Best Seafood Restaurants in America

Nestled on the sound side of Orange Beach on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, this friendly, no-frills seafood shack and oyster bar serves up heaping platters of fish, shrimp, and crabs (fried, grilled, or baked) along with Southern-style sides including hush puppies and green beans. Customers rave about the fried shrimp, the fried crab claws – a Gulf Coast tradition – and the seafood gumbo.

This Nayarit-style Mexican seafood restaurant started in the backyard of Nayarit native Vicente Cossio in 1987. His daughter Connie now runs two establishments in her father’s culinary tradition, serving up raw coastal specialties like ceviche and shrimp aguachile, along with whole char-grilled snook, fried tilapia, and smoked marlin tacos.

This upscale, chef-owned Hollywood establishment with two Michelin stars serves sustainably wild-caught seafood that comes mostly from American waters. The chef’s tasting menu includes six courses plus dessert and features delicately plated dishes such as uni egg with warm yolk and champagne beurre blanc, and Norwegian king crab with sweet pea, sea urchin, and aged ham broth. Visit with a heavy wallet, and you will not be disappointed.

Located on the Embarcadero waterfront with views of San Francisco Bay, this Michelin-starred restaurant is decked out in Nordic hunting cabin chic with taxidermy galore and a large wood cooking fire. A curated bar and cocktail menu accompany a seasonal menu featuring caviar, raw-bar fare, grilled vegetables, and hearty mains like whole grilled lobster, grilled bass filets, barbecued eel, and (just for a change of pace) dry-aged ribeye.

A casual seafood counter located in a fish market, Swan Oyster Depot is a neighborhood institution that’s been on Polk Street since 1912. The cash-only, diner-like establishment serves the freshest raw-bar fare imaginable, as well as New England-style chowder, smoked fish, crab back, and seafood salads. An off-menu specialty is their Sicilian sashimi, featuring slices of raw tuna, salmon, and scallops enhanced with olive oil, capers, lemon, and onion.

This Southeast Asian restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley serves Chinese-, Vietnamese-, Cambodian-, and Thai-inspired cuisine. The lengthy menu includes crab with black bean sauce, kung pao shrimp, elephant clam sashimi, and catfish with hot garlic sauce – but what almost everyone who comes is after is the house-special lobster, which is wok-fried and tossed with clarified butter, jalapeños, and scallions.

Offering high-end Italian coastal cuisine with riverfront views of the Potomac, this Georgetown seafood destination is famous for its seafood towers, brimming with oysters, mussels, tuna, shrimp cocktail, lobster catalana, and more. The full menu features homemade pastas with braised octopus or blue crab, brodetto (Italian fish stew), and a rotating daily grill selection that may include prawns, branzino (bass), Hokkaido scallops, and calamari.

Open October through May (corresponding to fresh stone crab season), this cavernous South Beach restaurant started as a lunch counter in 1913, serving fish sandwiches and fries. In 1921, proprietor Joe Weiss began serving stone crabs – which have rock-hard shells and were considered inedible at the time – thus launching what is now a Florida tradition. In addition to massive stone crab claws and crab bisque, the full menu features conch fritters, coconut shrimp, grouper, seafood platters, and lobster rolls.

After being nearly destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, the classic waterfront Redfish Grill at historic Matheson Park got a makeover and reopened under celebrity chef Adrianne Calvo, who brought her “Maximum Flavor” philosophy to the kitchen. With an extensive raw bar and appetizer menu, Redfish is perfect for a date or for sharing a family-style spread. Menu highlights include the Positano-style seafood tower, ceviche tacos, and grilled butterflied branzino.

This hip locale with patio seating on upscale Third Street features locally caught seafood direct from dayboat fishermen as well as local organic produce. Start with the ahi tuna tartare or pink shrimp ceviche then dive into a house made spaghetti alla chitarra with sea urchin, lobster, and smoked cheddar, or swordfish milanese with fried egg, jumbo asparagus, and lemon caper sauce.

This open-air waterfront Florida Keys eatery with a laid-back vibe serves generous portions of fish-house standbys as well as an eclectic mix of crowd pleasers. Locals come for the hogfish sandwich, but the extensive menu also features tacos, ceviche, catfish sliders, a royal red shrimp roll, stuffed hogfish, and whole fried snapper.

