Explore our curated restaurants, hotels, bars, and wineries in Laguna Beach.
Accolades in Laguna Beach
Citywide, the guide counts six exceptional wine programs. These three include the only Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, a wood-fired room with its own Mile 216 wine, and progressive American cooking with an extensive list.
Selanne Steak Tavern is a steakhouse in Laguna Beach, in a cottage owned by hockey legend Teemu Selanne, with a la carte service. The wine program is exceptional: 400 selections and a 3,000-bottle inventory, with California and French strengths. Craft cocktails are poured. The restaurant holds a Michelin Plate and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, both dated 2026.
Wine Gallery is an American wood-fired wine bar in South Laguna, serving wood-fired pizzas with small plates and a la carte service. It is a casual locals' favorite. The wine program is exceptional, with an extensive list that includes the restaurant's own Mile 216 wine.
Broadway by Amar Santana is theater-inspired progressive American dining in Downtown Laguna Beach, from Top Chef runner-up Amar Santana. The kitchen uses French techniques and seasonal local ingredients, in a la carte, prix fixe, and small-plate formats. The wine program is exceptional, with an extensive list and craft cocktails.
The only Michelin star in our guide sits at an omakase counter in the neighborhood Laguna Beach, with a tasting menu and a sake program. A sushi bar in that neighborhood adds omakase, and a steakhouse supper club there adds a tasting menu, both with a la carte service.
R|O-Rebel Omakase is a modern Japanese omakase counter in Laguna Beach, with a tasting menu and counter dining. Chef Jordan Nakasone serves fish flown from Japan, with twists such as wasabi sorbet and sashimi-style shrimp chowder. The wine program is curated, and the restaurant pours sake. The latest Michelin award is one star for 2026.
Yuzu Laguna Beach is a lively modern Japanese sushi bar in the neighborhood Laguna Beach. Service covers a la carte, omakase, and counter dining, with high-grade sushi and hand-crafted sake cocktails. Seating includes an outdoor deck, and the restaurant pours sake.
The Drake is a contemporary American steakhouse in Laguna Beach, run as a modern supper club with nightly live jazz, R&B, and soul in an Art Deco-inspired room. Formats include a la carte, small plates, and a tasting menu. The wine program is curated, and the bar pours craft cocktails.
Our guide counts one Michelin-starred restaurant and one Michelin star in total, citywide. R|O-Rebel Omakase, in the neighborhood Laguna Beach, holds that star, with the latest dated award a Michelin star for 2026. The restaurant is an omakase counter with a tasting menu, counter dining, and a sake program.
Selanne Steak Tavern is the only restaurant in our guide with a Wine Spectator award, a Best of Award of Excellence dated 2026. It sits in the neighborhood Laguna Beach. The list runs to 400 selections and a 3,000-bottle inventory, with California and French strengths.
R|O-Rebel Omakase, Yuzu Laguna Beach, and The Drake serve omakase or a tasting menu, and all three are in the neighborhood Laguna Beach. R|O-Rebel Omakase runs omakase, a tasting menu, and counter dining, and it pours sake. Yuzu Laguna Beach offers omakase and counter dining beside a la carte sushi. The Drake serves a tasting menu with a la carte service and small plates.
The neighborhood Laguna Beach holds Selanne Steak Tavern, Splashes, and Nick's Laguna Beach, three restaurants with exceptional wine programs. Downtown Laguna Beach holds Broadway by Amar Santana, and South Laguna holds Wine Gallery, both with exceptional programs. Citywide, our guide counts six exceptional wine programs.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Best of Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach
Selected entries from the current guide for Laguna Beach.
Laguna Beach, United States
R|O-Rebel Omakase holds a Michelin star for the second consecutive year (2024 and 2025), placing it among a small cohort of starred Japanese counters operating outside California's major urban centres. Chef Jordan Nakasone leads an omakase format at a $$$$-tier price point on Forest Avenue in Laguna Beach, drawing a reservation-driven clientele for whom the drive from Los Angeles is part of the calculus.
Laguna Beach, United States
A Michelin Plate-recognized steakhouse on Laguna Beach's Coast Highway, Selanne Steak Tavern pairs a serious beef program with one of Orange County's more considered wine lists: 400 selections, 3,000-bottle inventory, and California and French strengths. At the $$$ cuisine tier with a formal dinner-only format, it occupies the upper end of the South OC dining bracket.
