Is Seafood Better At Beachside Restaurants?

On a warm and sunny day, there's nothing better than taking in view the water while dining at your favorite restaurant. The calming sound of the waves and the ocean breeze is the perfect backdrop for enjoying some of your favorite seafood fares, such as crab cakes or seared scallops. Not only is this cuisine delicious, but it's also good for you. Healthline reports that seafood is full of nutritious, healthy fats and vitamins. It's even been shown to potentially lower the risk of health conditions like depression and liver cancer.

However, getting this type of food from the ocean onto your plate is not always easy. According to Oak and Rowan, seafood is not easy to obtain because it often requires expensive equipment and very skilled fisherman to capture them. It's also difficult and costly to transport because it must stay fresh, so it usually has to travel by air or overnight bus. This is just part of why not every beachside restaurant has fresh seafood.

While some eateries by the water make sure to have fresh caught wild salmon and other items, it doesn't mean it will always taste better than other places, per Prime 13. The restaurant shares that many dining-out options will serve customers seafood that was originally frozen and caught somewhere else that might not be nearby. They claim that while you might think a steakhouse by the ocean is sure to always have the freshest seafood, that's just not always the case.

This may not even matter because freezing techniques have advanced so much. The Spruce Eats reports that fishermen can now flash-freeze some fish right as they're caught, which preserves their nutrition and flavor. The outlet and Prime 13 point out that the quality also largely depends on where you decide to buy and eat your seafood. If you live in a city or nearby a coast and you're buying fish that's local and in season, you're going to likely get a delicious and fresh-tasting meal. So, ultimately restaurants by the water will sometimes carry fresh seafood, but it's not always a given and doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be superior to other places.