17 Best Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants for 2024
Are you looking for great restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea? Would a list of the best restaurants in Carmel, CA, help? Well, you’re in luck!
My husband Mike and I just visited this gorgeous gem along the Monterey County coast of California to explore the latest developments in the incredible local food scene (we’ve been many times). After eating a ton of amazing food at a wide variety of top-tier eateries, we can now share with you our list of the best Carmel restaurants.
No matter your budget or your favorite type of cuisine, you’ll be able to enjoy some of the most delicious food in the entire United States in Carmel-by-the-Sea. So, let’s dig into our list of Carmel’s best restaurants to get you all you need to know to get you where you want to go. All of the restaurants on the list are in beautiful downtown Carmel.
Carmel-by-the-Sea restaurants competed in a Chef Showdown during Culinary Week. The winner is on our list!
Best Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants: Exceptional Fine Dining
For the size of this small city on the California Coast, you’ll be blown away by the number of restaurant choices you’ll encounter. In that sense, it’s a little like the rich restaurant scene in Yountville, CA, just a few hours north. And as in Yountville, Michelin stars come alive at night in Carmel.
Even the entrance to Chez Noir restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea is charming and inviting.
1. Aubergine
To say that Aubergine, at L’Auberge Carmel, is an award-winning restaurant might be worthy of its own prize for understatement. Among numerous honors, Aubergine has been nominated for a James Beard Award for both Best Chef in the West and Outstanding Service; has won the Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator; and has been awarded a Michelin star.
Executive Chef Justin Cogley has been named Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chef and carries the prestigious title of Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux. He develops an 8-course tasting menu that changes daily and features the most amazing flavors from the freshest seasonal ingredients.
Pastry Chef Yulanda Santos ensures that dessert choices are as outstanding as the rest of the menu. The restaurant’s wine collection exceeds 2,500 bottles and focuses on the best of Monterey wine country and France. With such a wine list, it’s no wonder that the course-by-course wine pairings perfectly complement each menu’s offerings.
Aubergine
Address: Monteverde St at 7th Ave
Serving: Dinner, Wednesday through Sunday
2. Chez Noir
This relative newcomer to Carmel-by-the-Sea made a big splash real fast. After opening in late 2022, Chez Noir was awarded a Michelin star, named best new restaurant by Eater, San Francisco, and lauded among the 50 best new restaurants in the US by Esquire—all in 2023!
Perhaps it should have been no surprise. Co-owners Jonny Black and Monique Black, Chez Noir’s chef and front-of-house maven, respectively, have led and been key players on restaurant teams on both US coasts with a whole constellation of Michelin stars among them.
Chez Noir’s seafood-centric multicourse menu showcases the best of the bountiful Monterey Peninsula. With its imaginative dishes, symphony of flavors, and amazing service, this is the perfect place to enjoy a sublime Carmel dining experience.
Chez Noir
Address: 5th Avenue, between Dolores and San Carlos Streets
Serving: Dinner, every night but Sunday
The patio at Anton & Michel, a great restaurant for a fine dining experience in Carmel
3. Anton & Michel
Anton & Michel has been a Carmel fine-dining institution for more than 40 years! It’s known for its California cuisine with a classic touch, providing both a contemporary sensibility and time-honored classics.
In fact, the legendary rack of lamb for two has been carved tableside since opening day, and flambé desserts still prepared in front of diners provide an intimate show that ends with delightful deliciousness.
But there is nothing outdated here. The redesigned, contemporary dining room affords beautiful views of the Court of Fountains through floor-to-ceiling windows, and meals are offered on the courtyard patio as well. The inviting space and great food make this a great place to celebrate any special occasion.
Anton & Michel
Address: Mission Street, between Ocean Ave and 7th Ave
Serving: Lunch & Dinner daily
Best Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants: Masters of the Mediterranean
Some of the best places to eat in Carmel-by-the-Sea offer great Mediterranean cuisine. Whether it’s because Carmel’s sunshine, coastal location, and local bounty of fresh ingredients evoke the Mediterranean, or just because the tastes of the Mediterranean are so good, a number of local restaurants make it their business to provide excellent Mediterranean food in Carmel, CA.
