CITY GUIDES | CALIFORNIA
Santa Clarita’s Best Restaurants Have Roots as Strong as Its Oaks
Family kitchens, food trucks that found permanent homes, and a sandwich shop with a Dodgers connection shape the city’s dining scene.
By Mei Chen | Oct. 9, 2026
The Old Town Junction
AUTHOR BIO: Mei Chen has worked for nearly a dozen start-ups in as many years, taking her to several West Coast cities. While she’s sure her current day job is permanent, she also has her eye on Carmel.
In Old Town Newhall, the names of Western movie stars are set into the sidewalk, a reminder that Santa Clarita has spent a long time feeding Hollywood’s imagination. North of Los Angeles, the city’s restaurant scene has a cast of its own: a sushi truck now with a permanent dining room, a taco family that made the same move, and a sandwich shop from Mookie Betts’ longtime private chef. Dinner might mean Filipino oxtail stew, handmade Italian pasta, or a bowl of noodles with exactly the broth you wanted. These are the 12 best Santa Clarita restaurants right now.
Copper Hill BBQ
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Tri-tip gives Copper Hill BBQ its California accent, with brisket, pulled pork, and spare ribs sharing the smoker. Owner Lori Wallace opened the Valencia restaurant in 2023 and added a Sand Canyon location in 2025, giving the valley a second place to settle the barbecue question. Start with a meat plate, then put some thought into the sides: smoked beans, garlic herb mushrooms, or street corn salad with cotija and Tajín. Save a little room for the banana pudding; it has its own following.
Best for: Oak-smoked meats and a side of banana pudding
Hanasaki Sushi Bar
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The order at Hanasaki can be two words: “Feed Me.” That gets you a 13-course omakase at the sushi bar, with the fish and the sequence left to the kitchen. The à la carte menu gives you plenty of room to steer, from bluefin tuna nigiri to dry-aged salmon sashimi with brown butter and a parsnip chip. Even a hand roll gets a little extra thought, like yellowtail finished with Maldon salt and lime zest. Choose the bar when dinner is the evening’s main event.
Best for: A sushi-bar omakase with time to linger
Hilarios Tacos
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Hilarios took its food-truck following into a permanent Saugus restaurant in 2024, bringing a menu that goes well beyond the name over the door. Birria is the starting point, whether you want tacos or a burrito, but the seafood deserves a place in the order, too: shrimp ceviche, fish tacos, or aguachile. Breakfast brings chilaquiles and burritos, and chile relleno gives you another reason to come back later. It’s a useful place to know when everyone wants Mexican food and nobody wants the same thing.
Best for: Birria tacos with ceviche for the table
Maginn’s Irish Pub
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Maginn’s made a fairly serious commitment to being an Irish pub: the interior was built in Dublin, shipped across the Atlantic, and assembled in Newhall. The food follows through with beef and Guinness stew over champ, the scallion mashed potatoes that can turn a bowl of stew into your entire evening plan. There’s also beer-battered wild haddock with thick-cut fries, and cottage pie capped with more of that mash. Finish with sticky toffee pudding, a warm date cake served with vanilla ice cream.
Best for: Guinness, fish and chips, and a long pub evening
The Old Town Junction
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The Old Town Junction has been on Main Street since 2018, but its menu still has room to play. Kalbi tacos put hoisin-braised short rib alongside kimchi carrot slaw and candied cashews, while cacio e pepe takes a turn through udon noodles, miso, brown butter, and furikake. You can also keep dinner closer to home with smoked half chicken and cornbread, or a French dip made with thinly sliced rib eye. The sidewalk seating is a good option for watching Newhall go about its evening.
Best for: Dinner on Main Street with a few unexpected turns
One Bite Dumpling
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A restaurant called One Bite requires a little restraint when the order is xiao long bao: there’s hot broth inside those dumplings. Pork and crab-and-pork versions anchor the menu at this Newhall shop, which opened in 2021 and quickly earned a local best-new-restaurant award. Add spicy wontons or a bowl of beef noodle soup to turn a few steamers into lunch. Vegetarians have actual choices here, including vegetable dumplings and spicy wontons, the latter filled with cabbage, carrot, shiitake, and wood ear mushrooms. Bring someone willing to share.
Best for: Soup dumplings and a table full of steamers
Piccola Osteria
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The Caruso family opened Piccola Osteria in 2021, carrying its Italian cooking into a new Saugus dining room. Handmade pasta is the sensible place to begin, particularly the tortelloni filled with braised short rib and served in an herb cream sauce. The seafood ravioli pairs shrimp and scallops with saffron cream, while the osso buco comes with saffron risotto if you’re ready to commit to a longer dinner. Start with arancini stuffed with short rib, peas, and mozzarella, then see how far the appetite goes.
Best for: Handmade pasta and an unhurried Italian dinner
Pink Salt Grill
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Pink Salt Grill is a good place to assemble a Filipino dinner a few dishes at a time. Start with lumpia, then make room for kare-kare, the oxtail and tripe stew with eggplant, bok choy, and string beans in peanut sauce. Pork-and-chicken adobo takes the soy, vinegar, and garlic route, while lechon kawali supplies the crisp pork belly. Order rice and pass the plates around; this menu rewards a little cooperation. Banana spring rolls, called turon, give the table one last thing to negotiate over.
Best for: A shared Filipino dinner with kare-kare and crisp pork belly
Sen Noodle House
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Sen Noodle House gives a bowl of noodles enough variables to keep lunch interesting. The Sen Street Curry starts with coconut milk curry broth and piles on corn, bean sprouts, egg, pickled cabbage, and crispy noodles; the Emperor Wonton goes in a clearer direction with garlic broth, chicken wontons, seaweed, and shiitakes. First decide between soup and a stir-fry, then consider the broth. Garlic noodles with cabbage and mushrooms make a persuasive argument. Either way, bring an appetite.
Best for: A noodle bowl built around the broth you want
Table 504
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After seven seasons cooking for Mookie Betts, chef James Dalton teamed up with the Dodgers star on Table 504 and opened a sandwich shop in 2026. The 504 Italian stacks prosciutto, mortadella, and soppressata with burrata, pistachio pesto, and pepper spread on house focaccia. The 12 Day Pastrami goes onto a house-made seeded roll with grilled onions, two cheeses, pickles, and honey mustard. Those are fairly convincing answers to what an athlete’s private chef might do with lunch. A short rib French dip gives you another.
Best for: A sandwich worth giving your full lunch break
Twisted Kazuyo
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Twisted Kazuyo brought its sushi-truck following into a Saugus restaurant in late 2024, giving regulars a place to sit down with the same appetite for inventive sushi. Start small with yellowtail finished with yuzu and jalapeño, or seared albacore topped with crispy onion, then look toward the rolls if dinner needs more moving parts. The menu also leaves room for baked mussels, tempura, and meat-and-shrimp lumpia. It’s an easy way to order across raw fish and cooked dishes without making the table choose a side.
Best for: A sushi dinner for a table with mixed appetites
Wanted Grill
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Wanted Grill gives Santa Clarita something every city needs: burgers and loaded fries, along with a substantial vegan section. The Texas burger adds bacon, onion rings, and barbecue sauce to a charbroiled beef patty, while the vegan Hawaiian uses a Beyond patty, grilled pineapple, vegan cheese, and teriyaki sauce. The fries can arrive with ground beef, grilled vegetables, and Monterey Jack, or with plant-based meat and cheese. This family-owned Newhall restaurant keeps the same generously stacked approach across both menus. Nobody has to settle for a side salad.
Best for: Burgers and loaded fries for meat eaters and vegans
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