These are the best places to eat seafood in Brisbane

From riverside fine dining to elevated fish and chips, first-class seafood is a staple in Brisbane. You can choose to eat rarefied Italian with breathtaking views of the river, dine on vintage trawlers right on the water, or head for the suburbs and go large on crisp-battered fish and hand-cut chips. Either way, you won’t go hungry. 

Here's where to find the best seafood in Brisbane, plus the top takeaways and fresh seafood markets.

Gambaro Seafood Restaurant

Brisbane locals have for decades been calling upon Gambaro Seafood Restaurant as a go-to occasion restaurant. It’s easy to see why, this family-owned eatery peddling an abundance of the best seafood from across the region. There’s local live mud crab, Moreton Bay bugs, and Queensland barramundi and cod. 

It’s the simple things, though, that Gambaro arguably does best: order from its menu of fresh fish served either grilled, battered or panko crumbed, throw in a side of hand-cut chips and you’re looking at elevated Brisbane comfort food. The charming Caxton Street location – beguiling during the day, heaving with revellers at night – accounts for the rest of appeal.

Where: 33 Caxton Street, Brisbane

One Fish Two Fish

One Fish Two Fish is part of the wave of rarefied fish restaurants that has swept across Australia in recent years. Daniel and Amelia Miletic’s handsome little eatery occupies an old Queenslander in Kangaroo Point, just a stone’s throw away from the Gabba sports stadium. 

It’s a beautiful spot to pull up in the front bar for crab bao buns along with battered, grilled and crumbed catch, washed down with a couple of Balter beers. But the restaurant menu is where it’s at, chef Daniel flipping provencal fish stew, Moreton Bay bugs, Sri Lankan curry plus specials that the Miletics source locally whenever they can (Queensland goldband snapper and red spot emperor are regular examples). Where to sit? On the beautiful back deck with views across Raymond Park is best.

Where: 708 Main Street, Kangaroo Point

The Prawnster

You'll have to get onto the water to taste some of the best seafood in Brisbane - but this boat isn't sailing anywhere. Step on board the vintage trawler docked at Kangaroo Point and aquaint yourself with The Prawnster. It's all seafood on the menu - prawns, oysters, Moreton Bay bugs, mud crabs (in season) - served rustic, in one of the most fairy-lit atmospheric settings in the city. 

Where: Berth B1, Dockside Marina, 44 Ferry St, Kangaroo Point

SK Steak + Oyster

A sleek experience from start to finish, you'll find SK Steak and Oyster tucked into one of the city's most stylish precincts, James St. This Fortitude Valley restaurant comes from the team behind Hellenika - but offers something totally different - from long lunches and fine dinners alongside smooth martinis and even smoother piano. The sprawling menu offers seafood cocktails, caviar, a raw bar, baked rock lobster, seafood platters and more, next to a range of premium cut steaks from prime rib to chateaubriand. Whatever you order, be sure to add a serving of bug & lobster mash potatoes. 

Where: The Calile Hotel, 48 James St, Fortitude Valley

Louisiana Redclaw

Roll up your sleeves and prepare to get your hands dirty; seafood is served up unlike anywhere else here. Specialising in seafood boils packed with crayfish, clams, Moreton Bay bugs and crab claws, you’ll get a slice of the south at Louisiana Redclaw. Expect fresh local seafood and plenty of Cajun spices, plus other goodies like baked crab mac and cheese and soft shell crab tacos. Bibs and gloves are optional, but definitely recommended.  

Where: 12a/25 Connor St, Fortitude Valley

St James Crabhouse

Another joint that makes enjoying your seafood a hands-on experience, St James Crabhouse brings the best of America's crab culture to the River City. Pop on a bib and get ready to crack open your dinner: Alaskan King Crab is the signature, but you'll find local catch too including Queensland spanner crab, blue swimmers, Moreton Bay bugs, the list goes on. But there's something for everyone on this casual menu, from burgers to pasta and plenty of red meat dishes for those catering to lots of preferences in the group. 

Where: Shop 4/2 Harbour Rd, Hamilton 

Otto Ristorante

The restaurant's move to the riverside at South Bank is fitting, boasting a menu packed full of seafood dishes.

Head chef Will Cowper’s brief when accompanying Otto Ristorante’s expansion to Brisbane was to create a menu rooted in the Sydney superstar’s approachable, classy Italian, but fine-tuned for Queensland’s warmer climate. It’s only natural, then, that it includes a heap of local seafood. There are Hervey Bay scallops with veal sweetbreads; raw Mooloolaba yellow fin tuna with smoked ham hock mayonnaise, capers and fried pig’s ears; and Mooloolaba champagne lobster spaghettini.

Cowper’s market fish varies but he often leans toward Mooloolaba mahi mahi or the latest catch of coral trout or red emperor from Chis Bolton, a line fisherman operating out of Kurrimine Beach in Tropical North Queensland. Perhaps the restaurant’s most unforgettable dish, though, is its Moreton Bay blue swimmer crab and mascarpone ravioli, which comes finished in a rich black garlic crema. Enjoy it with an imported bottle from one of the city’s best wine lists and some eye-popping views of the river and city skyline,

Where: Shop 1, River Quay, Sidon St, South Bank

E’cco

One of Brisbane’s most iconic restaurants, E’cco Bistro is helmed by one of Australia's most celebrated chefs, Philip Johnson. And it's been impressing diners and scooping awards since opening in 1995. 

That includes the restaurant’s seafood offering, with Johnson often heading down to River City Seafood fish market in Eagle Farm to pick the best produce for dishes such as kingfish crudo, a Moreton Bay bug risotto and pan-fried John dory. Happy hour at The Terrace, E’cco’s nearby alfresco younger sister, has quickly become a rite of passage for locals drawn in by $1 oysters and beer, wines and ciders.

Where: 8/63 Skyring Terrace, Newstead

Shucks Bar

A little out of the city centre, Shucks sits appropriately next to Manly’s bustling marina. The crew here dishes up fresh seafood with an oyster focus: order them natural, dressed or coated in miso ramen butter or bourbon chipotle. The seasonal menu boasts an Asian flair across dishes like cuttlefish sambal, wombok, pickled carrot, daikon, garlic chives. Come during the day for a concise, flavour-forward lunch, or linger over a tasting menu come dinnertime. The ever-rotating wine list is just as mouth-watering.

Where: 459 Esplanade, Manly 

Best seafood takeaway options

Blue Ocean Seafood: 5/380 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo

Clayfield Seafood Markets: 5 / 823 Sandgate Road, Brisbane

Sandgate Fishmonger: 90 Flinders Parade, Sandgate

Sea Fuel: 57 Vulture St, West End 

The Fishery: 16 Baroona Rd, Milton

Where to buy fresh seafood in Brisbane

Samies Seafood: 33 Remora Rd, Hamilton

The Fish Factory: 355 Lytton Rd, Morningside

The Fishery: 16 Baroona Rd, Milton

Inala Fish Market: Shop 1/37 Corsair Av, Civic Centre, Inala