Go for: dinner
18 guides
time of day
Dinner tables and how to book them. All Good for lists
18 guides
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hitching Post 2: know before you go
Dinner only, closed Tuesdays and the grilled artichoke first. How to book the Sideways steakhouse.
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.
AJ Spurs: menu & what's included
Soup, beans, salad, spuds and a root beer float come with every dinner. Skip the starters.
Alisal Ranch: rates, day pass & weddings
A 10,500-acre guest ranch open since 1946, and the Alisal River Grill is the one table non-guests can book. What the nightly rate covers.
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.
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.
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.
Buellton Brew Fest 2027
More than 55 breweries, wineries and spirits makers at River View Park in Buellton, and it sells out every year. Tickets, Brew Bus pickups and dinner after.
Weekend · Santa Ynez Valley
Santa Ynez Valley wedding guest guide
From the porch at Mattei's Tavern to the 1880 Union Hotel: where to sleep near seven open venues, the rehearsal dinner, the brunch after and how to get home when the valley bus has stopped.
Things to do in Buellton
The Sideways steakhouse, Barrelworks sours, ziplines past OstrichLand and a free botanic garden, 6 minutes from Solvang.
Things to do in Santa Ynez
A carriage museum, the new Chumash Museum, steak on Sagunto Street and the valley's latest bar, open until 2am.
Weekend · Santa Ynez Valley
Santa Ynez day trip from LA
Solvang and Los Olivos, Los Alamos and Foxen Canyon, or the Sta. Rita Hills. Leave by 8, home by 9.
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