Detour Pit Stop #117: Alice's Restaurant, Woodside, California, USA
Surrounded by Nor-Cal nature and just a scenic drive from San Francisco, this famous restaurant sits at the heart of Bay Area car culture.
Located 40 miles south of San Francisco among towering redwood trees, Alice’s Restaurant is the Bay Area’s ultimate car hang-out spot. Hot-rods, classic Porsches, hot new EVs… you just never know what – or who – you’ll see once you’ve parked where La Honda Road meets Skyline Boulevard.
The drive here is all part of the appeal, especially the route inland from Highway 1 with its dreamy climb up Half Moon Bay Road, but it’s the destination that’s drawn people here for decades.
Originally a general store used by the logging industry in the early 1900s, the building became a restaurant in the 1950s and was bought by the eponymous Alice Taylor in the 1960s. It remains family owned and operated to this day (there is no connection to the Arlo Guthrie’s debut album of the same name).
Today Alice’s is a cosy spot, especially given it can get so busy at peak periods. Wooden tables, flooring, panelling and wooden just about everything flows through large doors into the veranda outside and the dense evergreens beyond. Take a booth, sit up at the bar or – if the fog hasn’t brought in too much of a chill – grab one of the picnic tables outside.
Appropriately for a spot set in the heart of nature, Alice’s goes large on sustainability. Hot dogs are made from 100% free-range, grass-fed beef. Beers are sourced from local microbreweries, the wine-list a Nor-Cal greatest hits.
Whether you’re flying into San Francisco or road-tripping Highway 1, Alice’s Restaurant is a must-visit.
Words Ben Barry Twitter | Instagram
Photography Alice’s Restaurant / Facebook
ROADBOOK
CLASS: ROADHOUSE
NAME: ALICE’S RESTAURANT
ROUTE: 17288 Skyline Blvd, Woodside, CA 94062
COUNTRY: USA
Surrounded by Nor-Cal nature and just a scenic drive from San Francisco, this famous restaurant sits at the heart of Bay Area car culture.