The restaurants worth a reservation in Santa Monica, from neighbourhood bistros to the new classics.
The restaurants worth the trip in Santa Monica. bistros, neo-classics, neighbourhood favourites, and the rooms locals book first.
Rustic Canyon is Santa Monica's farmers-market dining room on Wilshire, now cooking seasonal Mexican-Californian food a few blocks from the Wednesday market.
Order: The vegetable plates that change weekly with the market
Tip: Last seating is 21:00 most nights; the menu shifts weekly with the Arizona Avenue market haul.
Pasjoli on Main Street is Santa Monica's French bistro benchmark, lately loosened up with a bigger bar menu and its famous tableside pressed duck restored.
Order: Tableside canard a la presse, or the cordon bleu chicken wings at the bar
Tip: The pressed duck is a 350 dollar whole-bird production for the table; order it when you book, not on arrival.
Citrin is Josiah Citrin's modern Californian flagship on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, a Michelin-starred dining room built on market produce.
Order: The prix fixe, built around Santa Monica farmers market produce
Tip: Book the a la carte room; the 14-seat Melisse counter behind it is a separate, pricier reservation.
Melisse is the 14-seat tasting counter hidden behind Citrin in Santa Monica, a two-Michelin-star room from Josiah Citrin and chef partner Ken Takayama.
Order: The full tasting menu; the kitchen builds it around the week's market
Tip: Around 800 dollars for two before wine, with a strict no-cancellation policy; book two to three weeks out.
Seline is Dave Beran's Michelin-starred tasting room on Main Street in Santa Monica, a cerebral 295 dollar procession from the Californian landscape.
Order: The seasonal tasting menu; courses change constantly
Tip: Plan around two and a half hours for the full menu; reservations open by the month and the counter seats sell first.
Shunji on Ocean Park Boulevard is Santa Monica's serious omakase counter, a chef-led 295 dollar procession of aged and marinated fish booked via Tock.
Order: Omakase only; the aged marinated tuna nigiri is the anchor
Tip: The room is tiny and reservations go through Tock; aged marinated tuna nigiri is the signature move.
Michael's Santa Monica has run since 1979, Michael McCarty's garden dining room on 3rd Street where a long line of famous chefs cooked market-first food.
Order: Whatever the market plates are that week; the garden room is the point
Tip: Alumni include Jonathan Waxman and Nancy Silverton; chef Job Carder now runs the hyper-seasonal menu. Book on Resy.
Fia fills a big garden dining room on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica with coastal Italian cooking, burrata with prosciutto and figs, raw fish and steaks.
Order: Burrata with prosciutto and figs, then the Wellington steak
Tip: The garden brunch with pastries and bottomless pours is the weekend play; book OpenTable for patio seats.
The Georgian Room, in the 1933 Georgian Hotel on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, pairs Tuscan chophouse cooking with live jazz around a Steinway grand.
Order: New York strip, then the spumoni-style baked Alaska
Tip: Friday and Saturday it runs to 02:00 with live music; Spaghetti Sunday closes the week with a set menu.
Elephante stacks a coastal Italian kitchen onto a 2nd Street rooftop in Santa Monica, whipped eggplant, pizzas and pasta with the ocean over the rail.
Order: Whipped eggplant dip with flatbread, then a pizza as the sun drops
Tip: Go before sunset for the light and stay for the DJ; weekend mornings it runs ricotta pancakes from 09:00.
Calabra spreads Mediterranean-Californian plates across the Santa Monica Proper Hotel rooftop, a circular bar and garden terrace with Pacific views.
Order: Challah french toast at brunch, mezze and crudo at night
Tip: Proper Hour runs 16:00-17:00 weekdays and 15:00-17:00 weekends; the poolside alcoves take groups up to twelve.
Xuntos fills a 1926 Art Deco building in downtown Santa Monica with Sandra Cordero's Galician tapas, razor clams, percebes and vermouth over two floors.
Order: Razor clams, jamon iberico and a porron of Basque cider
Tip: The menu runs from jamon iberico to Galician empanadas; ask for the mezzanine seats above the bar.
Tar & Roses has held its downtown Santa Monica corner since 2012, a wood-fire kitchen of oxtail dumplings and whole fried snapper that improves with age.
Order: Oxtail dumplings, then the whole fried snapper with soba
Tip: The whole fried snapper with cold soba is built for two; smaller plates share better than they look.
Holy Basil brought its Bangkok street-food kitchen west to Santa Monica Boulevard in late 2025, crab fried rice and pad kee mao with natural wine and sake.
Order: Bangkok crab fried rice and pad kee mao moo krob
Tip: Owners Deau Arpapornnopparat and Joy Yuon plan seven-day service and brunch in 2026; until then dinner books out.
Cobi's cooks Southeast Asian food in a florid Main Street bungalow in Santa Monica, a Bib Gourmand room of curries, dumplings and wood-grilled plates.
