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20 Best Hamptons Restaurants

Your Hamptons Dining Guide

Summer in The Hamptons is the ultimate time-out, with its glorious pristine beaches, beautiful private and hot summer charter boats (and people), and dining options that make vacationers extend their stay because there are still more lobster rolls to try. There are a boatload of great restaurants in The Hamptons —so we’ve reeled in a collection of the best for you to catch without having to go deep sea fishing to find them.

Make a Yacht Hampton Boat Rental Your First Reservation

The ultimate way to restaurant-hop in The Hamptons is to restaurant-cruise. You can go from Sag Harbor to any dock along the shore. Boats book up fast, so reserve ASAP as boat charters in the Hamptons are as popular—but not always as easy to catch—as the seafood.

Fresh Seafood is Everywhere

Seafood is to Hamptons cuisine what chocolate is to candy; a main ingredient in almost every mouth-watering bite. There is an ocean full of seafood spots, these being some of the best.

SALT-Shelter Island

On the sparkling white sand of West Neck Creek, SALT is known for its laid-back atmosphere, the best lobster rolls in The Hamptons, and New England clam chowder too good to share. Fish Tacos are a favorite for lunch or dinner, as is seared tuna, but you can also feast on a 20 ounce ribeye, chicken, or fresh pear salad. SALT is family friendly, and has a “guppy fare” menu for the little ones.

Move over to SALT’s adjacent Shipwreck Bar and relax with a mint julip or frozen cocktail while listening to live music. It’s not uncommon to spot celebrities, like Jimmy Fallon, at this popular waterfront gem that also happens to have Shelter Island’s only wine tasting room.

Claudio’s – Greenport

American cuisine, with an emphasis on fresh seafood in the New England coastal tradition, defines this institution as one of The Hamptons best restaurants to try. Claudio’s is known for its quality fresh ingredients, generous portions, local wines and warm hospitality. Housed in a historic building, the recently revamped eatery serves both inside and out on a very unstuffy deck that is always fun to experience for lunch or dinner.

We suggest the lobster pot, stocked and steamed with about 1 to 1 1/2 lobster, giant shrimp, mussels, clams and corn.

The Frisky Oyster – Greenport

Greenport Village is a historic seaport on Long Island’s North Fork, where the Frisky Oyster welcomes diners to its comfortable indoor-and-outdoor eatery known for a sophisticated ambience, romantic tables, and excellent cuisine.

Oysters Friskafella is a mouth-watering appetizer and lobster abounds in multiple dishes from mac n cheese to quesadillas with scallops. You’ll find an impressive wine list to complement every main dish as well as excellent service, and a lively bar (where we suggest you taste the house martini.)

Port Waterfront Bar and Grill – Greenport

Overlooking Peconic Bay and Shelter Island, this outdoor bar and grill owned by the same folks as SALT, serves a world-famous lobster roll, fish tacos and house scallop chowder.

Don’t think about reservations; this is one of those spots along the shoreline that doesn’t take them. It’s also a spot where everyone has a good time, especially while hanging at the outdoor Tiki Bar with its notoriously strong drinks, live music, and upbeat atmosphere.

Navy Beach – Montauk

Established in 2010, Navy Beach quickly became a Montauk favorite. Sitting on 200-feet of private beach overlooking Fort Pond Bay, this family-friendly East End eatery is also a choice location for yachts and destination weddings.

Breathtaking views with magnificent sunsets come with every meal, whether you prefer to eat indoors or dine at an outdoor picnic table. Crabcakes and tuna crudos are popular choices, but this is a place where the main course is the beautiful setting, with perhaps a pitcher of sangria, a tequila cocktail or one of the many rose’s on their expansive wine list.

Bell & Anchor – Sag Harbor

The Bell & Anchor (sister restaurant to The Beacon) opened for its first summer in 2012. It’s unassuming outside belies a lovely interior with views of the water and consistently good food. The beachfront eatery, conceived and operated by David Loewenberg & Sam McCleland, is one of those restaurants to go to when you want to take your time and dine.

If you are a bouillabaisse lover, you will want to return to this spot every night, marry the chef, and become best friends with the chowder as well. You can’t go wrong with the oysters here and the house ribs are outstanding.

Showfish – Montauk

This trendy newish restaurant is part of the enormous renovation and conversion from Star Island’s Montauk Yacht Club to Gurney’s Star Island Resort. The restaurant has an upscale vibe and an outstanding view of Gurney’s gorgeous marina.

Overseen by chef Jeremy Blutstein, fresh fish is the centerpiece of most dishes, served with equally fresh vegetables and ingredients from local farms. Order a perfectly prepared 5 pound lobster, or try one their main course entrees that pop with unique, unexpected flavors.

Duryea’s Lobster Deck – Montauk

With its own fish market and lobster deck, you know this dock-and-dine East Hampton hotspot is going to be serving the freshest food possible. No reservations only means you have more time to stare at the view or beautiful Montauk sunset, or hang at the bar while you wait for a meal worth waiting for.

Start with a bucket of homemade bread and flavorful peel and eat shrimp, but leave room for the huge portions that can feed two. Even the delicious Greek melon salad is enormous. This once hidden gem is no longer a secret, but it is still a gem that has become one of the most popular spots in The Hamptons.

Hamptons International Cuisine

Along with fresh seafood, there are places in The Hamptons that serve every kind of food you can imagine. Many Hamptons restaurants integrate the Atlantic’s best into their delicacies, so there’s a chance to get fresh seafood everywhere you go. Obviously, you can’t really go wrong with the sushi, but this part of Long Island isn’t short on delicious cuisine of every kind.

