The Boat Show Is the Reason. These Four Restaurants Are the Plan.

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is back October 28 through November 1, and if you're going — or just in the area — the dining situation is worth thinking through before you get there. Four waterfront restaurants that belong on your radar.

Shooters Waterfront is the most practical pre-show stop on the Intracoastal — it's the Water Taxi's northernmost pickup and drop-off point, which means you can eat, drink, and board without touching a parking garage. Starting at 10 a.m., there's a dockside espresso bar, grab-and-go pastries and a full-service bar. After the show, the Champagne Wall opens: show your FLIBS ticket and get a complimentary glass of Gambino (Thursday through Saturday, 5–10 p.m.). Cocktails come in take-home souvenir cups from the dockside satellite bar. Live DJ sets run 6–10 p.m. — Alexis Rose on Thursday and Friday, DJ Joy on Saturday. The full menu covers fresh oysters, sushi, lobster rolls and more. Weekday happy hour runs 4–7 p.m. Water Taxi tickets via RocketRez.

Sweetwaters opens October 12 — two weeks before FLIBS — on the New River at the newly reimagined Huizenga Park. From the family behind Miami's Rusty Pelican, the indoor-outdoor restaurant has a riverfront patio where you can settle in over oysters and cocktails as boats pass by. The coastal menu covers seafood towers, sushi, Whole Crispy Local Snapper and Lobster Spaghetti, with Nuggets & Caviar on the splurge end. It's brand-new, it's on the water, and the timing is not a coincidence.

Worth the trip up the coast: Oceans 234 in Deerfield Beach. A South Florida oceanfront institution for more than 20 years, the chef-driven menu is overseen by James Beard-recognized Culinary Director Dean Max and led by his longtime protégé, Executive Chef Duvan Marin. Fresh seafood, sushi, raw bar, locally caught fish and steaks — set directly along the sand with sweeping Atlantic views. Lunch, sunset cocktails or dinner by the water all work.

Casa Sensei puts dinner directly on the Las Olas canals. Voted Best Asian Restaurant by Fort Lauderdale Magazine for more than six years, the kitchen blends Latin American and Pan-Asian flavors with a waterfront setting. For those who want to extend the on-water experience past dinner, the restaurant partners with Riverfront Gondola Tours for private dinner cruises through Fort Lauderdale's canals.