Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Pasadena from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Pasadena
Our guide counts four exceptional wine programs citywide. Alexander's Steakhouse in Old Pasadena and Monopole by WineRx in Old Pasadena have exceptional programs, and Arbour on South Lake Avenue and Cannonball in South Pasadena have wine lists.
Alexander's Steakhouse in Old Pasadena is a Japanese-influenced steakhouse with an exceptional wine program, an extensive wine list, and craft cocktails. Service runs a la carte and as a tasting menu. The kitchen serves Japanese Wagyu.
Monopole by WineRx in Old Pasadena is a Latina-owned wine shop and bar with an exceptional wine program of natural wine and conventional wine. The wines are hand-selected and premium. The room is a historic Art Deco building with a chapel-like ambiance, and the bar holds weekly tastings and live music events.
Arbour on South Lake Avenue is owner-chef Ian Gresik's seasonal California farm-to-table restaurant. The wine program has craft cocktails and a beer program, and the restaurant holds a World's Best Wine Lists Awards WBWL 3-Star (2022). Menus run a la carte and prix fixe.
Cannonball in South Pasadena is a modern American bistro from James Beard Award-winning chef Matt Molina. The wine program has an extensive wine list, craft cocktails, and a beer program. Formats are a la carte and small plates. The bistro serves elevated comfort food and serious cocktails, with a patio under a 100-year-old oak tree.
Japanese kitchens in the guide cover sushi, shabu shabu, artisan noodles, omakase, and onigiri. Osawa and TSUKE Artisan Noodle are in Old Town Pasadena, Matsuri is in Downtown Pasadena, and Onigiri Time is in Old Pasadena.
Osawa in Old Town Pasadena is a Japanese restaurant combining sushi, shabu shabu, and otsumami on one a la carte menu. Opinionated About Dining included the restaurant in its Top Restaurants in North America Recommended list for 2026. Regulars come from across the San Gabriel Valley. The kitchen sets Japanese culinary tradition beside Southern California's produce-driven approach.
TSUKE Artisan Noodle in Old Town Pasadena is a Japanese noodle specialist serving tsukemen. Service is a la carte, and counter dining is part of the format. The kitchen makes its broths in-house and braises chashu slowly.
Matsuri in Downtown Pasadena is a family-run restaurant serving traditional Japanese sushi. The formats are a la carte and omakase, and sake is poured. Its wine program is standard, and the menu also includes sashimi.
Onigiri Time in Old Pasadena is a Japanese onigiri specialist. The kitchen prepares rice balls by hand for each order. The wine program is minimal, and sake is poured. Meals are served a la carte.
Old Pasadena holds 28 venues in our guide, the largest neighborhood share in the city. These picks all sit in Old Pasadena: live-fire cooking with a Michelin Plate, modern Mexican, New England seafood, and a Thai garden patio.
Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery in Old Pasadena cooks over live fire with seasonal ingredients behind a cheese shop in a historic Pasadena building. The wine program has classic cocktails and craft cocktails, and the bar holds a Michelin Plate for 2026.
Maestro in Old Pasadena serves modern Mexican food. The wine program has craft cocktails and a sake program. The cocktail menu includes mezcal and tequila. Formats are a la carte and small plates.
Fishwives in Old Pasadena is a bar that serves New England-style seafood. The kitchen uses fresh fish delivered by air each day. The bar pours craft cocktails.
Saladang Garden in Old Pasadena serves Thai food in an outdoor garden setting. The kitchen adjusts traditional dishes to American tastes. Service is a la carte, and the restaurant has a standard wine program.
Old Pasadena holds 28 venues in our guide, the largest neighborhood share in Pasadena. After Old Pasadena, South Lake Avenue and Old Town Pasadena come next, then East Pasadena and Playhouse Village, each of them with fewer venues than Old Pasadena.
Our guide includes no Michelin-starred restaurants in Pasadena and no Michelin stars in total. Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery, a bar located in Old Pasadena, holds a Michelin Plate for 2026.
