Finding the Best Lunch in Healdsburg
In the foodie haven of Healdsburg, finding the best lunch in Healdsburg is no easy feat. Although there are dozens of restaurants to choose from, several of the hottest dining spots are only open for dinner. But, epicures can still choose from a delicious mix of brunch and lunch options in casual and chic settings. The key is timing. A few of the best lunch spots in Healdsburg aren’t open seven days a week; others are weekends-only and some during select months. Here’s your definitive daytime dining guide for Healdsburg—organized from north to south, open daily to open seasonally—with restaurant hours, our favorite menu items and other tips.
Finding the Best Lunch in Healdsburg (updated March 2025)
Luxurious Lunch at Hazel Hill
Hazel Hill, the signature restaurant at Montage Healdsburg on the north end of town, serves one of the most exquisite lunchtime offerings on this side of the Mayacamas. Views from the restaurant are spectacular, with every seat looking east toward Mount St. Helena and neighboring Jordan Estate. A fusion of French and Californian cuisine, the menu changes seasonally, though mainstays worth seeking include the burgundy escargot, chicken paillard, Morbier cheeseburger (add a side of their addictive parmesan frites) and Hazel Hill salad with local fromage blanc. The restaurant also serves an eclectic list of wines by the glass and an epic cocktail menu. Pair those breathtaking views and Forbes Five-Star Hotel service with Executive Chef Jason Pringle’s talents—the Bay Area native father of four honed his skills in the kitchens of top chefs Daniel Boulud, Laurent Manrique, and the late Jan Birnbaum—and it’s no surprise that Hazel Hill has established itself as one of the best Healdsburg restaurants for lunch. Request a table just outside the glass walls of the dining room, facing the mountains. Open for lunch Monday-Friday and brunch on Saturday and Sunday, starting at 11:30 a.m.
Spanish Lunch in Healdsburg at Bravas Bar de Tapas
Located one block off the Healdsburg square in a vintage bungalow is Bravas, Healdsburg’s only Spanish-inspired restaurant. Bravas serves small plates tapas style in the house’s living room, porch or on the restaurant’s open-air backyard patio. The Stark family’s main outdoor dining area enjoys the shade and scents of Seville orange trees, though surrounding high-top tables near the bar and seating on the back porch offer equally charming perches for soaking up the scene. It’s a favorite lunch spot for Jordan team meetings; we never miss a chance to share their chicken croquetas, ham and black truffle bocadillos, Dungeness crab piquillo peppers or the salty-sweet fried eggplant chips. Known for its eclectic wine list spanning Sonoma to Spain, sangria and craft cocktails. Open for lunch daily beginning at 11:30 a.m.
420 Center Street, Healdsburg, CA, 707-433-7700, starkrestaurants.com
Healdsburg Stalwart Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar
One of the longest-running restaurants in Healdsburg, Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar has served as a second outpost of the beloved Willi’s Wine Bar in Santa Rosa for more than two decades. Owned and operated by the Stark family (like nearby Bravas), Willi’s has always been a go-to Healdsburg restaurant for lunch service, known for its small plates and deep, Sonoma-centric wine list. The extensive, shareable menu is filled with raw bar delicacies, seafood sandwiches, tacos, and sautéed fish, but you’ll also find delicious salads and hot dishes to sate your inner vegetarian or carnivore. Our favorites include the coconut milk tuna tartare, bacon wrapped scallops, lobster roll, almond crusted sole, spinach salad with bacon dressing and the guiltiest of pleasures: the chorizo cheese skillet with cilantro pesto. Open daily for indoor and outdoor dining starting at 11:30 a.m.
Plant-Based Lunch at Little Saint
Designed as a modern grange, Little Saint is a community gathering space in downtown Healdsburg that blends coffee shop, market, café, wine lounge, art gallery and event venue in one stylish locale. The owners prioritize social responsibility, climate justice, and animal welfare with a 100 percent, plant-based menu, grown mostly on their farm just outside of town. One of the best places near the Healdsburg Plaza for breakfast and lunch meetings, Little Saint’s eclectic café features fabulous sitting areas curated by celebrated interior designer Ken Fulk (a Little Saint partner), where guests can soak up the chic vibe and ever-changing art over a trio of vegetable and nut dips, salads that are almost too pretty to eat, vegan quiche and other light brunch items. Open Thursday-Monday, starting at 8 a.m.