Order: Pork dumplings, nasi goreng and a wok-tossed curry
Tip: The Michelin Bib Gourmand crowd books ahead on Resy; the weekend brunch sitting is the calmer way to get a table.
Crudo e Nudo runs a chalkboard of daily raw fish on Main Street in Santa Monica, chef Brian Bornemann dry-aging ikejime catch from Baja up to Monterey.
Order: Daily crudo flight and the tuna tartare with seeded loaves
Tip: Wine director Simona Topuzovska pours biodynamic small growers; the daily happy hour 15:00-17:00 is the value window.
Water Grill Santa Monica works a daily-changing seafood list on Ocean Avenue, live Alaskan king crab tanks, shucked-to-order oysters and wild local fish.
Order: Live spot prawns in season, plus a dozen cold-water oysters
Tip: Ask what came off the boats that day; Santa Barbara spot prawns are charcoal-grilled when the traps are running.
The Lobster has watched the Santa Monica Pier from its Ocean Avenue perch since 1923, grilling Maine and spiny lobster above the beach crowds.
Order: Grilled lobster or the lobster roll with truffle parmesan fries
Tip: Book Resy for a window at golden hour; the lobster roll at the bar is the affordable route.
Ivy at the Shore keeps its bougainvillea-draped pink facade on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, an American menu served on the same florid patio since 1985.
Order: Crab cakes and the fried chicken, plus a gimlet on the patio
Tip: Brunch runs to 13:00 weekdays and 14:00 weekends; the patio people-watching is the real product.
1 Pico is the oceanfront dining room at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, coastal Californian cooking with Southern Italian leanings above the sand.
Order: Whatever the seasonal coastal tasting plates are, with a Route 66 centennial cocktail
Tip: Ask for a window table at sunset; the Coast cafe downstairs covers the casual all-day beach service instead.
FIG at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica cooks off weekly farmers market runs, wood-blistered pizzas and lemon ricotta pancakes on a garden terrace.
Order: Lemon ricotta pancakes or the breakfast burrito
Tip: The sun-trap garden terrace and the Potting Shed private room book out for weekend brunch; go on a weekday morning.
Capo is Bruce Marder's almond-wood-fired Italian room on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, open since 1998 with a cellar of more than 2,500 wine selections.
Order: Rigatoni with white truffle meat sauce and something off the wood fire
Tip: The wine list has held Wine Spectator's Grand Award every year since 2015; budget accordingly.
Chinois on Main is Wolfgang Puck's 1983 Santa Monica original, still folding Chinese tradition and French technique into California produce on Main Street.
Order: The whole sizzling catfish and the Chinois chicken salad
Tip: Executive chefs Junuen Saldana and Ramiro Saucedo keep the classics on; book OpenTable or phone the room.
Le Great Outdoor grills everything outside in the Bergamot Station yard in Santa Monica, lamb chops and tartines off open fire at long picnic tables.
Order: Blistered lamb chops and the goat cheese tartine
Tip: The kitchen is entirely open-air in the arts-centre parking lot; book Resy for dinner, walk in at lunch.
Cosetta cooks wood-fired Italian on Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica, porcini-rubbed wagyu tri-tip and vodka arrabbiata shells with burrata.
Order: Pasta shells in vodka arrabbiata with burrata
Tip: Two hours of validated parking off 31st Street takes the sting out; happy hour runs 16:00-17:00 on weekdays.
Shirube runs a charcoal-grill izakaya on Wilshire in downtown Santa Monica, corn ribs in shoyu butter and blowtorched mackerel with most plates under 25.
Order: Shoyu butter corn ribs and the mentaiko udon
Tip: Sit at the bar for the courtside view of the charcoal grill; the mentaiko udon disappears early on weekends.
Fitoor grills contemporary Indian food near the Santa Monica Pier, kebabs, kulchas and seafood from the ROOH team's fire-led Ocean Avenue kitchen.
Order: Kebabs and kulchas from the tandoor, plus the seafood plates
Tip: Founders Anu and Vikram Bhambri staff the kitchen almost entirely with chefs trained in India; the halal menu suits groups.
Piccolo Ristorante hand-rolls its pasta on Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica, chef Antonio Mure's Venetian-leaning dinners with a deep Italian cellar.
Order: Homemade pasta of the day with a glass from the Italian list
Tip: The room is candlelit and small, better for two than six; Prosecco by the glass opens the night properly.
Ghisallo blisters Neapolitan-and-New-York-style pies on Ocean Park Boulevard in Santa Monica, with arancini, radicchio salads and a semi-hidden back patio.
Order: Squash blossom pizza in season, the diavola year-round
Tip: The back patio is the seat; squash blossom pizza when it is on, diavola otherwise. Wine list stays well priced.
Father's Office on Montana Avenue is the Santa Monica gastropub where Sang Yoon's no-substitutions Office Burger was born, backed by 36 craft taps.
Order: The Office Burger, exactly as it comes
Tip: No ketchup, no substitutions, 21-plus only; the burger comes one way and the bar means it.