6 Overpriced Seafood Chains That Aren't Worth It, According To Customers

Going out and grabbing a quick yet delicious fast food lunch has long been one of life's simpler but more accessible pleasures. However, this nightmare of a timeline we all find ourselves living in is almost relentlessly awful, and even that is slowly being taken away from us. Take a look at McDonald's pricing from 2016, and you'll find yourself hit with a wave of nostalgia for the good ol' days. And when prices start fluctuating, seafood restaurants in particular can struggle to stay afloat.

It turns out that there's only so far a customer base can be pushed before they start to push back and complain that it's simply not worth patronizing a restaurant anymore. Start weighing costs against quality, consistency, and what you can make for yourself at home, and it's understandable that people are getting more and more critical of restaurant pricing.

We headed over to social media and Reddit to find out what customers are saying about some of the biggest seafood chains, and one of the things that always surprises us is when social media agrees on something. We found a ton of Reddit threads and discussions about rising costs at seafood chains that — and we'll be honest here — were kind of miraculously skating by even before prices everywhere started getting absolutely out of control. Here are the chains customers are avoiding, and the ones that you might want to rethink if you're concerned about the state of your budget.

Dear Red Lobster: Those Cheddar Bay Biscuits are only going to carry you so far. We're not saying anything that's a major secret, either, as Red Lobster rang in 2026 by hinting at the fact that there were going to be even more locations closing. Part of the problem might be pricing, including upcharges that have would-be customers up in arms. Reddit users report being charged an extra $3.49 to swap in a Caesar salad for a side, and $2.49 to add some bacon bits to a baked potato. Others complain that a meal for two with appetizers and entrees can easily come to over $100 these days, and if you're planning on getting lobster or crab? Expect $50 entrees. 

Others say that at one time, the prices might have been worth it. Portions were generous, and you could expect leftovers, but some have noticed that's definitely not the case anymore.

Complaints aren't anything new, either. One 2022 Reddit thread was started by someone claiming to be a Red Lobster manager, ashamed of raising prices by 10%. Quality has been a very clear issue for a long time, too, with some saying that not even those biscuits can redeem a meal here. And even those biscuits are slipping. One Reddit user wrote, "The Cheddar Bay Biscuits are all sorts of weird shapes and textures. You get four of them and one is raw, one is burnt, one is huge, [one] is tiny. ... So we no longer go."

Joe's Crab Shack used to have almost 150 locations, and as of April 2026, that number had dwindled to 14. That alone makes it pretty clear that there's something really wrong going on here, and you'd better believe that Reddit users haven't held back on this one. When one Reddit thread asked, "Looking for poor quality yet expensive restaurants to recommend to an enemy. Any suggestions?" one user volunteered: "Joe's Crab Shack. That was the most obnoxious dining experience I've ever had and an unpleasant morning on the toilet after."

Threads where users rediscover the fact that Joe's Crab Shack is still open are often met with a bit of shock over the fact, and say that anyone who ventures in quickly learns that bad food is one of the reasons that parking lots are mostly empty. Add in complaints about pricing being out of control for the quality of what you're getting, and it's definitely fallen far from being a favorite. Another Reddit user came out swinging: "Frozen seafood bought from the discard pile in bulk, deep fried in cheap grease, served with overpriced, watered down drinks. It's like Red Lobster but with no self awareness."

Others confirm the double whammy of less-than-stellar food and high prices, and go on to say that there are other beefs with Joe's Crab Shack, too. Singing and dancing servers are definitely not appreciated by everyone, and basically? No one's happy here.

We get this one might be a bit of a hot take, but we're just reporting them as we see them, folks. Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen gets a ton of love, and you'll see it name-dropped as one of the seafood chains serving the best crab cakes, and it often gets mentioned in conversations about chains that have side dishes as good as the main course. However, plenty of customers have noticed rising prices, as sparked by a conversation when one Reddit user posted a photo of a menu in January 2026. One of the items shown was Texas Redfish Pontchartrain for $46.95, and another Reddit user noted they were a former employee from around 2005, and the same dish was $22.