Elegant Mexican Lunch inside Les Mars Hotel
Chef Felipe Hurtado, an alumna of the Jordan Winery Kitchen, draws inspiration from his Mexican-American heritage at one of two newish Mexican restaurants in downtown (see What’s New in Healdsburg 2024). The compact lunch menu features modern takes on Mexican classics, from the Mamalona burrito and Sonoran hot dog to the Loca quesadilla and the Puerto de Tacos. Those with a hankering for breakfast will find chilaquiles, salmon tostadas and guacamole avocado toast. Located with the posh Les Mars Hotel next to Little Saint, Arandas offers both indoor and hidden courtyard dining. Open for lunch Wednesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
29 North Street, Healdsburg, CA, 707-473-8030, arandashealdsburg.com
Specialty Sandwiches, Steps Away from the Plaza
Known for making some of the best artisan sandwiches in town, Troubadour Healdsburg is a media magnet and Michelin Guide member, thanks to its evening alter-ego, Le Dîner. Their petit boulangerie/lunch menu features classic sandos with French sensibility, such as Jambon Au Beurre, turkey pesto, chicken salad, egg salad, seasonal vegetable and more. Husband and wife duo, Sean and Melissa McGaughey, showcase the best of Sonoma County’s ingredients and create their doughs with care and precision—skills honed at Three-Star Michelin SingleThread Farm around the corner. Their nearby bakery, Quail & Condor, was named one of the country’s best in 2024 by New York Times. From classic sourdough to hearty whole grain, their breads elevate each sandwich to new heights. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Asahi Sushi & Kitchen Offers High-End Sushi Experience
When it comes to sushi, people always know where to eat in Healdsburg. Asahi, located on Healdsburg’s main street a few doors down from Troubadour, offers Izakaya tapas and sushi rolls at lunchtime, and expands the menu to more luxurious Omakase dining at night. Lunch menu fan favorites include the Japanese fried chicken, tuna poke, and the Surf and Turf Roll, which includes tempura shrimp and crab on the inside and A5 Wagyu beef on the top. Open for lunch six days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; closed Mondays.
Pizzas, Pastas on Parade at PizZando
PizZando pairs prime real estate for people watching with Sonoma-fresh, Italian classics—on Healdsburg Avenue’s most photographed corner. Don’t let the name fool you. Hotel Healdsburg’s airy, indoor-outdoor restaurant is much more than a temple for authentic pizza lovers. After extensive renovation in 2023, PizZando has been reborn as a modern trattoria with a larger kitchen, expanded menu, more seating and a stylish bar. Not one, but two distinctive styles of pizza—round, charred-crust Napolitana and square, crispy-crust Romana—are now available in 10 different styles. The Broccolini Napolitana pie is always last-slice-battle worthy, though the Romano crispy artichoke hearts, Front Porch Farm caesar, basil pesto gnocchi and roasted red onion panini are equally delicious options during lunch. Most of the recipes are cooked in wood-fired ovens—part of co-owner Paolo Petrone’s love letter to the traditional cooking methods of his childhood home in Calabria, Italy. PizZando also sells Panerba Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which has been made by his wife’s family in Salerno, Italy, since 1920. The central location, flavorful selection and responsible prices make it one of the best restaurants in Healdsburg for lunch. In the summer, it’s the only restaurant on the plaza to serve soft-serve ice cream cones. Aperitivo Hours, featuring drink specials and la dolce vita snacks weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m., further sweeten the deal. Open at 11:30 a.m. daily.
Acorn Café Brings Light and Bright Brunch / Lunch Fare
When a Ritz-Carlton chef moves to Wine Country for a simpler life, we all win. Owner Beryl Adler has transformed the former Oakville Grocery into a chic, cafeteria-style dining room that is bright and bustling with energy. Locals and tourists order at the counter and rub elbows with neighbors while dining on avocado toast, berry bowls, benedicts, colorful salads, sandwiches and other flavorful café cooking. Grab&Go options, as well as patio dining, are also available. Open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lo & Behold Combines Cocktails, Global Lunch and Garden Dining
The wild success story of Lo & Behold Bar and Kitchen is one that locals love to tell. Two talented mixologists who met at H2hotel’s Spoonbar in 2010 set out on their own journey as entrepreneurs many years later. A snafu with their first business partner turns out to be a blessing, and now Tara Heffernon and Laura Sanfilippo helm their own space on their own terms with partner/co-owner, Executive Chef Sean Kelley. And it’s directly across the street from the stylish bar where the women’s passion for craft cocktails and creative eats began. Since 2022, Lo & Behold has over-delivered on service, flavor and charm in the former Mateo’s space. Seating is offered indoors and out back in a charming garden filled with shade trees and home-grown garnishes. Kelley’s menu is considered global comfort food—inspired by the trio’s travels and his experiences helming the kitchen at west Sonoma County’s famed Underwood Bar & Bistro. All plates are meant to be shared, and there’s something for everyone. Lunch favorites include the Hamachi tiradito, beef brisket tacos, and wedge salad, but the curry deviled eggs and Almost Famous chicken tenders hit the spot any hour of the day. Make reservations to guarantee a table, and don’t forget to order the Safe Word. Open all day Thursday-Monday at 11:30 a.m.
