From Downtown and Brickell to Coral Gables and Sunny Isles, here are the best seafood restaurants in Miami. For the best in Miami Beach, click here for Part 1.

By Jan Engoren and Yours Truly

Seafood Restaurants in Downtown Miami

Klaw Miami

Make sure to bring your camera, as this will be a night to remember!

With menu items hitting the $400 mark, Klaw is not on everyone’s budget.  Specializing in dry aged steaks and Norwegian king crab, this elegant and opulent restaurant, located in the Former Miami Women’s Club in the historic 1925 Edgewater building surrounded by waterfront views is for special occasions and celebrations.  Rooms give a nod to history and are named The Tuttle Room and The Flagler Room, in honor of Julia Tuttle and Henry Flagler, the ‘Mother and Father of Miami.’

This is the place to have everything from oysters, half Maine lobster, Australian prawns, grouper ceviche, bluefin tuna, sashimi, and caviar to a chilled King Crab leg.

In addition to their centerpiece heritage menu and extensive wine list, Klaw’s beef is dry-aged in-house for at least 30 days, while the King Crabs are deshelled tableside and served with a garlic lemon butter sauce.  Talk about surf and turf!

Klaw Miami is located at 1737 N Bayshore Drive, Miami, Florida 33132.  Tel:  (305) 239-2523.

Seaspice Brasserie & Lounge

Arrive by land or by sea – just arrive!  Set in a post-industrial warehouse on the banks of the Miami River overlooking the Miami skyline, Seaspice Brasserie & Lounge exemplifies the essence of waterfront dining with a party atmosphere. The casual, yet elegant venue is outfitted with nautical touches offering globally inspired cuisine.

Known for both its seafood and pasta, the brasserie offers chef-driven plates and curated wine pairings in a luxurious Downtown Miami location.

Signature dishes include a Japanese Miyazaki A-5 Wagyu burger ,Australian rack of lamb , Sea Salt Encrusted Market Fish  and hand-made Blue Crab Ravioli .  For non-seafood eaters, Seaspice offers a selection of meat, including Wagyu Steak Tartare, organic filet mignon and bone-in rib-eye as well as pizzettas  and salad .

Seaspice Brasserie & Lounge is located at 412 NW North River Dr, Miami, Florida 33128.  Tel:  (305) 440-4200.

Seafood Restaurants in Coral Gables

Descorche Restaurant and Wine Bar 

Descorche Miami is a neighborhood gem that  attracts  everyone from business people and couples to groups of friends, coming for the solid traditional Spanish food, pleasant atmosphere and friendly service. The extensive menu has a very large selection of cold and hot tapas (29!) with all of the favorites, along with tablas (charcuterie), soups, 7 paellas, meats, fish, grilled platters and sides. Not surprising since the Spanish know their seafood – especially their seabass and shellfish, are a standout.  Also not found at most seafood restaurants, try their codfish and corvina.

The restaurant offers a large selection of beer, wines and sangria.

Start with their hot tapas – gambas al ajillo , the grilled scallops in garlic sauce, or the calamares a la plancha , or cold tapas such as the salpicon de mariscos – fresh seafood and vegetables marinated in olive oil or a selection of meat and cheese boards for the table .

A variety of paellas (serving two),  are offered from  vegetarian to seafood, which include squid, fish, clams, mussels, prawn and even Maine Lobster.

Finish your meal with a dessert of Crème Brûlee, , Almond Sponge Cake , Torrijas Obradoiro, a custard brioche rolled in cinnamon sugar with Crème Anglaise ,or chocolate or vanilla ice-cream .

Descorche Miami is located at 1673 SW 27th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33145.  Tel:  (305) 640-5658.

Seafood Restaurants in Sunny Isles

Avra Miami

The story of Avra begins in the coastal Greek village of Nafpaktos where cofounder Nick Tsoulos was born and raised. With fond memories of fishing for local seafood such as fagri, dorado, octopus and red mullet and enjoying the fresh grilled fish with homemade salads and other dishes, Tsoulos brought these memories with him when he emigrated to New York, opened a taverna and eventually opened Avra in midtown Manhattan offering simple Greek dishes made with the best ingredients and incredibly fresh seafood.

The main event is fresh fish, not only the usual selections but more unusual Mediterranean favorites like fagri and lithrini, prepared any way you like it – grilled whole over charcoal, baked in salt, made into ceviche or carpaccio, you name it.

Their freshly caught seafood is flown in daily from the Mediterranean and they feature local and sustainable catches.

From caviar to a raw bar serving east and west coast oysters, jumbo shrimp and lobster to sashimi and ceviche and appetizers such as tuna tartare, Portuguese sardines, Chilean sea bass souvlaki, grilled octopus and mussels – seafood rules the day.

But, no worries – for your dining companions who prefer land-based dinners, Avra offers a selection of both beef and chicken options.

The high end, casually elegant restaurant features handsome décor, with an entryway framed by a bougainvillea intertwined pergola that adds a colorful and taverna-lik touch.  Picture yourself in the Greek islands on their spacious outdoor terrace with a view of the swimming pool and ocean beyond.  Apolamvano as they say in Greek – Enjoy!

