CALIFORNIA
The 12 Best Restaurants in Oakland Right Now, From Michelin Stars to Taco Trucks
By Mei Chen | Sept. 18, 2025
Bombera
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.
I’ve spent years living in and out of the Bay Area, long enough to have logged more hours than I care to admit creeping across the Bay Bridge. Oakland was always the payoff.
I know this city the way you know a neighbor who throws parties too loud on weeknights but shows up the next day with homemade dumplings (something that happened regularly back in my Ivy Hill days).
Nowhere is Oakland’s charm and uniqueness more obvious than in its restaurants. Over the years I’ve collected dozens of my favorites, but here I’ve narrowed it down to the 12 best restaurants in Oakland, places that prove just how good the East Bay can be.
Bombera
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chef and owner Dominica Rice-Cisneros turned a onetime firehouse into a restaurant where the hearth does the talking. Her duck leg in mole verde arrives with tortillas so good you’ll think about them quite possibly forever. Michelin gave it a Bib Gourmand, but mostly it’s just the kind of place that makes Oakland proud of its Mexican cooking.
Best for: Mexican cooking on fire and smoke
Burdell
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chef Geoff Davis calls it soul food, but that undersells the ambition here. His scrapple, inspired by the one made by his Pop-pop, begins with Berkshire pork from Sweetwater Farm braised in onions with sage and cornmeal. His chicken-liver mousse comes perched on a cornbread waffle, boiled peanuts show up dressed for dinner, and the shrimp is as saucy as the dining room itself. Burdell has already pulled down Restaurant of the Year honors and a James Beard finalist nod, and you get why after one meal.
Best for: Soul food with ambition
Commis
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
James Syhabout’s Commis is the fine-dining room everyone else in Oakland still measures against. Two Michelin stars, a hushed dining room, and plates that feel like you should take notes before eating them. You come here when you need dinner to feel like a ceremony.
Best for: Two-star Michelin dining
Daytrip Counter
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Daytrip went from fermentation science project to something more casual, but the energy stayed. Now it’s rotisserie chicken, stuffed flatbreads, and salads with just enough funk to keep you guessing. You sit at the counter, look at the open kitchen, and realize this is still one of the city’s most original ideas.
Best for: Casual nights with edge
FOB Kitchen
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Janice Dulce’s ode to Filipino flavors is the kind of room that feels like a party you lucked into. The lechon kawali crackles, the adobo cuts deep, and you’ll be sticky with wings before you finish your second drink. Michelin slapped a Bib on it, but locals already knew.
Best for: Filipino comfort food and cocktails
Horn Barbecue
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Matt Horn still draws the kind of lines you usually see at DMV offices, only here they end with ribs and brisket. The new downtown location smokes just as hard, proving Oakland hasn’t lost its pitmaster. Michelin gave it a Bib, but you’ll just remember the bark.
Best for: Texas-style barbecue in Oakland
Jo’s Modern Thai
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
It looks like a neighborhood hang, and it is, except it also happens to be a the best Thai place in town. Chef Nui Suraj’s curries come bright, salads come alive, and the cocktails carry just as much weight as the cooking. Jo’s is proof that Thai food can be both local hangout and destination at the same time.
Best for: Thai food with California brightnesss
Mägo
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Mark Liberman cooks Colombian flavors with NorCal precision, and the result is one of Oakland’s most interesting tasting menus. It’s also surprisingly affordable: seven courses for just under a hundred bucks. Aside from the price, nothing seems discount: wood fire meets heirloom beans, ceviche might appear next to duck, and it somehow all seems elevated, well-crafted, just near perfect. Michelin noticed, but you don’t need their stars to know this is special.
Best for: Colombian-inspired tasting menus
Parche
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
At Parche, Paul Iglesias builds a Colombian menu that feels as much Oakland as Bogotá. Wood smoke underpins the seafood, the cocktails sparkle, and the whole room hums with energy. Michelin came calling, and it’s easy to see why.
Best for: Bold Colombian cooking
Pomet
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Aomboon Deasy runs K&J Orchards by day and this Michelin Green Star spot by night, so yes, the fruit is absurdly good. Duck ragu pappardelle can sit next to a simple peach, and both will feel equally considered. It’s farm-to-table stripped of pretense and full of flavor.
Best for: Ingredient-first dining
Sun Moon Studio
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Booking one of the dozen seats at Sun Moon Studio requires diligence: at you’ll need to be quick in refreshing the OpenTable page at noon six weeks in advance. You’re reward is witnessing Alan Hsu and Sarah Cooper at work. The 11-course menu, at $180 per person, feels as much like an art installation as dinner. You’ll leave wondering how Oakland pulled off something this intimate and exacting.
Best for: A true Michelin-star experience
Tacos Oscar
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The menu here is a couple tacos written in marker on butcher paper, and that’s all it needs. Pork chile verde one day, octopus and watermelon radish the next, always with tortillas that show they care about every single ingredient on the plate. It’s a Bib Gourmand, but to Oakland, it’s just Tacos Oscar.
Best for: Creative, casual tacos
