The Best Seafood in Portland, by the Record
The best seafood in Portland, by the professional record: James Beard Awards, Portland Press Herald, and Condé Nast Traveler have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Scales comes out on top.
Douro and Dry Dock hold the next two places. Portland Press Herald shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Condé Nast Traveler next.
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Rank 1. Scales
Maine Seafood
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street
- Portland Press Herald Best 75 places to eat and drink in Greater Portland
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Winner · Outstanding Restaurateur · Dana Street
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Rank 2. Douro
Portuguese-inspired Seafood
Named for the Portuguese river and wine region, Douro is a relaxed, all-day seafood restaurant on Portland's Eastern Waterfront that filters Portugal through a Maine lens. The overlap is convenient: both places are serious about what comes out of the water. The kitchen leans into that with raw bar work, sardine toasts, and cataplana, the classic Portuguese seafood stew. The room is unhurried, the menu is coastal in the best bilingual sense.
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Rank 2. Dry Dock
Coastal Seafood
Right on Maine Wharf in the Old Port, this two-story seafood restaurant occupies a renovated 1920s building that still has nautical maps on the walls and a faint whiff of Ye Olde New England charm. The kitchen takes old-school coastal staples and quietly dismantles them, running a raw bar alongside ceviches and preparations that would confuse anyone expecting a paper basket of fried clams. Condé Nast Traveler named it among Portland's fifteen best restaurants.
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Rank 4. Bite Into Maine
Seafood
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Rank 4. Bite Into Maine
Seafood
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Rank 4. Clam Bar
Summer-Only Seafood
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Rank 4. Eventide Oyster Co.
Seafood
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Rank 4. Paella Seafood
Seafood
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Rank 4. The Highroller Lobster Co.
Maine Seafood