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CITY GUIDES | CALIFORNIA

Where to Eat in the Land of Oil and Basque Gravy

The best restaurants in Bakersfield reveal a place shaped by migration and local produce.

By Mei Chen
Updated Sept. 2, 2026

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.

Bakersfield may be best known beyond Kern County for oil fields, agriculture, and the sharp twang of its country music. Spend a few days eating here, though, and another identity emerges—one shaped by generations of Basque cooking, family-run Mexican restaurants, smoky barbecue, and chefs finding new uses for everything grown in the surrounding Central Valley.

After years of returning to Bakersfield, I’ve eaten across the city, from old dining counters and neighborhood institutions to cocktail bars where the drinks arrive with considerably more foliage than the landscape outside.

The best restaurants in Bakersfield capture all of it: deep local history, a changing downtown, and food that rarely bothers waiting for the rest of California to notice.

18Hundred

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18Hundred is the kind of place where you can show up in jeans and still get a steak seared like it belongs in a white-tablecloth joint. Housed in a former firehouse with the red doors still intact, the space leans industrial without trying too hard—like they just dusted off the soot and threw up some Edison bulbs. The menu’s a greatest-hits album of comfort food, with smoked tri-tip sliders, fried chicken sandwiches, a killer Cobb salad, and what might be the city’s best burgers. Bakersfield has its share of places chasing the trendy crowd, but 18Hundred feels confident just being itself—and that’s exactly what makes it cool.

Best for: Burgers and comfort food in a former firehouse

Brimstone

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The restaurant inside The Padre Hotel is where locals go to eat, drink, and admire how they’ve managed to make a building that’s over a century old feel hip again. The Brimstone Bar offers everything from craft cocktails to inventive small plates, and let’s just say, it’s a far cry from the cowboy steak and whiskey scene of yesteryear.

Best for: Cocktails and casual bites inside the Padre Hotel

The Botanist

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Behind a wall of plants and shelves crowded with curious objects, The Botanist looks ready to mix you something medicinal, only considerably more fun. The bar changes its cocktails with the seasons, pairing drinks such as the lychee-and-lime White Vespa with a strawberry margarita. The kitchen keeps up with a crisp-edged smash burger, chimichurri chicken wings, and green dukkah fries scattered with pistachios. There are thoughtful vegan choices, too, plus weekend brunch and occasional live music for anyone who considers noon an entirely reasonable cocktail hour.

Best for: Seasonal cocktails, dukkah fries, and a moody date night

Chef Lino’s Prime

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After building a following through his grill and catering business, chef Lino gave Bakersfield a place where dinner can begin with scallops Florentine and end with a 13-ounce prime New York strip slicked with butter, garlic, and thyme. The dining room dresses for the occasion, but the menu wanders agreeably: hummus comes topped with steak or lamb, seafood pasta gathers shrimp, scallops, mussels, octopus, and clams, and braised short ribs arrive with port-wine demi-glace. For two people feeling flush, a $70 smoked rum old-fashioned comes with chocolate truffles.

Best for: Prime steaks and a properly dressed-up celebration

Chef’s Choice Noodle Bar

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When in doubt, noodles. Chef’s Choice has managed to perfect the casual, upscale balance without being, well, pretentious. It’s where you can tuck into a steaming bowl of pho or slurp down pad Thai without spending your whole paycheck, and the variety on the menu means you’ll never get bored.

Best for: Thai noodles and crowd-pleasing curries

Don Perico Mexican Restaurant Bakersfield

Don Perico Mexican Grill & Bar

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With three locations around town, Don Perico is the kind of place where you’ll eat like you’ve been invited to a family reunion, if that family happens to make top-notch fajitas. The sizzling platters come out with a cloud of aroma that’ll make everyone in the restaurant turn and stare, and the margaritas are the size of a birdbath. It’s been around for decades, and it feels like everyone in Bakersfield has a story about a celebration here.

Best for: Family celebrations fueled by fajitas and margaritas

Donna Kaye's Cafe

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Donna Kaye’s doesn’t try to be anything but what it is: the best breakfast spot in town. The biscuits are fluffy, the gravy is peppery, and the coffee comes in cups that never get below half-full. Order the Meatlovers Omelette, which gets blanketed with enough bacon, ham, and sausage to feed a family. It’s simple, hearty, and exactly what you want when you’ve got a day of exploring Bakersfield ahead.

