Eat
11 places
by town
The Santa Ynez Valley runs on late lunches, natural wine and zero pretension. Here's where to eat, and how to get a table. Heading to Solvang? See where to eat in Solvang and the best breakfast in Solvang. Along Highway 101? Try Buellton restaurants and Los Alamos restaurants. In the town of Santa Ynez: the best Santa Ynez restaurants.
Eat guides
Best lunch in Solvang
peasants FEAST before noon, ramen, rød pølse and one lunch per town for tasting days. With the Monday and Tuesday fallbacks.
Solvang bakeries & aebleskiver
Kringle at Olsen's, almond-paste bear claws at Mortensen's, gingerbread houses at The Solvang Bakery and Arne's Aebleskiver.
Cold Spring Tavern: hours, menu & day trip
An 1868 stagecoach stop under the Cold Spring Arch Bridge off Highway 154, family owned since 1941, with weekend tri-tip and bands.
Lompoc restaurants
Capulín inside the Sta. Rita Hills Wine Center for a Wine Ghetto lunch, the Sarrrap truck's Filipino lechon kawali and Mama Caterina's minestrone at La Botte.
Santa Ynez Valley breakfast and brunch
Felix Feed pours coffee from 6:30am in Los Olivos, Queen Cup's Airstream makes brunch burritos, and Roblar's Sunday brunch runs until 4pm.
Breweries in Solvang & Buellton
Beer under a windmill at Solvang Brewing, Figueroa Mountain Brewing's original taproom and Firestone Walker's Barrelworks wild ales.
S.Y. Kitchen: menu & what to order
Handmade pasta from Verona-born chef-owner Luca Crestanelli, a wood oven and early dinners on weekends.
Where to eat near Chumash Casino
Handmade pasta at S.Y. Kitchen, falafel in a Santa Ynez pool hall and steaks at the Red Barn, a minute or two from Chumash Casino Resort. The resort is 21+, so families eat in town.
Industrial Eats: menu & what to order
Two wood-fired ovens, a butcher shop and a $55 "trust us" plate.
Little King Coffee, Buellton
The Buellton coffee bar the LA Times singled out, from alumni of the group behind Bell's and Bar Le Côte. Order the Valley Breakfast Sandwich.
Bob's Well Bread: hours, Ballard vs Los Alamos
A Sunset Travel Awards winner in 2024 and 2025, for the Levain loaf, croissants and English muffins, at two bakeries: Bell Street in Los Alamos and the hamlet of Ballard.
Los Olivos Grocery & BB Sushi
Wine-trail sandwiches by day, then BB Sushi at the same Highway 154 counter after 4pm.
Priedite Barbecue: days, hours & tips
Texas-inspired brisket, ribs and ranchero sausage smoked over oak from the area, with beef-fat tortillas and pinquito beans. Saturday is the full BBQ Round Up.
Santa Maria-style BBQ: what it is & where to eat it
Prime top sirloin over red oak at Hitching Post 2, then the three classic houses 41 to 56 minutes north, with hours the old guides got wrong.
Floriano's Lompoc: tacos & menu
Seventeen kinds of tacos from $1.69 on Lompoc's Taco Trail. Which to order, and Sunday hours.
AJ Spurs: menu & what's included
Soup, beans, salad, spuds and a root beer float come with every dinner. Skip the starters.
Solvang Brewing Company: beers & menu
Solvang Brewing Company's windmill brewpub on Mission Drive: which beers to put in a flight, and the days it's closed.
Copenhagen Sausage Garden: menu & tips
The red Danish hot dog, a second sausage and a liter of beer, outdoors and dog friendly.
Whiskey 'N Rye: menu & what to order
Brisket, the Sampler Trio and a pour from 200-plus whiskeys. Weekend brunch until 1pm.
Paula's Pancake House: menu & tips
No reservations and a 3pm close. Get the Danish pancakes filled with the house sausage.
Solvang Restaurant: menu & aebleskiver
Three aebleskiver for $5.30, and Danish plates from 11am. What to order at Arne's, and when it closes.
Eat · Santa Ynez Valley
Michelin restaurants in the Santa Ynez Valley
Bell's holds the valley's one Michelin star, and its tables open on the 1st of each month. The other three on the 2026 list, and who dropped off.
peasants FEAST: know before you go
A Michelin Bib Gourmand with no reservations and a 6pm close: order the Solvang Hot Chicken, then try peasants DELI's 90s arcade a few doors down.
Hitching Post 2: know before you go
Dinner only, closed Tuesdays and the grilled artichoke first. How to book the Sideways steakhouse.
Los Olivos restaurants
Bar Le Côte, the Michelin-listed seafood tavern Eater calls a Los Olivos gem, dinner in Mattei's Tavern's 1886 stagecoach stop, and the easy lunches and coffee between tasting rooms.
