14 Essential Seafood Restaurants in Las Vegas

Michael Mina has four restaurants in Las Vegas, each specializing in a different type of cuisine, but only one bears the simplicity of the acclaimed chef's name on the marquee. Michael Mina avoids the chaos of the Bellagio casino floor with a relatively quiet corner near the resort's colorful Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. Executive chef Raj Dixit runs the day-to-day operations in the kitchen with a fierce commitment to sourcing and sustainability. He knows not to mess with longtime favorites like the Lobster Pot Pie, but is especially excited these days about wild turbo from France and rosefish from the waters of Cape Cod. Whatever the catch, the restaurant takes pride in using as much of the fish as possible, whether it's marrow, tails, cheeks, or even fin gelatin in a vegetable recipe. Always ask about the off-menu options, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
How to book: Book a reservation via Seven Rooms.

Estiatorio Milos was founded by Costas Spiliadis in Montreal, but the concept expanded throughout the world and lives up to its fullest potential in Las Vegas. After a long run at the Cosmopolitan, the restaurant now has a home at the Venetian, adding a sashimi bar and yogurt-straining room.Yet the heart of the restaurant is the fresh catch, displayed on ice in the main dining room. Much of it was swimming in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and other waters less than 24 hours earlier. Choose your fish and have it fileted and charcoal-grilled with lemon, capers, and olive oil, or baked whole in a sea-salt crust for the table to share. Either way, you'll want to add a bottle of Greek wine, a salad of perfectly ripe tomatoes, and lightly fried zucchini and eggplant slices with Kefalograviera cheese and tzatziki.
How to book: Book a reservation online.

Jack Jarukasem worked his way through the ranks at Caesars Entertainment (where he oversaw the Rio's famous seafood buffet), and is now following his own vision at The Legends Oyster Bar. The menu focuses heavily on seafood in a modest, aquatic-themed dining room. Oysters and raw scallops are highlights of the raw bar, but stick to hot food for delivery and to-go orders. You can't go wrong with the pan roast of lobster, crab, and shrimp in a creamy tomato sauce, gumbo in deconstructed form, or a Louisiana-style seafood boil. Jarukasem balances his creativity with flavorful takes on familiar dishes, including lightly fried calamari and New England Clam Chowder in a bread bowl.
How to book: Reservations are usually required, but only available by phone. Call 702-476-8887 to secure a table or place a carryout order.

Water Grill has some of the freshest fish you'll find inside a shopping mall. The California-based concept operates under King's Seafood, a company that sources fish directly—with a focus on quality control and sustainability—for its own lineup of restaurants (which also includes King's Fish House in Henderson). The Water Grill has a cool, contemporary style to match the energy of the Forum Shops near the Caesars Palace casino. It's not unusual for an order to arrive within 24 hours of being pulled from the ocean, so make a point to walk over and see what's new in the tanks outside the kitchen. Live King crabs, spot prawns, and spiny lobsters are all popular when in season, and taste just as fresh as advertised with no need for intrusive, heavy spices. Ask about the off-menu Whole Fish Ceviche, usually prepared with pink sea bream, branzino, or black sea bass. The biggest surprise is the sushi menu, which includes a California Roll made with King crab fresh from the tank.
How to book: Reserve a table online.

Chef Jimmy Li made ShangHai Taste one of the best spots for soup dumplings in Las Vegas and has now transformed his previous restaurant, Niu-Gu, into Sea Fresh. The intimate dining room has a circular, sit-down counter with just 18 seats and a centralized on-ice display of seafood (lobsters, shrimp, clams, mussels, and more) flown in promptly from the waters of Maine, California, and Seattle. Guests are encouraged to pick their own combination of seafood as toppings for a focaccia flat bread or as the main components of a rice dinner, served in a cast-iron pan with a choice of sauces. Two options have a clear Italian influence: American Pink (similar to a thin vodka sauce) and Sicilian Garden (an Italian-style mix of capers, black olives, and tomato). If you don't want to think about it too hard, go with Angus by the Sea, a plate with Asian braised short rib alongside Santa Barbara prawns and mashed potatoes in oyster sauce. Begin the meal with traditional New England-style clam chowder or a creamy shrimp salad with green apples and tomatoes.
How to book: You can take your chances walking in. At the moment, reservations are booked via Messenger on the restaurant's Facebook page.

