Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in San Jose from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in San Jose
Citywide, our guide counts three Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence awards and four Awards of Excellence. Among those awards, Augustine and LB Steak hold Best of Award of Excellence, and Eos & Nyx holds Award of Excellence.
Augustine is a coastal Californian restaurant in Santana Row, with French and Italian influences, serving a la carte and a tasting menu. The wine program is extensive and sommelier-led, and the room includes a marble bar. Seasonal plates include Dungeness crab donuts and fried chicken with caviar. Wine Spectator names it Best of Award of Excellence for 2026.
LB Steak is a modern American steakhouse in Central San Jose, led by James Beard nominee Chef Roland Passot. The menu is a la carte, with Prime Angus steaks, A5 Japanese Wagyu, and sustainably caught seafood. The wine program is exceptional, with an extensive list and craft cocktails. Wine Spectator names it Best of Award of Excellence for 2026.
Eos & Nyx is a Mediterranean restaurant in Paseo de San Antonio, with California seasonal influences. Service covers small plates, family style, a la carte, and prix fixe. The wine program is extensive, with craft cocktails and a beer program. The room has a double-height rotating liquor display. Wine Spectator names it Award of Excellence for 2026.
Our guide counts seven exceptional wine programs in San Jose, citywide. Adega, Goodtime Bar, La Foret, and Spencer's for Steaks and Chops are four of those programs.
Adega is a Portuguese fine dining restaurant in Little Portugal South, serving a tasting menu and a prix fixe built around fresh seafood and traditional preparations. The wine program is exceptional and sommelier-led, with an extensive list of over 200 Portuguese wines. Its latest Michelin award is a Plate for 2025.
Goodtime Bar is a natural wine bar in the Historic District, serving small plates and a la carte. The wine program is exceptional and sommelier-led. The bar showcases California wines and pours pet nat. Chef Alex Whiteman has cooked at Snail Bar in Oakland and Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York. The San Francisco Chronicle ranked it 87th on its Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants for 2026.
La Foret is a classical French fine dining restaurant in California Ridge. It occupies a converted Victorian home, an 1840s building among towering trees and creekside gardens. Service is a la carte and a tasting menu. The wine program is exceptional, with an extensive, sommelier-led list.
Spencer's for Steaks and Chops is a classic steakhouse in Karina, known for its Spencer Cut Ribeye and an extensive selection of over 300 wines. The wine program is exceptional. The restaurant sits within a Hilton hotel and serves a la carte cuts and sides in a chophouse format.
Tasting menus in our guide include Portuguese fine dining, coastal Californian cooking, contemporary French, classical French, and Japanese-Filipino omakase. Adega, Augustine, Le Papillon, and La Foret have sommelier-led lists with those menus.
Adega in Little Portugal South serves Portuguese fine dining as a tasting menu and a prix fixe, focused on fresh seafood and traditional preparations. The wine program is exceptional and sommelier-led, with over 200 Portuguese wines. The latest Michelin recognition is a Plate for 2025.
Augustine in Santana Row serves coastal Californian cooking with French and Italian influences, both a la carte and as a tasting menu. The seasonal menu includes Dungeness crab donuts and fried chicken with caviar, and the room has a marble bar. The wine program is extensive and sommelier-led. Wine Spectator names it Best of Award of Excellence for 2026.
Le Papillon is a contemporary French restaurant in Loma Linda, established in 1977, cooking with seasonal ingredients in a garden setting. The restaurant serves a prix fixe, a tasting menu, and a la carte. The wine program is extensive and sommelier-led.
La Foret in California Ridge serves classical French fine dining a la carte and as a tasting menu. The restaurant is a converted Victorian home, an 1840s building among towering trees and creekside gardens. The wine program is exceptional and sommelier-led, with an extensive list.
Trifecta is a Japanese-Filipino fusion sushi restaurant in the Silver Creek neighborhood, blending Japanese precision with Filipino flavors in an intimate counter setting. The restaurant serves an omakase menu seated at the counter. Craft cocktails are poured with the meal.
LeYou in Hyde Park and Adega in Little Portugal South hold Michelin Plates. Petiscos in SoFA and Luna Mexican Kitchen in Shasta-Hanchett Park hold Michelin Bib Gourmands.
