Best Restaurants in Annapolis
Five essential tables, ranked by occasion.
$ Under $25 | $$ $25–55 | $$$ $55–110 | $$$$ Over $110
Annapolis’s Top 5
O'Learys Seafood Restaurant
O'Learys has been Annapolis's most accomplished seafood restaurant for over three decades. A waterfront address that matches the Chesapeake Bay's extraordinary marine bounty with the culinary technique it deserves. The ...
Lemongrass
Lemongrass is the Annapolis restaurant that locals recommend before any of the waterfront seafood houses. A Thai-American kitchen on West Street that has built its reputation through consistent quality and the kind of g...
Davis' Pub
Davis' Pub is the crab cake benchmark that Annapolis residents use. A neighborhood pub that has been doing the Maryland blue crab preparation correctly for long enough to have developed institutional authority over what...
Middleton Tavern
Middleton Tavern has operated at the head of Annapolis's main wharf since 1750. Through the Revolution, the Civil War, and every subsequent decade of American history. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin F...
Cantler's Riverside Inn
Cantler's Riverside Inn is the Annapolis crab experience that locals take visitors to when they want the real thing. A waterfront deck on Mill Creek, reached by a road that questions your GPS, where steamed blue crabs a...
Lures Bar & Grille
Lures sits on City Dock. The geographic and social center of Annapolis. With a bar and deck that captures the sailing community's natural convergence point. When the races end and the boats return to their slips, Lures...
Dining in Annapolis
Annapolis is Maryland's state capital and the self-proclaimed sailing capital of the United States. A city of 40,000 whose economy and identity are organized around the United States Naval Academy, the Chesapeake Bay, and the confluence of colonial history and maritime culture that makes it unlike any other small American city. The dining culture reflects all three: seafood from the bay, colonial tavern traditions still operating, and the influence of a naval institution that brings global perspectives to a very specific geographic place.
The Blue Crab
The Chesapeake Bay blue crab is the most culturally significant food in Maryland. A crustacean that has organized family summers, defined regional identity, and served as both sustenance and ceremony for the communities around the bay for centuries. The Chesapeake produces more blue crabs than any other body of water in America, and Annapolis is the city that has developed the fullest cultural elaboration of the blue crab as a dining experience. The picking of steamed crabs at a newspaper-covered table is a rite that unites the city's demographics more effectively than anything else.
The Colonial Tavern Tradition
Annapolis has a colonial heritage that predates the Revolution. It was briefly the capital of the United States in 1783-84, where Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris. The taverns that served the founders still operate; the main wharf where ships unloaded has been a dining and drinking destination for 270 years. Eating in Annapolis is eating within this accumulated history.
Practical Notes
Annapolis is 30 miles from Baltimore and 35 miles from Washington D.C.. Accessible by car (no direct rail service). The historic district is walkable; the outer neighborhoods require a car. Parking is challenging in the historic district on summer weekends. Blue crab season runs from May through October; the peak is July and August.