You've got two options for Bajamar, which puts a welcome seafood spin on Mexican street tacos. There's the original Downtown location on a gritty block of Las Vegas Boulevard or a newer version on Blue Diamond Road near the residential Mountain's Edge community. Either way, you'll appreciate an overachieving dedication to fresh seafood, including sauteed spicy octopus, smoked tuna, or grilled shrimp, which all taste great against the crunchy bite of a house-made taco shell. Only mozzarella cheese is used, since the mild flavor allows the other ingredients to stand out and shine. Everything is made to order—even the soups. Bajamar does brisk takeaway business, but if you plan to stick around a while, order a savory Michelada with a choice of Mexican beer.
How to order: Just walk in or place an order online for pickup or delivery.

Lakeside has a seafood menu that not only matches, but surpasses the beauty of its environment, which includes an open-air dining room and large patio overlooking the Wynn's Lake of Dreams—a spectacle that deserves to be on any bucket list of Las Vegas dining experiences. Chef David Middleton takes his sourcing seriously, whether it's mahi-mahi and snapper from Hawaii or wild tiger shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. The salmon, farmed from remote, pristine New Zealand waters, is as good as it gets. Middleton knows when to keep things simple, but also has a few creative dishes on the menu. The wild U-10 diver scallops are given an Asian touch with Okinawan sweet potatoes, porcini mushrooms, and snow peas, accompanied by a coconut broth poured tableside. Maine lobsters—steamed, split, and roasted—are especially good with basil yuzu butter. As great as things are, Lakeside is only getting better. In recent months, the restaurant added a few tanks and picked up the live seafood and langoustine program that once thrived at the now-closed Costa di Mare.
How to book: Score a reservation via Seven Rooms.

Higher-end omakase restaurants like Yui Edomae and Kabuto are among the best meals you'll experience in Chinatown—or anywhere, really—but Kame has mastered the concept with an edge on creative presentations under the direction of chef and owner Eric Kim. Intimate seatings are just twice a night (6 and 8:30 pm) with sushi rolled on the spot, lightly seared certified Kobe beef, and other delicate bites. Most of the fish is flown in from Japan. The Lobster Sashimi is an extravagant staple, topped with caviar and Hokkaido uni. You'll also enjoy the fattiest cuts of tuna (like kamatoro, sliced from behind the jaw) and inventive appetizers that use the liver and other unexpected parts of a fish. On any given night, seafood can be used in a hotpot, handroll, or even risotto as part of your multi-course meal.
How to book: Kame suspended a la carte dining during the pandemic and is exclusively serving omakase presentations with reservations required. Call 702-771-0122 to inquire about availability.

Crab Corner is a tribute to its owners' Maryland heritage, serving casual seafood in a sports bar atmosphere. That means the Ravens are given priority over the Raiders on TV, but the payoff is Chesapeake Bay-style crabs steamed with Old Bay or Baltimore's J.O. Spice. Choose between male or female blue crabs—the latter is prized for the possibility of eggs inside, but require a lot of work to crack open for relatively minimal reward. You're better off with king, snow, or dungeness crabs, which cost a little extra but supply greater meat. The restaurant also has excellent crab cakes, lightly seasoned with minimal filler, allowing the jumbo lump meat to fall apart easily. Miniature versions are available as an appetizer. Gumbo, clam chowder, and cream of crab are frequently featured as daily soup selections. A meal can get messy at times, which is why each table is covered with brown paper and given a roll of paper towels for napkins. The restaurant also sells Tastykake packages, which pretty much everyone in the Northeast grew up on. If you know, you know.
How to book: Go online to place a reservation or takeaway order.