Laguna Beach, United States
Oliver's Osteria holds consecutive Michelin Plate recognition for 2024 and 2025, placing it among a small number of Italian restaurants in Southern California to earn sustained Michelin attention. Located on Laguna Canyon Road, it operates in the trattoria-to-osteria register rather than the white-tablecloth Italian format, with a 4.. For the Laguna Beach dining scene, that combination is notable.
Laguna Beach, United States
230 Forest Avenue occupies a landmark address on one of Laguna Beach's most-walked streets, where the town's gallery culture and coastal dining scene converge. The restaurant has held a long-standing position in the local fine-dining tier, drawing visitors and residents who treat Forest Avenue as the town's dining spine.
Laguna Beach, United States
Alessa occupies a quiet stretch of Forest Avenue in Laguna Beach, where the town's gallery-district pace sets the tone for a dining room that shifts noticeably between lunch and dinner service. The daytime format leans relaxed and approachable; evenings sharpen into something more deliberate. For visitors working through the broader Orange County coastal dining circuit, Alessa earns its place on Forest Avenue alongside several other worthwhile stops.
Laguna Beach, United States
Broadway by Amar Santana sits on Glenneyre Street in Laguna Beach, where the chef's reputation — built through Top Chef recognition and a career in serious American kitchens — meets a coastal California dining scene that punches above its resort-town weight. The room draws on that tension between beach-town ease and technical ambition, placing it in a distinct tier among Orange County's fine-casual options.
Laguna Beach, United States
Brussels Bistro on Forest Avenue occupies a particular niche in Laguna Beach dining: a Belgian-inflected address on a street that has quietly become one of Southern California's more concentrated dining corridors. The room signals European bistro habits — a pace, a ritual, a sense that the meal itself is the occasion. For visitors mapping the city's dining options, it sits in the mid-tier of a block worth understanding in full.
Laguna Beach, United States
C'est La Vie occupies a position on South Coast Highway where Laguna Beach's French-inflected dining tradition meets the California coast's broader push toward conscious sourcing. Among the city's restaurant options spanning omakase counters, Italian trattorias, and Belgian bistros, it represents a quieter, European-influenced register with direct ties to the town's arts-colony identity.
Laguna Beach, United States
Carmelita's occupies a Broadway Street address in the heart of Laguna Beach's pedestrian corridor, sitting among a dining scene that punches above its coastal resort weight. The restaurant draws from the neighbourhood's appetite for casual authority rather than formal ceremony, positioning itself in the mid-tier of a street that ranges from Belgian bistro to Amar Santana's ambitious tasting formats.
Laguna Beach, United States
Casa Laguna Food & Beverage belongs to Laguna Beach’s quieter hotel-dining lane, where coastal setting and Southern California sourcing matter more than spectacle. The appeal is the small-scale rhythm of a historic inn dining area, useful for travelers who want a meal tied to the city’s beachside pace rather than a standalone restaurant performance.
Laguna Beach, United States
On Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, Coyote Grill has logged enough years on the coastal dining circuit to carry real institutional weight. The address alone — where the highway hugs the bluff above the water — sets expectations that the kitchen has long worked to meet. A fixture for locals and a reference point for visitors plotting the town's mid-tier dining options.
Laguna Beach, United States
Dizz's As Is occupies a Coast Highway address in Laguna Beach where the Pacific sets the seasonal rhythm as much as the kitchen does. The restaurant operates within a Southern California dining tradition where ingredient provenance and coastal proximity carry genuine weight, placing it among a smaller tier of local tables worth serious attention. Visitors planning a Laguna Beach itinerary will find it a credible anchor for an evening along the shore.
Laguna Beach, United States
Driftwood Kitchen occupies a clifftop address on Sleepy Hollow Lane in Laguna Beach, positioning it within a coastal dining scene where Pacific views carry as much weight as what arrives on the plate. The restaurant draws from California's seafood-forward tradition and sits in a local market that rewards proximity to the ocean with a particular kind of authority.
Laguna Beach, United States
Caribbean cooking occupies a specific and underserved position in Southern California's coastal dining scene, and Eva's Caribbean Kitchen on Coast Highway addresses that gap directly. Set along Laguna Beach's shoreline corridor, the restaurant brings island-rooted flavors to a stretch of coast better known for Pacific Rim and Mediterranean influences. For visitors tracing the full range of Laguna's dining character, it warrants attention.