Eastern European Comfort Food with Wine Country Flair at Tisza
SingleThread and Montage may be the places for brushes with Hollywood fame in Healdsburg, but if you want to meet local celebrities, go to Tisza. Sure, you may not recognize every face, but this Central European eatery in an unassuming former diner across from the new Mill District, draws a wonderful roster of regulars, from the director of the Healdsburg Farmers Market to the owners of Dry Creek Peach Farm. Chef/owner Krisztian Karkus has built the kind of résumé you’d find in a five-star hotel, yet he’s content cooking chicken schnitzel and mushroom spatzle in our hip, tiny town. He trained under legendary toques Paul Bocuse and Alain Ducasse, owned a restaurant in Japan, and helmed kitchens for the Ritz-Carlton in Jamaica and Hong Kong before finding his way into the world of U.S. West Coast hotels. Just in time for the pandemic, he opened Tisza in nearby Windsor, and luckily for us, Chef Karkus moved the culinary ode to his Hungarian roots to Healdsburg in 2024. Classic bratwurst, salmon latkes and several sandwiches shine at lunch. Did we mention the homemade pretzels and beer garden? Open at 12 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday only.
165 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, CA, 707-291-5193, tiszabistro.com
Healdsburg Restaurants Open Weekends Only or Seasonally for Lunch
- The Madrona: The stylishly restored mansion dating back to 1881—now known as The Madrona—serves an exquisite farm-fresh lunch on its veranda on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from April until the end of the year. (Brunch/lunch is offered year-round on weekends.) Lettuces, fruits, vegetables and other garnishes are sourced from the storybook estate’s regenerative farm and gardens.
- Rooftop 106: The Matheson is a dynamic culinary destination by local celebrity chef Dustin Valette with multiple concepts under one roof. Overlooking the tree-filled Healdsburg Plaza, Rooftop 106 is the chef’s sleek, indoor-outdoor restaurant known for its early evening energy. The lunch/brunch menu offers a combination of options for carb lovers and carnivores, from four different waffles and nine different pizzas to pork chops and charcuterie. Open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday only before happy hour and dinner service begins.
- Guiso Latin Fusion: Healdsburg’s only restaurant devoted to Latin American and Caribbean cuisine, Guiso’s interior may be humble, but foodies flock here for exotic eats, friendly service and respectable prices—not a magazine cover shoot. Pupusas, cachapas and Cuban sliders are favorites. Open for lunch Friday, Saturday and Sunday only.
Other Casual Healdsburg Lunch Spots Open Most Days
- Parish Café: Louisiana cooking with a Sonoma soul; the menu features so many different po’ boys and jumbos, your eyes will bulge like beignets. Open daily.
- El Milagro: Modern Mexican cuisine, celebrating the ancestorial heritage of the owners with colorful, regional dishes. Open daily.
- Gallina d’Oro (formerly El Farolito): Casual Mexican cantina off the square next to Idlewild Wines; open daily.
- Healdsburg Bar & Grill: Burgers and salads with patio seating; closed Tuesdays.
- Journeyman Meat Co. Charcuterie-focused menu and pizzas; closed Tuesdays.
- Sake-O—the longest-running sushi restaurant in Healdsburg might be shy on ambiance, but it’s big on fresh ingredients; closed Mondays.
- Costeaux Bakery & Café: Salads and sandwiches served on the French bakery’s sidewalk courtyard tables or inside the deli-like dining room; open daily.
Campo Fina is closing due to rent increase, staff shortages, etc.