LeYou is a modern Ethiopian restaurant in Hyde Park. The kitchen cooks lighter dishes with low saturated fat, and the injera is 100% teff. Service is a la carte, in the communal style of Ethiopian dining. Michelin awarded a Plate for 2026.
Petiscos is a Portuguese small-plates restaurant in SoFA, with a wine list and craft cocktails. The menu is built around sharing and imported ingredients, with broa, codfish croquettes, and octopus salad, and service is also a la carte. Michelin awarded a Bib Gourmand for 2026.
Luna Mexican Kitchen is a modern Mexican restaurant in Shasta-Hanchett Park, with a wine list and craft cocktails. The kitchen uses from-scratch ingredients, including Rancho Gordo beans, Mary's free-range chicken, and house-made chorizo. Service is a la carte. Michelin awarded a Bib Gourmand for 2026.
Adega is a Portuguese fine dining restaurant in Little Portugal South. The latest Michelin award is a Plate for 2025. The formats are a tasting menu and a prix fixe, with fresh seafood and traditional preparations. The wine program is exceptional and sommelier-led, with over 200 Portuguese wines.
Santana Row has the most venues of any neighborhood in our guide, with 11. Augustine in Santana Row holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. Pizza Antica in Santana Row serves thin-crust wood-fired pizza with an extensive wine list. Momosan Santana Row serves ramen and izakaya dishes with sake and craft cocktails.
San Jose has no Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide. LeYou in Hyde Park and Adega in Little Portugal South hold Michelin Plates. Petiscos in SoFA and Luna Mexican Kitchen in Shasta-Hanchett Park hold Michelin Bib Gourmands.
Tasting menus in our guide are at Adega in Little Portugal South, Augustine in Santana Row, Le Papillon in Loma Linda, La Foret in California Ridge, and Trifecta in Silver Creek. Adega serves a tasting menu and a prix fixe. Augustine, Le Papillon, and La Foret serve a tasting menu and a la carte. Trifecta serves omakase at the counter. Le Papillon also serves prix fixe.
Augustine in Santana Row and LB Steak in Central San Jose hold Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, and Eos & Nyx in Paseo de San Antonio holds Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, all for 2026. Citywide, our guide counts three Best of Award of Excellence awards and four Awards of Excellence.
Exceptional wine programs in our guide include Portuguese, natural California, classical French, and steakhouse lists. Adega in Little Portugal South pours over 200 Portuguese wines. Goodtime Bar in the Historic District showcases California wines and pours pet nat. La Foret in California Ridge has an extensive, sommelier-led list with classical French dining. Spencer's for Steaks and Chops in Karina lists over 300 wines, and LB Steak in Central San Jose has an extensive steakhouse list.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
San Jose
San Jose
Selected entries from the current guide for San Jose.
San Jose, United States
LeYou has earned consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025, placing it among a small tier of Ethiopian restaurants in the Bay Area with formal critical acknowledgment. Located at 1100 N First St in San Jose, it offers the communal traditions of Ethiopian dining at an accessible price point.
San Jose, United States
A Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient on The Alameda, Luna Mexican Kitchen applies a strict local-natural-unrefined-authentic sourcing philosophy to Mexican cooking that reads as decidedly serious. Rancho Gordo beans, Mary's free-range chicken, and house-made chorizo anchor a menu that satisfies both pescatarians and carnivores, backed by a full bar and an open-air patio that makes The Alameda feel like the right neighborhood for it.
San Jose, United States
San Jose's Portuguese petiscos tradition plays out at this Michelin Bib Gourmand-recognised spot on South First Street, where broa, codfish croquettes, and octopus salad anchor a menu built around sharing and imported ingredients. At the $$ price point, it sits in a different register than the city's fine-dining Portuguese entry Adega, offering a more casual, bar-forward format rooted in Lisbon's snacking culture.
San Jose, United States
Adega brings Portuguese cuisine to San Jose's Alum Rock Avenue at a price point that signals serious culinary intent, backed by consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025. The kitchen works within a tradition that prizes restraint and sourcing discipline, placing it well outside the neighborhood's casual dining norm..
