Raw Bar Near Me in Manhattan Beach: Fishing with Dynamite by the Pier

Fishing with Dynamite is the raw bar near me in the South Bay that books out first: a 32-seat room at 1148 Manhattan Avenue in Manhattan Beach, on the corner at 12th Street and one block from the pier, where oysters of the day run $3.75 to $6 each and every dining-room seat, including the oyster bar itself, can be reserved on OpenTable. Hours are 11:30 am to 9 pm Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 pm on Friday and Saturday.

Chef David LeFevre opened Fishing with Dynamite in 2013 as what the restaurant calls a celebration of summers spent on Virginia's Eastern Shore and in Southern California's beach towns. The name, the restaurant explains, is an old fisherman's phrase for overkill, which is a fair warning about the platters. LeFevre had already opened M.B. Post nearby in 2011, and the group has since added The Arthur J in 2015, RYLA in 2022 and AttaGirl in 2025.

The room is tiny and built around the shellfish. The restaurant describes a 32-seat dining room anchored by a lively oyster bar, with twenty more seats on the sidewalk outside. The day's oysters are chalked up like a surf report, so the board is the menu to read first. It has also collected a long shelf of honors, including a Michelin Guide plate every year from 2019 through 2026 and spots on the Los Angeles Times 101 Best list in 2022 and 2023.

Reservations are the key to this place. Every seat in the dining room, including the oyster bar, is bookable on OpenTable, and the restaurant says plainly that they go fast. The regular bar is walk-in friendly, and the twenty sidewalk seats out front are always first come, first served. That gives you a clear plan if you could not book: arrive at 11:30 am for an early lunch and claim a sidewalk stool.

Weekday lunch is the easiest window, since the kitchen runs lunch, dinner and all-day oysters seven days a week. The restaurant notes that last seating is at close, so a 9 pm walk-in on a Thursday is technically possible, but the sidewalk stools are the realistic option at that hour. If the sidewalk is full and the bar is three deep, The Arthur J, the group's steakhouse at 903 Manhattan Avenue, is a short walk south and opens for dinner at 4 pm.

Oysters of the day are priced individually, from $3.75 to $6 each depending on the variety, and the crew will build a flight from the board if you tell them what you like. The restaurant describes its own tasting notes in four directions, briny, sweet, buttery and mineral, so ask for one of each and compare. The shellfish list continues with Peruvian scallops at $4.50 each or $27 a half dozen and snow crab claws at $4.50 each.

Jumbo shrimp cocktail is sold three ways: $3.50 per piece, $28 for a half pound, or $49 for a full pound. For something richer than a cocktail shrimp, the Kaluga hybrid caviar chips and dip is $95. Japanese hamachi sashimi is $25. If you are new to West Coast oysters, tell the crew which of those four directions you like and let them pick the first half dozen.

The platters are named with a wink. The SS Minnow at $85 is the two-person option. The Queen Mary at $175 is for a table of four. The Mothershucker at $225 is the full overkill the name promises: fifteen oysters, six littleneck clams, twelve mussels escabeche, a whole lobster tail, a pound of king crab and a pound of shrimp. It is built for a celebration table of four or more rather than a quick date-night snack.

An honest note on value: for two people, the Mothershucker is too much food. A better order for a couple is a dozen oysters chosen from the board, a cup of New England clam chowdah at $16, and a lobster roll to split. That covers raw, hot and buttery for well under the price of the big tower, and leaves room for the dessert that has been on the menu since day one.

The lobster roll comes two ways, spelled lobstah on the menu. The traditional Maine version, chilled, is $44, and the Connecticut style, warm with butter, is $45. If you have never compared them side by side, this is the place to do it, since the kitchen makes both properly. The Koshihikari rice with uni and blue crab at $41 is the dish for anyone who wants a warm bowl instead of a sandwich.

Finish with the key lime pie at $14, which the restaurant says has been on the menu since day one. It is the one dessert to order. Gluten-free diners and guests with shellfish allergies are welcome, and the restaurant asks you to flag it when booking, which is worth doing at a place where almost everything on the counter came out of a shell.

Manhattan Beach parking is the real challenge. The restaurant says metered street parking surrounds it, and that the city lots at 12th Street and Morningside Drive and the pier parking structure are the best bets on weekends. Locals, it adds, should bike the Strand, the beach path that runs past the bottom of the hill. If you are driving from the Westside on a summer Saturday, give yourself extra time to circle.

The restaurant sits on Manhattan Avenue at 12th Street, the main commercial street of the downtown beach area, one block up from the pier. That location makes it easy to fold a meal into a beach afternoon. Walk down the hill after lunch and out onto the Manhattan Beach Pier for the view south along the coast toward Palos Verdes, then walk four blocks down Manhattan Avenue to The Arthur J at 903 if anyone wants a steak dinner instead.

Address: 1148 Manhattan Avenue, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, at 12th Street. Hours: Sunday to Thursday 11:30 am to 9 pm, Friday and Saturday 11:30 am to 9:30 pm, with last seating at close. Reservations through OpenTable cover the dining room and the oyster bar. The regular bar and twenty sidewalk seats are walk-in only.

For a couple, a dozen oysters from the board, a $16 chowder and one $44 lobster roll to split is a satisfying order, while groups can put $225 toward the Mothershucker. Book a week ahead for weekend dinners, and use lunch on a weekday if you want the oyster bar without a reservation scramble. Mention any shellfish allergy when you book.