Best for: Hearty breakfasts and bottomless coffee

Flame & Fire

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This isn’t your average meat fest—it’s an upscale rodízio with a trademark tomahawk steak and fire‑grilled picanha that get carved at table‑side. Pair those juicy skewers with a crisp white from their curated wine list, then swing by their Market Table for sides like Brazilian cheese bread and fresh veggies. It’s an experience dressed up in business‑casual, but don’t let the cloth napkins fool you—it’s pure, smoky indulgence.

Best for: Tableside-carved meats and celebratory dinners

Little Italy

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You don’t come here for the lighting or the playlist—you come because Little Italy still does it the old way, with red sauce that simmers half the day and pastas that aren’t pulled from a box. Chef Marco Pietri doesn’t do trends, but his chicken piccata still draws a wait on weekends, and the seafood linguine is overloaded in the best way. On most nights, half the dining room is regulars, and the other half is people wondering why they didn’t find this place sooner. The bar pours a strong Negroni, and there’s no shame in ordering the tiramisu before your entrée.

Best for: Old-school Italian cooking and strong Negronis

Locale Farm to Table

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Locale feels like it was built for Instagram, but don’t let the pretty plating fool you—this place is all about the flavors. Chef Heather Laganelli builds her dishes around fresh vegetables that serve as a love letter to Bakersfield’s agricultural roots. Try the carrot soup, which somehow manages to make a root vegetable taste like a three-course meal. This is farm-to-table done right.

Best for: Vegetable-forward lunches sourced close to home

Luigi’s

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This family-run spot has been dishing out Italian comfort food since 1910. But it’s more than nostalgia that brings people back to Luigi’s Restaurant & Delicatessen—think homemade pasta, massive portions, and sandwiches that are just this side of divine. Grab a bottle of wine from the deli while you're there.

Best for: Italian comfort food with more than a century of history

Prime Time BBQ, Butcher Shop, & Catering Bakersfield Best Restaurants

Prime Time BBQ Company

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The newer location of Prime Time feels like the original, just with more room to breathe and a few extra smokers out back. Pitmaster Taylor McCowan still runs the place like it’s a competition, slicing brisket with that pink smoke ring and boxing up ribs that fall apart before you get the lid on. You’ll want the sausage too—coarse grind, lots of snap—and a side of that mustardy potato salad they make in-house. It’s not fancy, but it’s not trying to be. Just barbecue done exactly the way you hoped it would be.

Best for: Brisket, ribs, and house-made sausage

Vatos Tacos Grill & Cantina

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The tacos at Vatos are little bundles of joy wrapped in handmade tortillas. The birria taco is juicy enough to require a napkin for every bite, and the shrimp taco has just the right kick to keep things interesting. Add a few margaritas—because of course you’re having margaritas—and you’ve got yourself a fiesta in taco form. It’s lively, loud, and exactly how tacos should be served.

Best for: Birria tacos and a lively round of margaritas

Wool Growers

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Wool Growers is the Basque anchor that’s still standing tall, serving family-style setups of soup, beans, tongue, and oxtail stew just like they did in 1954, when J.B. and Mayie Maitia opened the place. I grabbed the full “setup” lunch—cabbage-packed veggie soup, pinquito beans, rustic salad—followed by chicken-fried lamb drenched in garlic-butter sauce and crisp fries. At the bar there’s Picon Punch, while communal tables hum with chatter from ranchers, blue-collar families, and train-crew regulars. No frills, no garnish—just that Basque-American nitrogen: community, history, and solid, honest food that fills you and the room.

Best for: Family-style Basque cooking and Picon Punch

Zama

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Zama is where Bakersfield shows off its modern side. The décor feels like it was plucked from a trendy downtown, but the dishes from chef Daniel Alvarez Gaona are deeply rooted in Latin traditions. The Peruvian ceviche is tart and zesty, the kind of dish that wakes up your taste buds. Pair it with a mezcal cocktail that’s smokier than a campfire, and you’ve got a night out that’s both polished and fun.

Best for: Ceviche, mezcal cocktails, and a dressed-up night out