San Jose, United States
Augustine occupies a considered space on Santana Row, San Jose's most design-conscious retail and dining corridor. Positioned within a neighborhood that has reshaped South Bay dining expectations over the past two decades, it draws comparison to the more polished end of Silicon Valley's restaurant scene rather than its casual tech-campus majority. For visitors calibrating where Augustine sits among San Jose's serious dining options, the address alone signals intent.
San Jose, United States
At Lion Plaza's Vietnamese food court on Tully Road, Bo Ne Phu Yen has earned its place as the kiosk everyone gravitates toward. The draw is bó nè: steak and eggs arriving on cast-iron skillets shaped like cows, sizzling at the table. In a room full of competing aromas and ringing pickup bells, nearly every table carries one.
San Jose, United States
Eos & Nyx occupies a corner of San Jose's downtown grid at 201 S Second Street, where the South Bay's evolving dining scene meets a more considered approach to the evening meal. The name alone signals a duality, dawn and night, contrast and continuity, that frames what the address is trying to do within a city still defining its fine-dining identity.
San Jose, United States
A Silicon Valley institution at 2301 Stevens Creek Blvd, Falafel's Drive In has been serving the San Jose community its namesake falafel and Middle Eastern staples through a drive-in format that predates the fast-casual era by decades. The ritual here is unhurried and unadorned: order at the window, wait for your name, eat in the open air. Few places in the South Bay carry this kind of accumulated neighbourhood trust.
San Jose, United States
Goodtime Bar occupies a specific gap in San Jose's drinking and eating scene: a natural wine bar that has grown into a proper kitchen, where pet nat finds its footing alongside aggressively flavored comfort food. Chef Alex Whiteman, who has cooked at both Snail Bar in Oakland and Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York, brings serious culinary lineage to a city that has historically lacked this kind of wine-forward neighborhood anchor.
San Jose, United States
The Bay Area's only Somali restaurant occupies a round, carousel-shaped building at a San Jose train station, where counter service and complimentary spiced tea set the tone. Large parties gather around hulking trays of fatty goat ribs, a format that places communal eating at the center of the experience. Jubba has been cited by the SF Chronicle as evidence of San Jose's singular food identity.
San Jose, United States
LB Steak sits at the heart of Santana Row, San Jose's most concentrated stretch of upscale retail and dining, where the open-air setting shapes the experience as much as what's on the plate. The steakhouse format fits a corridor that runs on expense-account confidence and leisurely weekend meals. For San Jose's west side, it represents a reliable anchor in a dining block that skews toward occasion dining.
San Jose, United States
On Alum Rock Avenue in San Jose's East Side, Tacos Mama Cuca operates in the register of serious Mexican street cooking rather than the stripped-down taqueria format that dominates the Bay Area mid-market.
San Jose, United States
A neighborhood Italian-American fixture on McKee Road in east San Jose, Antipastos by DeRose draws a loyal local following that returns not for occasion dining but for the kind of consistency that earns regulars. The address places it firmly in the east side's everyday dining fabric, where the competition is casual and the expectation is honest, repeatable value rather than destination-scale ambition.
San Jose, United States
Back A Yard Caribbean Grill on East Capitol Expressway puts Caribbean cooking at the center of San Jose's most ethnically diverse dining corridor. The kitchen leans into the traditions of the islands, jerk seasoning, stewed meats, rice and peas, with a directness that distinguishes it from the fusion-softened versions of Caribbean food found elsewhere in the Bay Area. For a city still building out its Caribbean dining presence, this address matters.
San Jose, United States
Bar Tako occupies a specific niche in San Jose's downtown dining scene, pairing a raw bar and robata grill with a drinks program built around tequila, mezcal, and Japanese whisky. It reads as a confident experiment in cross-cultural cooking rather than a compromise.
San Jose, United States
A neighborhood pizza and pasta spot on Santa Teresa Boulevard in South San Jose, Bibo's Pizza & Pasta draws a steady local following in a corridor that skews toward casual, family-oriented dining. The format is familiar Italian-American, positioned squarely within a community strip-mall context where consistency and approachability tend to matter more than culinary ambition.
San Jose, United States
Bill's Cafe sits on Willow Street in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood, a stretch that has earned a reputation as one of the South Bay's more consistent addresses for occasion dining. The cafe format suits milestone meals that call for familiarity over formality, placing it in a neighborhood tier that locals return to repeatedly rather than reserving for rare splurges.
