Best Seafood Restaurant in Every State

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.

A local favorite, this bustling eatery is known for its large portions and great prices. The menu boasts tons of classics like halibut fish and chips, shrimp scampi, and clam chowder, alongside house specialties like warm teriyaki shrimp salad, salmon BLTs, butter pecan trout, and crab muffins (english muffins topped with lobster and crab salad and baked until crispy).

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.

A high-end establishment with a warm, rustic vibe and an attached seafood market, Paula’s on Main boasts a huge selection of fish entrees including a famous almond-crusted walleye with jalapeño tartar sauce and a blackened swordfish with horseradish, crispy shallots, and chive mashed potatoes. Customers rave about the crab cakes, Chilean sea bass, and Key lime pie.

With two locations in the Des Moines metro area, this fresh seafood market and restaurant sources its catch directly from fishermen and will serve any market filet in the restaurant, cooked however you like it. The large menu features sushi, raw bar appetizers, fried baskets, pastas, po’boys, and house favorites like halibut royale and Maryland-style crab cakes.