The Best Cities In America For Seafood Lovers, According To Foodies

There's nothing like diving into a hot bucket of steamed crab legs or watching the restaurant server remove the bell-shaped cloche atop your lobster dinner. No matter which way you choose to dig in, there's no doubt Americans love seafood, and they put it on their menus at least twice per week. Plus, more than half of all Americans ate more seafood in 2024 than they did the previous year, making it clear that seafood, for its taste as well as health benefits, is here to stay.

But in some American cities, seafood isn't a dining trend or a way to keep cholesterol down — it's a way of life. In these spots, lobster is a cultural phenomenon, crawfish boils are great for celebrations, and people count down to crab season. So, Explore rounded up these destinations — all waterside, of course — where foodies can expect to find the best fresh and local seafood.

To choose which American cities were the best for seafood, we evaluated which had the most storied seafood histories, were most well-known for seafood, had the best and most seafood restaurants and events, and iconic seafood dishes. See what we found below. Or, head outside the U.S. to this charming Italian seaside village that is a haven for seafood lovers. 

Whether eating at a hole-in-the-wall dive restaurant or a high-end, white table-clothed eatery, you can't read a menu in Baltimore, Maryland, without seeing a dish with the Chesapeake Bay blue crab. And that's for good reason. The sweet-tasting crabs are caught just steps from the city, making them as fresh and tasty as can be. As such, Baltimore residents grow up eating blue crab and clamor for it when it's in season from May through October, especially during annual seafood festivals like the Baltimore Seafood Festival. 

Plus, they have endless options for enjoying the decadent seafood, be it in soup, as crab cake, or when steamed before being topped with Old Bay and butter. Blue crab has been a staple of the Baltimore diet since before Baltimore was an established city. Indigenous populations relied on it, as did English colonists who settled in the area in the 1600s.

Today, blue crab is as iconic to Baltimore as ever, and people can find it in restaurants such as Faidley's Seafood. It's located inside the Lexington Market and has been serving jumbo lump crab cakes since 1886. Its crab cakes are so beloved that the restaurant has produced international crab festivals, and it was even given the task of creating crab cakes for astronauts in the United States Space Shuttle. Or, for a bite of seafood with a view of the Baltimore Peninsula, grab a table on the outdoor wood deck of Nick's Fish House, which serves steamed crabs with mallets.

Did you really visit Boston, Massachusetts, if you didn't have a lobster roll or Boston clam chowder? This New England city is as famous for its seafood as it is for being the birthplace of the American Revolution. It's here that lobster rolls went mainstream in the 1980s, partly because chefs didn't have to go far to find the best ingredients. Due to the cold, salt-rich waters right off Boston's coast, lobster and clams are at their best here. Lots of other delectable sea eats can be found in Beantown, too, depending on the season.

If you're looking for the best Boston clam chowder that money can buy right at home in Boston, look no further than the longest-running restaurant in the country — the Union Oyster House, which dates back to 1826. Despite what its name implies (although the oysters are a favorite, too), the historic Union Oyster House makes 10,000 gallons of chowder every year, a menu staple served for nearly two centuries here. 

For a lobster roll — whether you like it warm and buttered or cold and with mayonnaise — head to the revered Neptune Oyster, which always has a line stretching outside (although it's totally worth it). Want a little bit of all of the best seafood Boston has to offer? Reserve a table at Puritan Oyster Bar, which offers everything from oysters on the half-shell to caviar cones.

It's all about location when it comes to seafood, and Charleston, South Carolina, has two of them. The Holy City is near two ecosystems: a salt marsh and a freshwater wetland. It's just steps away from local docks where various fish and shellfish are caught. And modern residents aren't the first ones to know this. Indigenous people ate oysters and used their shells for rituals 4,000 years ago. Today, people still love the extra-briny flavor of Charleston oysters, thanks to the salty marsh water, and they can eat wild ones from September through May. Besides oysters, Charleston is also regaled for its East Coast white shrimp, triggerfish, and tilefish, the latter dubbed "poor man's lobster" due to its delightful taste.

You won't have to venture far to find these delicacies in this foodie city. Charleston is chock-full of amazing seafood restaurants that catch visitors from far and wide, such as Chubby Fish, which has a James Beard-nominated chef at its helm who serves an ever-changing menu of local seafood in a cozy, casual setup. Or, for delicious seafood without a lick of pretension (it doesn't even have a website), grab a Styrofoam container of fried seafood at Dave's Carry-Out. To sit down for a night on the town, order fares like oyster sliders and barbecue shrimp at upscale The Ordinary, located inside a nearly century-old former bank.