Prices are definitely chipping away at some of Pappadeaux's customer base, as even those who say that the food is consistently good note that high-quality seafood is cheaper elsewhere. Some have claimed to notice portion sizes getting smaller, and plenty of people don't see what the hype is at all. You'll occasionally see customers wondering what is actually hiding in overly saucy dishes, and some of those that keep going say that a large part of it is nostalgia. 

Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen also gets suggested in Reddit threads looking for an ultra-pricey, low-quality restaurant to recommend to an enemy, and honestly, that's not a super great look. So sure, Pappadeaux still has its die-hard fans, but there are also a lot of conversations noting it's sneaking into mediocre-for-the-price-tag territory.

Long John Silver's has had some ups and downs along the way, and there's no denying that this fast food seafood chain has an impressive fish selection. However, it's been on the pricey side of things for a long time, and the opinion that it's just too expensive for what you're getting isn't an unusual one. (Especially considering you're often approaching sit-down restaurant pricing here.)

Fans often say that the best things about LJS are the hush puppies and the crunchies, right? For those not in the know, crunchies are the pieces of deep-fried batter you can ask to be scooped up and added to your order of fried fish. For a long time, they were. In December 2025, though, one irate customer posted to Facebook to share that her local LJS (in Tulsa, Oklahoma) was charging an extra 50 cents. That doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind these are basically crumbs that are just going to get cleaned out of the fryer and disposed of anyway.

And that seems to be what many are finding the norm: Higher prices and smaller quantities have been amassing complaints that it's just not worth it anymore. Long John Silver's now makes people wonder how and why it's still in business. That's no exaggeration, and one Reddit user suggested, "There is a secret society amongst us keeping this place around. Think about that. We don't know why they are, but we see the evidence of their existence. Shudder."

When we here at Tasting Table ranked seafood chain restaurants from worst to best, someone had to come in last — and that someone was Captain D's. Thanks to a bland and boring main menu and equally dismal sides on offer, it's no wonder our reviewer likened it to an elementary school cafeteria, and those are some harsh words.

They're also well-deserved words, as Captain D's is the target of all kinds of hate on Reddit and social media. Reddit threads show people receiving half-cooked orders of shrimp and embarrassingly tiny portions of fried fish, which commenters are quick to point out have also been seriously dropping off in quality, too. (In 2026, Captain D's admitted to changing its fish, but details are scarce.) Still others point out that going here feels like they're paying for all batter and little actual seafood, and even those who don't get their meal to go have little more than complaints. 

And yes, there are plenty of complaints about the pricing, too, with customers raging at the combination of high costs, bad experiences with rude staff, and as for the sides? Receipts posted to Facebook in 2026 show a charge of $12 for a side of fried okra, and the actual side that was also pictured was a pretty sad serving. Things are perhaps best summed up by the Reddit user who explained, "Going to Captain D's for seafood is like going to Temu for quality goods."

Cousins Maine Lobster might be the biggest food success story of "Shark Tank," but many Reddit users are less than impressed with the food truck chain that's grown leaps and bounds since it appeared on the hit show. The problem? Pricey lobster rolls that are mostly fine, but leave people walking away still hungry and feeling as though they wasted a hefty chunk of change. For some, a good meal would mean two of the lobster rolls, and others point out that, for the price, you expect something bigger than a hot dog. 

Prices vary, but generally seem to run between $23 and $32, with some dropping around $50 on a lobster roll, drinks, and sides. And yes, there's plenty of confirmation that that $50 worth of food can still leave you hungry, as well as outraged that you didn't get what you paid for. It's the kind of meal that has some heading to another fast food restaurant immediately afterward as a backup plan, to get something that's actually filling.

There are also plenty of complaints about the quality of what's being served, with the lobster bisque being meh, and the lobster rolls themselves being a bit of a crapshoot. Too much expansion has seemingly diminished consistency to the point where one Reddit user said, "I'm from Maine and this company has always been an insult to the entire state."

In order to bring you a list of some of the most overpriced seafood chain restaurants, we headed to the experts: customers. We scoured countless social media posts and Reddit threads to find the seafood chains that got the most complaints for not only high prices, but for attaching those prices to menu items that left customers feeling as though they hadn't gotten what they paid for. 

Small portions and low-quality seafood were all suspect, and we looked for complaints that happened at locations across a chain's footprint. Finally, we took into account trends of once-loyal fans saying that they would be taking their business elsewhere.