Long Beach Waterfront Restaurants: A Local's Guide to Dining on the Water

Updated May 2026 · Written by the team at Boathouse on the Bay

Long Beach has 11 miles of shoreline. Most of it isn’t where you want to eat dinner. This guide covers the six spots that actually pull off “waterfront restaurant” — what makes each one different, who they’re best for, and how to lock in a patio table this weekend.

We’ve been on Alamitos Bay since 2014, so this comes from a real perspective: who we send our cousins from out of town to, what we recommend for a date night, where to brunch on a Sunday morning. Boathouse on the Bay is one of these restaurants. We’ll lead with us, but we’ll tell you about the others fairly — the goal is that you eat well, not that you eat with us.

Best overall: Boathouse on the Bay

If you’re picking one waterfront dinner this month and don’t want to overthink it: come here.

What makes it work: Boathouse is the only Long Beach waterfront restaurant with automated retractable blinds running across every window — the patio, the bar and lounge, and the main dining room. Translation: bay-front dining works year-round, in any weather. November wind off the bay? Blinds drop, patio heaters stay on, dinner doesn’t move. July afternoon glare? Blinds drop on the sun side, the bay breeze becomes the only thing you feel. Rainy evening? You stay dry, the boats still glide by. Most “waterfront” patios in Long Beach are open-air — fine for the four perfect-weather weeks per year, frustrating the other 48.

The view: Alamitos Bay marina, due west. Sunset comes in directly off the water, hits the boats, lights up the patio for the 30 minutes around golden hour. We’re at 190 N. Marina Drive — the only restaurant on this list that’s actually on the marina, not next to it.

The kitchen: seafood, sushi, prime steaks, and oysters. A few specific orders worth knowing about:

• Lobster Benedict ($30) at weekend brunch — Maine lobster claw on toasted English muffins with hollandaise. The most-photographed plate on our menu.
• The Boathouse Roll ($20), Spicy Alamitos Roll ($22), Hot Mama Roll ($18) — the sushi side of the kitchen has its own following, and the signature rolls are where to start if you’ve never been.
• Bone-in Rib Eye (22oz, $75) at dinner — properly aged, simply served. A bone-in ribeye + a glass of red wine + the bay at 7 PM in May is the night this place was built for.
• Marina Mimosa ($10 single, or $18 by the bottle) at brunch — sparkling wine with orange or cranberry, table-share-friendly. The signature pour.

When we’re open: Dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Weekend brunch Saturday and Sunday until 2 PM. Happy Hour Tuesday through Friday, 4 to 6 PM. Live music on the patio Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights — and every night except Monday during the summer.

Best for: date night, milestone birthdays, anniversary dinners, weekend brunch, group dinners that want the patio. Most of our regulars are locals — Belmont Shore, Naples, the Bluff, and a steady weekend crowd from Newport and Huntington Beach.

Not for: rushed lunches (the patio doesn’t reward hurry), tourist-checklist dining (we’d rather earn a regular than a one-time photo op), or anyone who specifically wants the Queen Mary in their photos (you want Parkers’ — see below).

Long Beach waterfront restaurants at a glance

Use this to skip ahead based on what matters most.

The detail behind each is below, organized by neighborhood. Quick rule of thumb: Alamitos Bay for sunset and a real dinner. Pier for visiting friends with the Queen Mary in the photos. Bluff Park for ocean brunch.

Which one do I pick?

The five Long Beach waterfront neighborhoods

The city wraps two real working bays — Alamitos Bay on the east, the harbor on the west — separated by the Belmont Shore peninsula. Real boats, real water, real sunset light. Where you eat depends on what you want from the view:

• Alamitos Bay / Naples — Calmest water, working marina, due-west bay sunset. Best for unhurried dinner. (Boathouse, Tantalum.)
• Belmont Shore (2nd Street) — Restaurant strip near the water, not on it. (Roe Seafood. Good food, no view.)
• Shoreline Village + the Pier — Most “wow” Queen Mary view. Tourist energy. (Parkers’, Queensview.)
• Bluff Park / LBMA — Pacific Ocean, museum-adjacent, brunch energy. (Claire’s.)
• Downtown channel — Hotel Maya area. (Fuego currently closed for renovation.)