Lunch at one of the best Carmel-by-the-Sea restaurants, La Bicyclette
4. La Bicyclette
With its small wooden tables, patina’d knickknacks, and displays of copper pots hanging overhead, this cozy restaurant in the heart of Carmel-by-the-Sea could easily be mistaken for one in the French countryside. But’s it’s the quality of the rustic French country cuisine that convincingly transports you.
Cooking only what’s in season and insisting on fresh produce and other locally sourced ingredients, this Michelin Guide restaurant offers a menu that changes weekly. La Biciclette consistently pleases with delicious choices, many with roots from cuisine Provençal.
At our recent lunch, we enjoyed wonderful versions of Champignons Provençale, Parisian Gnocchi, and a pan-seared catch of the day in a medley of spring vegetables and white wine sauce. Enjoying it all with a bottle of good wine, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.
La Bicyclette
Address: Dolores St and 7th Ave
Serving: Lunch and Dinner daily
Casanova, a Carmel-by-the-Sea restaurant housed in a storybook cottage
5. Casanova
It wasn’t until after we ate at La Bicyclette that we learned one of our long-time Carmel personal favorites, Casanova, was owned by the same family. They opened their first Carmel restaurant back in 1974!
Casanova was the first place we ever ate in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and we’re always thrilled to see it still going strong. Another restaurant touted by the Michelin Guide, Casanova concentrates on regional French foods and Italian cuisine expertly prepared in an adorable cottage setting.
Here too, fresh local ingredients are a must, and the menu changes often, but you’ll also find mouthwatering pastas, French classics, and a few seafood options that will melt your heart.
The wine cellar houses thousands of bottles to choose from, and for a special event, you can book the small room with the actual table at which Van Gogh ate while he lived at the Auberge Ravoux, in France.
Casanova
Address: 5th Avenue between Mission and San Carlos Streets
Serving: Dinner, every night but Sunday
6. Dametra Cafe
With a song or two belted out every hour, a fun and friendly staff, infectious enthusiasm, and occasional spontaneous dancing, Dametra might just be the most fun restaurant in Carmel, CA.
But it’s not just the musical entertainment and hospitality that are authentic, Mediterranean specialties from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Israel, and Syria pay faithful homage to the diverse range of flavors that rim the Mediterranean. From Greek street foods to Turkish kebabs, everything is so yummy!
There’s also plenty of wine with which to toast all this good food, and the festive décor inside and outdoor seating amplify the Mediterranean atmosphere.
Dametra Cafe
Address: Ocean Avenue between Dolores and Lincoln Streets
Serving: Lunch and Dinner daily
Best Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants: Italy’s Calling
There is no shortage of worthwhile Italian restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Each has its own story to tell with a focus on different aspects of Italy’s amazing cuisine, but all offer a dining experience your taste buds will thank you for.
Local clams and mussels at Vesuvio, the Carmel restaurant winner of Culinary Week’s Chef Showdown
7. La Balena
La Balena is an ode to the traditional Tuscan cuisine of owner Emanuele Bartolini’s youth, where ultra-fresh ingredients were always used to make simple but highly satisfying dishes from scratch. So, organic produce here is sourced from local farmers, fish is wild caught, and meat comes from humanely raised animals reared nearby.
The pasta is house-made by hand, and most meats are cooked low and slow to ensure they’re tender and flavor-filled. The menu changes daily, but expect options like short ribs or veal shank, a beautiful locally caught fish prepared whole, and a great selection of pastas.
Emanuel will gladly recommend an Italian or Californian wine from Balena’s impressive collection to complement whatever delicious dishes you’ve decided on.
La Balena
Address: Junipero Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues
Serving: Dinner, Tuesday through Saturday
8. Cantinetta Luca
Cantinetta Luca has been pleasing people’s palates since it opened in 2006, celebrating the finest in regional cuisine from throughout Italy.
The restaurant’s recipe for success includes using the best local products complemented by the choicest imported Italian must-haves, employing time-honored techniques, creating a fun, caring atmosphere, and providing great service.
