Al Fresco Dining, Anyone

Tips Roadside

TIPS Roadside is a clean, bright, and modern roadhouse with two large dining rooms, a full bar, and a beautiful outdoor patio that provides a lovely backdrop for everyday dining with stunning views of Sugarloaf Mountain. Offering delicious farm-to-fork elevated comfort food, guests enjoy the surrounding wine country scenery while sipping local wines, craft beers, and cocktails.

The menu features such favorites as spicy tri-tip chili, crispy fried chicken made with boneless thigh meat and gluten-free rice flour, and a huge braised short rib with polenta fries. The dessert beignets are a must. They are pool-ball-size rounds in either lemon or smoked bacon flavor. But the peanut-butter skillet cookie is also an outstanding choice.

8445 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood | 707-509-0078 | tipsroadside.com

Russian River Brewing Company – Santa Rosa

A lively brewpub with a homey feel located in downtown Santa Rosa, Russian River Brewing Company focuses on traditional aggressively hopped California-style ales, Belgian-style ales, and barrel-aged beers. Their menu offers a wide selection of pizzas, salads, sandwiches, chicken wings, and midweek pizza and sandwich specials.

You will find a friendly mix of patrons at the Russian River Brewing Company: a group of tattooed bikers, artsy types with piercings, business execs, moms doing a girls’ night out, and college kids pedaling up on their bicycles. However, all craft beer aficionados will enjoy casual seating in the reserved area outside the brewpub along Fourth Street. It provides a nice vantage point to people-watch while appreciating a pint of Pliny the Elder and discussing life’s eternal verities.

725 4th Street, Santa Rosa | 707-545-2337 | russianriverbrewing.com

Russian River Brewing Company – Windsor

The Russian River Brewing Company - Windsor features a multibuilding campus spanning 85,000 square feet of beer brewery, a full kitchen, and a beer-tasting salon with seating for 195. The Windsor location features a more diverse menu than the Downtown Santa Rosa location, including burgers, double-fried Kennebec fries, fish and chips, salmon, schnitzel, tasty salads, and more.

It’s a cavernous space broken up a bit by white paneled pony walls; there is an upscale feel with hardwood floors, sleek columns, funnel-style metal fireplaces and a statement ceiling of white panels accented with circular wood cutouts to match the floor. The open kitchen gleams with stainless steel, as does the main bar with its long row of stainless-steel taps. Even the waiting/lounge area is classy, set with leather armchairs and couches.

While the year-round patio seating and a 1-acre pet-friendly beer garden have been closed during COVID-19, the expansive courtyard is open to grab a table. The courtyard seating provides nice views to the West including beautiful Sonoma County sunsets, a comfortable place for hanging out with friends and family.

700 Mitchell Lane, Windsor | 707-545-2337 | russianriverbrewing.com

Third Street Aleworks

Third Street Aleworks is the grand dame of Santa Rosa brewpubs. It’s more than just a brewery or restaurant, Third Street Aleworks is a local hub—a “pub” in the best sense of the word: a place where everyone from beer aficionados, to blind dates, to busy families with hungry kids can feel comfortable and immediately welcome.

Third Street Aleworks offers a large, eclectic comfort-food driven menu with something for just about everyone. Centrally located in downtown Santa Rosa, with seating for almost 200, including a long bar, and an upstairs balcony that is perfect for large parties. Outdoor dining is available next to a little urban courtyard. Shade trees and umbrellas provide a pleasant atmosphere. On a warm afternoon it’s the perfect place to enjoy a pint of Prost Pilsner or American Wheat. The atmosphere is casual, fun, and inviting.

As a bonus, during regular business hours the brewing staff, if not too busy, are quite accommodating and will often offer you a quick look into the brewery room.

610 Third Street, Santa Rosa | 707-523-3060 | thirdstreetaleworks.com

Beer Baron

Beer Baron offers a wide range of carefully curated brews that can quench any beer-lover’s thirst. Downtown is already a mecca for aficionados due to the Russian River Brewery down the street; Beer Baron piggybacks off that crowd and provides a much-needed tap house with a wide range of great beers and a full bar. With a breezy open design and covered outdoor patio just steps from Old Courthouse Square, Beer Baron has some of the most coveted seats in town. Beer Baron’s menu is simple and approachable, made for sharing with bar snacks, small plates, and entrees all under $20.

614 4th Street, Santa Rosa | 707-757-9294 | beerbaronbar.com

Monti’s Rotisserie & Bar

Monti’s Rotisserie & Bar welcomes diners with its rustic Mediterranean ambiance. In addition to nightly specials from the large wood-fired rotisserie, there are small and big plates featuring fresh local meats and seasonal produce. Pulling it all together is the cosmopolitan setting in the bustling Montgomery Village Shopping Center, where a lot of the activity takes place under 2 large outdoor covered patio pergolas featuring heat lamps, or at the bar which offers 40 wines by the glass, and an oyster and shellfish station. The food recipes showcase big flavors, and so do the cocktails.

714 Village Court, Santa Rosa | 707-568-4404 | starkrestaurants.com

John Ash & Co. At Vintners Resort

A pioneer in farm-to-table dining, John Ash & Co. at Vintners Resort in Santa Rosa laid the culinary foundation that has evolved into today’s world-renown wine country cuisine. The rustic Front Room is a popular happy-hour spot with its menu of bar snacks, while the Tuscan-inspired dining room boasts plush booths, a stone fireplace, and Italian landscapes on the walls.

Better yet, patio dining offers guests a romantic setting where you are just steps from a vineyard. You can watch families of quail or on occasion jackrabbits jetting about under the vines. The patio can be busy, but many tables feel secluded as your back is to other diners and any chitchat fades in favor of savoring the sculpted beauty of the acres of vines stretching out in front of you. The patio is set up to enjoy cooler seasons too with multiple heat lamps, accordion glass windows, potted flowers, and white string lights strung on overhead beams.

4330 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa | 707-527-7687 | vintnersresort.com