Alamitos Bay & Naples

The serious waterfront dining lives here. The bay is calmer than the harbor, glassy on weekday evenings, and the sunset hits the marina exactly like a postcard.

Boathouse on the Bay

Full disclosure: this is us. See the Best Overall section above for the long version. The short version:

• Where: 190 N. Marina Drive — directly on the marina, due-west sunset, Alamitos Bay.
• When: Dinner Tue–Sun. Brunch Sat & Sun until 2 PM. Happy Hour Tue–Fri 4–6 PM. Live music on the patio Fri/Sat/Sun nights, expanding to nightly except Monday in summer — see the Live Entertainment schedule.
• Best for: date nights, anniversaries, weekend brunch, milestone birthdays, group dinners on the patio.
• The retractable blinds — the patio, bar/lounge, and main dining room all have automated blinds across every window. The whole space is all-weather in any weather. Heaters on the patio in winter, blinds drop on hot afternoons. Most regulars don’t even check the forecast before booking.

→ Reserve a patio table. Tue/Wed/Thu has same-week availability; Saturday books out by Wednesday.

Tantalum

A short walk along Alamitos Bay in the Marina Pacifica complex. Tantalum runs live entertainment six nights a week — the acoustic duos “Dirty Sugar” and “The Joneses,” plus DJs spinning lounge grooves on Friday and Saturday. They lean lounge-and-late-night more than dinner-and-sunset; the room gets busy after 9 PM. The kitchen is California cuisine with Asian/Indonesian influences — coconut curries next to ahi tartare next to a wagyu burger.

Best for: when you specifically want live music as the centerpiece (any night of the week, not just weekends), or a late-night drinks-and-small-plates vibe. They have a 75-foot bar that gets a real Friday-night crowd.

Best Boathouse vs Tantalum call: if you want dinner with sunset and quiet enough to have a conversation, Boathouse. If you want music up loud and a glass of something on the bay, Tantalum.

Belmont Shore — fair warning + Roe Seafood

Worth saying out loud: Belmont Shore (the 2nd Street strip) is not actually waterfront. It’s a vibrant restaurant district two blocks from the water, with great food and atmosphere, but the patio at, say, Saint & Second or BO-beau looks at the street, not the bay. If your reason for going out is the view, walk five minutes east to Alamitos Bay. If your reason is dense restaurant rows and easy bar-hopping, Belmont Shore wins.

Roe Seafood

5374 E 2nd Street — Belmont Shore proper. Fish-forward, casual, with a fresh-fish market on one side and a garden patio on the other. They’re known for the cevichos (poke-nacho-style appetizer), the clam chowder, and a Sunday brunch that opens at 10 AM. Happy Hour Mon–Fri 3–6 PM (and a “later hour” 9–10 PM most nights).

Best for: lunch with the dog, a quick pre-dinner drink, or summer Sundays when you don’t want to deal with reservations. Not waterfront — the garden patio is great but you’re looking at sidewalks, not the bay.

Shoreline Village & the Pier

The western waterfront — the one with the Queen Mary in the background. More tourists, more visiting-from-out-of-town energy, but the views are genuinely cinematic.

Parkers’ Lighthouse

The original Long Beach Pier waterfront restaurant — three stories, wraparound patio at the top, the closest thing Long Beach has to a “harbor postcard” view. The kitchen is seafood-forward, classic Southern California — fresh sushi, mesquite-grilled fish, oysters on the half shell.

Specifics: Happy Hour Mon–Fri 3–7 PM in the lounge, 3–5 PM on the patio. Live music every Thursday 5–8 PM. The Thursday slot is good if you want the harbor view and music without the Friday/Saturday tourist crush.

Best for: out-of-town guests, anniversary dinners with a postcard-photo expectation, and Thursday-evening live music dates with a view.

