The Fast Food Chain With The Hands-Down Biggest Fish Selection

Hot, crispy, and wildly indulgent, there's something about a basket of fried fish or seafood that just hits differently than a burger and fries. When we're craving fast food, our minds automatically go to beef or chicken, but what about all the delicious treats that come from the sea? Several fast-food restaurants offer a fish option or two — the McDonald's Filet-o-Fish and Burger King's Big Fish come to mind — but nowhere does it like Long John Silver's. Currently with 475 restaurants across the United States, Long John Silver's fish selection is by far the biggest and most expansive of any fast-food chain.

Long John Silver's seafaring menu includes family meals, platters, baskets, snacks, wraps, tacos, sandwiches, bowls, and sides, and no matter which direction you choose to set sail, there's almost always a seafood option to be had. In the fish category, you can opt for Alaskan pollock, Alaskan salmon, or North Pacific cod — the pollock and cod are always hand-battered and fried up crispy, while the salmon is a great grilled option. If you're in the mood for something more snackable, there's crispy popcorn shrimp, coconut shrimp, clam strips, and crab cakes. Tacos, wraps, and sandwiches are filled with crispy or grilled shrimp, pollock, or grilled salmon. Bowls are piled high with rice, cole slaw, and either grilled shrimp or salmon. 

In total, there are just shy of 50 menu options that include fish or seafood. You could opt out of the fish entirely and have only chicken, but the big yellow Long John Silver's mascot isn't a chicken, now is it? (Spoiler, it's a fish.)

For those who observe the Lenten season — the time of year from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday when many Christians fast and abstain from eating meat on Fridays — having an easy eating-out option for fish and seafood is ideal. Not everyone likes to cook fish at home, so a restaurant that always has a selection of tasty fish on the menu makes meatless meals something to look forward to. Not coincidentally, this is also when other fast food chains and restaurants join in on the seafood craze, offering more fishy options during the 40-ish day period. While chains like Popeyes, Culvers, Wendy's, and Arby's are only in the fish business during this semi-meatless season, Long John Silver's is a year-round seafood hub, and during lent, the catch is pretty impressive.

For a limited time during Lent, customers can usually enjoy even more of the briny deep by way of shrimp baskets at the chain: Last year, $6 shrimp baskets with six pieces of coconut butterfly shrimp, grilled shrimp, batter-dipped shrimp, or crispy breaded popcorn shrimp, came with a choice of a side and two hushpuppies, and $10 shrimp sea-shares were also offered. And because no voyage is complete without something sweet, Long John Silver's also offered an Oreo Cookies and Cream Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory Bakery to top off every meal during last Lent period. Keep an eye out for this year's offerings during Lent, which will be from February 18 to April 2 in 2026.