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The Best Seafood in Los Angeles

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The best seafood in Los Angeles, according to the experts: Michelin Guide, The New York Times, and Los Angeles Times have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Found Oyster comes out on top.

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Little Fish and Little Fish Melrose Hill hold the next two places. AAA shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Michelin Guide next.

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  1. No ocean in sight from this busy East Hollywood corner, but the seafood at Found Oyster doesn't seem to notice. It's a no-frills bar and seafood spot where the team applies a firm philosophy: impeccably sourced shellfish needs little beyond a squeeze of lemon to do its job. The oysters come from the general manager's family farm, which is either charming or unfair competition, depending on how you look at it. The New York Times and the LA Times have both taken notice.


    Address
    4880 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles, CA · Los Angeles
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 4 PM

    Tuesday 4 PM–10 PM

    Reserve
    Resy
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  2. A seafood-focused breakfast and lunch spot sharing space with a mini market in Echo Park, Little Fish earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand for food that punches well above its casual footprint. The signature fried fish sandwich, beer-battered Pacific striped bass with American cheese and kewpie mayo on a potato bun, is the kind of thing you'll think about on the drive home. Broccoli rabe skeptics and fish avoiders are looked after too.

    The awards


  3. Rank 2. Little Fish Melrose Hill

    Californian Seafood

    A seafood restaurant where the fried fish sandwich at lunch is reason enough to show up, with clean batter, juicy fish, and the kind of balance that makes most sandwich shops look sloppy. This Melrose Ave sit-down spot is the newer sibling of an Echo Park original, keeping the same focus on sustainably sourced fish and California produce. The room is bright, the wines lean natural, and the service knows what it's doing.

    The awards


  4. Rank 2. Mariscos Jalisco

    Seafood Mexican

    The signature fried shrimp taco has a shell that shatters like tempura, which tells you most of what you need to know about this Jalisco-style mariscos shop in Pomona. The menu is short: tostadas loaded with lime-forward ceviche and that taco, nothing more. Raul Ortega started with a truck in Boyle Heights and the city never really let go. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand. First-timers order one; everyone else orders a plate.

    The awards


    Address
    753 E Holt Ave, Pomona, CA · Pomona
    Hours

    Open now, until 5 PM

    Tuesday 10 AM–5 PM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  5. Rank 5. Duke's Huntington Beach

    Hawaiian Seafood

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  7. Rank 5. Matsuhisa

    Japanese Seafood

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  10. Rank 5. Shiro Restaurant

    Japanese Seafood

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  14. The oak grill has been running at Walt's Wharf since before Seal Beach had a Yelp page, and the menu reads like someone actually cares where the fish came from. This is a sit-down seafood restaurant with a serious California sensibility: local catch, local vegetables, and wines from the founding family's own vineyard poured alongside. The room draws regulars who come for the grilled trout and stay for the oysters, and nobody's in a hurry to leave.

    The awards


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  16. A glass wall full of marina boats sets the scene at this upscale Marina del Rey seafood restaurant, where the spirit is old-school Continental with a heavy hand on the flourishes. Caviar shows up regularly, the tableside shrimp Louie is sized for the table, and nobody seems to mind. The room leans into the celebration, and the cocktail menu asks you to pick your Jane, Jetson, Goodall, or Austen.

    The awards


  17. A raw bar seafood spot a short walk from the actual ocean, which feels right. Inside it's sunny, a little loud, and decorated like someone who actually likes the beach rather than someone staging it. Half the menu is oysters, clams, and lobster, and the staff will talk you through it without making you feel slow. The cooking keeps things clean and confident, letting good fish be good fish.

    The awards


    Address
    1148 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA · Manhattan Beach
    Hours

    Open now, until 9 PM

    Tuesday 11:30 AM–9 PM

    Reserve
    OpenTable
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  18. Rank 16. Newport Seafood

    Chinese Seafood

    The chewy, seafood-studded rice noodles are a reason to organize a group dinner in San Gabriel, which is exactly how this Southeast Asian seafood restaurant operates best. Chinese, Thai, Cambodian, and Vietnamese cooking styles all converge on one very long menu, and the servers genuinely steer you away from decision paralysis. Salt and pepper crab is the move, but the beef loc lac quietly earns its table space too. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

    The awards


  19. Rank 16. The Lobster

    American Seafood

    The dining room hangs right over the Santa Monica Pier, close enough to the water that the views do most of the decorating. This is a proper sit-down seafood restaurant, Maine lobster at the center of the menu, crab cakes and the rest fanning out from there. Tables are close together and the pace moves, but the steamed lobster arrives in good enough shape to make the butter beside it feel optional.

    The awards


    Address
    1602 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA · Santa Monica
    Hours

    Open now, until 9 PM

    Tuesday Noon–9 PM

    Reserve
    Resy
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

  20. Address
    4701 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA · Los Angeles
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 5 PM

    Tuesday 5 PM–10 PM

    Reserve
    OpenTable
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
  21. Rank 21. Hook & Anchor

    Creative Seafood


  22. Enrique Olvera's Casamata group opened this seafood-forward Mexican restaurant in a space that has been an Olvera address before, which is either poetic or just convenient real estate. Chef Chuy Cervantes runs the kitchen, sending out mariscos that make a strong case for the coastal zip code: local rockfish ceviche, Dungeness crab tostada with furikake, oysters with turnip salsa. Wine, beer, and cocktails round it out.


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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.