The Best Places in University South & Downtown North

A glass dome over the upper terrace announces that this is not a casual tikka masala stop. Ettan is an upscale Indian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto where chef Srijith Gopinathan builds a Cal-Indian menu around coastal Keralan cooking and whatever California farms are doing that week. The two-level room, dressed in indigo fabric and beaded chandeliers, draws Desi families for milestones and couples who like their date nights with some drama.

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. San Francisco Chronicle Best restaurants for outdoor dining in the Bay Area

Copper pots hang from the wood beams and a wood-burning fireplace roars at the center of this upscale Greek restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, where whole suckling pigs spin over the grill and lemon halves arrive bound in cloth so you don't spray a lamb chop. The crowd skews tech money at lunch and date night by evening, and the prices track accordingly. The Michelin Guide has it selected, and the room makes that feel completely unsurprising.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

Dark sea-green walls, plush booths, and a covered parklet out front set the mood at this French bistro, where California ingredients do their best impression of a Parisian menu. The wine list splits evenly between Burgundy and Sonoma, the cocktails are serious, and the frites come with Dijon mayo in case you needed a reason. Bar Zola next door handles the cocktail crowd if the dining room is full.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. San Francisco Chronicle Best French restaurants in the Bay Area

The line snaking through downtown Palo Alto at noon is the surest sign this ramen shop is doing something right. A Tokyo-based chain with a cult following, it serves rich tonkotsu broth in five varieties, each bowl customizable down to noodle firmness and salt level. The red king, centered with a blazing eye of miso pork and cayenne, is the one people queue for. No reservations, but you can order while waiting, so you sit down to a bowl almost immediately.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best ramen restaurants in the SF Bay Area
2. San Francisco Chronicle The best Palo Alto restaurants
3. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

A 23-room boutique hotel on El Camino Real where valet, gratuities, room service, and a personal concierge are folded into the rate, so the only decision left is what to do with your hands. Staff greet you by name with your preferred drink, the shared library and kitchen are yours to treat as home, and the guest pantry freezer is stocked with Tin Pot Creamery ice cream. Silicon Valley's expense accounts have found their natural habitat.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

The name honors Scott Nishiyama's mother and grandmother, which tells you something about the register of the place before you've even sat down. This Palo Alto shared-plate restaurant lands somewhere between rustic and polished, with a short California-driven menu that moves from fried swordfish to hojicha tapioca pudding without breaking a sweat. The kind of room where the cooking is clearly serious but nobody's performing seriousness at you.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

A giant chalkboard covered in Georgian script greets you at this University Avenue restaurant, with a handy illustrated wine chart and a declaration at the bottom that translates to "We love our guests." Khinkali dumplings filled with savory broth and lamb share the menu with khachapuri, the classic cheese and egg bread. It doubles as a low-key primer on a cuisine most tables know nothing about when they sit down.

1. San Francisco Chronicle The best Palo Alto restaurants
2. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

The jerk chicken here shares DNA with Back A Yard, the fast-casual chain from the same restaurateur, but Coconuts wraps it in full table service and a proper rum bar. The Caribbean cooking is straightforward and confident: oxtail braised until the meat gives up completely, chicken slathered in allspice-forward seasoning. The room is colorful in the literal sense, which on a gray Peninsula afternoon feels less like a design choice and more like a public service.

1. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto
2. San Francisco Chronicle The best Palo Alto restaurants

The facade reads like a Mediterranean villa that took a wrong turn in NorCal, but step inside el PRADO and the postmodern quirk gives way to a genuinely sleek boutique hotel. The guest rooms are the surprise, styled closer to a small European luxury property than anything the surrounding tech-park sprawl would suggest. Palo Alto can feel anticlimactic as a destination; this is one of the places that makes it less so.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A tranquil inner garden courtyard sits at the center of this boutique hotel in downtown Palo Alto, which builds its whole identity around the idea of an urban ryokan. Japanese-inspired interiors keep things grounded while the rest of Silicon Valley's hotel scene leans toward the safely corporate. It's a genuinely calm place to land in a city not exactly known for them, and the Michelin Guide includes it among its selected hotels.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Sunset Top Tables · Where to Eat and Drink

1. AAA Approved

1. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

1. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

1. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto

1. Eater The 17 Best Restaurants in Palo Alto