Best Seafood Restaurants On Long Island: Critics' Picks

Anker goes full steam ahead on local fish and a gill-to-tail ethos that yields lemon-rosemary fish collars and a "seacuterie" board with dry-aged swordfish belly, tuna prosciutto and juniper-citrus gravlax. Mussels mingle with big chunks of roasted fennel and cured lemon, thyme, chili and saffron. There’s always a wide selection of oysters and grilled whole local fish (pray for blackfish), plus New England clam chowder (made with house-smoked bacon), head-on prawns with guanciale and Aleppo pepper, terrific fish and chips and steamed or grilled lobster. Two can share the bouillabaisse. Downstairs is shipshape bar-lounge, but, in fine weather, you’ll want to make your way up the stairs to the roof deck that overlooks Greenport harbor.

It doesn’t look promising — a low-slung building blocking a workaday marina. But step inside Bell & Anchor and you’re enveloped by the cheerful bustle of a restaurant that knows what it’s doing. And what it’s doing is, for the most part, fish. This was a second act for owner David Loewenberg and chef Sam McClelland; they opened The Beacon in Sag Harbor in 2000 and Bell & Anchor in 2012. The regular menu boasts old-school dishes like classic brandade (codfish-potato puree) and a splendid bouillabaisse; modern offerings include pan-roasted salmon with ramen noodles in a lemongrass-ginger broth or lobster garganelli with corn, basil and saffron cream. Specials are apt to be based on local fish — keep your eyes peeled for seared halibut with sunchoke chips on a sunchoke-potato puree.

Along a distinctly non-maritime stretch of Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre is one of Long Island’s most iconic seafood eateries: Bigelow’s has barely changed since it opened in 1939: It’s a lean, mean, seafood-frying machine. All the fried seafood here is recommended — whiting, flounder, shrimp, calamari, smelts, oysters, scallops, clam strips — but the undisputed stars of the show are the fried Ipswich clams, soft-shell and with the bellies still attached. The clams are tender, nutty, delicate, crisp — everything that makes fried soft-shell clams one of the world’s absolute best things to eat. The kitchen also does a fine job with clam chowder, grilled swordfish and, not surprisingly, onion rings and hand-cut fries. For most of its history, Bigelow’s consisted of a 30-stool counter curving around a Fryolator station but, during the pandemic, the Andreolas family built an outdoor deck that is peeled down to the screens in the summer, zipped up and heated in the winter.

It may be tucked away — literally on the edge of town, perched directly over the bay — but scores of regulars find their way here each summer for the vibrant outdoor bar (with frequent live music) and expertly prepared fish. In 2004, chef-owner Brian Valdini returned to his native Long Island for a brief vacation but instead established a restaurant devoted to Mediterranean-style seafood and meat dishes. After Superstorm Sandy took Fatfish down to the pilings in 2012, Valdini rebuilt it. He’s kept the menu fresh too, recently declaring a minor in Spanish tapas — come on Tuesday nights for the widest selection. There’s a delicacy to his crab cakes, shaggy lumps of crabmeat barely holding it together; his seafood salad of shrimp, calamari, octopus and mussels lightly veiled with a lemon-basil dressing; swordfish, char-grilled and served with grilled eggplant, plum tomatoes and shallot confit. But don’t miss the Union Jack-worthy fish and chips, a slab of batter-fried cod atop house-cut steak fries. Note: Fatfish closes for the winter.

This beach party of a Greek seafood restaurant swings all year with Roslynites and anyone looking for a scene plus top-notch seafood. Operating partner Reno Christou is a veteran of Estiatorio Milos in Manhattan and was a founding member of nearby Limani; he was lured one mile east in 2013. The vibe here is more Dionysian than Apollonian but the menu sticks to the tradition laid down by Milos in 1997. The selection of pristine fresh whole fish may include fagri, the sweet and meaty Mediterranean pink snapper, red snapper, royal dorado, pompano and black sea bass, plus huge shrimp, Maine lobster, Alaskan king crab legs and plenty of Greek salads and spreads. Moussaka, steaks, chops and braised lamb shanks will satisfy non-fish-eaters. During prime time, the noise level here can range from hubbub to din; early dinners are relatively serene.