On the north shore of Maui, this family-owned restaurant is so popular it is often booked as much as six months in advance. The rotating menu features locally caught fish bought directly from fishermen (whose names are proudly printed on the menu) and prepared with Polynesian flare. Starters include oysters with mango-lilikoi mignonette and macadamia nut crab cakes, while entrees include uku (blue-green snapper) baked with coconut, sweet potato, and charred pineapple.

Shaw’s Crab House works directly with farmers and fishermen to curate a menu that highlights fresh ingredients and lets their flavor shine. With a formal dining room and a 1940s-style diner section, guests can feast casually or fancifully on classics like oysters Rockefeller, Alaskan king crab, and parmesan-crusted haddock, or dine on a wide selection of maki rolls, sashimi, and poke bowls.

This James Beard award-winning restaurant in the Warehouse District specializes in open-fire cooking inspired by the cuisines of South America, Spain, and of course the Gulf Coast.

Guests love the steak tartare with oyster aïoli from the raw bar, and the baked drum with mushroom broth and calas (rice fritters). Groups can order a selection of small plates, like spicy ground shrimp with noodles and catfish with pickled greens and chili broth, then dig into a whole grilled fish.

A true New England-style oyster bar, Eventide offers a rotating selection of local Maine oysters, crab claws and clams on ice with all the fixings, and such fare as lobster stew, clam chowder, New England clam bake, and a famous brown-butter lobster roll. Some Asian-fusion items including steamed bao buns and tuna tartare with nuoc cham round out the menu.

This waterfront restaurant on Maryland’s Eastern Shore offers fresh Chesapeake Bay blue crab, rockfish, oysters, and more from the local waters, as well as an eclectic menu that ranges from tuna tacos to oyster po’boys to baked stuffed imperial flounder. Customers come for the steamed crabs of course, as well as the cream of crab soup, crab imperial, and hot crab dip.

This intimate high-end oyster bar in Boston’s North End may draw long lines, but the wait is worth it. Start with a raw bar platter or perhaps a scallop crudo or johnnycake topped with honey butter, smoked bluefish, and sturgeon caviar. For an entree, choose between such offerings as spicy cioppino with shellfish saffron rice, whole mackerel with Basque pepper stew and fennel, or sea scallops with fava beans, pancetta, and kelp butter.

A casual bistro in Boston’s South End, Select Oyster Bar serves quality Mediterranean-style fare with delicately curated flavors. There’s nothing plain about the champagne-poached shrimp cocktail or the hamachi crudo with passion fruit and crispy ginger. A selection of raw bar platters serve anywhere from one to six, and the mains include hits like arctic char served over leek ragout with frisee salad, bacon lardons, and pistachio dressing.

A harborside restaurant with a large, casual dining room and plenty of deck seating, the Seafood Shanty has been serving Martha’s Vineyard for over 50 years. Expect large portions of fish and chips, peel-and-eat shrimp, steamed lobsters, and of course lobster rolls. There’s even a separate sushi menu with specialty maki rolls, nigiri, and sashimi.

This landmark restaurant with harbor views offers a huge selection of seafood preparations including raw fare – bivalves on the half shell, crudo, poke, and sashimi – as well as classic hot appetizers like scallops au gratin and oysters Rockefeller. Soups include specialty bouillabaisse, chowders, and bisques, while extensive entree options come blackened, grilled, baked, fried, stuffed, over pasta, and any other way you can imagine.

With views of Wynn’s Lake of Dreams, this chic Vegas restaurant offers sustainably wild-harvested fish and seafood from around the world, including Hawaiian mahi-mahi, Ligurian octopus, and Mediterranean pink rock lobsters. Bring a date and enjoy a lake light show and other live entertainment alongside the best seafood in Vegas.

With more James Beard awards than any other New York City restaurant, as well as three Michelin stars, Le Bernardin has upheld a tradition of excellence for over 20 years. Combining French culinary techniques with global influences (think thin-sliced yellowfin tuna layered with foie gras or baked striped bass with baby leek mousseline), the kitchen offers multiple seafood-based tasting menus and a wine list curated by one of New York’s top sommeliers, Aldo Sohm.

Choose between a sophisticated lounge for some small plates or brunch, or an opulent dining room at this multi-level caviar purveyor that specializes in hand-selected osetra caviar. A three-course tasting menu runs $175 a person, while the six-course menu is $475 and features not only delectable seafood but wagyu beef, foie gras, and rabbit tortellini.