Queensview Steakhouse

Stacked on top of Parkers’ (3rd floor) — same building, same view, but a steakhouse menu instead of seafood-forward. Romantic, dim, the patio has a literal 360-degree harbor view. Pricier than its downstairs sibling but worth the upgrade if you’re celebrating a real occasion.

Best for: birthdays, engagements, “we don’t go out enough anymore” date nights with a view that earns photos.

Bluff Park & the Long Beach Museum of Art

The eastern stretch of waterfront, between Belmont Shore and downtown. Pacific Ocean, not bay — straight ocean view, steeper coastline, a different mood entirely.

Claire’s at the Long Beach Museum of Art

Set on the bluff above the Pacific inside the Long Beach Museum of Art grounds. Sunny open-air patio, ocean horizon, an elegant-beach feel. The brunch is the headline — smoked salmon benedict, crème brûlée French toast.

Hours: Brunch Saturday and Sunday 9 AM–3 PM. Lunch Thursday and Friday 11 AM–3 PM. They cap waitlists early during peak season (May through October), so reservations are strongly recommended for parties of 5+ — and useful any peak weekend.

Best for: Sunday brunch with parents, post-museum lunch, anyone who wants ocean (not bay) views. Different from the bay restaurants — straight Pacific, no marina, no boats. Beautiful in a different way.

Downtown waterfront (currently closed)

Fuego at Hotel Maya — closed for renovation

Fuego sat on the channel that connects the harbor to downtown — Latin-California fusion with an indoor-outdoor patio looking back at the city skyline. As of March 2026 it’s closed for renovation under new ownership. No firm reopening date as of this writing. We’ll update this guide when they reopen.

If you were specifically planning a Fuego brunch, the closest substitute is Claire’s at LBMA (different vibe, different view, but the brunch energy is comparable).

Sunset timing — when to actually get a table

The light is the whole point. Quick reference (Long Beach is at ~33.7°N latitude, so sunset moves a lot through the year):

The 30-minute pre-sunset window is when the bay water turns gold. If you’re booking a patio table, target the seating that puts you on the patio for that half hour — for most of summer, that’s a 6:30–7:00 PM reservation at Boathouse.

When not to come to Boathouse

Honest matters more than salesy. Specific scenarios where you should pick a different waterfront restaurant:

• You specifically want the Queen Mary in your photos. Go to Parkers’ Lighthouse or Queensview. Boathouse looks at Alamitos Bay, not the harbor — different photo entirely.
• You want the ocean, not the bay. Claire’s at the Long Beach Museum of Art is on the Pacific bluff. Our view is the marina; the difference matters depending on the mood you want.
• You want live music every night you go year-round. Tantalum runs music six nights a week. We run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday year-round (and most nights in summer) — quality over quantity.
• You’re squeezing in a 30-minute work lunch. The patio doesn’t reward hurry, and our service style assumes you have a couple of hours. Save us for a real evening.
• You want a Tripadvisor-validated tourist menu. That’s not us. We change the seasonal menu, the kitchen has opinions, and our crowd is mostly locals.

If any of those match your night, pick the right spot — we’d rather have you back another time when the fit is real.

A few things worth asking before you book

• Can I ask for a patio table? At most spots yes — leave a note. At some, the host stand assigns and you take what you get.
• What’s the patio coverage? At Boathouse: automated retractable blinds across every window in the patio, bar, and main dining room, plus full patio heaters. Worth asking before you book at any waterfront restaurant in shoulder seasons.
• Where do I park? Boathouse has its own lot. The Pier fills up by 6 PM on Friday/Saturday. Belmont Shore is street parking and a 5-block walk most weekends.

Reserve a patio table at Boathouse

If you’ve read this far, you probably want a table. Here’s the easy version:

• Online: Reserve a table via Boathouse’s Toast booking page. Pick your date, time, party size — Tuesday through Thursday usually has same-week availability; Saturday books out by Wednesday.
• Phone: (562) 493-1100. We answer.
• Walk-in: the bar and a portion of the patio hold space for walk-ins on weekday afternoons.

