Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Palo Alto from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Palo Alto
Three restaurants in our Palo Alto guide carry an exceptional wine program. They sit in Mayfield, Palo Alto and Union Square.
Protégé in Mayfield is the Michelin-starred restaurant in our Palo Alto guide, with a one-star award dated 2026. The kitchen is Modern New American, from French Laundry alums, and the formats are a tasting menu, a la carte and prix fixe. Master Sommelier Dennis Kelly leads an exceptional, sommelier-led wine program with an extensive list, and corkage is allowed. Opinionated About Dining named it Highly Recommended in 2026.
Sundance The Steakhouse in Palo Alto is a classic steakhouse open since 1974, serving slow-roasted prime rib and hand-cut USDA Prime steaks a la carte. Its wine program is exceptional, with an extensive list of over 400 selections. The restaurant holds a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence dated 2026.
The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse in Union Square serves modern seafood with Japanese influences, a la carte or as a tasting menu, and holds the largest selection of Japanese Wagyu in the U.S. The wine program is exceptional, with an extensive wine list and a sake program. Opinionated About Dining named it Casual in North America Recommended for 2026.
Four restaurants in our guide hold a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, all dated 2026. Macarena in downtown, Zaytinya at Stanford Shopping Center and Meyhouse in Downtown run programs in that group.
Macarena in downtown serves traditional Spanish tapas and paella, in small plates and a la carte formats. The wine program has craft cocktails alongside. Wine Spectator gave the restaurant an Award of Excellence in 2026. The tapas and paellas draw on grandmothers' time-honored recipes.
Zaytinya at Stanford Shopping Center serves modern Mediterranean mezze from chef José Andrés, drawing on Turkish, Greek and Lebanese cooking. Formats include small plates, a la carte and a tasting menu. The wine program has craft cocktails, and Wine Spectator gave an Award of Excellence in 2026.
Meyhouse in Downtown cooks in the Turkish meyhane tradition: mezes, seafood and grilled meats, with an ingredient-first kitchen. The formats are a la carte, small plates and a tasting menu. Its wine program includes craft cocktails. The restaurant received a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2026.
Reposado, Wildseed and Cafe Pro Bono each run a wine list, in University South, Town & Country Village and Old Palo Alto.
Reposado in University South serves modern Mexican cooking a la carte, as small plates and family style, with an extensive tequila selection and craft cocktails. Chef Arnulfo Hernandez runs the kitchen. Opinionated About Dining ranked it number 508 among top restaurants in North America in 2025, and named it Casual in North America Recommended for 2026.
Wildseed in Town & Country Village is a 100% plant-based restaurant using seasonal Northern California produce and global flavors. The formats are a la carte and small plates, with craft cocktails. Opinionated About Dining named it Casual in North America Recommended for 2026.
Cafe Pro Bono in Old Palo Alto is an authentic Italian trattoria with an extensive wine list, served a la carte. The restaurant has a legacy of over 30 years. A signature dish is homemade ravioli in gorgonzola sauce.
Protégé in Mayfield, Sundance The Steakhouse in Palo Alto and The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse in Union Square have the exceptional programs, and the four Award of Excellence holders are Sundance The Steakhouse in Palo Alto, Macarena in downtown, Zaytinya at Stanford Shopping Center and Meyhouse in Downtown.
Our guide counts one Michelin-starred restaurant and one Michelin star in total. The restaurant is Protégé in Mayfield, and its latest dated award is a Michelin star for 2026. Protégé serves Modern New American cuisine as a tasting menu, a la carte and prix fixe, with an exceptional, sommelier-led wine program and corkage allowed.
Tasting menus are at Protégé in Mayfield, Zaytinya at Stanford Shopping Center, Meyhouse in Downtown and The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse in Union Square. Protégé also offers a la carte and prix fixe. Zaytinya and Meyhouse list small plates and a la carte with the tasting menu. The Sea lists a la carte beside the tasting menu.
Four restaurants hold a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, each dated 2026: Sundance The Steakhouse in Palo Alto, Macarena in downtown, Zaytinya at Stanford Shopping Center and Meyhouse in Downtown. Sundance has an exceptional program and a list of over 400 selections. Macarena, Zaytinya and Meyhouse have wine lists.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Best of Palo Alto
Palo Alto
Palo Alto
Selected entries from the current guide for Palo Alto.