Before Limani opened in 2008, Long Island had never seen either a fish restaurant or a Greek restaurant to match it. The sumptuous design eschewed Greek key motifs and paintings of Santorini in favor of mosaic tile, luxe upholstery and fine stemware. The fish, dozens of species sourced from all over the world, reclined upon a bed of ice, waiting for their turn over the fire where they would be grilled and anointed simply with imported olive oil and lemon juice. None of this comes cheap, nor is it the place to waste your money on the farmed branzino or salmon: Go for the whole grilled fagri (Greek snapper) or the mammoth head-on South African shrimp. Pescaphobes will enjoy the fried, wafer-thin zucchini and eggplant, tomato salad (good year-round!) or lamb chops.

After 10 years in an unheated shack at the end of a Greenport alley, Long Island’s hardest-to-find, shuck-your-own mollusk joint has hit the big time. In 2024, Ian and Rosalie Wile moved Little Creek to a proper building with indoor dining, a real bar and year-round heat. This is still one of the best places on Long Island to find local oysters and clams, and the regular menu also features chowder, marinated anchovies, smoked fish and crab-roll sliders. The daily specials allow the kitchen to spread its wings. There might be a crudo of fluke (turned purple by red cabbage), or an aguachile of Montauk Royal Red shrimp, tacos filled with the Montauk shrimp (this time, slicked with gochujang) or roasted black sea bass and tomatillo salsa or lobster bao buns. An upstairs room enables patrons to hang for a while, and it’s also the site of periodic special culinary events.

This guppy-sized nautical spot has bric-a-brac on the walls and seawater running through its veins (and kitchen). The menu changes frequently, but look for fried clams with charred lemon and celery-root pancakes with smoked salmon. Chef-owner Alexis Trolf and his chef de cuisine, Alecia St. Aubrey, prioritize local fish and they might nap tilefish with mole, create a crudo of striped bass with fennel and sunflower seeds, or skewer chunks of swordfish and drizzle them with walnut romesco and salsa verde. And there are always a few terrestrial dishes in the mix, such as hanger steak frites with aioli. What stays constant: superlative cocktails from co-owner Stephan Magliano. The place is truly tiny, so call ahead. Cash only.

"A steak place, but not a steak place" is how owner Vanessa Price described Mavericks when it opened in 2023. The big, beautiful piece of protein on your plate might be a wood-fired bone-in tuna rib-eye with harissa or a hulking swordfish sirloin with vadouvan curry butter (or even a hearty slab of maitake mushroom with thyme and aged sherry.) Perched dramatically on the eastern shore of Montauk’s Fort Pond, Mavericks’ 200-seat dining room has a timeless, casual elegance with lots of warm wood and the good sense to know that no decor can compete with the 180-degree water view. Executive chef Jeremy Blutstein uses local produce almost exclusively, and virtually all of the seafood — from the chilled Jonah crab claws served with fermented lemon aioli and smoked bluefish rillettes to the oysters (raw or grilled) and the whole fluke served a la meunière — were landed on the East End. Note: Mavericks closes for the winter.

Andrea Tese is taking culinary sustainability to new heights at her two-year-old North Fork restaurant. Not only are most of the ingredients local and seasonal, not only does the kitchen eschew shrimp, salmon and any other sea creature that does not swim in these waters, but it tries not to buy anything that is packaged in plastic. With a generous deck offering panoramic views of Cutchogue Harbor, Tese hopes that people who are looking at the water will be compelled to want to protect it. For the 2025 season, Minnow has established its own "pound traps" in that water and that’s likely where your porgy, fluke and weakfish were nabbed. Of course, none of this would amount to "great seafood restaurant" if chef Anna Paola Mannucci weren’t crafting accomplished dishes such as weakfish amandine, fluke oreganata, seared swordfish. Raw-bar offerings include Peeko oysters (its headquarters are at the adjoining property), local little neck clams and some of the Island’s best crudos and ceviches. You wouldn’t expect to find an amazing Comté cheese tart here, but you will. Note: Minnow closes for the winter.

Alex Moschos has been doing the near impossible at Neraki since the seafood restaurant opened in 2011: It’s casual, low key and (relatively) affordable, but it cuts no corners when it comes to fish. Moschos is the rare Long Island restaurateur who goes to the Hunts Point market in the Bronx twice a week to buy his own fish (at 2 a.m., mind you). He strives to find local fluke, tuna, swordfish, squid, monkfish and blackfish (his favorite). But, whether it’s sea bass or fluke or imported branzino or orata, every whole fish at Neraki gets the same treatment: grilled and then anointed with olive oil, oregano and lemon. And you’ll find all your favorite Greek specialties, from spanakopita and dolmades to saganaki and baked feta. It’s easy to eat lunch here for under $20.