Avra is located at 17945 Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida 33160.  Tel:
(786) 807-7555.

Miami

La Camaronera Seafood Joint & Fish Market 

Here’s a casual classic seafood restaurant in Miami — Owned and operated by the Garcia Brothers of Little Havana since 1973, La Camaronera is a down-home seafood joint dishing up plenty of fresh and fried seafood such as  Camarones Fritos with yellow rice and green plantains (Breaded Shrimp), Cangrejo Moro (Stone Crab), fried snapper sandwiches as well as Bollitos de Caritas, a Cuban favorite.

The unpretentious décor – yellow chairs, aqua walls and corrugated metal, belie the caliber of the food.  House specialties include Camaronera’s Shrimp , Corvina and Mahi Fillet , shrimp or fish tacos  and Arsenio’s Favorite Shrimp and Fish Burrito .

They also have an on-site fish market selling hogfish, yellow tail snapper, stone crab (in season) and spiny lobster, all at market prices.

In 2020, the restaurant was featured on a segment of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

La Camaronera Seafood Joint & Fish Market is located at 1952 West Flagler Street, Miami, Florida 33135.  Tel:  (305) 642-3322.

Seafood Restaurants in Brickell

Trulucks’s Miami

Even is stone crab season is over  shellfish lovers, never fear. Trulucks Miami in Brickell has you covered big time. They have amazing crab specials which complements their already wide selection of seafood including fish you seldom find in Miami, alternatives to the ubiquitous branzino. This is a seafood restaurant, but meat lovers are also well catered to with a large selection prime steaks and even prime rib. To make things even better they have a lot of great value specials, for lunch and early dinner, lunch at home, and one of the best happy hours in town. Plus in several categories they offer petit and full-size portion options to save on money (and calories). Service is friendly and very professional, the restaurant is spacious and comfortable, portions are generous, and it has indulgent menu items with a capital “I”. We went back to Trulucks Miami (probably my fourth time) and enjoyed it more than ever. And note there’s a Trulucks in Fort Lauderdale too.

First let’s talk about the crabs at Trulucks Miami, three kinds: Dungeness crab from the Pacific Northwest, Red King crab from the Bering Sea and Wild Bairdi (also known as Queen crab or Giant Snow crab) from Alaska. Choose one or get a flight with all three. I got the red king crab leg (a pound of meat) and was it ever delicious. It is served with their house made mustard sauce and TL Louie sauce and sides of mashed potatoes and asparagus. While we’re on seafood you can’t go wrong with the fresh fish including specials like the halibut which Mr. W chose. It was swimmingly fresh and came with risotto and topped with lobster meat.

The menu is divided into chilled & hot appetizers, soup and salads, crab and lobster, prime seafood, prime steaks and chops, indulge, plant based, vegetables, potatoes and such and desserts. There’s also a gluten sensitive menu.

As I mentioned, one of the things that stands out at Trulucks Miami are what I call the indulgent options, perfect for a celebratory meal. You may find a few of these kinds of dishes in other fine restaurants but not the number or kind you find here. Check out these dishes for examples –lobster tempura bao, Maine lobster thermidor, king crab truffle butter, bacon wrapped shrimp, brie mac n cheese , blue crab oscar and flaming baked Alaska.

Trulucks Miami, 777 Brickell Avenue, T. (305) 579-0035. Valet parking is $10 at lunch and $20 at dinner. Parking garage next door.

River Oyster Bar

Finishing up the list of best seafood restaurants in Miami is this one in Brickell — Known for their high-quality oysters and seafood served in a comfortable setting, River Oyster Bar offers both indoor and outdoor seating.  Their oysters are flown in from all over the U.S. directly from the farm where they are raised in pristine waters, tagged with the harvest area and date to ensure the highest quality and safety.

For non-seafood lovers, River Oyster Bar is constantly sourcing local foods, from farms in Homestead to Central and North Florida.  From grass-fed Florida beef, organic chickens, heirloom tomatoes and honey from Homestead, to microgreens from Hollywood, local shrimp from Cape Canaveral and stone crabs from the Florida Keys, “local” is their middle name.

For dinner, decide between Clams Casino, Crab Toast or a Pot of Mussels for appetizers, before moving on to a variety of simply grilled fish entrées, including Mahi Mahi, King Salmon, Black Grouper, Yellowtail Snapper, Yellowfin Tuna or their Roasted Maine Lobster.    Non-fish entrées include Sea Scallops a la Plancha , the popular Linguine and Clams  and Creamy Gnocchi and Jumbo Lump Blue Crab , among others.

Besides the typical sides of French Fries, Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Asparagus, they offer Fried Blue Crab Brown Rice  Parmesan Brussel Sprouts and Wood Oven Roasted Artichokes .

No meal is complete without dessert, so try their five-layer coconut cake with English rum, the Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake with ice cream or the Pumpkin Cream Pie.

River Oyster Bar is located at 33 SE 7th Street Ste 100, Miami, Florida 33131.  Tel:  (305) 530-1915.