Big Ray’s Fish Camp has earned another national recognition from the MICHELIN Guide, which named the Tampa restaurant among America’s Best Seafood Shack Restaurants while renewing its MICHELIN Recommended designation for 2026.
The seafood shack list highlights restaurants across the country that Michelin says represent the traditions and identity of their local seafood cultures.
In its profile of Big Ray’s, the guide cited the restaurant’s fish camp atmosphere and menu items including smoked fish dip, peel-and-eat shrimp, blackened shrimp with Cuban-style yucca, fried grouper, lobster tail corn dogs and key lime pie.
“This recognition belongs not only to Big Ray’s, but to Tampa and the people who have supported us from the beginning,” owner and chef Nick Cruz said. “To be included among America’s best seafood shacks alongside some of the country’s most iconic seafood restaurants is truly humbling.”
Big Ray’s operates its South Tampa restaurant and maintains a long-running location inside the Tampa Convention Center, where it serves convention visitors and tourists year-round.
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The business first earned a MICHELIN Recommended designation in 2025, becoming one of the Tampa restaurants recognized in the guide after Michelin expanded into Florida.
The guide debuted in Florida in 2022 and now evaluates restaurants across several regions of the state, recognizing establishments with Michelin Stars, Bib Gourmand awards and Recommended designations.
The annual selections have helped elevate the profiles of Tampa Bay restaurants as the region’s dining scene has gained broader national attention.
“To receive Michelin recognition once is an honor,” Cruz said. “To have inspectors come back and recognize what we’re doing again tells us we’re delivering the kind of experience guests expect every day.”
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