Go for: lunch
16 guides
time of day
Lunch between towns and tasting rooms. All Good for lists
16 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.
Wineries with restaurants in the Santa Ynez Valley
Chef Terri Buzzard cooks from Roblar Farm next door, Refugio Ranch fries a weekend smashburger and Petros runs a full Greek kitchen. Where to eat a full meal at a winery, and how to book.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Things to do in Buellton
The Sideways steakhouse, Barrelworks sours, ziplines past OstrichLand and a free botanic garden, 6 minutes from Solvang.
Taste · Santa Maria
Santa Maria Valley wineries & wine caves
Presqu'ile's chef, cave and horses, Bien Nacido's Gatehouse, Foxen Canyon Road, four wineries with caves and tri-tip after.
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.
Solvang day trip
Danish pancakes, the 1804 mission and lunch by 1, then Los Olivos for the afternoon. Hour by hour.
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.
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