Influences come from Bologna, Rome, and even Neapolitan street food, but everything is made from scratch. Meats are cut in house, and everything gets the attention it deserves. The house-cured salumi are a big hit, and a signature dish is the Steak Florentine, a giant porterhouse steak prepared and sliced off the bone in the traditional Tuscan manner and served in a cast iron skillet. But you can’t go wrong with whatever you decide on here.
Cantinetta Luca
Address: Dolores Street, between Ocean and 7th Avenues
Serving: Dinner, every night but Tuesday
9. Il Tegamino
The first thing you should know is that a tegamino is an Italian two-handled frying pan. Il Tegamino’s owner chose the name to honor his mother, who cooked with and collected tegamini in her home in Napoli.
And it is Neapolitan cooking and hospitality that imbues this restaurant, which is tucked away in the Court of the Golden Bough—Carmel’s oldest courtyard.
A family favorite and restaurant standout is the Pacherri al Ragù Napoletano, a pasta smothered in an amazing meat sauce made of short rib, pork, and sausage with parmigiano and basil—wow!
In addition to the handful of specials each day, the house-made pastas, hearty meat offerings, and fresh-fish dishes provide perpetually pleasing platefuls. Just be sure to make a reservation: The space is charming but intimate, with limited seating.
Il Tegamino
Address: Ocean Avenue, between Lincoln and Monte Verde Streets
Serving: Dinner, Wednesday through Sunday
Appetizers and cocktails at Little Napoli, one of our favorite Italian restaurants in Carmel
10. Little Napoli
Chef Pèpe is one of Carmel’s most well-known restaurateurs and culinary personalities. As he’ll tell you, his Italian family came from Napoli, stopped in Hoboken, and settled in Carmel-by-the-Sea. And one thing is for sure: Along the way, they kept every bit of their love and passion for all things Italian!
That love was poured into Little Napoli when it opened back in 1990. The décor evokes Chef Pèpe’s grandparents’ living room back in Naples, but the cuisine is a blend of southern Italian classics and Italian-American favorites.
The menu offers tons of great choices, and the dining courtyard is very inviting, but I think the happy hour at next-door Bar Napoli is the bomb!
Specialty cocktails—including a great Negroni—are only $8; draft beers, house wines, and well drinks are $6. Killer small bites like meatball lollipops, saffron-risotto arancini, and mic-dropping truffle gnocchi are priced at $7. The selection of wood-fired pizzas are also undeniably delicious and ring up at only $14.
The combination of full bar favorites, fantastic food, favorable pricing, and friendly service is tough to beat in a town that provides so much great food but so few bargains!
Little Napoli
Address: Corner of Dolores Street and 7th Avenue
Serving: Lunch, Saturday & Sunday; Dinner, daily; Happy Hour in Bar Napoli, 4 pm–6 pm daily
11. Vesuvio
Vesuvio is Chef Pèpe’s latest venture, featuring not only more great Italian cooking but a rooftop bar as well. There are too many good things on the menu to cover, but the Fried Artichoke Crochette is one of the in-the-know appetizer picks, the Eggplant Parmigiana is beloved, and the amazing Truffled Gnocchi available at Bar Napoli are just as home here at Vesuvio. And they have authentic Italian-style pizzas.
We came in to have more of the special Nectarine Pizza Pie that we had sampled at the Carmel Culinary Week Chef Showdown the day before. The sauceless nectarine, red onion, basil, hot honey, and hazelnut pizza took home the prize for 1st place, and we were determined to enjoy an encore performance.
Can we help it if we timed our visit to coincide with Vesuvio’s happy hour so that we could also try the sauté of mussels and clams and the fritto misto line-up too? Everything was first rate! The rooftop bar is worth checking out too. You can’t make reservations, but don’t let that stop you.
Vesuvio
Address: Corner of 6th Avenue and Junipero Street
Serving: Dinner, daily; Happy Hour, 4 pm–6 pm daily
Best Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants: Locals’ Favorites
There is, of course, no strict list of Carmel-by-the-Sea restaurants and cafes locals swear loyalty to, but we’ll talk about food with anyone. And, in conversations with our innkeeping staff, Carmel shop owners, hosts at wine-tasting boutiques, and fellow diners wherever we ate, we asked for tips about where to go for meals in town, and some names came up over and over again for different reasons. We checked them out; here they are.
