Loyal Long John Silver's Customers Still Mourn The Loss Of This Nostalgic Menu Item

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Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? As Nietzsche observed in "Beyond Good and Evil," "Blessed are the forgetful." Longtime fans who remember Long John Silver's corn on the cob likely have a personal weigh-in on the matter. The fast-food seafood chain did away with the side dish seemingly about a decade ago, but even in recent years, customers are still online lamenting the loss of this (literally and proverbially) golden menu item.

Long John Silver's corn cob side was a short, foil-wrapped, butter-drenched ear segment, just a few inches long, but its reach was gargantuan. A Reddit thread from nine years ago laments, "Apparently Long John Silver's has done away with their Corn on the Cob side. Argh! What gives?!" At the time of the post, the cob's status seemed to vary by individual franchise location. But, by around 2017 (according to social media comments), the side was totally phased out from restaurants far and wide. Some took the blow as a harbinger of the chain's denouement on a broader scale. Others noted that the loss of this fresh side dish was a particularly big loss in light of the chain's otherwise fried-fish-centric menu ("It was one of the few things not fried in that same omnipresent batter!"). Indeed, LJS's infamous "Big Catch Meal" was so unhealthy that it literally sparked national policy reform about trans fats in the American fast food industry. In its place, the cob-style corn appears to have been replaced with the kernel corn side that remains today.

Although Long John Silver's corn on the cob has been gone for years, diehard fans are still jonesing for a taste of the real deal. A Reddit post from 2025 entreats the help of any former LJS employees who can share how the iconic side dish was prepared so they can recreate it at home. The comments section is filled with postulations from microwaving to marinating in sugar water. 

Corn fans, don't despair. Classic steamed corn on the cob is still available at fellow fast-food seafood chain Captain D's – a brand that currently outnumbers Long John Silver's with just over 500 locations. Elsewhere, sweet corn (off the cob) remains a side at KFC, and fried, seasoned corn-on-the-cob chunks are a snackable side at Wingstop. Still, enduring fans argue that nothing hits like LJS's O.G.

A 2022 post in the community forum The Coil asks, "When was the last time you ate at Long John Silver's?" to which one responder shares, "It's easily been 2 decades. They got rid of corn on the cob otherwise I'd go regularly [...] it was cheap too like 89 cents or some s**t." Elsewhere online, a TikTok posted in 2024 asks (somewhat distraught), "Why did they discontinue their corn on the cob? It was one of the best corn on the cobs ever!" The seafood chain doesn't deserve the flak it (often) catches ... but fans seem more than ready for a corny comeback.