors. Dishes include traditional favorites, like chicken enchiladas and pork tamales, each expertly crafted fresh masa from hand-milled organic corn. 

However, we recommend venturing outside the standards to enjoy El Molino's not-so-common combinations. We love dishes like the wild halibut tostada featuring that ethereal masa and spicy chile de arbol salsa, beef birria tacos, and cheesy Swiss-chard enchiladas with tomato-habanero salsa.

Since 1999, Gott's Roadside has been flipping burgers in a, you guessed it, roadside stand on Highway 29 in St. Helena. Though locations dot the Bay area today, the original St. Helena location and James Beard American Classic winner, which was formerly known as Taylor's Automatic Refresher, is the place to go for a quick, casual, outdoor lunch featuring succulent burgers. 

Niman Ranch beef patties are piled high with local accompaniments like Zoe's Meat's artisan bacon and Cowgirl Creamery cheese, both from nearby Petaluma. If you aren't a carnivore, swap the ground beef with a plant-based Impossible burger patty. Pair the burgers with an old-fashioned, hand-spun milkshake or classic float made from organic dairy. Order online before arriving to skip the mile-long lines that gather at lunchtime.

Pizzeria Tre Vigne is a family and pet-friendly neighborhood spot in St. Helena. Locals gather daily to enjoy happy hour specials like $5 cocktails and raw oysters for $1.50 each, at the time of publication, while playing a round of bocce on one of the restaurant's courts. 

We go for the pizza and dreamy hand-pulled fresh mozzarella. Pies are loaded with regional ingredients piled high on chewy sourdough crusts and wood-fired to perfection. Options like the Positano with rock shrimp and fried lemons or the Ducati with spicy Italian sausage and capicola pair well with local beers and wines. Or, take your own bottle and enjoy, as the restaurant offers a modest single-bottle corkage fee.

Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar in Healdsburg welcome guests nightly with piles of ice-cold fresh oysters (including eight different varieties from both coasts), whole Dungeness crab, peel-and-eat shrimp, and fresh lobster. If you prefer your fish served hot instead of chilled, try the caramelized butterfish with miso vinaigrette or all-meat Dungeness crab cakes. 

Pair flavors with one of the many local options on the wine list. Every selection is available by the glass, half-bottle, or full bottle, making it easy to sample multiple selections.

House of Better restaurant is inside Dr. Wilkinson's Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs in Calistoga. Under the direction of chef Trevor Logan, the menu's southwestern flavors are healthy and delicious, redefining how we think of spa food. 

Breakfast begins with housemade aqua frescas and detoxifying wellness tonics, followed by breakfast fare like a kale-and-maitake omelet and red chile huevos rancheros. Expect everything to be good — you can even have a slice of homemade pie for breakfast.

The focus on eating and drinking from locally grown ingredients is strong in Sonoma. Farming and ranching are essential to the county's economy. Wine grapes are an obvious contribution, but farming goes well beyond to include beef, dairy, produce, poultry, and seafood. 

Many of these purveyors come together on Saturday mornings at the Santa Rosa original certified farmers market, offering their goods to neighbors, visitors, and friends. The term "certified" guarantees that the market's goods have been raised or made in California, mainly in Sonoma, and the person selling it is likely the farmer, meaning purchases go directly to a local member of the community.