Laguna Beach, United States
Fin Sushi & Sake occupies a South Coast Highway address in Laguna Beach, positioning itself within a dining corridor that pulls both local regulars and visitors navigating the town's compact restaurant scene. The sake program pairs with a sushi format that fits the broader Southern California pattern of Japanese dining pitched at coastal leisure rather than metropolitan formality. Advance planning is advisable, particularly during peak summer months along this stretch of the Orange County coast.
Laguna Beach, United States
GG's Bistro serves Turkish Mediterranean Bistro fare from a terrace with street scene views in Laguna Beach, with Turkish Pan-Fried Eggs and Iskender Kebab among the signatures.
Laguna Beach, United States
Las Brisas occupies a clifftop position on Laguna Beach's coastline at 361 Cliff Drive, where the Pacific defines both the view and the culinary orientation. The restaurant sits in a tier of coastal California dining where setting and seafood tradition carry as much weight as the kitchen's technical ambitions. For visitors to Laguna Beach, it represents a specific kind of Southern California coastal dining experience that the town has built its culinary identity around.
Laguna Beach, United States
Lumberyard occupies a low-key address on Forest Avenue in the heart of Laguna Beach, positioning itself within the village's relaxed but increasingly serious dining scene. The name nods to the site's history, and the room carries that same unfussy character — a useful counterpoint to the more formal options along the same stretch. For visitors working through Laguna's dining options, it represents the casual end of a corridor that also includes white-tablecloth ambition.
Laguna Beach, United States
Sushi on the Pacific Corridor Coast Highway through Laguna Beach moves between surf shops, galleries, and restaurants at a pace that the town itself seems to set deliberately slow. At 242 N Coast Hwy, Miki Sushi & Sake occupies that same...
Laguna Beach, United States
A good pick for a casual Laguna Beach lunch or dinner when ease matters more than ceremony. Expect Neapolitan-style pizza, salads, sandwiches, Sunday chicken dinner, wine, and local beer in a walk-in-friendly downtown setting at about $25 per person.
Laguna Beach, United States
On Broadway Street in the heart of Laguna Beach, Nirvana by Chef Lindsay occupies a position in the smaller, chef-driven tier of the Southern California coast dining scene. The name signals a kitchen with a distinct culinary personality rather than a category-neutral concept. For visitors planning around Laguna's competitive restaurant corridor, it warrants a place in the research queue early.
Laguna Beach, United States
Oak Laguna Beach occupies a second-floor address on South Coast Highway, positioned within a dining corridor where California coastal cuisine has developed its own distinct register. The room's elevation above street level creates a separation from the Pacific-facing foot traffic below, signaling a pace more deliberate than the casual beach-town standard. Laguna Beach diners seeking that measured tempo tend to find their way here.
Laguna Beach, United States
"Opened in late 2018, Ocean at Main is new to the Laguna restaurant scene, but already a favorite for California coastal cuisine. Here, chef Craig Strong, who earned a Michelin star during his time at The Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena, offers a taste of Southern California with dishes like chilled oysters, heirloom tomato and compressed watermelon salad, and pressed organic chicken with farro, broccolini, and carrot puree. Stop by for weekend brunch and, in addition to classic egg dishes, you can try Strong’s hand-tossed pizzas, which come topped with everything from burrata and roasted vegetables to chipotle chicken and house-made turkey Bolognese sausage."
Laguna Beach, United States
Oto Sushi occupies a quiet residential stretch of Glenneyre Street, positioning it apart from Laguna Beach's busier tourist corridors. In a coastal town better known for its gallery scene and surf-adjacent dining, a focused sushi address on this block reads as a local's choice rather than a visitor default. That placement, in itself, tells you something about the kind of meal being offered.
Laguna Beach
Selected entries from the current guide for Laguna Beach.
Laguna Beach, United States
Set on a 30-acre oceanfront bluff in Laguna Beach, Montage brings Arts and Crafts architecture and California coastal living together at a scale few properties on this stretch of coastline match. With 262 rooms, a 20,000-square-foot spa, and multiple dining formats from a reimagined Mediterranean restaurant to a bluff-side grill, it holds Michelin 2 Keys (2024) and a La Liste Top Hotels score of 97.5 points (2026).