Alexander's Steakhouse in Old Pasadena offers a tasting menu, Arbour on South Lake Avenue offers a prix fixe, and Matsuri in Downtown Pasadena offers an omakase. Each of those formats is paired with a la carte service in our guide. Alexander's Steakhouse is a Japanese-influenced steakhouse with an extensive Japanese Wagyu selection and an exceptional wine program.
The strongest wine programs in our guide are the four exceptional ones counted citywide. Alexander's Steakhouse in Old Pasadena has an exceptional program and an extensive wine list, and Monopole by WineRx in Old Pasadena has an exceptional program of natural wine and conventional wine. Programs also appear, including Arbour on South Lake Avenue, which holds a World's Best Wine Lists Awards WBWL 3-Star (2022).
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Pasadena
Selected entries from the current guide for Pasadena.
Pasadena, United States
Arbour holds a 3-Star Accreditation from the World of Fine Wine London Awards, placing it among a small tier of restaurants in Pasadena where the sourcing of ingredients carries as much weight as technique. Located on South Lake Avenue, it operates in a dining corridor that punches above the suburb's expectations, drawing a clientele that tracks provenance as closely as the wine list.
Pasadena, United States
Osawa occupies a considered address on North Raymond Avenue in Pasadena's Old Town corridor, where Japanese culinary tradition meets Southern California's produce-driven ethos. The restaurant draws regulars from across the San Gabriel Valley and beyond, positioning itself within a small tier of Japanese-influenced dining rooms that take ingredient provenance as seriously as technique. For the area, it operates as a reliable reference point rather than a novelty.
Pasadena, United States
Alexander's Steakhouse on North Los Robles Avenue sits in the premium end of Pasadena's dining scene, where the steakhouse format has been pushed well beyond the American chophouse template. The kitchen's sourcing philosophy connects the menu to provenance-driven supply chains increasingly common among serious meat programs on the West Coast. For Pasadena, it represents the category at a higher specification than most of the city's comparable addresses.
Pasadena, United States
A long-running South Fairfax corridor staple on South Fair Oaks Avenue, All India Cafe brings regional Indian cooking to a Pasadena dining scene that skews heavily toward European and California formats. The menu draws from multiple subcontinental traditions rather than converging on a single regional identity, making it one of the more structurally diverse Indian kitchens in the San Gabriel Valley corridor.
Pasadena, United States
Amara Cafe & Restaurant occupies a address on South Raymond Avenue in Old Pasadena, placing it inside one of Southern California's more competitive casual-dining corridors. The kitchen operates in a neighborhood where ingredient sourcing and local supply relationships increasingly define how cafes differentiate themselves from the broader chain-heavy dining market. For visitors working through Pasadena's dining scene, Amara sits in the accessible, neighborhood-facing tier of the Raymond Avenue strip.
Pasadena, United States
Bistro 45 occupies a quietly assured position on South Mentor Avenue in Pasadena, operating within the tradition of European-inflected California dining that defines the city's upper-casual register. The address sits close to Old Pasadena's cultural corridor, making it a practical anchor for pre- or post-theatre dining. For current hours, booking details, and menu specifics, contacting the restaurant directly is advised.
Pasadena, United States
Bu Pastry Bar belongs to Pasadena’s growing daytime pastry culture, where the draw is less ceremony than craft: dough, butter, fruit, chocolate, and coffee handled with enough care to justify a detour. With no public awards or chef-led mythology shaping the story, the appeal rests on ingredient clarity and the city’s appetite for polished, small-format sweets.
Pasadena, United States
A Mediterranean restaurant on West Union Street in Old Pasadena, Cafe Santorini occupies one of the neighbourhood's more atmospheric settings, with an outdoor terrace that draws the kind of long, unhurried meals the Greek islands are known for. The address places it in a district where Pasadena's dining scene ranges from steakhouses to subcontinental, making it a useful reference point for understanding what the area does well with European-influenced cooking.
Pasadena, United States
Cannonball sits in Pasadena’s dining conversation as part of a city where produce-driven California cooking, neighborhood comfort, and cross-cultural kitchens often overlap on the same block. With little public-facing detail to parse, the useful way to read it is through Pasadena itself: a market-adjacent San Gabriel Valley city where sourcing, seasonality, and casual formats carry more weight than spectacle.
