31 Best Restaurants in Long Island, New York

This place has been selling tacos on Long Island for more than two decades, so when Hurricane Sandy destroyed the restaurant in October 2012 a hole was left in the Long Beach/Island Park community. Now this family-friendly restaurant, known for consistently outgoing service, good Tex-Mex food, margaritas, and pitchers of delicious sangria, is back and as good as ever. Brown paper covers the tables, and if your artwork is good enough, it may end up on the wall. Garlic lovers should try the shrimp maragrita entree or the cattleman's steak drenched in homemade garlic BBQ sauce. Fajitas and fish tacos are perennial favorites.

Fish doesn't come any fresher than at this waterfront resturant, where it was most likely caught that very morning off the Pridwin's boat by owner Richard Petry and his son Gregg. In 2014 Peruvian-born chef de cuisine Varon Barrio joined chef Marcel Iatoni to create a fresh new menu, adding specialties such as casusa, a layered potato, avocado, and shrimp dish, and the citrusy ceviche. It's not often that you see octopus as a main course—here it's served over mushroom-Manchego quinoa. "Kids Movies," most nights from 7–9, allow parents to enjoy a romantic dinner while their children enjoy supervised fun. Wednesday's cookout night, a family party and Shelter Island institution, includes live music, and Sunday brunch is served with a samba and soul soundtrack. Reservations are suggested for both.

There are two restaurants in one here, so you can enjoy the warmth and refined elegance of the dining room or the sanctuary of the more casual (and less expensive) traditional tavern downstairs. With Chef Michael Rozzi at the helm, 1770 House is known for using local ingredients whenever possible, with dishes including local beet salad with blue cheese and shallot dressing and seared Peconic Bay scallops with red coconut milk–curry sauce. The Tavern Meatloaf with potato puree, spinach, and garlic sauce, is famous thanks to being featured on the "Barefoot Contessa" TV show.

This little bit funky, little bit chic but totally Montauk café serves up fare that fuses local ingredients with international flair. With dishes like mussels with Thai curry, biriyani, fish "Montacos," and house-smoked Hawaiian babyback ribs, this place provides a little culinary adventure right on Main Street Montauk. Tasty home-baked desserts include key lime pie. There is live music most nights.

Celebrity mom Dina Lohan (mother of Lindsay) was spotted celebrating Memorial Day here; so was actor and funny guy Jonah Hill, and on any given day you can see supermodels, sports stars, and an assortment of other A-listers hanging out here. With internationally acclaimed chef Walter Hinds at the helm, the menu offers well-prepared classic dishes like Caesar salad, penne primavera, and grilled salmon. The evening specials bring more of an international flair, perhaps moules frites in red curry and Tuscan pot roast. There's a weekend brunch as well as a menu for kids. The bar gets busy after 11 on Friday and Saturday nights thanks to a DJ and a crowd that likes to dance. Reservations are recommended.

This popular spot, with white subway tiles contrasting dark-wood floors and furnishings, is known for its brasserie-style food that elevates the simple to the sublime. Offerings include mac and cheese with prosciutto and truffles, grass-fed steak frites with anchovy butter. The menu also includes chicken, lamb, and veal dishes, casual fare like sandwiches and burgers, and a raw bar. Vegetarians unite on Meatless Monday. French names dominate the wine list. Surprisingly fair entree prices and friendly service add to Almond's appeal.

On the second floor of a yacht club, this summertime favorite offers exceptional food with a terrific view. The emphasis is on local fish, chicken, or pasta, prepared with savory sauces that show an international flair, including curry, Thai-peanut, and mustard-cream. Innovative appetizers include pork belly buns with kimchi. Separate menus are devoted to martinis, mojitos, and margaritas. Save room for a homemade ice cream sandwich. The wait for an outside table can be quite long, so grab a few (pricey) drinks at the bar and relax. The staff, like the restaurant, is seasonal, so the service can be inconsistent.

The French doors and large ceiling fans give this restaurant a distinctly Casablanca feel. Originally a popular gathering place for local artists and writers, today it is known as much for people-watching near its open doors as for its food. Try the great steaks for which it is famous or the fresh local seafood dishes and daily specials. The bar scene is lively. Reservations are essential on Friday and Saturday.

