The 15 Best Restaurants in Santa Monica Right Now (2026)
Santa Monica’s restaurant scene is having a moment. Between the Michelin-starred fine dining, the wave of new openings, and the neighborhood spots that have been quietly excellent for years, we’re eating better on the Westside than we ever have. Here are the 15 restaurants we actually go to — not the ones with the biggest PR budgets, but the ones where we spend our own money.
The Best of the Best
1. Rustic Canyon. Still the best restaurant in Santa Monica, full stop. Jeremy Fox’s vegetable-forward cooking is the reason half the chefs on this list moved to the Westside. The menu changes constantly, the wine list is deep and interesting, and the room has the kind of effortless energy that makes you want to stay for three hours. The grilled carrots with date vinaigrette and the whole-roasted cauliflower are legendary. Reservations on Resy — book a week out.
2. Citrin. Josiah Citrin’s Michelin-starred dining room on Wilshire is as close to fine dining as Santa Monica gets, and it wears the star lightly. The tasting menu is exceptional but the à la carte experience is just as good and half the commitment. The uni pasta and the dry-aged duck are the dishes that keep us coming back. Jacket not required, but you’ll feel underdressed in flip-flops.
3. Cassia. Bryant Ng’s Southeast Asian brasserie has been on every “best of” list since it opened, and it deserves to stay there. The Vietnamese pot au feu is one of the great dishes in Los Angeles. The laksa is warming and complex. The kaya toast with a soft egg is the best breakfast item served at dinner. The room is big, loud, and alive — this is the restaurant that makes Santa Monica feel like a food city.
“The best restaurants in Santa Monica aren’t trying to be LA restaurants. They’re trying to be neighborhood restaurants that happen to be world-class.”
The New Guard
4. Fitoor. The newest Indian restaurant on the Westside, and already one of the most exciting. The lamb shank nihari is fall-apart tender, the tandoori octopus is unlike anything else in town, and on weekends they bring out fire dancers on the patio. Ocean Avenue, reservations recommended.
5. The Wilkes. Brentwood Village’s new steakhouse in a gorgeous 1954 Streamline Moderne building. The Snake River Farms ribeye is excellent, but the latke-crusted chicken schnitzel is the real reason to go. The bar program is strong and the fireplace seating is the best in the neighborhood.
6. Pasjoli. Dave Beran’s French bistro reinvented itself in 2025 with a more relaxed format, and it’s better for it. The cordon bleu chicken wings are absurd in the best way. The burger with bone marrow aioli is a contender for best burger on the Westside. The wine list is overwhelmingly French and overwhelmingly good.
7. Holy Basil. The Westside’s best Thai restaurant, period. The boat noodle poached beef is transcendent, the salted egg yolk calamari is addictive, and the kitchen doesn’t soften anything for American palates. Walk-in only, BYOB, go early or go late.
The Neighborhood Classics
8. Tar & Roses. The wine bar on Santa Monica Boulevard that’s been quietly excellent for over a decade. Andrew Kirschner’s small plates are globally inspired and consistently surprising. The bone marrow with red onion marmalade is a dish we’d drive across town for. Great for a date, great for a Tuesday, great for both at the same time.
9. Fia. The Italian spot on Montana with the sprawling patio and the string lights that make everything look romantic. The pasta is handmade, the pizzas are thin and blistered, and the wine list leans Italian with smart California picks. This is the restaurant where you take your parents when they visit and they say “we should move here.”
10. Milo & Olive. The all-day cafe and pizzeria from the Rustic Canyon family. The wood-fired pizzas are serious, the pastries are extraordinary, and the communal table energy makes solo dining feel natural. The egg pizza at brunch is the sleeper pick.
11. Cosetta. Zach Pollack’s Cal-Italian spot in Ocean Park with the best outdoor seating in Santa Monica. The puffy-crust pizza is a genre unto itself. The porcini-rubbed wagyu tri-tip is the dish that turned a pizza place into a destination. Families, dates, groups — it works for everything.
The Specialists
12. Din Tai Fung. Yes, it’s a chain. No, we don’t care. The soup dumplings at the Santa Monica Place location are flawless, the cucumber salad is addictive, and the ocean views from the third floor are a bonus that no other DTF location can match. The line moves fast. Go.
13. Elephante. The rooftop Italian restaurant that doubles as the best happy hour in Santa Monica. The view is the obvious draw, but the food has gotten genuinely good — the burrata, the crudo, the hand-cut pappardelle. Come for aperol spritzes at sunset, stay for dinner.
14. Seline. Dave Beran’s tasting-menu restaurant in the former Dialogue space. Fifteen courses of technically precise, occasionally playful food that earned a spot in the 2025 Michelin Guide. This is the special-occasion restaurant — prix fixe only, small room, book well in advance.
15. Gjusta. Technically Venice, but close enough. The industrial bakery-deli that does smoked fish, house-baked bread, and a lamb merguez scramble that will rearrange your morning. Order at the counter, eat in the courtyard, wonder why every restaurant isn’t this good.
