211 Best Restaurants in Alaska, USA

A local favorite, the Fireweed serves unusual pizza, pasta, and fish dishes you can wash down with beer on tap from the Haines Brewing Company. The casual restaurant is so popular that you may have to wait a bit for your food—a perfect opportunity to try the Spruce Tip Ale and gaze out at the water.

This casually stylish restaurant offers excellent views of the flats at the mouth of the Kenai River as well as the surrounding mountains. The menu emphasizes produce and seafood sourced locally as well as house-smoked meats—try the confit and roasted half organic chicken, or grilled rockfish with garlic butter, romesco sauce, and butternut-squash risotto.

Head just south of town to this cozy and convivial family-owned bakery to start your day with a dish of blueberry-barley hot cereal or avocado–smoked salmon toast, or consider one of the healthy and hearty sandwiches as lunch. There's also a nice selection of pastries and cookies.

If you have access to a car, head to this beautifully situated spot on a hill overlooking Auke Bay harbor, where you can choose from a wide selection of locally made craft beer (serving sizes as small as 4 ounces make sampling easy). The brewery also houses Red Spruce, an innovative eatery led by talented chef Lionel Uddipa, making it a two-for-one experience in local creativity. Menu options, which change frequently, highlight a range of global influences and local ingredients. Order at the counter and snag a table on the all-weather covered patio.

A longtime local favorite, Fu Kung serves some of the best sushi (Japanese- and Korean-style), Chinese, and Thai food in the region. From the extensive menu, consider flavor-packed dishes like shrimp with lobster sauce, pineapple-fried rice, and a slew of inventive sushi rolls. It's a popular stop in the summer, so reservations are highly recommended.

No one in Fairbanks puts fresh chopped garlic to better use than Geraldo's, which has gourmet pizza, seafood, pasta, and veal dishes. A painting of Don Corleone hangs on the wall, and Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin provide background music for this cozy and often crowded spot near Wedgewood Resort.

Beautifully crafted Pacific Rim dishes like Panang curry and poke bowls are a mainstay at Ginger, where the menu offers food that will please both adventurous and more traditional diners. Decorated in beautiful woods and warm tones, the interior perfectly complements the menu.

A local hangout, this café offers a wide range of breakfast options to accompany your morning joe, and nearly everything on the menu is made on-site. At lunchtime, sample one of the filling hot sandwiches. Fresh fruit smoothies are also available.

The scent of hops permeates the cavernous, wood-beam BrewHouse, where at least a dozen beers are brewed on the premises. Locals mingle with visitors in this noisy, always-busy heart-of-town restaurant, and dinner selections range from chili-lime shrimp to fettuccine jambalaya. Summer reservations are recommended, even for lunch.

Trees, mountains, and the rushing water of Salmon Creek surround the comfortable, canopy-covered benches and tables at this authentic, all-you-can-eat salmon bake operated through Alaska Travel Adventures. After dinner you can pan for gold in the stream, wander up a hill to explore the remains of a gold mine, or roast marshmallows over a fire.

You'll find Japanese and Korean food, burgers and bento boxes, and seafood baskets and pho along with standard Chinese fare at this casual spot on Front Street. It truly has something for everyone and ample seating, too.

With a menu that ebbs and flows with the seasons yet consistently delivers fantastic dishes, The Grape Tap is lauded by most as the top upscale dining experience in town. This 60-seat restaurant and European wine cellar is set in a 1930s pioneer home that's been renovated with contemporary colors and style. Reservations are highly recommended.

Historic photos, mounted animals, and state memorabilia adorn this old family favorite near the airport. Lunch is available, but the restaurant is best known for its old-fashioned all-day breakfasts, which include menu items like reindeer sausage and crab omelets. Don't expect anything fancy; this is diner food in an Alaskana-filled setting.

This roadhouse was first built in 1952 replete with cut, hauled and split timber. It's a great place to grab breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with specialties ranging from double quarter-pound burgers topped with applewood-smoked bacon and cheddar to halibut fish-and-chips.

HCL hosts this dining event several times throughout each summer. Seating is outside on an enormous deck that overlooks the bay, and live jazz music is performed on a floating stage. Each event, raises money for a community nonprofit in Homer, features a renowned guest chef from somewhere in the state, locally grown produce, and fresh seafood. Dinner is a set price and includes boat transportation from Homer.