→ Hosting a group? Private events — birthdays, rehearsal dinners, corporate dinners, or full patio buyouts. Inquire here.

→ Curious about brunch on the bay? Read our Best Brunch in Long Beach guide.

→ Coming in summer? Check the dates for our annual Big Bang on the Bay Fourth of July fireworks viewing.

FAQs

What's the most romantic waterfront restaurant in Long Beach?+

For a quiet, conversation-friendly date night with a sunset over the water, Boathouse on the Bay's all-weather patio is the highest-rated by locals — bay light, weekend live music, retractable blinds for any weather, kitchen that takes time. For a "Queen Mary in the background" celebration, Queensview Steakhouse atop Parkers' Lighthouse is the call.

Where can I have brunch on the water in Long Beach?+

Three spots: Boathouse on the Bay (Saturdays and Sundays, 10:30 AM – 2 PM, on Alamitos Bay), Roe Seafood (Sundays from 10 AM, garden patio with no actual water view but great food), and Claire's at the Long Beach Museum of Art (Saturday-Sunday 9 AM–3 PM, plus Thursday-Friday 11 AM–3 PM, on the Pacific bluff). Each is a different geography. Full breakdown: Best Brunch in Long Beach.

Which waterfront restaurants in Long Beach take walk-ins?+

Most do during weekday afternoons. Boathouse holds a portion of the patio for walk-ins Tuesday through Friday, plus the bar most nights. Saturday and Sunday at sunset, every patio in town fills — book ahead.

Where can I see the sunset from a Long Beach restaurant patio?+

The Alamitos Bay restaurants (Boathouse, Tantalum) catch the bay sunset cleanly — sun goes down due-west over the marina. Parkers' / Queensview catch a different angle with the harbor and Queen Mary silhouetted. Claire's at LBMA gets the ocean sunset directly. If you want the most-photographed sunset table in Long Beach: reserve a patio table at Boathouse.

Where's the best live music with a waterfront view in Long Beach?+

Two real options. Tantalum runs six nights a week (acoustic duos plus weekend DJs) — the volume is up, the room is lounge-y. Boathouse runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the patio year-round, expanding to nightly except Monday in summer — quieter, dinner-paced, sunset-anchored. Parkers' has Thursday-night live music 5–8 PM. Boathouse Live Entertainment schedule lists the current lineup.

Are these restaurants kid-friendly?+

Boathouse, Roe Seafood, and Claire's welcome kids — especially at brunch and weekday dinner. Queensview and Tantalum lean adult-oriented, especially after 8 PM. Parkers' is fine across the board.

What's the dress code at Long Beach waterfront restaurants?+

All upscale-casual. Patios run more relaxed; interior dining rooms slightly dressier at dinner. None require jackets. Boathouse leans toward "you'd wear this to a nice friend's house for dinner" — not formal, not beachwear.

What about parking?+

Boathouse has its own lot at 190 N. Marina Drive — easiest of any restaurant on this list. Tantalum has valet Thu/Fri/Sat. Parkers' / Queensview share the Shoreline Village paid lots — fills up after 6 PM Friday/Saturday. Belmont Shore (Roe) is street parking and a 5-block walk most weekends. Claire's has free Bluff Park lots (Pacific Ocean side) — easy mid-week, busy weekend.

Where we are

Boathouse on the Bay • 190 N. Marina Drive, Long Beach, CA 90803 (562) 493-1100 • office@boathouseonthebay.com

Get directions • Hours & location

Open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday • Weekend brunch Saturday & Sunday until 2 PM • Happy Hour Tuesday – Friday, 4–6 PM • Live music on the patio Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights — nightly except Monday in summer

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This guide is written and maintained by the team at Boathouse on the Bay, a waterfront restaurant on Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, California. We’ve been serving the bay since 2014. The honest evaluations of other Long Beach waterfront restaurants here are based on first-hand visits, public menus, and conversations with our regulars who eat around town. We update this guide quarterly to keep timing, pricing, and recommendations accurate.

Last reviewed: May 2026. Suggest a correction or add a restaurant: office@boathouseonthebay.com.