Where to eat. Where to drink.

Family-run seafood house on Back Bay, with an outdoor bar called the Trap where the wait for a table becomes part of the evening instead of a delay. Full lobster dinners and a raw bar with Moscow oysters alongside the fried classics. Dogs are welcome on the umbrella-covered waterfront patio. Closed Mondays; arrive before six on a July Saturday or expect the wait.

Wolfeboro's most serious dining room, built around ingredients rather than a theme — the kitchen changes the menu with what's actually fresh that week. Small enough that a Friday in August means a reservation, not a walk-in. The kind of place to save for the night you're not also juggling a boat schedule.

Contemporary dining room inside a converted Wolfeboro house, sourcing locally where the menu allows. Old-world details — wainscoting, low light — paired with a kitchen that doesn't lean on them as a crutch. Works for a dressier dinner without leaving downtown's walkable core.

Country dining a short drive from downtown Wolfeboro — steaks, chops, and seafood without much pretense about it. The kind of menu that cleanly covers a table where one person wants surf and another wants turf. Less scene than the Bay Street restaurants, which is the appeal on a night you want quiet.

Waterfront pub north of downtown Wolfeboro, with a deck built for watching boat traffic while you work through fish and chips or a fish taco plate. Casual enough for a lake-day lunch, loud enough by evening that it reads more pub than dining room. Order at the bar if the deck's full.

Family-friendly seafood and American menu with outdoor seating that runs the length of Back Bay — the deck seats more people than the dining room suggests from the road. Straightforward fried seafood and burgers, the order-for-the-table kind of menu. Go for the view as much as the food; both hold up.

Brick-oven pizza in downtown Wolfeboro, the reliable answer when a group can't agree past "not seafood again." Thin crust, a short list of well-built pies rather than forty options nobody needed. Walk-in works most nights outside of peak August weekends.

Wolfeboro's ice cream stand since the 1950s, on Route 28 with a line that starts forming by seven on a hot evening. Hard and soft serve both, with a flavor list long enough that regulars still argue over the pick. The stand's small enough that you eat standing up or on the tailgate — that's the whole point.

Upscale French-and-American cooking dropped into the middle of Weirs Beach's boardwalk energy, which makes it the shore's best answer when you want a real dinner without driving to Wolfeboro or Meredith. Market-style retail case up front, dining room in back. Book ahead in July; the contrast with the arcade next door is most of the appeal.

Seasonal seafood shack on Lakeside Avenue that opens every spring at the end of April and closes for the year in fall. Part of a small New England chain, but this location earns its keep with a genuine lobster-in-the-rough setup a block from the boardwalk. Order at the counter, eat at a picnic table, expect a wait on a July weekend.

Classic American diner in Weirs Beach doing breakfast through dinner without much drop-off either direction. The place regulars hit before the boardwalk opens or after the arcade closes. No pretense, no view, just a booth and a full breakfast plate at nine p.m. if that's when you're hungry.

Casual barbecue-and-seafood counter across from Funspot, built for the crowd walking over from the arcade rather than a sit-down evening. Smoked meats alongside fried seafood baskets — order, grab a picnic table, get back to the games. Not a destination on its own, but exactly right after a few hours of skee-ball.

Mill Falls Resort's dining room on Meredith Bay, with a fireplace lounge doing the heavy lifting before dinner and an à la carte Sunday brunch running an espresso-martini bar alongside the mimosas from nine to four. Lobster avocado toast and short rib nachos anchor the starters; the Meredith Bay burger covers the rest of the table. Reserve for a Saturday sunset table.

Casual Meredith spot with a name that undersells how full the menu actually is — burgers, apps, a full bar list for a group that wants options without a production. Reliable rather than remarkable, which is exactly the role it plays on a night nobody wants to drive far.

Family-run since 1954, when the Hart brothers turned their working turkey farm into a twelve-seat restaurant on the same land. Now seats close to 500 and still centers the menu on turkey — dinners, sandwiches, the works — sourced to the family's own standards even after they stopped farming it themselves in the 1960s. A genuine Lakes Region institution, not a marketing line.

