sonoma restaurants

Erika and Chad Harris, the diner-minded couple from Lou's Luncheonette, turned to pizza here: wood-fired pies, ricotta meatballs, burrata and whipped ricotta with hot honey, plus soups, salads and pastas. The original bar and dance floor still host bands, the patio beer garden fills with families, and happy hour runs daily from 3 to 5.

Across from the Mission, co-owners Carlo Cavallo, the chef, and Codi Binkley, a musician, run a whiskey bar deep in bourbon, scotch and rye, with a stage for live bands. Cavallo's Italian roots show in homemade gnocchi, pappardelle Bolognese and Dungeness crab ravioli, served beside the B&V burger and herb-crusted branzino. Weekend brunch; closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

A split-level room with tin-topped stools at the open kitchen, where José López, a cook here for two decades and owner since late 2024 with Marta Elena Echeverría Bacab, keeps a short seasonal menu: grilled heritage pork chop, the daily risotto, braised short ribs in puff pastry, butterscotch pudding. Local art lines the walls. Reserve ahead.

From John Toulze and Sondra Bernstein of the Girl & the Fig, Dead Letter brings charcoal-fired, share-driven cooking to a former Sonoma Plaza post office. Chef Jeremy Zimmerman sends out grilled seafood, blistered vegetables and smoky Ibérico pork meant to land in the middle of the table.

A family trattoria cooking the food of Lucca in a gated courtyard a few steps from the Sonoma Plaza, run today by the founders' second generation. Expect gnocchi della Nonna, pappardelle with the day's Tuscan ragù, cannelloni Florentine, spit-roasted chicken and Petaluma duck, and daily seafood. Walk-ins welcome; the family's neighboring enoteca sells the wine list by the bottle.

The El Dorado Hotel's restaurant faces Sonoma Plaza, and its shaded rear courtyard is the place for a long lunch with a glass of local wine. Chef Armando Navarro brings Latin American touches to a wood-fired, farm-driven menu: seafood paella, mushroom pizza, risotto, churros with dulce de leche. EDK Cantina sells tacos from a Spain Street window daily.

Stone Edge Farm's restaurant fills an old Victorian house near Sonoma Plaza, with reclaimed wine-barrel floors and live-edge tables. Chef Brian Limoges, formerly of Atelier Crenn and Saison, pairs French technique with coastal ingredients and the estate's own gardens in one seasonal tasting menu. Three Michelin stars; Stone Edge flights and a Champagne cart; book through Tock.

Manuel Azevedo has cooked Portuguese food in his brick-walled courtyard room near Sonoma Plaza since 1998, joining family recipes to California produce. Plates for sharing come from coast and countryside, many through the wood oven: octopus, grilled sardines, caldo verde, salt cod. Portuguese wines, Port and Madeira sit beside Sonoma bottles. Lunch and dinner; closed Wednesdays.

MacArthur Place's restaurant fills the hotel's old barn with terra-cotta and soft neutrals, and its garden patio is the seat on a fine day. California-coastal cooking with a Mediterranean accent uses the property's Chef's Garden: crispy hashbrowns and eggs Benedict at breakfast, then seared ahi, the catch of the day and lemon-ricotta ravioli. Dinner Wednesday through Sunday.

On the Sonoma Plaza, owner Miranda Ives runs Mozaik as a women-owned kitchen that cooks globally and sources locally. Plates range from a Wagyu umami smash burger to Kashmiri chicken tacos, Sichuan prawn wontons and Marrakesh kafta, meant for passing around. Local reds, global whites and house MZK Coffee carry through lunch and supper.

Santé is the dining room of the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa in Boyes Hot Springs, reopened in 2026 with California-French cooking. Chef de Cuisine Jennifer Venezio sources mostly within 100 miles for dishes like Dungeness crab spaghetti and bouillabaisse, plus a four-course tasting at $110. Sonoma and Napa wines fill the list, and breakfast is served daily.

The Sonoma Cheese Factory is a 1931 institution on the Sonoma Plaza, now under Anidel Hospitality ownership, combining a cheese counter, wine shop, and casual dining. Artisanal cheeses are paired with meats cured and smoked on-site by The Butcherman, and the wine program emphasizes Sonoma producers. It keeps the approachable register that has made it a longstanding Plaza fixture.

Nepal-born owner Nima Sherpa, who once worked treks on Mount Everest, opened Sonoma Grille on West Napa Street in 2015. Chef Saul Razo's menu covers BBQ oysters, tuna tartare, saffron pappardelle with tiger prawns, bouillabaisse and Angus steaks, with Sonoma and Napa wines and a cocktail bar that fills at happy hour. Weekends add brunch.

Set in the Salvador Vallejo adobe on the Sonoma Plaza, built between 1836 and 1846, the Sunflower Caffé is a counter-order café with a tree-shaded garden courtyard. Breakfast runs from scrambles and benedicts to pastries; lunch leans on sandwiches, salads and soups made with local eggs and milk. Espresso and a short wine list carry the patio into afternoon.

The Swiss Hotel fills Salvador Vallejo's 1830s adobe facing the Sonoma Plaza, owned by the same family since 1923, with guest rooms still upstairs. The kitchen sends out house pasta, steaks, seafood and wood oven dishes such as baked meatballs and pancetta pizza, and the full bar pours the house Glarifee beside a mostly Sonoma list.

Chef Manuel Azevedo, who made his name at LaSalette, runs Tasca Tasca as a Portuguese tavern a block off the Sonoma Plaza. Dinner comes in sets of three, five or seven small plates: salt cod cakes, braised octopus, caldo verde, piri-piri potatoes, São Jorge cheese with quince. An all-Portuguese list adds Port in tumblers and Iberian red flights.

Sondra Bernstein's country French restaurant moved from Glen Ellen, where it opened in 1997, to the Sonoma Hotel on the Plaza in 2000, and John Toulze, with the restaurant since its early years, now runs it. Figs appear across the seasonal menu, from the fig and arugula salad to the fig burger, beside steak frites and a Rhône-focused wine list.

Facing the square from First Street East, The Plaza Bistro is a low-lit locals' room with a full bar and sidewalk seats. Italian and Mediterranean cooking runs to daily chef's specials, seafood linguini, risotto, gnocchi, chicken piccata and schnitzel, with a burger that has its own following. Boutique Sonoma and Italian wines; brunch on weekends.

Chefs Emma Lipp and Stephanie Reagor, two of the four Scribe Winery alumni behind it, cook a weekly-changing menu of shared plates at Valley, a wine bar and bottle shop on the Sonoma Plaza's west side. Expect tinned-fish snacks and simple, confident cooking, with wines from organic and biodynamic growers and a Bottle Club to take home.

Wit & Wisdom is chef Michael Mina's wood-fired tavern at The Lodge at Sonoma Resort, on Broadway a short drive from the Plaza. A contemporary room centers on an open wood-fired kitchen, with a menu built for sharing: blistered pizzas, a seafood boil, prime ribeye, and a starter of duck wings. Cocktails are a strength.