New York City's Hands-Down 5 Best Seafood Restaurants, According To Reviews

From a classic New York-style pizza slice to a meaty Silician panini, the five boroughs are loaded with iconic eats. New York City seafood may not be as emblematic as a New York bagel, but the city's maritime history is as deep as the Atlantic, with one of its existing piers dating back 140 years. The seafood scene in the Big Apple reflects this heritage through a diverse collection of restaurants. To navigate so many options, you need a reliable compass, and restaurant reviews can certainly point you in the right direction.

Fortunately, the "World's Media Capital" has an abundance of consumer and critical reviews to rank everything from the city's best coffee shops to its best skyline views. Based on reviews from several consumer and critical sources, these five spots emerged as the hands-down best seafood restaurants in the five boroughs, ranging from a century-old clam shack to a fine-dining temple near the Ritz Cartlon, one of the city's chicest skyscrapper escapes.

French-born chef Eric Ripert helms the classic French restaurant Le Bernardin that specializes in seafood. Tripadvisor reviews resulted in a 4.6 rating (out of 5), but its most famous reviews come from the New York Times. Since its first review in 1986, when Le Bernardin opened, the paper has consistently awarded the restaurant with its highest rating of four stars. Likewise, the Times ranked it No. 3 on its list of the best restaurants overall for 2025, and it's held three Michelin stars for more than 20 years.

This type of excellence doesn't come cheap. As of writing, Le Bernardin charges $350 per person for its tasting menu, which may feature dishes like thinly pounded layers of yellowfin tuna, slowly baked salmon with Osetra caviar, and grilled hiramasa with a red wine Bordelaise sauce. For those who can't stomach that type of splurge, the restaurant also serves a three-course, prix-fixe menu during lunch for $137 per person.

Stepping into the tile-lined arches of the Grand Central Oyster Bar is like entering a time capsule from the early 20th century. Located beneath the iconic train hub, this historic landmark opened in 1913 in a subterranean space designed by New York architect Raphael Guastavino with his signature tile vaulting. Ever since the restaurant nabbed the star chef from the Hotel Knickerbocker oyster bar, it's been a seafood institution.

Infatuation, with a 7.8 rating out of 10, says it's a must for oysters, adding, "An underground cave that's been open for over one hundred years doesn't sound like the best place to consume dozens of oysters, but every bivalve we've had here, from all over the country, has been impeccably fresh." In its own list of the city's best seafood joints, Eater New York praised the restaurant for everything from its flaky fish to its thick tartar sauce, while suggesting diners start with oysters at the bar.

Grand Central Oyster Bar scored a 4.2 rating on Google and 3.9 on Tripadvisor. While these ratings might sound low, New Yorkers can be a critical bunch. Case in point, Tripadvisor awarded the 3.9-rated restaurant with a Travelers' Choice Best of the Best distinction for 2025.

If Grand Central Oyster Bar represents timeless tradition, Strange Delight is the newcomer that Eater describes as "Brooklyn's most exciting seafood spot right now." Opened in 2024, Strange Delight boasts an impressive 4.5 rating on Google and a 4.8 rating on OpenTable, where reviewer Gobakwe gushed with five stars and the memorable line, "Make a reservation today. Hush puppies were amazeballs — literally."

Strange Delight stands out for its Cajun twist, with The New Yorker noting that it "channels New Orleans in all the right ways." Eater also calls out its originality, from oysters roasted in a former pizza oven to fried shrimp on milk bread. The Hokkaido uni (sea urchin) with smoked pimento cheese showcases the kitchen's willingness to experiment, while solo diners must appreciate the seafood tower for one with local oysters, mussels escabeche, shrimp remoulade, and fried saltines, along with several more seafood specialities.

In 1916, Sheepshead Bay was lined with clam shacks, but more than a century later, only one remains: Randazzo's Clam Bar. This family-owned Italian restaurant offers the tradition you might find in the "Real Little Italy" in the Bronx, but its waterfront location on the edge of Brooklyn befits its seafood twist. The menu focuses on classics, including standout versions of Manhattan and New England clam chowders and a massive zuppa di pesce with two filets, three clams, and four shrimp over a saucy pasta.

Randazzo's is the type of place where the history is as thick as the sauce, but this nostalgic seafood spot has a no-frills vibe that might surprise more polished locals and tourists. Still, it continues to hold strong with a 4.3 rating on Google and a 4.0 on Tripadvisor, with the latter review site offering one of the most insightful descriptions. Reviewer blazine wrote, "Randazzo's has been a beloved staple in my family for generations — we've been feasting here since before I was even born. And when I say 'feasting,' I mean it. This isn't just a meal, it's a full-on seafood celebration."

Now, here's the potential problem with reviews based entirely on customer experiences. With more than 15,000 customer reviews and a 4.2 rating, Tripadvisor says the No. 1 seafood restaurant in the entirety of New York City is Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in the neon heart of Times Square. This places the 1994 "Forrest Gump" film spinoff ahead of heralded institutions like the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Le Bernardin. 

What did the reviewers say? Lauren H wrote, "Food was 5* we were really impressed by this chain restaurant," while Wanderer44698345304 said, "The restaurant definitely exceeded my expectations, the food is amazing." For those unfamiliar with the chain restaurant, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. caters to families and movie fans with a menu that includes beer-steamed peel 'n' eat shrimp and crab-stuffed shrimp in a lobster butter sauce.

Now here's the caveat. The Tripadvisor reviews typically mention servers by name, like Jackson, Jameson, Giselle, Dom, Bobby, and Serge, "the best waiter ever." This suggests the servers may encourage guests to post reviews and name-check them as a way to get brownie points or some other benefit. Does an active campaign for reviews skew the results over time? Or do consumers have different criteria than critics? TastingTable captured the essence of the contradiction when it ranked the major seafood chains from worst to best. Bubba Gump landed near the very bottom of the ranking, even as the platform acknowledged its high ranking in Google Reviews. 

Whether looking for a century-old classic in Sheepshead Bay or Michelin-starred elegance in a Midtown tasting room, reviews can help paint a picture of what to expect and which seafood spots truly live up to the hype. To identify the hands-down best restaurants, we started with data from consumer reviews on Yelp, Google, Tripadvisor, and OpenTable, among others, and scoured discussions on Facebook, Reddit, and other social media platforms. We then aggregated the consumer data with ratings and reviews from prestigious guides like Michelin and local food press like Eater New York, Infatuation, and the New York Times. Finally, we weighed all of the data, including personal experience as a local food writer, and narrowed the list to the five hands-down best.