Unlike many other cities on this list, you shouldn't search for lobster rolls, clam chowder, fried shrimp, or other American seafood favorites in Honolulu, Hawaii. Instead, you should order poke, which means "to cut" in Hawaiian. As its name suggests, poke means raw fish cut into pieces and seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil. At beachside bars and high-end restaurants, you'll see poke on the menu as it's a staple of the Hawaiian diet. That's how it's always been since ancient Hawaiians ate poke, made with fresh fish, salt, seaweed, and other local ingredients. Today, Asian culture has influenced the dish, as Chinese and Japanese immigrants have left their tasty mark on Honolulu's dining scene.

Once you wake up from your beachside nap, head to Nico's Fish Market for your choice of more than 20 variations of poke served in a massive sit-down restaurant that was once just a humble to-go counter on a pier. Or, for one with an even more storied history, visit Tamashiro Market, which has been serving a huge range of pokes at the back of a seafood market for more than 80 years. Another favorite (made obvious by a long but worth-it line) is Ono Seafood. This family business serves modestly prepared poke atop steaming rice at its two locations.

If you plan on chowing down on a seafood feast in Juneau, Alaska, you can do so with a clear conscience. The finfish here are caught wild rather than farmed, which means they have grown from a natural diet and spent their lives thriving in chilly Alaskan waters. These waters also make Juneau such an ideal place for seafood. Cold temperatures make for firmer and more flavorful meat, especially salmon, which Alaska has plenty of — species like king, sockeye, and pink all flourish here. Best yet, even though Alaska makes $5.8 billion through its seafood industry, it's committed to making sure it's still there tomorrow. Since it became a state in 1959, Alaska has prioritized keeping its fisheries and ecosystems sustainable. It's even in the state Constitution.

The list of seafood that Alaska specializes in just goes on. Seafood lovers can find top-notch halibut, salmon, crab, cod, clams, oysters, scallops, and more. For crab, there's no spot better in Juneau than Tracy's King Crab Shack, whose tagline is "the best legs in town." The restaurant is known for its oversized crab cakes as well as crab bisque made from a secret recipe. Another favorite is Deckhand Dave's, a casual eatery owned by a former commercial fisherman; it's renowned for its fish tacos that go far beyond the typical cod. Here, you can try panko-crusted salmon, halibut, and rockfish tacos, among others.

There's another reason why Miami, Florida, residents can't wait for the blisteringly hot summer to end. Stone crab season starts on October 15, and that's when Floridians can finally indulge in delicious stone crab claws (98% of all stone crab comes from the state). Besides eating this delectable seafood, knowing that it's fresh, you can also relax in the fact that it's sustainable since fishermen are only allowed to harvest one of each crab's claws, so the crab can continue to live and protect itself while its claw regrows. But stone crab isn't the only seafood you should try in Miami. You'll also find catches like shrimp, spiny lobster, red snapper, and blue crab. Florida's seafood is so tasty that it's generated $3.2 billion and employs nearly 77,000 people.

In Miami, one of the best places to try stone crab just a stone's throw away from where it was caught is Joe's Stone Crab, which, dating back to 1913, is the oldest restaurant in the city. It was where the stone crab was popularized since, prior to the restaurant's founding, people were unsure how to prepare or cook the hardy shells. The former seafood shack is a massive, white tablecloth restaurant that hits its heyday when stone crab season starts. Or if king crab is the crustacean you're craving, head to Klaw Restaurant and Rooftop Bar, where you'll see your dinner swimming in an aquarium before it's deshelled next to your table.

New Orleans, Louisiana, is a food mecca in its own right, blending Southern staples with Creole cuisine to create an unmatched dining scene. But without seafood, it wouldn't be much at all. Located on the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans restaurants have their pick of litter for oysters, Gulf shrimp, crawfish, and more. Plus, the eateries prepare it in ways unique to New Orleans' identity.

You'll find crawfish boils in massive pots, po'boy sandwiches filled with fried seafood, and oysters Rockefeller, invented at New Orleans' Antoine's Restaurant more than two centuries ago. That's around the same time New Orleans' first dedicated fish market opened, too, and since then, seafood has been a staple in the Big Easy, especially once commercial fishing took off a short time later.

For a fine-dining seafood meal with unique twists, reserve a table at GW Fins, which only uses the freshest seafood and the best ingredients. Besides New Orleans classics, it serves fun, tantalizing seafood dishes like tempura fin wings, swordfish Bolognese, and pumpkin seed-crusted drum fish. Or, for seafood with that southern touch, head to Oceana Grill, which is best known for its crabcakes and seafood gumbo and has been visited by Anthony Bourdain, Adam Gertler, and a long list of other celebrities.

