6 Best Restaurants in Dennis, Cape Cod

A great stop after the beach, this modest joint has a regular menu of seafood classics like fried clams and fish-and-chips supplemented by specials posted on the board and a counter where you order and take a number written on a french-fries box. There's seating inside as well as outside on a shady brick patio.

This fine-dining hotspot boasts exquisite views of Nantucket Sound, and the food is equally sublime—some consider it the best on the Cape. Seafood plays a starring role, with a Pan-Asian tilt, especially on the appetizer side; think tempura, sashimi, and ramen.

With the Cape Playhouse right across the street, this upscale contemporary American restaurant is a favorite before- and after-show haunt. There's plenty of seafood on the eclectic menu, which includes seafood strudel with crab, shrimp, and scallops baked in a pastry crust and topped with Newburg sauce, but carnivores will delight in dishes like linguine Bolognese or the Mongolian pork chop with braised red cabbage. Lighter meals include a ginger shrimp salad and an Asian-style fish sandwich served with seaweed salad. Save room for their signature grape-nut custard.

Supplies pour in from the restaurant's own oyster farm in the bay, though oysters (and clams) from other towns are well represented and can be had a variety of ways—raw on the half shell is the best way to enjoy these superfresh bivalves. It's a fun place all around, with great food and a boisterous atmosphere.