San Jose, United States
Black Sheep Brasserie on Lincoln Avenue sits in San Jose's Willow Glen neighbourhood, a district that has quietly built one of the South Bay's more coherent dining corridors. The brasserie format positions it between the casual and the considered, making it a natural reference point for understanding how daytime and evening dining diverge in this part of California.
San Jose, United States
On Senter Road in San Jose's Vietnamese corridor, Bun Bo Hue delivers the central Vietnamese noodle soup that remains underrepresented across most American cities. The dish itself, a lemongrass-and-shrimp-paste broth built around beef and pork, sits in a different register from pho, and this address has become a reference point for the style in the South Bay.
San Jose, United States
On Story Road in San Jose's Vietnamese corridor, Bun Bo Hue Song Huong serves the spiced, lemongrass-forward beef noodle soup that defines Central Vietnamese cooking, a regional dish distinct from pho and rarely executed with this level of specificity outside Vietnam. The restaurant draws a loyal neighborhood following and functions as a reliable reference point for Hue-style cuisine in the South Bay.
San Jose, United States
Castillo's Mexican Restaurant serves Traditional Mexican at 5639 Cottle Rd in San Jose, with chile rellenos, enchiladas verdes, and beef flautas on the menu.
San Jose, United States
Culichi Town brings the coastal seafood traditions of Sinaloa to San Jose's Curtner Avenue, translating the raw-bar and aguachile culture of Mexico's Pacific coast into a Bay Area context. The kitchen draws on a sourcing philosophy rooted in the ingredients that define northern Mexican coastal cooking, from fresh shellfish to dried chiles. For San Jose diners tracking regional Mexican cuisine beyond the Jalisco standard, this address is worth noting.
San Jose, United States
Curry Pizza House in San Jose's Evergreen Village Square brings together two culinary traditions that rarely share the same dough: South Asian spice and the American pizza format. Located at 4035 Evergreen Village Square, it occupies a corner of San Jose's most culturally layered suburban dining corridor, where the Bay Area's South Asian diaspora has built a food scene that runs well beyond curry houses and buffets.
San Jose, United States
Elyse Restaurant occupies a downtown San Jose address on South First Street, placing it in the city's most active dining corridor. The venue sits within a local scene that has grown more sophisticated over the past decade, drawing comparisons to mid-tier fine dining formats found across the Bay Area. Visitors planning an evening here should expect a considered setting suited to occasion dining rather than casual drop-ins.
San Jose
Selected entries from the current guide for San Jose.
San Jose, United States
Rosewood Sand Hill occupies 16 acres in Menlo Park at the edge of Silicon Valley, earning 93.5 points from La Liste's Top Hotels ranking in 2026 and a Star Wine List award the same year. The 121-room property combines California Ranch architecture with the dining programme at Madera, an open kitchen restaurant anchored by a wood-burning hearth and an extensive wine list. Access to Stanford Golf Course and a Lucid Motors partnership complete the offer for the Bay Area's demanding travel set.
San Jose
Selected entries from the current guide for San Jose.
San Jose, United States
On South First Street in downtown San Jose, Angelou's Mexican Grill occupies a stretch of SoFA that has steadily attracted independent dining over the past decade. The kitchen works within the Mexican grill format that has become one of the district's most consistent categories, drawing a mixed crowd of downtown workers, weekend diners, and visitors exploring the neighbourhood on foot.
San Jose, United States
For San Jose diners weighing options along that stretch, it represents the counter-service or casual roll end of the local Japanese spectrum, positioned distinctly from the tasting-menu tier.
San Jose, United States
Fuji occupies a downtown San Jose address on West Santa Clara Street, positioning it inside the city's compact but growing bar corridor. The editorial angle here is spirits depth: the back bar and curation model place Fuji alongside the more deliberate cocktail programs emerging in mid-sized California cities. Check current hours and booking directly before visiting.
San Jose, United States
High Five Pizza holds down a corner of south San Jose at 171 Branham Lane, operating in a part of the city where pizza shops compete on neighborhood loyalty as much as craft. The address places it squarely in the Blossom Valley corridor, a residential stretch that rewards consistent quality over spectacle. For San Jose locals tracking the city's casual dining scene, it sits in the tier where the food-and-drink pairing proposition matters more than any single award.
