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

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 calimari, a hot lobster roll, house-made pasta, and grilled seafood dishes.

No other restaurant in Newport can compete with the spectacular water views from the Sunset Room, one of four dining rooms inside the historic main inn. A perfect spot for a 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. For summer partying with the yachties, nothing beats the Boom Boom Room in the basement.

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.

This aptly named two-story café is abuzz with college students and foodies who appreciate the freshly baked bread, especially when it's used to make inventive sandwiches like roasted butternut squash with caramelized onions, Vermont cheddar, and tangy-sweet pesto. The extensive breakfast menu (served 12 hours a day) includes thick-cut French toast, cornbread hash, and granola made on-site.

Share green curry mussels, spiced-up Thai lobster, sinful tuna poke tacos with fried wontons for wraps, and other seasonal small and large plates at this restaurant with a rustic garden setting.  With sprawling indoor-outdoor bars and seating, it's a quirky-fun meet-up spot that takes everything from buttermilk brunch biscuits to fruity cocktails and mocktails seriously.

Not only are johnnycakes a unique Rhode Island food, but there are also regional variations within this small state on how to make these white corn pancakes. Located right on the Little Compton Commons, of course, the Commons is a leading purveyor of the thin and crispy East Bay variety, along with family-friendly meal-time options, and fried local seafood. 

The first tavern opened here in 1673—and ever since, the premises have served, in turn, as a tavern, boardinghouse, restaurant, and even a meetinghouse for Colonial Rhode Island's General Assembly. Today, the tavern provides an intimate fine-dining experience, the mood set by the low dark-beam ceilings, uneven plank floors, and four still-working fireplaces; an outside patio is a recent addition.