The full name of the restaurant is Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, which should give you a hard-and-fast idea of what the place is all about. The concept began as a modest Miami Beach lunch counter in 1913, but eventually grew into a fine dining powerhouse. It's absolutely the best spot in Vegas for Florida stone crabs—specifically the claws, which are cracked open, revealing a meat similar to lobster that's dipped in mustard sauce. Florida's harvest season runs October to May, but the restaurant offers stone crabs year-round due to its extensive relationships with fisheries. Plump Alaskan crab legs, dipped in little more than butter, are nearly as good. Joe's is also popular for shrimp—chilled, stuffed with crab, or in a scampi-like Shrimp de Jonghe. Save enough room for some red meat too, specifically a whopping 16-ounce bone-in filet that packs in plenty of flavor despite the lean cut. Joe's Key Lime Pie, served as a full or half slice, is nearly as famous as the stone crabs.
How to book: Book a reservation online.

After earning a couple Michelin stars in Singapore, Tetsuya Wakuda arrives in Las Vegas with a self-titled restaurant at the Venetian. The dining room takes inspiration from Tokyo's Shinjuku nightlife scene, with neon lights illuminating a dark corridor near the entrance. Statues of sumo wrestlers squaring off is another playful touch, but the menu is all-business, combining traditional Japanese techniques with occasional French touches. Lobster can be appreciated as a poached topping on toast with Wakuda's own Osteria caviar or grilled whole with shiro shoyu butter. The prices for individual pieces of sushi and sashimi are nothing to brush off, but if you really want to splurge, Wakuda has the only full-blown omakase room on the Strip—a speakeasy-style lounge with a private bar. Diners can expect 10-15 dishes throughout the meal, featuring the restaurant's best recipes and a per-person price of at least $500.
How to book: Call 702-665-8592 to book a reservation or inquire about the omakase room.

The Oyster Bar is a simple concept that manages to be one of the most exclusive dining experiences in town. The sit-down counter in Palace Station has just 18 seats and no reservations. Seating is first-come, first-serve, leading to long lines around the corner. However, the restaurant is open 24 hours, so show up at three in the morning and you might get lucky. A creamy pan roast and Bouillabaisse Seafood Stew are among the most popular dishes, both with fresh, flavorful chunks of seafood. Can't decide? The "Bouill-roast" is a once-secret combination of the two that's now on the regular menu. Gulf oysters (and a rotating lineup of seasonal picks) are served fresh-shucked on the half shell and the Shrimp Cocktail is a longtime favorite among regulars. The Oyster Bar is also one of the few restaurants in Vegas with Manhattan-style Clam Chowder, so don't be afraid to dive into the red stuff. A second Oyster Bar at Sunset Station has a similar, but less-coveted menu with more seats, shorter waits, and regular hours.
How to book: Show up and see what happens.

Seafood boils are a popular (and messy) pastime in Las Vegas, with restaurants like Hot n' Juicy Crawfish, The Boiling Crab, and The Vikings drawing large crowds for shellfish steamed in plastic bags. Yet Holy Shrimp offers a fresh take on the concept with Asian touches—most notably the sauces. Choose between a numbing Chinese-style mala, curry, lemon pepper, or the signature spicy Holy Sauce. Stick with the option to keep the heads on the shrimp and suck out that sweet meat when ripping 'em apart. The sourcing is exceptional, especially with the green mussels, and thick King crab legs. The Japanese kurobuta sausage is another welcome touch and pairs surprisingly well with the sweet potato fries. Holy Shrimp was founded by Kevin Chong, a Nobu veteran who's also the culinary force behind the fantastic and more formal Japaneiro for Asian fusion.
How to book: Call 702-405-9157 or order online for pickup.

After more than 17 years at Caesars Palace, Bobby Flay got a little bored with Mesa Grill and transformed the space into Amalfi, a large, tourist-friendly seafood restaurant inspired by the Italian coast. The catch of fresh fish is displayed on ice in the dining room. Yeah, you could go with branzino, but everybody serves that on the Strip. Try out some lesser-used picks like golden snapper, striped bass, turbot, or whatever happens to be in season. The staff is great about explaining the taste and texture of each one. Your choice is grilled whole or fileted with a variety of sauces on the side. The Italian influence is further felt with a clean collection of pasta recipes (best enjoyed as a shared side item to complement the fish) and multiple Spritz and Negroni options on the cocktail menu.
How to book: Book a reservation online.