Pasadena, United States
On North Raymond Avenue in Old Pasadena, Chado Tea Room occupies a quieter register than the neighbourhood's restaurant row, a dedicated tea house in a city better known for its steakhouses and tasting menus. The format is deliberate: loose-leaf service, a menu built around tea rather than food, and a pace that most Pasadena dining rooms don't attempt.
Pasadena, United States
Cheesesteaks by Matū brings the Philadelphia sandwich tradition into Pasadena’s increasingly varied casual dining scene. With no published awards, pricing, chef, hours, or menu specifics available here, the useful read is cultural rather than ceremonial: this is a focused cheesesteak address in a city where quick-service formats sit beside ambitious dining rooms and neighborhood cafés.
Pasadena, United States
Located at 55 S Lake Ave in Pasadena's Lake Avenue corridor, Deda Restaurant occupies a dining scene where collaboration between kitchen, floor, and service teams defines the experience as much as the menu itself. Set against Pasadena's growing reputation for ambitious independent restaurants, Deda holds a position worth understanding before your visit.
Pasadena, United States
Dog Haus on North Hill Avenue sits inside Pasadena's casual-dining corridor, where the city's appetite for craft-casual American formats runs strong. The format trades on loaded dogs, burgers, and sausages built for repeat visits rather than one-off occasions. For regulars, it's the kind of place where the order is already half-formed before the door swings open.
Pasadena, United States
Edwin Mills by Equator in Pasadena runs as a New American Gastropub with craft cocktails, smart casual dress, live music, and an open kitchen.
Pasadena, United States
Father Nature Lavash Bistro serves Mediterranean lavash bistro fare with counter service and a quick-bite pace, suited to lunch or dinner in Pasadena.
Pasadena, United States
On South Fair Oaks Avenue, Gale's occupies a position in Pasadena's dining scene where neighborhood familiarity and considered cooking intersect. The restaurant draws regulars who return for a kitchen that treats California's ingredient calendar seriously, placing it in a mid-tier cohort that values substance over spectacle. For visitors exploring the city's restaurant corridor, it represents a reliable point of entry into local dining culture.
Pasadena, United States
A neighborhood anchor on Pasadena's pedestrian Shoppers Lane, Green Street Restaurant operates in the mid-tier bracket between counter-service and special-occasion dining. Its sustained presence in Old Pasadena's One Colorado complex reflects the kind of repeat-business reliability that matters more in a community-driven market than any single opening moment. A practical option for all-day dining across multiple dayparts.
Pasadena, United States
On East Colorado Boulevard, Heidar Baba occupies a stretch of Pasadena where Middle Eastern and Persian dining has built a quiet critical mass over the past two decades. The restaurant draws regulars from across the San Gabriel Valley for what the neighbourhood positions as serious Persian home cooking rather than the fusion-inflected menus found closer to Los Angeles proper. It sits in a price tier and format that rewards repeat visits over occasion dining.
Pasadena, United States
On South Fair Oaks Avenue in Old Pasadena, Himalayan Cafe occupies a corner of the city's dining scene where South Asian and Himalayan traditions converge. The menu draws from the culinary geography stretching across Nepal, Tibet, and northern India, a region whose cooking rarely receives the careful restaurant treatment it deserves in the San Gabriel Valley. For Pasadena diners looking beyond the familiar, this address delivers that treatment at a neighborhood scale.
Pasadena, United States
On North Rosemead Boulevard, ICHIMA occupies a quiet stretch of Pasadena that rewards the deliberate visitor. The restaurant sits within a dining corridor where the city's appetite for serious, ingredient-focused cooking has grown steadily over the past decade. Expect an atmosphere calibrated toward focus rather than spectacle, in a city that increasingly supports that register.
Pasadena, United States
Kathleen's occupies a corner of North Lake Avenue in Pasadena where the residential grid gives way to a quieter commercial stretch. The dining room draws a local crowd that returns with regularity, placing it within the neighborhood-anchor tier of Pasadena's broader restaurant scene. For visitors exploring the city's dining options beyond the Old Town corridor, it represents a different register of the city's appetite.