Maverick Saloon
Paper money pinned to the ceiling, two-step lessons and bands most weekends at the Santa Ynez honky-tonk open since 1963, until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Bars in Solvang & the valley
A speakeasy behind a homebrew shop, an Irish pub, the Vaquero Bar pouring to midnight, a saloon open to 2am and a dive in an 1882 train depot, with hours.
Solvang happy hours
An $11 Hugo Spritz at Craft House, Monday Industry Night at Mad & Vin and the V Lounge's 8pm-to-11pm happy hour, the latest in Solvang.
Eat · Santa Ynez Valley
Tacos and cheap eats in the Santa Ynez Valley
Chef Cesar Miranda's roadside Airstream on Highway 246, $2 Taco Tuesdays at California Tacos and a picnic sandwich from peasants DELI, the Bib Gourmand team's deli.
Eat · Santa Ynez Valley
Best coffee in the Santa Ynez Valley
Good Seed's Q Grader roaster, Queen Cup's Airstream caravan in Los Olivos, a 6am opener in Solvang and a church-run room with free coffee and Wi-Fi.
Eat · Santa Ynez Valley
Best pizza in the Santa Ynez Valley
Stone-hearth flatbread in Los Alamos on 50 Top Pizza's 2026 USA list, slices at Stica and pinsa at the Fess Parker inn from the S.Y. Kitchen team, and contact-free delivery from Gino's in Buellton. Eleven pizza stops and when each one is open.
Eat · Santa Ynez Valley
Find a table
Bell's Michelin-starred $125 prix fixe (plus service charge and tax) opens for booking on the 1st of each month at 1pm. Date night, big groups or a patio: 19 tables you can book online, each with its own booking link.
Santa Ynez restaurants
Handmade pasta from Verona-born Luca Crestanelli at S.Y. Kitchen, prime steaks at Brothers Restaurant at the Red Barn, and The Victor, which Eater calls one of the valley's hottest seats.
Los Alamos restaurants
Michelin-starred Bell's, Pico in the 1880 general store and Bob's Well Bread from a stone-deck oven, all on Bell Street. Days open vary a lot, so each one lists them.
Buellton restaurants
Hitching Post 2, the Sideways steakhouse, grilling over red oak; Industrial Eats, with what Eater calls some of the valley's finest sandwiches; and Firestone Walker's wild-ale Barrelworks.
Breakfast in Solvang
Thin Danish pancakes with whipped cream at Paula's Pancake House, Arne's Aebleskiver and Mortensen's almond-paste bear claws. Twelve morning stops, with hours and who takes a booking.
Solvang restaurants
Get to peasants FEAST, Solvang's Michelin Bib Gourmand, early, book The Gathering Table or Mad & Vin for dinner, then go full Danish with aebleskiver. Every pick lists its walk from Solvang Park, the village green, so the car can stay parked.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Unsplash. Photo credits and licenses
Los Olivos
Seafood tavern
Bar Le Côte
A Michelin-listed seafood tavern from the team behind Bell's, cooking from the Central Coast's daily catch.
Ranch-inspired restaurant
The Tavern at Mattei's Tavern
Dinner in Mattei's Tavern, an 1886 stagecoach stop, with a Michelin-listed, ranch-inspired menu and produce from its own garden.
Los Alamos
French-inspired bistro
Bell's
A Michelin-starred, family-run bistro on Bell Street from Per Se alums Daisy and Greg Ryan.
Restaurant & wine
Pico at the Los Alamos General Store
Farm-to-table dining and its own Lumen wines in the 1880 dining room of the old Los Alamos General Store on Bell Street.
Bakery & café
Bob's Well Bread Bakery
A Sunset Travel Awards winner in 2024 and 2025: naturally fermented bread from a stone-deck oven, and what Eater calls a superlative breakfast for the road.
Buellton
Restaurant
Hitching Post 2
The Sideways steakhouse, grilling over red oak in Buellton since 1986, with its own Hitching Post Wines Pinot Noir.
Restaurant & butcher shop
Industrial Eats
Communal tables and two wood-fired ovens in a converted Buellton warehouse.
Brewery taproom
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. (Buellton)
Figueroa Mountain Brewing's original taproom and main brewery, with Hudson's Grill, live music, and room for kids and dogs.
Santa Ynez
Restaurant
S.Y. Kitchen
Handmade pasta and a wood oven from Verona-born chef-owner Luca Crestanelli, on Faraday Street; book on OpenTable.
Restaurant
Brothers Restaurant at the Red Barn
Santa Ynez's answer to where to get a steak: grilled prime cuts, top sirloin to a 16 oz ribeye, in the red barn on Sagunto Street.
