5 Best Restaurants in Newport County and East Bay, Rhode Island

Excellent service, perfectly cooked steaks, and an extensive, award-winning wine list make dinner here a memorable experience. Although the restaurant is known for its steaks—and it's impossible to go wrong ordering one—you'll find plenty of choices if you're in the mood for something from the sea.

With five indoor and outdoor dining areas, this casually elegant restaurant is the center of Jamestown nightlife in the summer, especially at its expansive open-air bar. A 150-year-old beech tree in the courtyard lends its name to the locally owned restaurant, which has retained key staff from the former Trattoria Simpatico at the same location and menu highlights include local calamari, sticky ribs, house-made pasta, and grilled seafood dishes.

No other restaurant in Newport can compete with the spectacular water views from Aurelia, one of four dining rooms inside the historic main inn. A perfect spot for an indulgently romantic dinner, Castle Hill Inn also serves lunch and dinner on The Lawn, allowing you to savor regional cuisine while watching sunlit clouds drift by. Weekend drinks on the inn's lawn is a Newport summer tradition.

Drinks at a bar favored by the sailing crowd, intimate dinners by the fire, and relaxing lunches overlooking Newport Harbor are a few of the experiences possible at this multilevel complex. The first-floor Candy Store serves casual fare and has a sushi bar; the second-floor offers casual dining in the Bistro and cocktails in the Midway Bar; and the Summer Porch and 12 Metre Yacht Club Room on the third floor have elegant fine dining requiring proper dress. The Sky Bar serves Newport's most expensive cocktail, Newport Water, made with top-shelf Champagne, Grand Marnier, and St. Germain poured over ice.

A summertime pilgrimage for people from every corner of the state, Gray's has been around since 1923 and sells more than 30 flavors of ice cream, all made on the premises. Coffee is the go-to flavor for many Rhode Islanders, but specialties such as Indian pudding and apple caramel spice have their adherents.