If Maine had a mascot, there is no doubt that it would be the lobster, as the malacostracans are on every Maine T-shirt, keychain, ornament, and, of course, table. Whether you eat your Maine lobster on a roll or de-shelled with butter, you know it will be delicious if it's from Portland, Maine, the busiest fishing port in the state. That's because Maine lobster tends to be sweeter, more tender than other lobster species, and less salty due to the chilly waters from which it's fished. Civilizations dating back to indigenous populations in Maine during the 1600s knew this, often catching and eating lobster and other Maine mainstays like oysters, crabs, and scallops.

Today, people can enjoy that unmatched lobster and other seafood throughout Portland, including at the James Beard-nominated Eventide Oyster Co., which is home to a traditional raw bar not usually seen in restaurants these days. After picking from its clams, oysters, and shrimp, order the restaurant's esteemed brown butter lobster roll served on bread. You can also head to the humble J's Oyster, located on a pier; it offers everything from lobster scampi to lobster stew. Locals and food celebrities like Anthony Bourdain have visited the joint since 1977. But if chowder is more your game plan, head to Gilbert's Chowder House, whose name says it all.

With 70 miles of Pacific coastline, San Diego, California, is already known as the home of some of the best beaches on the planet, so it's no surprise that it's also reputed as one of the best spots for seafood. You can even stay at a beach campground on San Diego's coast with unforgettable views. It's been that way for generations, as San Diego was once known as the tuna capital of the world due to housing two of the biggest tuna canneries in the United States. These days, it's still one of the best places to fish for tuna, swordfish, lobsters, and sea urchins.

Due to that supreme freshness, you can find seafood to take home to cook in San Diego, too, at markets such as the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, which allows customers to meet and speak to the fishermen from whom they're buying. Or, sit down for a seafood dinner at Lionfish Modern Coastal Cuisine, which is headed by a James Beard-nominated chef who was recognized for his commitment to seafood sustainability. Afterward, watch the sun set over San Diego Bay on an intimate sailboat tour. 

San Francisco, California, is known as the City by the Bay, and its seafood prowess cements this title at every meal. Located between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, it's long been a hotspot for seafood, especially when it comes to Dungeness crab, king salmon, and oysters. Plus, one of the best ways to see San Francisco's famous landmarks is by boat. Even one of its major tourist attractions – Fisherman's Wharf – is centered around seafood, as the wharf has been where fishermen present their day's catch for generations.

Since San Francisco has a robust Italian-American community in North Beach, one of the city's landmark dishes and inventions is cioppino, a seafood and tomato sauce stew. Try it at Tadich Grill, a part of the city's fabric since 1849, when it began serving plate after plate of local seafood and cioppino. Or, check out Anthony Bourdain-approved Swan Oyster Depot, known for its clams and oysters that draw in an ever-bustling crowd.

Wild salmon are stars of the show in Seattle, Washington, as they're readily available from May through October. Sockeye, king, and coho salmon are also on almost every restaurant menu as sushi — smoked, grilled, or baked. One of the best places to see that salmon culture in action is Place Market, a seafood epicenter that dates back to 1907 and is one of the city's premiere tourist attractions as well as one of the oldest and biggest markets in the country. Here, you can find Dungeness crab, another seafood staple in the city, thanks to it being sourced from the neighboring Puget Sound.

Don't feel like tackling the bustling market on a given day for your salmon or Dungeness crab fix? You can find local seafood at a plethora of restaurants, such as Local Tide, which, as its name suggests, sources from local fisheries to create an innovative, seafood-focused menu. Or, visit on the weekend to try its staple handpicked Dungeness crab roll. To try salmon at its best, head to Ray's Boathouse, one of the first eateries to serve Copper River salmon. Got a taste for something else? For Asian eats, head to one of Seattle's oldest neighborhoods full of authentic Asian cuisine, shops, and arts. 

The United States is home to 375 coastal cities throughout its five coastlines, and you can bet that all of them claim to have the best seafood, whether it's tasty lobsters achieved from chilly waters or oysters from extra-salty ecosystems. But just a few of them have made seafood part of their identity, and Explore sought to identify those for our readers who just can't get enough seafood.

To select American cities that made the cut, we evaluated which had the longest seafood histories, sometimes dating back 4,000 years ago to indigenous populations, as well as which had invented or made famous an iconic seafood dish. Plus, we considered which cities had the most and best seafood restaurants — like the longest-running restaurant in the country that is beloved for its chowder and a seafood epicenter with a James Beard nomination under its belt. And finally, we studied which cities were known around the planet for their delectable seafood, pulling in tourists from all over the world to try it for themselves. Looking for more seafood? This popular East Coast island is a must-visit for seafood lovers.