Randazzo's Clam Bar

"Family-owned Randazzo’s is not only one of the city’s best Italian spots, it’s one of the the best seafood restaurants. It dates to 1916 — an era when the bay was lined with clam shacks, and now there’s only one. Today, it serves an array of seafood classics, including both New England and Manhattan chowders as well as a standout version of zuppa di pesce." - Melissa McCart

"Randazzo’s Clam Bar got its start as a fish market on the Lower East Side in 1920 before relocating to Sheepshead Bay in the ’30s. Eventually, the family started selling fried calamari in addition to fresh seafood, and the Randazzo’s Clam Bar of today was born. This place shines in the summer, and they’re justly famous for that fried calamari, which is served with a homemade marinara sauce. All the raw bar options are good too, and you can practically toss your empty shells right into the water. Fried calamari with hot or medium sauce, baked clams, raw clams, shrimp fra diavolo" - molly fitzpatrick, willa moore, will hartman, bryan kim, sonal shah

"After visiting red-sauce Italian restaurants all over the city, eating clams has become one of our most treasured pastimes, but there’s something about doing it across the street from a body of water that feels exactly right. Randazzo’s Clam Bar has been open since 1932, and although this Sheepshead Bay spot shines in the summer, we'd just as likely come here in the dead of winter to slurp raw clams and pretend we're in Florida. They’re famous for their fried calamari, which is served with a homemade marinara sauce that comes in both medium and hot varieties, but all the raw bar options are good too, and you can practically toss your empty shells into the water from the storefront." - willa moore, will hartman, sonal shah, neha talreja

"Sure there are clams, oysters, octopuses, and other mollusks, but Randazzo’s is at its heart a palace of Italian seafood — often served with pasta. Red and white clam sauce with spaghetti is not to be missed, but the best dish on the menu is pasta marechiara (“clear sea”) — a heap of linguine on an oblong plate with marinara sauce in which swim shrimp, clams, and squid, each of which imparts its unique flavor to the marinara." - Robert Sietsema

"Opened in 1932, this family-run Sheepshead Bay old-timer is one of the city’s more memorable seafood experiences. While the Littleneck or Cherry Stone bivalves are available baked and steamed, order them up raw for the freshest version of the place’s namesake shellfish type. Also popular: the fried calamari, an order of which tends to appear on most tables." - Alexandra Ilyashov