Orkney Seafood Restaurants: Where to Eat the Local Catch

Surrounded by nutrient-rich waters and boasting a proud fishing heritage, Orkney is a paradise for seafood lovers. From succulent hand-dived scallops and sweet brown crab to plump lobsters and fresh-off-the-boat fish, the islands offer an exceptional bounty from the sea. This guide explores the best places to sample Orkney's incredible seafood, highlights key local producers, and delves into the sustainable practices underpinning this vital industry.

Orkney's Seafood Bounty: What to Expect

Orkney's cold, clean waters support a diverse range of high-quality seafood. The shellfish industry is particularly significant:

• Brown crab: One of Scotland's most important brown-crab fisheries, landing thousands of tonnes a year. Sweet, dense white meat and rich brown meat — the backbone of Orkney crab sandwiches, linguine and dressed-crab platters. At its best roughly April to September.
• Lobster: Orkney's blue-black native lobster is prized for firm, sweet flesh and peaks from about June to October. Often the priciest thing on the menu, and worth it.
• King scallops (hand-dived): Orkney's signature. Divers hand-pick them one by one from the seabed rather than dredging — larger, cleaner and more sustainable than dredged scallops, available more or less year-round. The queen scallops ("queenies") are the smaller, sweeter cousin.
• Velvet crab: A smaller, feistier crab (the "devil crab"), typically landed earlier in the year and prized for intense flavour, often for export or bisque.
• Langoustine: Also called Norway lobster or Dublin Bay prawns — sweet, delicate and a summer highlight when Scapa Flow boats are landing them.
• Mussels & oysters: Rope-grown mussels and Orkney oysters appear on menus and at farm shops. The old "only eat oysters in the R-months" (September–April) rule is a seasonality guide, not a safety one, for wild native oysters.
• Spoots (razor clams): A true local delicacy — long razorfish gathered from the sand at low spring tides, quickly griddled with garlic butter. If you see them on a specials board, order them.
• Whitefish & smoked fish: Haddock, cod, monkfish, halibut and megrim are landed seasonally; haddock is the star of the local fish supper. For smoked salmon and haddock, Jollys of Orkney (trading its smoked range as The Orkney Smokehouse) has cured over oak in Kirkwall for over 70 years.

Crucially, Orkney's fishing community is serious about sustainability. The Orkney creel fishery — targeting brown crab, lobster and velvet crab — ran a long-standing Fishery Improvement Plan and, in May 2025, became the first fishery in the world to achieve certification under the new Community Catch Standard for small-scale fisheries. Around 85% of Orkney's 100-plus creel vessels take part, and the catch is landed using low-impact creels (not dredges or trawls) with measures like escape panels to protect undersized shellfish. It's the reason "Orkney crab" carries real weight on a UK menu.

Best Seafood Restaurants in Orkney

For a special meal built around the local catch, these three are the ones locals point visitors towards — all verified as operating, all worth booking ahead:

• The Foveran (St Ola, near Kirkwall): A family-run 'restaurant with rooms', a short drive from town with picture-window views over Scapa Flow. Chef-led three-course dinners lean on Orkney lobster, hand-dived scallops and organic Westray salmon; it's a five-time winner of the Orkney Food & Drink 'best evening meal' award. Open year-round; six nights a week in season, closed Sunday evenings May to September, and reduced hours off-peak. Booking essential. (Price: £££)
• Murray Arms — Gun Deck Restaurant (St Margaret's Hope): The strongest boat-to-table story on the islands — seafood landed daily from the family's own vessels. The Murray's Seafood Platter (lobster, brown crab, scallops, queenies and razor clams or the day's fish) is the headline order; hand-dived scallops are the signature. Food served daily, with Friday/Saturday takeaway slots. (Price: ££-£££)
• The Ferry Inn (Stromness): A harbourfront institution where fresh shellfish — scallops, brown crab, lobster and, in season, Scapa Flow langoustines and line-caught mackerel — comes in daily from Orkney Crab. Sustainably-sourced haddock for the fish and chips, plus Orkney beef and lamb. Open daily from 12:30pm; booking advised in season. (Price: ££-£££)

Worth knowing: harbourfront favourite The Shore in Kirkwall is currently operating as B&B-only with no restaurant service, so check before you plan a meal there. A couple of well-loved Stromness seafood spots have also closed in recent years — the Orkney food scene turns over, so always confirm a venue is open before building an evening around it.

Casual Cafes, Pubs & Shacks

Enjoy fantastic seafood in more relaxed settings:

• Loki Seafood Shack (Garson Food Park, Stromness): Run by two experienced chefs, this outdoor-eating shack serves restaurant-quality Orkney seafood — crab salads, scallop dishes and the day's catch — plus wet fish to take away. Seasonal, generally open Tuesday–Saturday, daytime. (Price: ££-£££)
• Helgi's (Harbour Street, Kirkwall): A smart little harbourfront bar, converted from an old shipping office, right where the seafood is landed. Northern Isles Pub of the Year in 2022 and 2023; the pan-fried Orkney scallops are the pick of the starters, and the menu changes with the season. (Price: £-££)
• Kirkwall Hotel — Harbour View Restaurant (Kirkwall): A dependable, all-year harbourside dining room open daily for lunch and dinner, with local seafood on the menu — a reliable fallback when the smaller places are shut or fully booked. (Price: ££)
• Fish and chips: For a proper Orkney fish supper, look for a chip shop frying fresh local haddock — a quick, satisfying, harbour-wall kind of meal. (Price: £)

Orkney Seafood: Where to Eat at a Glance

A quick map of who does what, and roughly what to expect. Price bands are a rough guide only — always check current menus.