Palo Alto, United States
A Michelin-starred New American counter in Palo Alto, Protégé has climbed from Opinionated About Dining's Highly Recommended tier in 2023 to a ranked position at #152 in North America by 2025. Chef Anthony Secviar runs a format that reads as fine dining by conviction rather than formula, with a wine program that draws serious attention from the Bay Area's broader fine-dining circuit.
Palo Alto, United States
Macarena occupies a spot on Ramona Street in downtown Palo Alto, a block that has quietly become one of the Peninsula's more interesting stretches for independent dining. Confirm details directly before visiting.
Palo Alto, United States
Meyhouse occupies a quiet stretch of Emerson Street in downtown Palo Alto, operating in a dining tier where front-of-house coordination and kitchen craft carry equal weight. The restaurant sits within a Peninsula scene that rewards sustained attention rather than novelty, positioning it alongside a small cohort of Bay Area addresses where team discipline defines the experience as much as the food itself.
Palo Alto, United States
Ramen Nagi on Bryant Street brings the Tokyo-born chain's customizable tonkotsu format to the heart of Palo Alto's dining corridor. The broth-focused menu, built around long-cooked pork bone bases, sits in a tier of Japanese casual dining that the Bay Area has absorbed enthusiastically over the past decade. A reliable, no-frills stop for ramen in a city better known for expense-account dining.
Palo Alto, United States
Reposado brings regional Mexican cooking to downtown Palo Alto with a seriousness that earns it a 2025 Opinionated About Dining ranking among North America's top restaurants. Under chef Arnulfo Hernandez, the kitchen moves through a meal in distinct acts, each course building on the last rather than simply appearing. It occupies a tier above the Bay Area's casual taqueria circuit.
Palo Alto, United States
Sundance The Steakhouse has anchored El Camino Real's dining corridor for decades, drawing Silicon Valley professionals and Peninsula families toward serious beef and reliable occasion dining. The room carries the kind of settled confidence that newer steakhouses often imitate. For milestone meals in Palo Alto, it operates in a different register from the city's tech-casual default.
Palo Alto, United States
The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse brings the same precision that defines the Alexander's brand to a seafood-focused format in Palo Alto, earning recognition from Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list.. For the Peninsula dining circuit, it occupies a reliable mid-tier position between casual fish houses and the full fine-dining commitment of San Francisco proper.
Palo Alto, United States
Wildseed sits along El Camino Real in the heart of Palo Alto, placing it squarely within a dining corridor that has grown considerably more ambitious over the past decade. The restaurant draws from the Bay Area's plant-forward culinary tradition while operating in a tech-industry neighbourhood where dining expectations run high. A reservation here is worth planning around.
Palo Alto, United States
Zaytinya brings the eastern Mediterranean meze tradition to Palo Alto's Stanford Shopping Center, offering a format built around shared small plates rooted in Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese cooking. The format suits groups and works across price points, making it one of the more versatile options on El Camino Real for a region better known for Cal-cuisine and pan-Asian dining.
Palo Alto, United States
On California Avenue in Palo Alto, Anatolian Kitchen brings the ingredient-forward traditions of Turkish cooking to a dining scene more accustomed to quick-serve innovation than slow-crafted regional cuisine. The kitchen draws on sourcing practices rooted in Anatolian culinary culture, where the provenance of a dish matters as much as its preparation. For the Peninsula's Turkish food options, it occupies a distinct position in the local dining conversation.
Palo Alto, United States
Arya Steakhouse on University Ave in Palo Alto serves Persian steakhouse cooking at lunch and dinner. Smart casual dress, conversational noise, and leisurely pacing suit planned meals and private dining.
Palo Alto, United States
Asian Box on El Camino Real brings Southeast Asian-style box meals to Palo Alto's fast-casual corridor, where the format suits the peninsula's working lunch culture as well as a quick dinner between commitments. The concept sits in a category that prioritises flavour-forward assembly over tableside ceremony, making it a counterpoint to the sit-down Asian dining rooms clustered nearby.
Palo Alto, United States
Bar Underdog belongs to Palo Alto’s more contemporary dining-and-drinking conversation, where casual formats sit beside ambitious Bay Area sourcing culture. With no public database details for cuisine, chef, awards, hours, or pricing, the useful way to read it is through context: a Palo Alto venue to research directly before planning, especially if ingredient sourcing, booking certainty, or family logistics matter.