Thai potato pancake at one of the Carmel restaurants locals love, Stationaery
12. Carmel Belle
If you’re looking for lots of choices for a yummy Carmel-by-the-Sea breakfast or lunch made with organic, locally farmed products, Carmel Belle will suit you well.
There are tons of coffees, teas, freshly made juices, and smoothies. You can get your avocado toast here, of course, but there’s also a Truffled Egg Toast w/ melted Fontina (I love Italian cheeses!), an Italian-inflected Green Eggs & Ham, and a Creamy Brie Toasted Baguette that will also vie for your attention—as will dozens of other toasts and breakfast sandwiches.
An idea I love that I’ve never seen anywhere else is Carmel Belle’s breakfast polentas, for which you pick your own add-ins. This is the perfect excuse to eat one of my favorite foods of Milan as early in the day as I want. (Typical Italian breakfasts are much less hearty.)
Lunch brings plenty of salads, more than a dozen hot and cold sandwiches, along with a personalized Veggie Belle Bowl, Salmon Pasta, and Belle’s Meatloaf, among other more substantial options. Yep, there are plenty of reasons this is one of the local favorites.
Carmel Belle
Address: San Carlos Street, between Ocean and 7th Avenues
Serving: Breakfast and Lunch, daily
13. Stationaery
Don’t rush to judge the spelling of Stationaery as twee. Co-owner Alissa Carnazzo also owns an actual stationery in town, and the restaurant’s Old-English name is an inside nod to the antique letterpress Carnazzo uses in that line of work.
But there is nothing antiquated at the restaurant, just good old-fashioned hospitality combined with inventive takes on classic dishes and delicious new creations for brunch and dinner. The menu changes seasonally and based on which ingredients sourced from Monterey and Santa Cruz County farms are at the peak of freshness.
Coffee here is top notch too, with beans being sourced from around the world directly from growers. An assortment of teas, soft drinks, beers, wines, and ciders round out the drink choices.
Stationaery
Address: San Carlos Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues
Serving: Brunch, daily; Dinner, Thursday through Saturday
14. Cultura Comida y Bebida
Cultura stands out among the Mexican restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea for its sophistication, beauty, ambience, and masterful cooking. This love-filled ode to the culture and flavors of Oaxaca transports diners on an incredible culinary journey.
Moles are one of the hallmarks of Oaxacan cuisine, and Chef Michelle Estigoy’s Pork Mole is a showstopper, and the tacos and enchiladas are all delectable as well. This is Mexican cuisine at its finest, and every dish on the menu is skillfully made from scratch here,
Managing Partner Sarah Kabat-Marcy channels her longtime fascination with mezcal into a mezcal program that impresses even the most discriminating fans of this most famous Oaxacan liquor. ¡Salud!
Cultura
Address: Dolores Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues
Serving: Dinner, Tuesday through Sunday
The seafood clay pot at Flying Fish Grill seafood restaurant in Carmel
15. Flying Fish Grill
This is another Carmel eatery that takes you far away from the everyday. The warm, wood-laden interior with soft lighting and Asian décor makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a cozy restaurant in the Japanese countryside—and that perfectly sets the scene.
That’s because Flying Fish Grill has been drawing from both the best of Japanese cuisine and a California approach to bring out a wealth of fascinating flavors from fresh seafood for more than 15 years.
The pan-fried almond seabass with whipped potatoes, Chinese cabbage, and rock shrimp stir-fry is a perennial favorite, but there’s also Alaskan black cod, tempura prawns, lobster tail, and local abalone among the many other appealing offerings.
We decided on the seafood clay pot option. After a quick orientation, we prepared a generous combination of shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, squid, salmon, and halibut tableside in our own pot with a delicious broth and a host of Asian vegetables, sides, and dipping sauces. It was lots of food and fun and a unique way to cook up our own fish story.
Flying Fish Grill
Address: Mission Street, between Ocean and 7th Avenues
Serving: Dinner, daily
Best Carmel-by-the-Sea Restaurants: American Classics
With all the diversity of influences and approaches Carmel chefs bring to creating memorable meals, it’s nice to know that there are a couple of Carmel restaurants expertly tending to classic American cuisine, balancing the tried and true with the bold and new.
