Great local NYC seafood spots

The oyster bar inside iconic Grand Central Terminal has been serving commuters, tourists and diners since 1913. Following a 1970s era bankruptcy, it reopened with a renewed focus on seafood and a newly renovated interior. The iconic space took another little hiatus in 2020 thanks to you-know-what but it’s back with a bang.

This place has a very solid reputation, with around 12 to 15 varieties of oysters and fresh seafood sourced from local purveyors across the Northeast. There’s the raw bar, of course, and plenty of other appetizers like oysters rockefeller, grilled Spanish cuttlefish, and broiled Peconic Bay sea scallops with casino butter.

Move on to the specials of the day, which might include options such as tempura-fried catfish with spicy teriyaki sauce, and grilled jumbo shrimp over penne with puttanesca sauce. Thirsty? Pair your meal with something from the extensive wine list or one of their legendary martinis.

Ostrica is more than just an oyster bar serving a spectacular list of wine and seafood; its menu also features charcuterie, toasts, pasta, salads and vegetable dishes sourced from local greenmarkets. This husband and wife team pride themselves on providing a sustainable ocean-to-table dining experience—where everything is made in-house—in the heart of NYC. It's also an open kitchen, so stop by for oyster happy hour from 4–7pm and watch the cooks shuck away.

The team behind Benjamin Steakhouse takes on seafood at this wood-paneled Midtown restaurant. They offer the same approach to seafood as they do to steak: keep things simple and let high-quality ingredients shine.

The Raw Bar is a good place to start, with chilled whole lobsters with lemon aioli alongside things like Long Island little neck clams with a sweet herb mignonette, and a daily selection of East and West Coast oysters with a pink peppercorn mignonette. 

The ‘fresh catches’ are seasonally sourced, and options might include organic Scottish salmon with black rice, a yogurt honey-mustard sauce and dill, roasted Mediterranean branzino with a caper sauce, and a dish that proves a hit at the steakhouses: huge Alaskan king crab legs with drawn butter.

Drinkers can post up to the dark-wood bar for a classic cocktail or cozy up to the marble fireplace.

Cajun-style crustacean feasts are the focus of this Lower East Side dive. Instead of adhering to Louisiana tradition, the crabs, lobsters and crawfish are boiled and then tossed in plastic bags to coat every crevice with the house sauce of garlic butter, lemon pepper and Old Bay. Peel yours at communal tables or take to the bar for a plate of raw oysters and littlenecks. Domestic brews from Ommegang and Sixpoint breweries are represented here, as well as New Orleans fave Abita.

At the sophisticated seafood spot Mollusca—named for the phylum of over 50,000 species, which includes mussels—you’ll find no shortage of invertebrates on the menu. The signature dish, mussels is available with over 35 different sauces, including, incredibly, green curry, blueberry goat cheese, white wine and garlic, spicy Coca Cola and salted caramel with popcorn. There’s also an extensive raw bar and a standout seafood paella. (For non-seafood-eaters, there’s also a vegan menu and plenty of Wagyu on offer.) Their cocktail program celebrates the ocean, too, with cocktails including the Tidal Wave with nori-infused gin and the tropical Coral Reef with coconut liqueur and muddled pineapple.

An all day, every day brunch menu incorporates the sea: try the scrambled eggs topped with uni and caviar or the Belgian waffle with popcorn shrimp and hot honey.