Palo Alto, United States
Bare Bowls occupies a corner of downtown Palo Alto's Emerson Street corridor, where the bowl-format category has grown from a lunch convenience into a full dining consideration. The address places it within easy reach of the tech-adjacent office blocks and residential streets that define central Palo Alto, making it a practical option for the midday crowd that sustains this strip.
Palo Alto, United States
Birdie's at Stanford Golf sits on the grounds of Stanford Golf Course at 198 Junipero Serra Blvd, placing it in one of the Peninsula's more distinctive dining settings: a working golf facility within the Stanford University campus. The restaurant occupies a niche that few Bay Area dining rooms share, where the architecture of a round shapes the logic of the menu and the pace of service.
Palo Alto, United States
Bistro Elan occupies a quiet corner of Palo Alto's residential south end, where the dining room registers as a deliberate counterpoint to the area's louder tech-adjacent restaurant scene. The format leans toward the European bistro tradition: measured, repeatable, and built around a room that rewards staying rather than turning tables. Reservations are advisable, particularly on weekend evenings.
Palo Alto, United States
The restaurant sits within walking distance of University Avenue's denser commercial strip, offering a slightly removed setting that suits a longer, more deliberate meal. Booking details and current hours are best confirmed directly before visiting.
Palo Alto, United States
A Palo Alto neighborhood fixture on Birch Street, Cafe Pro Bono operates in a dining corridor that has grown steadily more competitive as the Peninsula's restaurant scene has matured.
Palo Alto, United States
A fixture on El Camino Real in Palo Alto, Café Soleil draws a loyal cross-section of the Stanford corridor crowd, researchers, early-stage founders, and longtime neighbourhood residents who treat it as a reliable anchor rather than an occasion. The address puts it in one of the Bay Area's more demanding casual dining markets, where repeat custom is earned through consistency rather than novelty.
Palo Alto, United States
Caffe Riace occupies a corner of Sheridan Avenue in Palo Alto's residential grid, operating in a city where Italian-inflected cafes sit alongside tech-campus canteens and Michelin-recognised dining rooms. Its address places it within walking distance of the University Avenue corridor, making it a neighbourhood fixture rather than a destination draw for visitors arriving specifically from out of town.
Palo Alto, United States
Cool Cafe occupies a quiet corner of the Stanford University campus at 328 Lomita Drive, sitting within a part of Palo Alto where the pace is set by academic schedules rather than restaurant industry rhythms.
Palo Alto, United States
A Palo Alto fixture at 4261 El Camino Real, Dinah's Poolside Restaurant sits in the mid-Peninsula dining belt where California's agricultural surplus meets a clientele shaped by the tech corridor. The poolside setting places it in a category of leisure-forward dining rooms that once defined California casual before the farm-to-table era formalized what the state's restaurants were already doing by instinct.
Palo Alto, United States
Khazana by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor brings one of India's most recognized culinary names to University Avenue in Palo Alto. The restaurant sits within a dining corridor that skews toward tech-adjacent casual, making its more formal Indian proposition something of an outlier. For diners seeking regional Indian cooking with a named-chef pedigree on the Peninsula, Khazana occupies a distinct position in the local market.
Palo Alto, United States
On University Avenue in the heart of Palo Alto, Local Union 271 occupies a stretch where Silicon Valley's working culture and California's casual dining habits converge. The address places it squarely in a neighbourhood that moves at a different pace than San Francisco's restaurant rows, making it a practical and considered choice for the area's mix of professionals, academics, and residents.
Palo Alto
Selected entries from the current guide for Palo Alto.
Palo Alto, United States
Nobu Hotel Palo Alto occupies a downtown Hamilton Avenue address that puts Silicon Valley's VC corridors and tech campuses within walking distance, while a recent renovation has refreshed all guest rooms, suites, and public spaces. The property operates at an intimate scale suited to both focused work stays and weekend escapes toward Bay Area foothills cycling or nearby wine country.
Palo Alto
Selected entries from the current guide for Palo Alto.
No venues found.
Palo Alto
Selected entries from the current guide for Palo Alto.
No venues found.
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