RFK Cuisine · Seafood · Los Angeles
Best Seafood Restaurants in Los Angeles 2026
Seafood · Los Angeles · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Los Angeles earned its first three-Michelin-star restaurant in 2025, and it is a seafood restaurant — Providence, on Melrose, where Michael Cimarusti has been treating the day's catch with French rigour for two decades. But the city's real seafood story is wider than its one grand room. The same county that crowned Providence also gave a Michelin star to a Yucatán marisquería inside a food hall, and it feeds itself on Sinaloa-style whole fish in Inglewood, house-special lobster in San Gabriel and Cantonese live tanks in Rosemead. These are the seven Los Angeles seafood restaurants worth the drive in 2026, ranked on the cooking, the room and what the bill buys, with the dish to order and how to get a table at each.
1.Providence
LA's first three-star and its finest seafood kitchen — book Providence weeks ahead for the most serious fish dinner in the city.
Providence, on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, is the best seafood restaurant in Los Angeles and, since 2025, one of the first two restaurants in the city to hold three Michelin stars. Chef-owner Michael Cimarusti is a committed sustainable-seafood advocate who runs his own fish company, and the long tasting menu is built around whatever is pristine that day — Santa Barbara spot prawns, local uni, line-caught fish — handled with the technique of a French three-star and almost no waste. The room is calm, grown-up and quietly luxurious. Expect around 300 dollars a head before wine for the tasting. For the most serious seafood meal in Los Angeles, book the dining room two to four weeks ahead.
Reserve direct, weeks out; the spot prawns, the caviar service, and a Cimarusti tasting paired with white Burgundy.
2.Holbox
A one-star marisquería inside a food hall, the best Mexican seafood in the country — book Holbox for the most exciting fish per dollar in LA.
Holbox, a counter inside the Mercado La Paloma food hall south of downtown, is the most thrilling seafood story in Los Angeles: in 2024 it became the first Mexican marisquería in the United States to earn a Michelin star, which it holds today. Chef Gilberto Cetina cooks the seafood of Mexico's Gulf and Pacific coasts — aguachile, ceviche, smoked kanpachi tostadas, a cabeza de pescado worth ordering ahead — with the precision of fine dining and the prices of a market stall. There is no white tablecloth; there is just some of the best raw and grilled fish in the city. Expect around 40 to 90 dollars a head. For starred seafood at a fraction of the usual bill, go early or book a tasting slot.
Reserve on Resy or queue; the aguachile, the smoked kanpachi tostada, and the cabeza de pescado if you call ahead.
3.Fishing with Dynamite
David LeFevre's South Bay oyster bar, old-school and new-school under one roof — book it for the best raw bar south of Santa Monica.
Fishing with Dynamite, a small room a block from the sand in Manhattan Beach, is chef David LeFevre's seafood jewel-box and the South Bay's reference point for raw bar. The menu splits neatly in two — "old school" New England classics like clam chowder, the lobster roll and oysters on the half shell, and "new school" plates where LeFevre's fine-dining background shows. It is tiny, sunny and almost always full. Expect around 50 to 90 dollars a head. For an excellent oyster lunch or an unhurried beach-town seafood dinner, book a few days ahead — the room seats only a couple of dozen and the locals know it.
Reserve direct; a dozen oysters, the clam chowder, and whichever new-school crudo is on that day.
4.Newport Seafood
The San Gabriel Valley institution built on one lobster — book Newport Seafood for the dish locals cross the county to eat.
Newport Seafood, on Las Tunas Drive in San Gabriel, is the San Gabriel Valley's great live-tank seafood house, a loud, full-throttle Chinese-Vietnamese room that runs on its house-special lobster — wok-fried whole with green onion, garlic and jalapeño, cracked and piled high. Around it sits a deep menu of live crab, geoduck sashimi, steamed fish and salt-and-pepper everything, the kind of family banquet cooking the SGV does better than anywhere in the country. It is not fancy and it is not quiet; it is one of the best-value seafood feasts in Los Angeles. Expect around 40 to 70 dollars a head in a group. For the famous lobster and a proper SGV seafood spread, book ahead for a table of four or more.