San Jose, United States
Kaita Japanese Restaurant occupies a spot on Jackson Street in San Jose's downtown corridor, where the city's Japanese dining scene runs from conveyor-belt casual to more considered counter formats. Located at 215 Jackson St, Kaita sits within reach of the neighbourhood's broader mix of cuisines and nightlife, making it a practical anchor for evenings that extend beyond the table.
San Jose, United States
Kazoo Japanese Sushi Boat Restaurant on Jackson Street is a kaiten-style spot in San Jose's SoFA district, where conveyor-belt sushi formats have built a loyal neighborhood following. The floating-plate format keeps the experience accessible and social, drawing regulars who treat it as a weeknight institution rather than an occasion restaurant.
San Jose, United States
Kenji Sushi occupies a corner of San Jose's West San Jose strip along S Winchester Blvd, where the city's Japanese dining tradition runs from casual conveyor-belt formats to more considered omakase-adjacent counters. The address puts it inside a dense corridor of options, making the food-and-drink pairing question central to how any visit plays out.
San Jose, United States
Okayama Sushi #1 is a casual, seated bar in San Jose with a sake-focused drink program and conversational pacing.
San Jose, United States
Palermo Italian Restaurant on Auzerais Avenue sits in San Jose's Willow Glen-adjacent corridor, where mid-century neighborhood dining rooms have outlasted several waves of restaurant trends. The address places it among a cluster of independent operators serving the area's residential core, drawing regulars who return for the familiarity of Italian-American tradition rather than novelty.
San Jose, United States
On South First Street in downtown San Jose, Paper Plane occupies a spot inside a bar scene that has grown more technically serious over the past decade. The address at 72 S 1st St places it within walking distance of the city's main cultural corridor, making it a practical anchor for an evening that moves between drinks and dinner in the SoFA district.
San Jose, United States
On North San Pedro Street in downtown San Jose, Serious Dumpling draws a loyal crowd that returns not for novelty but for consistency. The spot sits in a part of the city where quick, affordable lunches compete for the same midday foot traffic, and it holds its own through repetition rather than reinvention. For regulars, the draw is the kind of reliability that keeps a place in rotation week after week.
San Jose, United States
Sushi Koya occupies a corner of San Jose's Almaden corridor where Japanese counter dining sits closer to neighborhood ritual than downtown spectacle. The address at 2424 Almaden Rd places it among a cluster of local Japanese options, from kaiten formats to izakaya-adjacent bars, and its positioning within that set tells you something about how the South Bay reads its sushi scene.
San Jose, United States
The address places it within reach of SoFA District venues and the broader Japantown corridor, making it a practical anchor for an evening that moves across cuisines and formats.
San Jose, United States
A downtown San Jose bar on East Santa Clara Street, The Last Round Tavern occupies a stretch of the city where daytime foot traffic from the courthouse and civic offices gives way to an evening crowd with different intentions. The address places it squarely in the older grid of San Jose, where neighbourhood bars have historically coexisted with the city's administrative core.
San Jose, United States
Umi Hand Roll Bar occupies a compact address on First Street in downtown San Jose, sitting inside a segment of Japanese casual dining that prizes counter speed and ingredient precision over ceremony. The hand roll format strips omakase theatrics down to their functional core: fish, rice, nori, and timing. For San Jose's growing appetite for focused Japanese formats, Umi is a credible reference point.
San Jose, United States
Zeni sits on Saratoga Avenue in San Jose's west side, where the city's Ethiopian and Eritrean dining corridor has quietly deepened over the past decade. The wine program at a well-run East African restaurant in this corridor tends to reward patience, and Zeni is the kind of address that earns its place in the conversation about where the Bay Area's independent dining scene holds its ground.
San Jose
Selected entries from the current guide for San Jose.
San Jose, United States
J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines gives San Jose an urban wine-center format rather than a vineyard-side tasting room. The draw is California range: estate-grown Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and related varietals interpreted through Paso Robles, Monterey County and Napa Valley sites, with small-lot and winery-exclusive bottles anchoring the visit.
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