Crowded with locals and travelers, the Hangar occupies the building where Alaska Airlines started business, and the pier below the restaurant still serves as a busy floatplane dock in the summers. Every seat has views of Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island, and on warm days you can sit outdoors and watch the planes land. Menu options, which range from fish-and-chips to ginger ahi, offer a step up from traditional pub fare, and the huge beer selection encourages nonstandard choices.

This sushi spot features wild-caught Alaska salmon and the usual selection of rolls and sashimi, with vegetarian choices and the usual sides. They also offer pork, beef, and chicken bowls, tempura, dumplings, and salads with or without ahi tuna or sockeye salmon.

This reliable spot for tasty Hawaiian barbecue also serves plenty of pork and other meaty fare, plus Chinese, Korean, and fusion dishes. Breakfast is served all day, and delivery is available.

Locals flock to this cheery spot for lunch; it's the closest thing to home cooking Petersburg has to offer. On weekdays it's open for breakfast and lunch, but on summer weekends dinner is also an option. Helse also doubles as an ice cream and espresso stand.

A big, boisterous, friendly place near the small-boat harbor, Henry's has a menu that's equally big. There's fresh local seafood, of course, but also everything from barbecue to gourmet salads, pastas, and even some Cajun dishes. Get started with one of the many appetizers, and finish up with one of their tasty desserts.

Established in 1974, Heritage Coffee serves locally roasted coffees, along with gelato, fresh pastries, and a variety of sandwiches. The flagship store sits on the corner of Front and Seward streets, while other locations include smaller cafés at 230 South Franklin, a branch inside Foodland IGA market, and the Glacier Cafe in the Mendenhall Valley, as well as two drive-throughs.

A rarity in the 49th State, this colorfully decorated newcomer to downtown Talkeetna specializes in Southern cuisine, although with a nod to Alaska. The addictive crab hushpuppies feature locally sourced barley, cornmeal, and crab, and among the mains, the rich scallops and grits, seafood gumbo pie, and smoked-wild-mushroom hoppin' John all feature Alaskan ingredients. Save room for the rotating array of pies and cobblers. 

This American and Asian spot offers everything from tempura, burgers, steak, and deep-fried halibut and shrimp to fried rice, noodle dishes, and Japanese and Chinese favorites like teriyaki chicken and kung pao beef.

Locally sourced ingredients—including Southeast seafood and organic produce—are at the heart of casual Inga's menu. The dishes at this local favorite, a glorified food cart with picnic tables, change "with season, availability, and mood," and most go superbly well with the Baranof Island Brewery beers poured here (there's also wine).

Fast service, a full bar, views of Gastineau Channel, and occasional live music have turned this Douglas pub into an area hot spot, but the real draw is pizza: thin, 13-inch focaccia crusts prepared fresh daily, topped with creative ingredients, and baked in a copper wood-fired oven.

Jack "Ivory" O'Brien used to deal ivory and whalebone out of this open and airy bar-restaurant tucked into the gold-rich hills of the Goldstream Valley on the outskirts of Fairbanks. These days, it's an Alaska-style sports bar, where you can choose from a dozen-and-a-half pub grub appetizers, followed by sandwiches, burgers, pizza, or entrées such as chicken Dijon and Alaska king crab. Musher's bibs hang in the rafters alongside the Yankee pennants. 

Located at the harbor with splendid outdoor seating, this laid-back eatery features smoked meats, fresh baked goods, and an array of rotating specials on the menu, including barbecue ribs on Friday. On the weekends they have fantastic dinners and live music.

This great coffee shop represents the true essence of Kodiak life. Fantastic breakfast burritos, vegetarian sandwiches, and excellent coffee make this the perfect place to stock up on provisions before embarking on exciting bear-watching and salmon-fishing adventures. They have lots of vegetarian options.

Don't let the Midtown strip mall that houses Jens' put you off: this is a true fine-dining establishment. The late chef-owner Jens Haagen Hansen's culinary legacy has led to the frequently changing menu that includes Alaska black cod, halibut, and rockfish. The Danish berry pudding with cream is a delightful way to cap a meal. The light and airy restaurant has a playful, energetic feel.