Reserve direct; the house-special lobster, a steamed live fish, and the salt-and-pepper crab for the table.
5.Coni'Seafood
The Inglewood marisquería that has defined LA Sinaloan seafood since 1987 — go to Coni'Seafood for pescado zarandeado worth the drive.
Coni'Seafood, on Imperial Highway in Inglewood, is the marisquería that taught Los Angeles to love Sinaloa-style seafood — a family business since 1987, now run by founder Sergio Peñuelas's daughter, and a longtime critics' favourite. The signature is pescado zarandeado, a whole snook butterflied, marinated and grilled over wood until smoky and falling apart, but the aguachile, the smoked-marlin tacos and the giant grilled shrimp are all reasons to come. The room is plain and the cooking is anything but. Expect around 30 to 60 dollars a head, the best price-to-quality ratio of any serious seafood on this list. For Sinaloan seafood at its LA source, go for a long, sunny lunch.
Reserve direct or walk in; the pescado zarandeado, the aguachile, and the smoked-marlin tacos.
6.Sea Harbour
Rosemead's Cantonese seafood temple, live tanks and serious dim sum — book Sea Harbour for the best Chinese seafood banquet in LA.
Sea Harbour, on Rosemead Boulevard, is the San Gabriel Valley's most refined Cantonese seafood restaurant, opened two decades ago by chef-owner Tony He and credited with bringing menu-ordered, made-to-order dim sum to Los Angeles. By day it serves some of the best dim sum in the country; by night it turns into a serious seafood banquet hall, the live tanks supplying steamed fish, lobster, crab and abalone cooked with real Cantonese precision. It is the special-occasion choice for the SGV Chinese community for a reason. Expect around 40 to 70 dollars a head, more for the live seafood by weight. For a proper Cantonese seafood dinner, book ahead and order off the seasonal specials.
Reserve direct; the steamed live fish, the dim sum at lunch, and whatever is swimming in the tank that night.
7.The Lobster
The 1923 institution at the top of the Santa Monica Pier — book The Lobster for a classic seafood dinner with the best view on this list.
The Lobster has stood at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier since 1923, and it remains the city's most reliable classic seafood room with an ocean view. The cooking is straightforward and done well — the namesake whole Maine and spiny lobsters, a long raw bar, grilled and pan-roasted fish — and the real draw is the setting, a big window-walled dining room looking straight out over the Pacific as the sun drops. It is touristy, yes, but it is the good kind, and a window table at sunset is genuinely hard to beat. Expect around 50 to 100 dollars a head. For a classic, view-first seafood dinner, book a sunset table a week or two ahead.
Reserve direct, sunset window if you can; a whole lobster, a dozen oysters, and a glass of California white.
How Los Angeles eats seafood
Los Angeles is not a single seafood town but a dozen of them, scattered across a county that touches the ocean for seventy miles and pulls cooks from Mexico, China, Vietnam and New England. The fine-dining end is narrow — Providence stands almost alone at the top — but the immigrant marisquerías and Cantonese seafood houses give the city a depth that few American cities can match. The best eating here often means a drive: to a food hall south of downtown for one-star aguachile, to San Gabriel for live lobster, to Inglewood for grilled snook, to a Santa Monica pier for a sunset lobster. The throughline is freshness and a refusal to gussy fish up beyond what it needs.
