It looks worryingly touristique, but this place in the renovated 19th-century Nautical Academy has been reliable for years. Three big terraces overlook the harbor in the shadow of the Bokar and Lovrijenac fortresses. Though meat dishes are plentiful, stick with the fish, which, unsurprisingly given the setting, is what they do best. Standouts include shrimp in a sweet-and-salty lemon sauce served with carrot-stuffed black ravioli, and baked Adriatic gilt-head bream—a fish known as "dorade royale" on that other riviera.

The unwieldy wrap sandwiches and fruit smoothies at Fresh are ideal when you need a break after several days of the same-old seafood dishes and the ubiquitous (and usually not very good) pizzas and pastas. The café, just off the Stradun strip, is also a daytime draw for its free Wi-Fi; at night it becomes a happening bar serving yards of beer and suggestively named cocktails (try the Nice Peaches).

This seafood place in the old port serves the usual dishes—many in the traditional big black pots—and very well done they are, too. What's different here is that you'll usually find as many locals as tourists lounging away the time at the dark wood bar beneath the nondescript dining room. The only concession to decor is an assortment of farmhouse dressers, wrought-iron lamps, and some ropes of fake ivy. Refreshing.

Run by the Atlas Club Nautika people, this is a reliable, reasonable fish specialist in the Old Town, offering a break from schmaltzy decor—an open room with a wooden cathedral ceiling leads to a sunny enclosed terrace.

Right by the Hilton near the western entrance to the Old Town, the family-owned Sesame Tovjerna offers classic Dalmatian dishes in a series of picturesque settings. Order plates of cheeses and local smoked ham, osso buco with dill, chicken with rosemary and olives, or mixed fresh shellfish while admiring the view from the palazzo-floored beamed terrace—or choose the ivy-covered courtyard or the barrel-vaulted dining room lined with framed prints. The 200-year-old stone house surrounded by orange trees is famous around here, so call ahead. There are also four clean, simple bedrooms overlooking the garden on the first floor—which, at a top rate of around $115, qualifies Sesame as one of the best lodging bargains in town.