This stone and shingle building right on the Narragansett seawall was designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1888 as a U.S. Lifesaving Service station — part of the same flurry of Gilded Age construction that produced The Towers next door. It was used by the Coast Guard until the 1940s and has operated as a restaurant ever since, repeatedly battered and rebuilt after major hurricanes (most recently after Hurricane Sandy in 2012).
For visitors who aren't dining, the building is worth seeing for its position alone — the upstairs deck cantilevers out over the rocks and on a clear day takes in the whole arc of the Town Beach. The menu sticks to New England seafood: clam chowder, fried calamari with hot peppers, lobster rolls. Reservations help at weekends.