28 Best Restaurants in Cape Cod, Massachusetts

At this all-you-can-eat churrascaria, waiters continually circulate through the dining room offering more than a dozen grilled meats—beef, pork, chicken, sausage, and the beloved Brazilian chicken hearts on large, swordlike skewers. The massive buffet is laden with soups, salads, and side dishes, including plantains, rice, and beans (vegetarians could happily eat from the buffet).

Northern Italian and Mediterranean cooking distinguish this upscale, popular place. Make sure to come hungry—portions of classic favorites here are huge. Live music adds to the festive vibe on Sunday afternoons year-round. An excellent wine list pairs perfectly with the food.

More than 1,000 oysters are eaten here on an average summer weekend, a good deal of them procured near daily from the restaurant's own oyster farm in nearby Barnstable. You'll always find close to two dozen raw and "dressed" oyster dishes; there's also a nice range of nonoyster entrées, salads, and appetizers.

Once a clam shack, this bistro has found new life and won legions of fans in this seaside town selling just-baked breads and succulent pastries—by early morning (even in off-season) the line snakes into the parking lot. There's outdoor and indoor seating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; the latter is a three-course prix-fixe meal ($95) that changes with the seasons, featuring locally sourced produce that highlights the finer flavors of this French kitchen. Sunday brunch is also popular.

This casual spot specializes in classics like grilled cheese sandwiches, hand-cut fries, and local seafood in a lively spot. Order at the counter, then grab a seat inside or at one of the several outdoor seating options; there's also a large beer menu with New England offerings, a good selection of wines, and fun cocktails. Weekend brunch features dishes like sticky buns and egg tacos.

Provincetown's Lobster Pot, a mainstay for more than 40 years, is fit to do battle with all the lobster shanties anywhere (and everywhere) else on the Cape; although it's often jammed with tourists, the crowds reflect the generally high quality, and the water views can't be beat. The hardworking kitchen turns out classic New England cooking: lobsters, generous and filling seafood platters, and some of the best chowder around.

You can't miss this hot spot on the side of Route 6: look for the riot of colorful flowers lining the road and the patient folks waiting in long lines for fried seafood and other fixings. Unusual for a clam shack like this is the full bar, offering beer, wine, mixed drinks, and the house specialty: margaritas. You can also play a round of minigolf.

This specialty food shop sells cheeses, breads, soups, great sandwiches, including lobster rolls, and picnic fixings, along with coffees and teas. 

Gorgeously presented, impeccably fresh seafood is standard here: lunch and dinner selections range from just-off-the-boat scallops to tuna, local oysters, and octopus. It can be noisy and it's always crowded in summer, but it's worth the wait.

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.

Owner/baker Antoine Vera has brought the French and Belgian boulangerie experience to Hyannis with this charming cafe, located just steps from the Village Green. Order fair-trade coffee, tea, and a wonderful pastry—or perhaps a prosciutto and cheese sandwich—and enjoy conversation with a friend at one of the indoor or outdoor bistro tables. Before you leave, pick up a tin of Belgian cookies or a jar of French mustard to bring home, along with a few extra melt-in-your-mouth macarons.

It's notoriously difficult to snag a table here in the summertime, but it's worth the wait as their wood-fired flatbreads are positively toothsome, made with organic four, local sea salt, and tasty toppings like braised beef short rib, butternut squash, and linguica sourced from a Massachusetts farm. Pasta dishes are a good option, too, and salads are fresh and creative, not an afterthought. Eat here or wrap it up and head to nearby Craigville Beach. Can't wait? They operate a take-out shop, Crisp Too, across the street.

Settle in for a proper afternoon tea, with tiered trays of finger sandwiches and diminutive desserts, at this English-style tea room set in a 1920s vintage carriage house overlooking Shawme Pond. A full tea service is offered all day, along with an à la carte lunch service and Sunday brunch (think lobster eggs Benedict and duck confit hash) and desserts are baked in-house. 

Owned by two commercial fishermen (who happen to be brothers), this casually upscale seafood spot (attached to a seafood market) offers indoor and outdoor waterside dining at Cape Cod Canal. The menu offers a nice break from the usual fried seafood baskets, so diners opt for fresh oysters, sushi, and steamed lobster and crab buckets.

Fuel up for a beach day at this bustling family-owned breakfast and lunch spot, where options range from a kombucha and a cruller to a balsamic-drizzled veggie wrap and an iced chai latte. Guests order food at the downstairs level, confronted by an array of decadent baked goods (hand-cut donuts are a specialty), and take it to go or eat in the upstairs solarium or at a picnic table next to the parking lot.

Fried clams are crisp and fresh at this basic seafood joint right on Falmouth Harbor; the meaty lobster roll and the fish-and-chips platter are good choices, too. Place your order at the counter, and then take your tray to the picnic tables on the roof deck for the best views.

Fresh and ample portions of fried seafood take center stage at this casual joint, which is very popular with families. Place your order at the counter and sit inside or out: be sure to save room for ice cream.

Tried-and-true tavern fare is the rule at Orleans's flagship local restaurant. The scene is usually fun and boisterous; dozens of homemade wooden signs heralding local businesses hang from the rafters above the red-checker tablecloths.

Located at Wellfleet Harbor, this ambitious little spot serves some of the freshest seafood around. Sit along the pier and soak up the great water views while you chow down on a vast variety of local fish dishes, plus globe-trotting fare like burritos (with their house-made Scotch bonnet pepper sauce), a Caribbean seafood bowl, and tuna poke made with fresh local fish. The adjacent ice-cream counter offers hard and soft-serve treats, plus sundaes, smoothies, and frappes.

A meal at this good-natured, rough-hewn fish shack with a hypernautical theme is an absolute Cape Cod tradition for some people. Bring your own libations, and if you need to kill time (the lines are sometimes daunting), stop inside Moby's Cargo, the bustling gift shop next door.

The food and the interior share a penchant for unusual, striking juxtapositions—a classical sculpture in front of an abstract canvas, for instance, or an artful plate of boneless chicken and scallops in Thai peanut sauce arrayed on a bed of lo mein noodles. The art collection on display here is significant, and includes many noted Provincetown artists; the late Napi Van Dereck and his wife Helen collected gems for many, many years.

Crowds line up for tasty treats at this beloved year-round bakery, in business since 1982, which serves up a lot more than pie, though that is not to be missed. Sticky buns and scones fly out of the kitchen at breakfast, while daily soup specials, wraps, and salads are popular at lunch.

For more than 50 years, this family-run seafood and ice cream shack has been serving hungry vacationers. It's a go-to joint for a quick post-beach dinner (or pre-beach lunch) with a menu that goes beyond the usual deep-fried items: Options include broiled seafood plates, hot and cold lobster rolls, and 15 different salads. Order dessert at the soft-serve ice-cream window. 

This fun and funky establishment offers a range of craft beers and bar food in a convivial space. Relax with a Double Rainbow IPA or nonalcoholic kombucha on a comfy couch inside, or bring Fido and sit on the pet-friendly patio. Burgers, sandwiches, and shared plates like pretzels and mozzarella sticks are on the menu. Not only does this brewery offer great beers, it offers a side of activism with each pour: a percentage of each sale goes to a worthy cause.

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.

Award-winning clam chowder and crave-worthy hot-buttered lobster rolls draw seafood lovers to this Cape Cod mainstay, wooing diners since 1936. If there's a long wait (and there will be) at this spot across the street from the beach, eat dessert first; there's an ice-cream shack adjoining the restaurant.

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.