The 15 best waterfront restaurants in Florida, as chosen by USA TODAY Network writers

Everybody loves a great waterfront restaurant with spectacular views and Florida has many of them.

These are the special occasion kind of places where you can dine while enjoying a spectacular sunset or sip on a margarita while watching dolphins frolic in the ocean.

Just in time for spring travelers, a team of USA TODAY Network contributors throughout the Sunshine State chose 15 waterfront restaurants  that are perfect to visit any day of the year, especially during the cooler springtime.

The included restaurants reflect contributors' favorite oceanfront restaurants and charming eateries which hug the Sunshine State's beautiful bays and rivers.

Florida's best waterfront restaurants

• Benny’s on the Beach: 10 S. Ocean Blvd., Lake Worth Beach.

• Blue Parrot Oceanfront Cafe: 68 W. Gorrie Dr., St. George Island.

• Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille: Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, St. Pete Pier and Jungle Terrace St. Pete.

• Dry Dock Waterfront Grill: 412 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key.

• The Grand Marlin: 400 Pensacola Beach Blvd., Pensacola.

• Kyle G’s Prime Seafood & Steaks: 10900 S. Ocean Drive, Jensen Beach.

• La Mar: 500 Brickell Key Drive, Miami.

• Ocean Grill: 1050 Beachland Blvd., Vero Beach.

• Osteria Capri: 387 Capri Blvd., Naples.

• Racing's North Turn: 4511 S. Atlantic Ave., Ponce Inlet.

• Refinery: 831 1st St. N., Jacksonville Beach.

• Riverside Cafe: 69 Riverside Dr, St. Marks.

• Star Fish Company: 12306 46th Ave. W., Cortez.

• Tarpon Lodge: 13771 Waterfront Drive, Bokeelia.

• Yellow Dog Cafe: 905 U.S. 1, Malabar.

You can read more on each of these restaurants below:

Benny’s on the Beach

10 S. Ocean Blvd., Lake Worth Beach

One doesn’t get much more “waterfront” than this Palm Beach County favorite. The laid-back Benny’s on the Beach is not only on the beach – it’s perched on the Lake Worth Beach pier. Cue the sounds of rolling waves, wafts of sea breeze and quintessential ocean views.

Cue as well the stellar food by executive chef and co-owner Jeremy Hanlon, a Daniel Boulud protégé whose menus offer an extensive variety of fresh fish and seafood dishes, beachy comfort classics and specials like weeknight seafood bakes and weekend evening paellas.

– Liz Balmaseda, The Palm Beach Post

Blue Parrot Oceanfront Cafe

68 W. Gorrie Dr., St. George Island

The venerable cafe sits right on the beach with a front-row view of the Gulf of Mexico. Blue Parrot has a lower and upper deck and inside dining room where patrons can gaze at the Emerald water and feast on beachy fare such as conch fritters, seafood and fish platters, burgers, steaks and sandwiches.

The restaurant and bar, which started as a tiny beer and hot dog stand in the 1980s, is the host of the annual St. George Mullet Toss, which takes place the second Saturday in June.

— Rochelle Koff, Tallahassee Table (Tallahassee Democrat)

Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille

Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, St. Pete Pier and Jungle Terrace St. Pete

No trip to the west coast of Florida is complete without dining and drinking at Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grille, which offers four waterfront locations with outdoor seating from Sanibel Island to St. Petersburg.

During a recent visit to the Doc Ford's on the spectacular St. Pete Pier, highlights included a ridiculously good Cuban black bean dip, a perfectly roasted half-chicken deftly seasoned with a Cuban chimichurri sauce, and a panko-crusted fillet of tender local grouper drizzled with a habit-forming honey papaya rum drizzle.

Dry Dock Waterfront Grill

412 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key

A nationally acclaimed Longboat Key restaurant dating back to 1989, Dry Dock places guests on Sarasota Bay in a famously scenic setting with umbrella tables and open-air covered seating, as well as an indoor dining area with a cozy bar.

The restaurant also happens to be one of the best in the region for fresh seafood, including stone crab claws, their famed grouper sandwich, and the Citrus Grouper entree.

— Wade Tatangelo, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Grand Marlin

400 Pensacola Beach Blvd., Pensacola Beach

In Pensacola, The Grand Marlin needs no introduction. The restaurant has appeared on OpenTable’s Top 100 Most Scenic Restaurants, Top Al Fresco Restaurants and Best Brunch Restaurants. It's even had chefs nationally recognized in Garden & Gun magazine and on the Food Network.

The Grand Marlin is one of Pensacola Beach’s fanciest restaurants, but you don’t need to leave your flip-flops at home to enjoy the view. It offers a sophisticated menu in a comfortable setting with amazing views of Santa Rosa Sound.Their menus are printed daily to keep up with the freshest catches, and they even tell you where the market fish and shellfish were caught.

— Brandon Girod, Pensacola News-Journal

Kyle G’s Prime Seafood & Steaks

10900 S. Ocean Drive, Jensen Beach

Kyle Greene opened Kyle G’s Prime Seafood & Steaks in 2017 in Jensen Beach, where his eclectic, seafood-centric menu blends fresh daily catches with high-quality raw bar and shellfish.

Highlights include the Tuscan-herb-grilled rainbow trout topped with spinach, roasted tomato tapenade, jasmine rice and lemon butter, as well as the lobster mac carbonara using campanelle pasta with fresh-poached lobster chunks, wild mushroom, peas, bacon and herb-garlic-parmesan breadcrumbs.

It also has an extensive signature drink menu that includes “Kyle’s Day Off,” a 10-day pineapple infused RumHaven Caribbean rum with a splash of lime.

— Laurie K. Blandford, Treasure Coast Newspapers/TCPalm

La Mar

At the Mandarin Oriental hotel, 500 Brickell Key Drive, Miami

One comes to La Mar to be transported to Peru, homeland of the restaurant’s globally acclaimed culinary leader Gastón Acurio. One also comes to La Mar to be reminded of Miami’s own magical setting.

The Michelin-listed restaurant, which sits on the waterside level of Mandarin Oriental hotel, offers sweeping views of the city and the surrounding Biscayne Bay. The water views are fitting for a restaurant named La Mar, which is Spanish for “the sea."

Acurio, one of Peru’s most famous chefs and restaurateurs and poetic in the ways of ceviche, debuted this waterfront restaurant in Miami’s Brickell Key neighborhood in 2014. His reverence for the majestic flavors of his native country resound throughout La Mar, where the kitchen is in the hands of Peruvian-Japanese executive chef Diego Oka.

— Liz Balmaseda, The Palm Beach Post