Pasadena
Selected entries from the current guide for Pasadena.
No venues found.
Pasadena
Selected entries from the current guide for Pasadena.
Pasadena, United States
Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery occupies a considered corner of Old Pasadena's dining scene, where the format pairs a serious cheese program with a kitchen that treats dairy as a structural ingredient rather than an afterthought. The room itself sets a particular tone, warm, deliberate, designed for guests who want to slow down. It sits in a part of the city where the dining options range from Southeast Asian to Italian, making its focused identity that much more legible.
Pasadena, United States
On East Colorado Boulevard, Anaya's Restaurant occupies a stretch of Pasadena that has grown progressively more serious about its dining options. The bar program here positions it within a broader shift in the San Gabriel Valley toward craft-forward drinking that matches the food. Visitors looking for a neighbourhood anchor with considered drinks will find it sits in a different register from the area's casual chains.
Pasadena, United States
On North Raymond Avenue in Pasadena's Old Town corridor, Bone Kettle occupies a specific niche in the city's drinking and dining scene: a Southeast Asian-influenced spot where the bar program carries as much weight as the kitchen. The cocktail list draws on the same pantry as the food, making the drinks as worth planning around as the plates.
Pasadena, United States
Deluxe 1717 occupies a stretch of East Washington Boulevard in Pasadena where the neighborhood's older commercial fabric meets a newer wave of drinking culture. The bar draws a local crowd looking for something more considered than a chain happy hour, sitting in a tier of Pasadena venues where atmosphere and craft matter more than volume or spectacle.
Pasadena, United States
El Metate occupies a compact address on North Mentor Avenue in Pasadena, operating within a neighbourhood corridor where Mexican dining ranges from fast-casual to sit-down regional. The kitchen draws on traditional preparations that form the backbone of the broader Southern California Mexican dining tradition. For visitors mapping Pasadena's dining options, El Metate represents the accessible, everyday end of that spectrum.
Pasadena, United States
On Fair Oaks Avenue in Old Pasadena, Fishwives occupies a stretch of the street where the neighborhood's dining character has grown more deliberate in recent years. The name signals a seafood-forward orientation, placing it within a category that remains underrepresented in Pasadena's otherwise meat-heavy casual dining tier. A useful reference point for anyone building an itinerary around the city's independent restaurant scene.
Pasadena, United States
Houston's on South Arroyo Parkway sits at the more polished end of Pasadena's casual-American dining scene, drawing a consistent local crowd with a format built around solid bar programming and a kitchen that keeps regulars returning. The address puts it within easy reach of Old Town Pasadena, making it a practical anchor for an evening that starts with drinks and stays there.
Pasadena, United States
On East Colorado Boulevard, Janejira Thai Bistro sits inside Pasadena's mid-corridor dining stretch, where Southeast Asian cooking has carved out a consistent foothold alongside the neighborhood's broader mix of European and American tables. The kitchen works within a Thai framework while operating in a city where ingredient access and technique cross-pollinate freely across culinary traditions. For the East Colorado corridor, it represents a reliable address in a category where quality varies considerably across the San Gabriel Valley.
Pasadena, United States
On East Green Street in Pasadena, Madeline Garden Bistro occupies a property that doubles as an event venue, placing it in a small tier of Pasadena dining that blends everyday hospitality with private-occasion programming. The address puts it within walking distance of the city's Old Town corridor, where competition for garden-setting dining runs high. Planning ahead is advisable, particularly when private events may affect public availability.
Pasadena, United States
Monopole by WineRx occupies a focused address on South El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, operating at the intersection of serious wine retail and bar programming. The format places wine knowledge at the center of the drinking experience, with food conceived as a complement to the glass rather than a parallel menu. For Old Town Pasadena, it represents the specialist end of a bar scene that otherwise trends toward high-volume hospitality.
Pasadena
Selected entries from the current guide for Pasadena.
No venues found.
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