With its stunning self-supporting tilework arch ceilings, this Manhattan institution – which dates its origins back to 1913 offers a daily-changing menu of about two dozen oyster varieties from both coasts as well as shellfish stews and pan-roasts, Maine lobster from a live tank, and a substantial choice of fresh seafood prepared both simply (grilled mahi-mahi) and more elaborate (baked Chatham monkfish filet stuffed with artichoke and spinach over garlic mashed potatoes).

This Nolita bar and restaurant is decked out to look like the inside of a luxury yacht, complete with sparkling wooden walls and porthole windows. Serving lunch, dinner, and brunch, this popular upscale hangout has an extensive raw bar and sushi menu in addition to pastas, tacos, whole grilled fish, lobster rolls, steaks, caviar, and king crab.

This Michelin-starred, award-winning restaurant on Central Park South is packed with financiers and the corporate elite. Serving elegant Italian fare since 2009, Marea is famous for its crudo and antipasto, as well as its house-made pastas including fusilli with bone marrow and octopus and squid ink lobster ravioli.

An intimate and trendy Michelin-starred hotspot in Greenwich Village, this reservations-only raw bar has only four tables and a small counter, but serves some of the best cocktails and crudo around – if price is no object. Trout roe toast, caviar, and a selection of oysters and clams on the half shell highlight the succinct menu.

A landmark restaurant for well over a century, Jake’s Famous Crawfish features fresh seafood flown in daily, a bustling happy hour, and a classic fish house menu that includes some Cajun-style dishes. Customers love the crawfish étouffée, parmesan-crusted steelhead, seafood fettuccine, and crab-and-shrimp-stuffed salmon.

Located in Logan Square at the Four Seasons Hotel, this high-end oyster bar by James Beard award-winning chef Greg Vernick serves ingredient-driven fare with a focus on seasonal vegetables, global flavors, and of course the freshest seafood from around the world. Craft cocktails accompany a selection of raw bar offerings, inventive small plates, and fish-centric entrees like mushroom-crusted fluke with morels, peas, and spring onion butter.

This waterfront farm-to-table restaurant features a huge open-air patio and raw bar fare sourced from an on-site shellfish pond. Traditional New England style seafood is served alongside jambalaya and po’boys, and some novel twists like passion fruit oysters with cucumber and salmon roe – and the customer favorite, lobster pizza on naan bread with mascarpone, arugula, and prosciutto.

A bustling modern eatery with a patio and a cozy bar – complete with happy hour – 167 Raw serves crudo and raw-bar fare along with tacos, po’boys, and a selection of favorites including lobster rolls, tuna burgers, and swordfish pastrami. It’s a great place to celebrate or splurge on wine and shared plates with friends (167 also has a sushi bar across town).

A casual but elegant Chinese restaurant that offers a huge selection of seafood, Hai Cang is set up to serve large parties, with numerous special, family-style menu spreads good for eight to 10 guests. Customers love the ginger scallion lobster, soft-shell crab with butter, spotted prawns with tamarind sauce, and razor clams with basil leaves.

A rural, riverside restaurant near the mouth of the Rappahannock River, this oyster tasting house has plenty of outdoor seating and cold beers. Known for their locally raised oysters and Chesapeake Bay crabs, Merroir serves only raw and outdoor grilled seafood – small-plate style, and perfect for sharing.

This waterfront restaurant and crab house began as a bait shop over 30 years ago. With a large deck, boozy beach cocktails, and great views of passing boats, Bubba’s is a local favorite for she-crab soup, crab cake burgers, crab-stuffed flounder, and a daily selection of fresh fish straight off the boat.

Located in Fremont, RockCreek features a rustic, chalet-like dining room with two levels and a patio, and serves brunch and dinner with a daily happy hour at the bar. The menu contains sustainably sourced seafood from around the world, dressed up in eclectic global flavors. Multiple visits may be required to fully experience the scope of RockCreek’s dozen small plate options, raw oysters and oyster shooters, and wide spread of delectable fish entrees.

With a wide selection of local oysters and house cocktails, this fishing-pub-meets-new-American restaurant is a popular spot in Ballard for post-work meet-ups. Customer favorites include fried oysters with cilantro aïoli and grilled sardines. No reservations means that it can be hard to get a table, so show up on the early side or be ready to wait.