Sunset Beach – Shelter Island

Sunset Beach is aptly named as it is the quintessential spot to sip on a famous mojito or a dangerously devine Frose’ while watching the glorious day slip into night on the water. Both lunch and dinner are served in the comfortable main dining room built within a majestic tree where guests enjoy flavors of Italy and the French Riviera, and actually feel like they could be lounging at a European beach resort. Grilled branzini is a favorite and you can’t go wrong with mussels in this pricey and divinely pretentious haven that is a must-see summer-in-The-Hamptons destination.

Lucharito’s Taqueria & Tequila Bar – Greenport

Lucharitos Taqueria is located in the beautiful Village of Greenport, where you can enjoy affordable priced freshly prepared Mexican fare any time you have a hankering for authentic tacos and nachos.

The Tequila bar is a tequila lover’s dream, featuring a rotation of over 50 kinds. Specialty margaritas are made with fresh fruit pureed daily, with cold Mexican beers and local craft brews on tap.

Le Bilboquet – Sag Harbor

This waterfront sibling of New York’s exclusive French bistro has one of the strictest door policies and toughest tables to score on the East End. It also has one of the best views as it sits right out on the docks kissing the big yachts. And although this uber-popular spot has an unfussy ambience, it maintains a fussy dress code that does not allow flip-flop or shorts.

Although French cuisine is the signature style, Le Bilboquet blurs the lines of tradition, as it serves focaccia, cajun chicken and a most American crab avocado salad.

Tutto il Giorno – Sag Harbor

Start with a Chianti as you settle into a most enjoyable and relaxed experience, marked by good service and a menu of hard-to-pick Italian choices.

Share the Tutto Insalata so that you have room for rigatoni, linguini with fresh clams, penne with eggplant, pasta with porcini mushrooms or any of the many dishes that make Tutto il Giorno an East Hampton favorite.

Sag Pizza – Sag Harbor

As the banner says “Eat. Drink. Takeout.” Sag sells pizza by the slice, for the ultimate in grab-and-go, but serves much more than pies at this clean modern trattoria.

Pizza first; they are made in Sag’s wood burning oven, so if you like blistering hot cheese, you’ll be very happy. But Sag Pizza is greater than its good pizza; they make good Stromboli, calamari, pastas, and salads, including the Chopped Arthur Ave”, made with salami, olives, filone, and provolone that will have you extending your Hampton boat rental so you can manjia it all again tomorrow.

Tiny Harbor Asian Cafe – Montauk

Is there really good Asian food in Montauk? There really is. No surprise when you learn that David Benavidez is the chef, and although he isn’t Asian, he creates and prepares the menu here every day.

The crab rice is a must. Sea bass, which is to some an acquired taste will be instantly acquired when you taste it here. There’s cumin rack of lamb that is truly bone-gnawingly delicious. We haven’t touched much on desserts, but this Asian eatery serves chocolate buttercream cake that cannot go unmentioned. Or untasted.

Exclusively Hamptons

There are hundreds of good places to eat, but not all of them define the lifestyle that can only be found in these luxurious Long Island lagoon restaurants. Break out your Tommy Tops and Tori flip-flops and meet the real Hamptons as you fill your face with some of the best East Hampton food and eye candy.

The Beacon – Sag Harbor

Relax and dine on the water where the sunset is most golden at this Hampton favorite that’s thrived since it opened in 2000 and for good reason.

It might be the only place you get pork buns on pretzel rolls that make it into a lot of The Beacon’s reviews as does the lobster rigatoni. Sunday Brunch is a favorite. Portions are small, prices are Hamptony, and they don’t take reservations. Still, it’s one of the restaurants that are always packed and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change.

Gurney’s Star Island Resort & Marina – Montauk

The Gurney’s name is synonymous with The Hamptons as people come from everywhere to fill their 107 waterfront rooms and tread the 15 acres of luxury amenities, meeting rooms, and assortment of bars and restaurants.

There’s Scarpetta’s Italian, Tillies where you can score basic American food, and the famous Firepit where guests lounge over bar drinks and fresh oysters into the warm Montauk evening.

Lulu Kitchen & Bar – Sag Harbor

The scent of a wood-fired grill and wood-fired oven pull people into this hot spot that features an open counter kitchen, where its as satisfying to watch the chef prepare the food as it is to eat it.

You can taste the wood fired treatment on pretty much everything made at Lulu, including the lobster, lamb chops, fish, pizza, and signature grilled heirloom cauliflower. Macarons served with the check are a tasty touch.

Ram’s Head Inn – Shelter Island

Island charm is enhanced by the historic elegance that is Ram’s Head Inn. Original 1929 fireplaces crackle in the spacious dining room and Harbor Hall lounge, and guests also dine on the patio overlooking the harbor. Ram’s Head Inn plays host to the loveliest of lovely private parties in East Hampton.

Enjoy an appetizer of roasted oysters or crab cakes, and choose entrees from a menu of classic dishes including a shrimp boil and unexpected delicacies such as duck and gluten free offerings.

The Point Bar and Grill – Montauk

The whole point of The Point is not so much its half price appetizers and bar drinks during happy hour M-F, but the fact that the bar stays open until way after hours. Big Screen TV’s play major league games while customers drink and dance all night long.

Wraps, seafood, all-American burgers and fries, and good beer-battered mozzarella sticks are only a few of the items on the extensive menu but its East Hampton party bar vibe that makes The Point a magnet, particularly for young crowds.

Discover Your East Hampton Favorite

This is a cross-section of best eateries in East Hampton, but there are a whole world of places to try here. There’s something so special about boating to a host of harbors and discovering your own personal favorites. Start with this can’t-go-wrong list and keep exploring the many culinary spots you’ll add to your own list of treasured Hampton destinations.

Copyright 2021