A few practical notes. Providence and Holbox book ahead — Providence weeks out, Holbox by Resy or an early arrival — while the SGV and marisquería rooms are easier, though weekends and large tables still want a reservation. Whole live fish and lobster are almost always priced by weight, so ask before you order. Sharing is the natural way to eat at the Chinese and Mexican seafood houses; build a spread rather than a plate each. Tipping in California runs 18 to 20 percent. For the wider city by neighbourhood and occasion, use the full Los Angeles dining guide.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for a serious LA seafood meal
The big chain seafood houses, for anything memorable. The national surf-and-turf chains around the tourist districts and malls trade on volume, not quality, and the fish bears no relation to the rooms above. If you want a reliable mid-range seafood dinner, that is Fishing with Dynamite or The Lobster, not a chain with a frozen-shrimp menu.
Providence, if you want a quick, casual bite. It is the best seafood restaurant in the city, but it is a three-star occasion — a long, formal, expensive tasting menu. If you have an hour and a smaller budget, that is Holbox, Coni'Seafood or an oyster lunch at Fishing with Dynamite, not a Melrose tasting room. Save Providence for the night you can give it.
Frequently asked
What is the best seafood restaurant in Los Angeles?
Providence on Melrose Avenue is the best, and in 2025 it became one of the first two restaurants in Los Angeles to earn three Michelin stars. Chef Michael Cimarusti cooks the city's most serious seafood — pristine spot prawns, Santa Barbara uni, line-caught fish — on a tasting menu that runs around 300 dollars. For something completely different at a fraction of the price, the one-star marisquería Holbox serves the best Mexican seafood in the city. Choose Providence for the occasion, Holbox for the most exciting plate of seafood per dollar.
Which Los Angeles seafood restaurants have Michelin stars?
Two seafood-focused restaurants hold Michelin stars in Los Angeles. Providence earned three stars in 2025, becoming one of the city's first three-star restaurants alongside Somni. Holbox, Gilberto Cetina's Yucatán-style marisquería inside the Mercado La Paloma food hall in South Central, holds one star and was the first Mexican seafood restaurant in the United States to earn one. Several other excellent LA seafood rooms — Fishing with Dynamite, Newport Seafood, Sea Harbour — are recognised in the guide without a star.
How much does seafood cost at a top LA restaurant?
Providence is the splurge, with a tasting menu around 300 dollars a head before wine. Holbox is astonishing value for a starred kitchen at roughly 40 to 90 dollars depending on how much you order. The mid-tier — Fishing with Dynamite's oyster bar, Newport Seafood's lobster, Sea Harbour's Cantonese seafood and The Lobster on the pier — generally runs 40 to 100 dollars a head. Coni'Seafood, the Sinaloa-style marisquería in Inglewood, is the cheapest serious seafood on this list at around 30 to 60 dollars. Whole live fish and lobster are usually priced by weight.
What is Providence known for?
Providence, on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, is known as the finest seafood restaurant in Los Angeles and, since 2025, one of the city's first three-Michelin-star restaurants. Chef-owner Michael Cimarusti is a sustainable-seafood advocate who runs his own fish purveyor, and the kitchen builds a long tasting menu around the day's best catch — spot prawns, Santa Barbara uni, line-caught local fish — with the precision of a French three-star. It is a special-occasion restaurant; book the dining room two to four weeks ahead, especially for weekends.
Where is the best-value or most authentic seafood in LA?
Los Angeles's best-value serious seafood is in its immigrant kitchens, not its white-tablecloth rooms. Holbox in South Central does one-star Yucatán mariscos — aguachile, ceviche, smoked kanpachi tostadas — for a fraction of a fine-dining bill. Coni'Seafood in Inglewood serves Sinaloa-style pescado zarandeado and shrimp that locals have driven across the county for since 1987. Newport Seafood in San Gabriel built a following on its house-special lobster with green onion and jalapeño. All three out-cook far pricier rooms; go hungry and order the signature.
More seafood, by city
More from RFK
Browse the full Los Angeles dining guide, compare the global field on the best seafood worldwide, read the verdict on three-star Providence and one-star Holbox, plan a table to impress a client, find a first-date seafood dinner, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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