Casual dining right at the Alton Bay pier, at the lake's southern tip where the seaplane occasionally sets down beside the docks. Straightforward lunch and dinner menu — the kind of place you land at after a morning at the town beach rather than one you plan a trip around. Outdoor seating catches the bay traffic.

Seasonal clam shack at the south end of the lake — fried clams, onion rings, soft serve, eaten at a picnic table within sight of the water. No reservation, no dress code, closes for the winter like most of Alton Bay does. Better with sand still on your feet.

Center Harbor dining room with lake views and a menu built around lobster mac and cheese, hand-cut steaks, and a sweet-and-sour calamari that keeps winning over people who'd normally skip it. Upscale enough for a special dinner, casual enough that a wet bathing suit under a cover-up won't get a look. Reserve ahead on summer weekends.

Family-owned diner on Whittier Highway running breakfast and lunch for more than four decades — the kind of longevity that means the regulars have their order memorized by the staff. No dinner service, no frills, just eggs done right and pie that doesn't need modernizing.

Rebuilt from the ground up after the original 1970s farmhouse-and-barn restaurant burned down in November 2013 — a 200-year-old barn from Strafford was dismantled and reconstructed on the same Lee Road lot to bring back the room Lakes Region families had eaten in for decades. Fine dining inside a genuine barn, not a themed one.

The Common Man family's lakefront room on Daniel Webster Highway, open since 1999 with free boat tie-ups out front and a sand-floor tiki bar. Classic summer-lake menu — lobster, fried seafood, burgers — and a house-made ice cream counter with more flavors than the table needs to argue about. Come by boat if the group has one; the dock fills before the parking lot does on a July Saturday.

Chef-driven Italian on Center Harbor's Main Street, a few minutes from Meredith, with a kitchen led by a former sous chef out of Laconia's well-regarded Local Eatery. Smaller and quieter than the Meredith waterfront crowd, which is the point for a dinner that isn't competing with a boat-dock line. Reserve ahead on a summer weekend.

Steps from the bay in downtown Wolfeboro — a full lunch-and-dinner menu built around fresh seafood and sandwiches, plus a dairy bar running premium ice cream on the same porch. Open seven days in season. The easy call after a Millie B ride or a walk through Cate Park, not a destination on its own.

The NASWA Resort's beachside bar and grill at Weirs Beach — tropical drinks, casual bites, and live music Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday through the summer. Loud and lively by design; go elsewhere for a quiet dinner, come here for the beach-bar version of a Weirs Beach night.

A large outdoor deck right over Weirs Beach and the boardwalk — lobster rolls, burgers, and chicken tenders, with live music most nights in season. Summers only, and dog-friendly on the deck. No standalone website; call ahead on a big weekend rather than assume there's a table.

Housed in an 1850s barn a few blocks off the lake, with a second taproom up in North Woodstock. The lineup runs from hop-forward IPAs to a blonde built for a dock afternoon, plus a rotating fruited sour and a house cider for anyone skipping beer entirely. The barn's original beams are still overhead — ask which post is original before you order the flight.

Short walk from the water in Meredith, built around eleven taps that skew hop-forward — the rotating seasonal is usually worth asking about before the flagship IPA. Smaller room than Twin Barns down the road, which makes it the pick when you want a stool at the bar rather than a picnic table. Cans to go if the boat's waiting.

Wolfeboro tavern that brews on site and runs a full kitchen alongside it, which makes it a dinner stop as much as a beer stop. The house drafts rotate; the fried food menu doesn't need to. Good option on a night when Wolfetrap's wait runs long and bar snacks won't cut it.

Downtown Laconia storefront pairing twelve rotating taps — wheat, IPA, sour, stout — with a wall of curated vinyl, a combination you won't find twice in the Lakes Region. Live music some nights. Worth the ten minutes off the Weirs Beach strip for a quieter pour and something to flip through while you drink it.

Gilford taphouse with sixteen local drafts and thirteen lanes of axe throwing built into the same room — five to ten minutes of coach-led safety instruction before anyone picks up a hatchet. Elevated pub menu beyond the usual basket of fries. Book the throwing lane ahead on a weekend; walk in for just the bar.