Unearth The Voyage
Pennsylvania may not be known for coastal dining, but its rivers, lakes, and waterfronts are home to some outstanding restaurants. From historic landmarks transformed into dining destinations to scenic spots overlooking the water, these restaurants pair memorable views with equally satisfying meals.
Whether you’re planning a romantic dinner, a family outing, or a relaxing lunch by the water, these waterfront restaurants offer a unique way to experience Pennsylvania. Each combines great food with beautiful scenery that’s well worth the visit.
1. The Allegheny Grille, Foxburg, Pennsylvania
Foxburg holds a quirky piece of American sports history as home to the oldest continuously operating golf course in the United States, established in 1887, and The Allegheny Grille fits right into that legacy of quiet, unhurried charm.
The restaurant sits directly along the Allegheny River, and the outdoor patio is the real star of the show. Boats drift past while diners work through plates of seafood mac and cheese, burgers, sandwiches, and hearty pasta dishes.
The river-town atmosphere does a lot of the heavy lifting here. Foxburg is small, peaceful, and largely off the tourist radar, which makes a meal at the Grille feel more like a personal discovery than a scheduled stop on a road trip through western Pennsylvania.
2. Silver Shores Restaurant, Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania
Opened in 1930 inside a former ice house, Silver Shores Restaurant holds the title of the third oldest business in Conneaut Lake, and it has been feeding loyal regulars ever since with prime rib, seafood, burgers, nachos, and ribs.
Conneaut Lake is Pennsylvania’s largest natural glacier lake, and the upstairs dining room at Silver Shores makes sure nearly every table gets an unobstructed view of that water through large glass-pane windows. Blue anchor carpet and wooden ceilings round out the nautical interior design.
One detail that keeps visitors coming back is the kitchen’s policy of substituting items rather than serving anything below standard. Guests can also arrive by boat and dock directly at the restaurant, which is the kind of option that turns a dinner reservation into a full afternoon adventure.
3. Two45 Waterfront Grille, Erie, Pennsylvania
Named as a tribute to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s famous victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, Two45 Waterfront Grille carries a bit of naval history with every meal served at the Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel.
The restaurant features floor-to-ceiling windows and one of Erie’s largest bayfront patios, both offering panoramic views of Presque Isle Bay. The menu leans upscale with macadamia-crusted grouper, premium beef cuts, and a bone-in tomahawk pork chop that tends to turn heads when it arrives at neighboring tables.
A genuinely clever seasonal touch is the igloo seating offered on the patio from November through March, letting guests stay outside even when Erie’s winters have other ideas. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch are all on the schedule, with private dining available for special occasions.
4. Woody’s Backwater BARge & Grill, Erie, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has exactly one floating barge restaurant, and it is anchored at Dobbins Landing on Presque Isle Bay with a menu built for people who came to have a good time outdoors.
Woody’s Backwater BARge and Grill serves softshell crab sandwiches, jerk chicken wraps, perch, tacos, and smashburgers to a crowd that is very much in vacation mode. The open water surrounding the barge on all sides creates an expansive feel that no landlocked patio can replicate.
The place has earned a loyal following not just for its novelty but for its consistency. A steady breeze off Lake Erie keeps the atmosphere comfortable, and the combination of dockside energy, casual food, and genuine waterfront immersion makes Woody’s one of the more memorable stops on Pennsylvania’s Great Lakes shoreline.
5. Black Bass Hotel Restaurant, Lumberville, Pennsylvania
Built in the 1740s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Black Bass Hotel carries a historical footnote that is hard to top: an early Tory innkeeper once advertised that George Washington did not sleep here, which was apparently considered a selling point at the time.
The restaurant pairs Delaware River views with a collection of vintage British memorabilia, antiques, and restored architectural details that give the dining rooms a distinctly Old World character. The river deck is the preferred seat for anyone who wants the water visible throughout their meal.
A 2009 restoration by the Thompson family converted the original guest rooms into eight suites, many with balconies overlooking either the river or the village of Lumberville. The menu covers steak and seafood, and the overall pace here is deliberately unhurried.
6. Martine’s RiverHouse Restaurant, New Hope, Pennsylvania
Ferry Street in New Hope sits a little removed from the busiest commercial blocks, which is exactly what gives Martine’s RiverHouse a more relaxed identity than many of the town’s other dining options.
The restaurant occupies a building with exposed brick and wood elements that complement its age and position along the Delaware River. Outdoor seating with river views fills up quickly on weekend evenings, particularly in spring and fall when the weather cooperates and the water is at its most appealing.
The menu focuses on seasonal American dishes built around quality proteins, fresh seafood, and grilled meats, with a presentation style that is approachable rather than fussy. New Hope itself has long been one of Pennsylvania’s most visited small towns, and Martine’s makes a strong case for slowing down and staying for dinner rather than just passing through.
7. Odette’s, New Hope, Pennsylvania
The drive along River Road to reach Odette’s at 274 S River Rd is something regulars mention almost as often as the food itself, which tells you something about how the whole experience is packaged here.
Inside, dark wood and a classic dining room create a tone that suits the restaurant’s serious dry-aged beef program, one of the features that separates Odette’s from the broader crowd of Bucks County restaurants. An outdoor terrace overlooks the canal and sees heavy use during warmer months, adding a quieter, more scenic counterpart to the interior.
Odette’s works especially well for occasions that call for something more polished than a casual lunch spot. The combination of a steakhouse-inspired menu, the lounge-like atmosphere, and the riverfront setting consistently turns dinner here into an event rather than just a meal.
8. Charcoal BYOB, Yardley, Pennsylvania
After a serious flood in 2006 damaged the original structure, owners Anton Plescha and his chef sons Mark and Eric rebuilt the restaurant and elevated it ten feet, which inadvertently gave the upstairs dining room one of the clearest Delaware River views in Yardley.