Seventh & Dolores, the best Carmel steak house
16. The Restaurant at Mission Ranch
Mission Ranch dates back to the early 1800s and has passed through a lot of hands, but in 1986 Clint Eastwood bought it and began a thorough renovation. Today the ranch at the southern tip of town is home to a restaurant steeped in storied Americana.
Its enormous outdoor patio and gorgeous setting puts it in a class of its own among restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea with a view. The vista takes in rolling meadows, the rugged beauty of the Santa Lucia Mountains, and the roiling waters off Point Lobos.
It’s the ideal place to indulge in such American classics as bacon-wrapped pork chops, rack of lamb, New York steak, or a slew of other stick-to-the-ribs options. But there are plenty of seafood options too, along with salads and appetizing starters. A mix of inventive and impeccable preparations and sides keeps things interesting.
The Restaurant at Mission Ranch
Address: 26270 Dolores Street
Serving: Weekday Breakfast; Sunday Buffet Brunch; Early Grazing, 3 pm–5 pm daily; Dinner, daily
17. Seventh & Dolores
Seventh & Dolores, or 7D as it’s known by locals, is not your father’s steakhouse. First off, it has soaring ceilings, giant windows, and crisp white walls, beams, and columns. As you step inside, you feel like you’re walking into a modernist temple to great food, delicious drinks, and fun times—and so you are.
When we shared our first impressions with the owner, he smilingly replied, “Yep, we’re the only restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea that doesn’t operate in a Hobbit house.”
7D is also the only restaurant in the country to exclusively serve all-natural Niman Ranch beef, lamb, and pork. All steaks are wet-aged for 21 days, and with choices like blistered broccolini, creamy southern grits, and freshly shaved truffles sprinkled in among the traditional must-have sides, there is plenty to please the contemporary pallet.
Seafood lovers, fear not. Treasures from the Monterey Bay mean options also include grilled octopus, ahi tuna tartare, and sea bass with kimchi soubise, among other offerings from the deep.
After dinner here, I bet even dad might be ready to trade up to 7D.
Seventh & Dolores
Address: Corner of 7Th Avenue and Dolores Street
Serving: Dinner, Wednesday through Monday
Where To Stay in Carmel-by-the-Sea: Carmel Country Inn
Our living room at Carmel Country Inn was so spacious, it barely fit in one photo!
We loved our stay at the charming Carmel Country Inn. With its lovely Tudor architecture, it was in perfect keeping with the Carmel Village esthetic in a quiet tree-lined neighborhood. And the location was fantastic! It was within easy walking distance to the beach and all of downtown, including all of the galleries, shops, wine tasting boutiques, and best restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea profiled above.
Our accommodations were also first rate! We stayed in a spacious one-bedroom suite with a fireplace, comfortable bed, and luxurious bathroom. Two-bedroom suites and romantic studios are also available, many with private balconies.
For breakfast, there was a generous buffet. The spread included quiches, fresh baked pastries, oatmeal, cereals, granola, fresh fruit, yogurts, juice, coffee, and a wide assortment of teas. Breakfast can be enjoyed in the dining room, on the outdoor patio, or back in your room.
In the afternoons, I would look forward to the wonderful cookies and refreshing drinks available in the lobby. I would do anything for one of those cookies right now (lemon white chocolate, please).
My new favorite cookies aren’t from any of Carmel’s best restaurants, but from Carmel Country Inn.
Innkeeper Amy Johnson and her staff are incredibly friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable about all of Carmel’s attractions. This includes providing great tips about local restaurants and sharing some keen insights into the local dining scene.
On the morning of our departure, we mentioned what a wonderful time we had had at Point Lobos the day before, watching all the otter moms with their babies. The front desk attendant suggested that before officially getting on the road, we might want to take a walk along the path at Lovers Point Park & Beach in next-door Pacific Grove where otters are also routinely spotted. We did, and loved it—what a great idea!
Although our beloved Reggie stayed home during our visit, it’s also great that Carmel Country Inn is dog friendly too. Next time we’re in town, I’m sure Reggie will love the inn as much as we did.
Check pricing and availability for the Carmel Country Inn.
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