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This venue is closed.

Upper West Siders hankering for exceptionally fresh and expertly prepared seafood have been making Docks their port of call since 1985. The restaurant, with mosaic-tiled floor, mirrors, dark paneling, and antique French seafood posters, is unabashedly American in its lack of pretense and its classic menu, which indulges the well-off clientele with old seashore favorites like clam chowder, jumbo shrimp cocktail, fried calamari, and steamed lobsters sized from a pound-and-a-half to virtual sea monsters. The raw bar abounds with just-shucked, briny bivalves from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans' gelid waters and can be sampled by the platter, gently nuzzled in shaved ice. Clams, with their tender, bulging bellies, are steamed in a broth of beer, onions, and caraway seeds. Hockey puck-shaped Maryland crabcakes are fried to delicate crunchiness, the crustacean's innate sweetness fully expressed. More gastronomically ambitious fare includes pan-roasted red snapper, its snow-white flesh and crispy skin brightened by diced, grilled Portobello mushrooms in a assertive truffle vinaigrette. Sashimi-worthy tuna is given an Asian twist with a toasted sesame seed coating and mildly gingered baby bok choy. Grilled steak and burgers assuage the fish-o-phobes, who should be forced to walk the plank. — Michael Anstendig

Clam and oyster sampler, $29; steamed lobsters, market price; pan-roasted Florida red snapper, $25; sesame crusted yellow fin tuna, $25