The BYOB format draws a crowd that tends to settle in for the evening, especially once the seasonal menu arrives and the handmade pastas, fresh seafood, house-made breads, and rotating desserts start making their way out of the kitchen. Mark and Eric Plescha change the menu with the seasons and source locally when feasible, applying modern techniques where they genuinely improve the dish.
Charcoal serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch, covering a wider range of dining occasions than most BYOB establishments. The atmosphere shifts noticeably in the evening as candles and quieter music signal that the tone has changed from daytime casual to something more considered.
9. Dockside Willies, Lemoyne, Pennsylvania
At this stretch of the Susquehanna River, the water is wide enough that sitting on the deck at Dockside Willies feels more like looking across a small lake than a river, and that broad open view is a big part of why afternoons here tend to stretch longer than planned.
Located at 449 S Front St in Lemoyne, the restaurant keeps its menu focused on crowd-pleasing American grill food, including pizza and sandwiches, with the river scenery doing the heavy lifting on ambiance. The outdoor seating area faces toward Harrisburg, giving diners a view of the opposite bank and the city beyond.
The restaurant sits near the Susquehanna river trail system that connects communities along the water, making it a natural stopping point for cyclists and walkers who have built up an appetite and want to make a proper break of it.
10. Duke’s Riverside Bar & Grille, Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania
The view from Duke’s deck covers City Island in the foreground and the Harrisburg skyline rising behind it, which makes for one of the more photogenic backdrops available to anyone eating a casual American meal in central Pennsylvania.
Duke’s Riverside Bar and Grille in Wormleysburg is built around accessibility. There is no dress code, no pressure to order a three-course meal, and no atmosphere that makes a table of friends in jeans feel out of place. The Susquehanna River sets the backdrop, and the outdoor deck puts guests as close to that water as the layout allows.
The menu sticks to familiar American grill territory, which suits the social, relaxed energy of the place perfectly. Duke’s has developed a following among locals who want the river view without any of the formality that sometimes comes attached to waterfront dining in larger cities.
11. Grand Concourse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Built in 1901 in Victorian and Edwardian styles, the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Station at Station Square sat largely unused before restaurateur Chuck Muer transformed it in the late 1970s into what is now one of Pittsburgh’s most recognizable dining destinations.
The interior features a stained-glass cathedral roof, marble columns, and a dramatic staircase that together create a setting most restaurants could never replicate regardless of budget. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and the Grand Concourse has appeared in films including The Godfather Part II and Rocky.
The menu covers signature seafood, steaks, and poultry, with an award-winning Sunday brunch that draws a consistent crowd. The Gandy Dancer Saloon, named after railroad working crew members, operates adjacent to the main dining room as a separate, more casual space for appetizers and lighter bites.
12. Glass, Wine. Bar. Kitchen., Hawley, Pennsylvania
Most waterfront restaurants sit beside a river or lake, but Glass at Ledges Hotel in Hawley takes a different approach entirely, positioning its dining room and outdoor decks directly above Paupack High Falls as it drops through the Wallenpaupack Creek gorge.
The building itself has history worth noting: it is an adaptive reuse of the 1890 O’Connor Glass Factory, and original glass mold prints are incorporated into the decor as a nod to the structure’s industrial past. The multi-level outdoor decks give guests multiple vantage points for watching the waterfall from different angles.
The menu focuses on American-style small plates designed for sharing, with rotating seasonal ingredients that have included Pennsylvanian pierogis, warm hummus, hanger steak, lamb chops, and frequently changing seafood dishes. An emphasis on American wines and spirits keeps the beverage list consistent with the locally minded food program.
13. The Dock on Wallenpaupack, Hawley, Pennsylvania
Long before it became The Dock on Wallenpaupack, this spot on the Silver Birches property operated as the Marine Terrace, a popular roadhouse that drew lake visitors throughout the 1940s, and the current restaurant keeps that spirit of easy lakeside gathering alive.
The outdoor deck extends directly over the water, putting guests close enough to the lake to watch boats drift past throughout the meal. The menu mixes comfort food with lake-inspired dishes, including smoked freshwater perch chowder, gourmet mac and cheese, seafood options, and grilled steaks that keep things from feeling too niche.
Lake Break specials during happy hour, a pub, a coffee house, and private dining rooms for events make The Dock a flexible venue across different times of day and types of occasions. It functions as a year-round gathering place rather than a strictly seasonal stop.
14. The Boat House Restaurant, Hawley, Pennsylvania
Arriving by boat is a perfectly valid transportation choice at The Boat House Restaurant on Lake Wallenpaupack, and that single detail says a lot about the kind of experience the place is going for.
The restaurant keeps its personality casual, vintage, and family-friendly, which puts it in a different lane from the more polished dining options nearby. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of the Pocono Mountains’ most popular recreational lakes, and The Boat House leans into that identity rather than trying to position itself above it.
The menu is built around approachable comfort food that fits the rhythm of a day spent on or near the water.
15. Moshulu, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The world’s oldest and largest four-masted sailing ship still afloat is not in a maritime museum. It is docked at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, and it serves steaks, seafood, and sushi for dinner every week.
Built in Scotland in 1904 and renamed Moshulu by First Lady Edith Wilson during World War I, the ship has sailed around the world and appeared in films including The Godfather Part II and Rocky before settling into its current role as one of the most unusual restaurant settings in the country. A 2019 renovation added gold oval-shaped tiles at the bar and a 139-foot-long natural beachwood fish light sculpture to the interior.
Guests on the port side look out at the Philadelphia skyline while those on the starboard side face the Delaware River. A Sunday jazz brunch buffet rounds out the weekly schedule, giving the ship a reason to welcome guests beyond just dinner service.