There may be better, trendier, friendlier restaurants in town, but in Greenport Claudio's is a fixture, and a something of a destination in itself. Three restaurants share this 2½-acre waterfront property. The Clam Bar, right on the dock, serves salads, hot dogs, fried clams, mussels, and soft-shell crab, and is known for live music and a lively bar crowd. Claudio's, for more upscale indoor dining, is known for seafood, porterhouse steaks, and lobsters; the bar dates from the late 1800s. Crabby Jerry's offers self-service with picnic tables on the Main Street Dock.

People stop in at this upscale, yet casual and lively, waterfront restaurant on their way home from the beach just across the road or after kayaking or paddleboarding right off their dock. Appetizers include sushi and sashimi appetizer, duck egg roll, lobster mac-and-cheese; aged steak, clambake platter, or lobster are always popular entrees. The large deck overlooking the bay has good sunset views. At night the bar scene attracts a mixed crowd, with three bars, outdoor living-room areas with lots of comfortable seating, and live music several nights a week throughout the summer.

On the first warm day of the season, locals flock to the umbrella-shaded patio tables of this casual spot next to the American Legion Hall. Have a bowl of steamers and watch the boats head into the marina. Traditional seafood favorites such as seared scallops and fried oysters share the menu with paella and chicken pot pie. Inside are two simple dining rooms and a small bar.

Steamers, mussels, and fresh fish are the mainstays at this casual, nautical-theme restaurant overlooking the bay, and the big waterside deck, shaded by a tent canopy, is a great spot on a sunny day. Steaks, chops, and chicken are also on the menu, joined by salads and panini at lunchtime. The wine list features local and international selections, with 25 available by the glass. Great for family dining, there is always a lively bar and live music scene as well.

Entrées are inspired by Tuscan, Sardinian, and Sicilian cooking, and the wine list is similarly inclusive. Try the branzini (Mediterranean sea bass), which is roasted whole and then filleted at your table. You can dine on the porch overlooking the village, or sit at a candlelit table inside, where you'll be surrounded by photographs of Europe and serenaded by live jazz bands on Tuesday through Sunday nights.

Paintings by local artists hang on the walls, and the tables are spread with linen cloths at this Tuscan-style restaurant a mile northeast of Roslyn. Try the Dover sole with Mornay sauce, rabbit roasted with rosemary and potatoes, or the quail with polenta. Sunday Supper, a four-course prix-fixe dinner at $39, draws a loyal, hungry crowd.

There is much debate over where you can get the best Rocket Fuel (a Fire Island specialty–piña colada with amaretto and a 151 rum floater), but many say it's here. You can also get fresh seafood, steaks, and some really good meatballs while dining bayside (the clam bake is tasty and a good value, but nothing to write home about). Serving the community for about a quarter-century, this place is an institution. There's a fun bar crowd at night.

Upscale yet reasonably priced, Jewel, by Long Island's renowned chef-restaurateur

Tom Schaudel, is sophisticated with a touch of whimsy, with its multitude of glass-ball chandeliers. The service is attentive and professional. The beet salad impresses and is a perfect starter to the millionaire's pizza with black truffle, fontina cheese, and fried egg. The salmon with thick "forbidden" coconut rice with mango vinaigrette is a stunner.

Waiters in tuxedos serve simple dishes such as broiled fish at this seafood restaurant with fireplaces and paintings of old Roslyn. Children get their own menu.

Ample portions draw crowds to this well-known southern Italian family-style restaurant 4 mi south of Roslyn. It's noisy, but you can go into the kitchen and watch the food being prepared. Winners here include the chicken scarpariella and the veal parmigiana.

A warm, welcoming, busy little bistro, Le Chef serves mainly French food. Standouts include baby rack of lamb and noisettes of veal; specials on their pink restaurant board change weekly. Attracting an upscale "early bird" crowd, prix-fixe menus are available Thursday through Sunday before 6:45 pm, and brunch is offered on Sunday. This nice place, albeit a bit dated, offers a nice alternative to the twentysomething Hamptons "scene."

This rustic, wood-paneled seafood restaurant with high ceilings, moldings, and brass railings at the wooden bar affords views of the harbor. Try the classic fish-and-chips or the salmon fillet with a soy-ginger glaze, asparagus, and black olives.

Locals love chef Noah Schwartz's restaurant. A Long Island native who began his career in California's wine country, Schwartz has created a menu based on farm-to-table produce, fresh and locally-sourced seafood, and artfully presented small-plate dishes. A carefully selected wine list provides for perfect pairings. The most popular dishes here are seared tuna tartare with avocado, jalapeño, and cucumber, with seaweed salad and soy vinaigrette; local seafood bouillabaisse in saffron fennel broth; and filet mignon sliders on toasted brioche with creamed spinach and truffle hollandaise. Oysters are a specialty, too. Brunch is served on weekends.