Laguna Beach, United States
Set within 87 acres of Aliso Canyon, The Ranch at Laguna Beach operates at a different register than the coastline properties dominating South Orange County. A working biodynamic farm, Laguna Beach's only golf course, three dining outlets, and 97 cottage-style rooms make it one of the few Southern California resorts where land, food, and hospitality form a coherent system rather than a branded package.
Laguna Beach, United States
Surf & Sand Laguna Beach occupies a stretch of South Coast Highway where the Pacific begins where the property ends — 164 rooms positioned directly on the water in one of Southern California's most architecturally constrained coastal towns. The hotel sits in a category defined by immediate beach access and ocean-facing rooms, placing it in a different competitive tier from Laguna's inland and clifftop alternatives.
Laguna Beach, United States
Casa Laguna Hotel & Spa occupies a hillside position along South Coast Highway, where the property's terraced architecture and mature gardens frame Pacific Ocean views across multiple levels. The hotel sits within Laguna Beach's compact luxury tier, drawing guests who prioritise intimate scale and attentive service over resort-scale amenities. It remains a consistent reference point for couples and design-conscious travellers exploring the Orange County coast.
Laguna Beach, United States
Renovated in summer 2024, Casa Loma Beach Hotel sits directly on the Pacific in Laguna Beach, with oceanfront balconies, a rooftop bar, pool, and direct beach access. It occupies the quieter, boutique-leaning end of the Laguna oceanfront market — closer in character to Hotel Joaquin than to a large resort footprint. The property positions itself as a retreat-minded alternative to the area's larger luxury competitors.
Laguna Beach, United States
Le Petit Pali Laguna Beach sits on Coast Highway with a design sensibility that draws on California cottage traditions rather than the resort scale that dominates this stretch of Orange County coastline. Selected by the Michelin Guide Hotels 2025, the property positions itself in a quieter tier of Laguna Beach accommodation, where intimate scale and considered aesthetics carry more weight than amenity lists.
Laguna Beach, United States
Hotel Joaquin occupies a well-placed position on North Coast Highway, offering a design-forward alternative to Laguna Beach's larger resort properties. Its compact scale and coastal California aesthetic place it in a niche of boutique lodging where atmosphere and detail take precedence over amenity volume. For travelers who want proximity to the town's galleries and coves without the footprint of a full-service resort, it functions as a considered base.
Laguna Beach, United States
La Casa Del Camino occupies a fourth-floor address on South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, positioning guests above the Pacific-facing corridor that defines the town's relationship with the ocean. Among Laguna Beach's historic accommodation options, it sits closer to the village's walkable core than larger resort properties set back from the shoreline. The address rewards those who want proximity to the art galleries, coves, and restaurants that make Laguna Beach distinct from its Orange County neighbours.
Laguna Beach, United States
Lantern Health Group occupies a third-floor address on Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, positioning itself within a town better known for gallery-lined streets and Pacific-facing terraces than for dedicated wellness practices. The address at 31752 Coast Hwy places it along the corridor connecting downtown Laguna to its northern residential edges, making it a practical stop for visitors staying at the area's coastal properties.
Laguna Beach
Selected entries from the current guide for Laguna Beach.
Laguna Beach, United States
On Ocean Avenue, a block from Laguna Beach's shoreline, Marine Room Tavern occupies a spot in the casual-coastal tier of the town's drinking and dining scene. The address places it within easy reach of the galleries and coves that define this stretch of the Southern California coast, and its tavern format suits the unhurried pace the neighbourhood rewards.
Laguna Beach, United States
On South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, Saloon occupies the kind of spot where the line between a serious drink and a proper meal deliberately blurs. The address at 446 S Coast Hwy places it squarely in the coastal corridor where Laguna's bar and dining scene concentrates, drawing a crowd that expects more than the average beach-town offering.
Laguna Beach, United States
Perched above Laguna Beach's coastline on Sleepy Hollow Lane, The Deck occupies a position where California's coastal dining tradition meets a growing conversation around sustainable sourcing and environmental stewardship. In a town where ocean views are the default, the question is always what else a restaurant brings to the table — and The Deck's address alone places it within one of Southern California's most scenically charged dining corridors.
Laguna Beach
Selected entries from the current guide for Laguna Beach.
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