It's the unmatched marina views and an open-air bar that attract crowds in summer. Although the menu varies, the emphasis is on shrimp, lobster, and local fish. The crabcake with sweet-and-sour corn-mango chutney is a favorite. This is also a popular spot to have a cocktail while watching the sunset. There is a full schedule of live music Friday to Sunday.

This cool, casual, yet simply elegant spot on Main Street is made even cooler by having its own aquaponic garden. Hamptons veteran executive chef James Carpenter highlights fresh ingredients in his signature dishes like the sheep's ricotta gnudi with lamb meatballs and elevates a simple burger with a brioche bun and hand-cut fries; seafood proliferates on the creative, seasonal menu. The Back Page Patio Café offers casual dining and late-night bites.

In a market where restaurants come and go, this quirky spot has been around since before Prohibition. Outside, two 12-foot-tall fencing musketeers stand guard over the driveway. Inside, staff and longtime patrons are happy to show you "Nixon's booth," and share stories of former regulars Ringo Starr, Burt Lancaster, and Joe DiMaggio—in it's heyday, this was a real hotspot; check out the old newspaper clippings in a small vestibule. Today the interior is dated but cozy, the carpet is old and worn, but the food—a mix of northern and southern Italian pasta, seafood, veal, and steak—is prepared with care, and you get the kind of warm and attentive service that's all but lost in the modern world. The $25 prix-fixe menu is a great deal. Enjoy swinging lounge music on weekends.

Half a dozen kinds of fresh fish are served daily at this elegant restaurant with white tablecloths. The veal chops à la Bevanda, stuffed with cheese and prosciutto and sautéed in shallots and white wine, are a good choice for landlubbers. Reservations are essential on Friday and Saturday.

An attractive, black-clad staff serves sushi and other Japanese dishes to the hip crowd that frequents this place. Sashimi and rolls of all varieties are available; teriyaki dishes, vegetable, noodle, and fresh-fish dishes round out the menu, which includes an extensive sake list. Try the steamed pork buns.

Ask a local about the best places to eat in Ocean Beach, and more than likely this casual waterside eatery will be on the list, and the views are spectacular, whether you eat on the deck or inside. The food, predominently seafood, is American with contemporary touches. Baked monkfish is prepared with thick-cut bacon and fingerling potatoes; paella is packed with fresh fish, shrimp, clams, and mussels; and mussels with frites comes in so many flavors it's hard to decide. The menu also includes duck, pan-roasted chicken, and a 16-oz porterhouse steak. The earlier you come, the more mellow the crowd.

From the outside it doesn't look like much—a few tables on an outdoor porch across from the ferry terminal with a nice bay view—but inside, it's all beachy chic, with turquoise and sand-colored glass tile accents and Fire Island–themed artwork. The food is contemporary and eclectic. Duck lettuce wraps with cranberry aioli have a barbecue zing with an Asian flair, and the sushi gets high marks. The chef really gets creative with the daily specials, like Thai curry mussels and conch fritters—and that's just the appetizers. A hand-crafted cocktail is a perfect accompaniment, like Skinny Acai Lemonade with fresh-queezed lemon or blueberry mojito with perfectly muddled mint. Breakfast includes signature french toast with caramelized walnuts and fruit and a frittata with eggwhites, goat cheese, and tomato.

A wall of windows provides stunning views of the Great South Bay at this restaurant known for its seasonal, seafood-focused menu and raw bar. Modern small-plate dishes such as Peking duck tacos join traditional favorites like filet mignon and Mantattan clam chowder, and the menus are designed to appeal to a variety of personal tastes and budgets. Sushi (available weekends) has made a splash, and The View has become a favorite Sunday brunch spot. In warm weather patio dining is available, and the happy hour and party crowds swell on weekends, with live bands to entertain them on Saturday. The restaurant is 3½ miles west of Sayville. To be sure of eating here on a weekend, reservations are advisable.

True, the tuna sashimi appetizer is $23, but what else could you expect for romantic high-end dining in paradise—and with live music and a drag-queen bartender, this swanky place is anything but boring. It's one of the more upscale places on Fire Island, with a history dating back to its inception in the 1970s as the Island Queen. Dishes might include seared scallops with raisin gartique, Lobster pot pie, or the bistro burger. You can dine inside or out at this harborside eatery.