17 Best Seafood Chain Restaurants in America
Seafood is one of those polarizing foods—you either love or hate it. However, if you love seafood, you might already know that there are few seafood chains compared to the number of restaurants specializing in burgers, steaks, or chicken.
In this article, we’ve compiled a list of the best seafood chains in America, offering from inexpensive and delicious meals to a more high-end dining experience.
Whether you’re hungry for fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, scallops, or mussels, you’ll find a delicious meal at any of these seafood restaurants.
17. Red Lobster
Red Lobster is a fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in seafood and one of the largest and most popular of its kind.
There are over 650 Red Lobster locations in 44 states.
The first Red Lobster was opened by Bill Darden and his family in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968.
In the years since, Red Lobster has become famous for several iconic menu items and annual promotions, including their popcorn shrimp, cheddar bay biscuits, Lobsterfest, and the Endless Shrimp event.
The Red Lobster menu revolves around seafood, both fish and shellfish.
The “Classics” section of the menu features their most popular seafood items, including Walt’s Favorite Shrimp (hand-breaded, butterflied, fried shrimp), fish and chips, and live Maine lobster.
If you’re extra hungry, you can order from the “Signature Feasts” section of the menu, which allows you to combine several seafood entrees.
If you’re at Red Lobster, you will also want to enjoy their delicious cheddar bay biscuits, for which they have become very famous.
16. Long John Silver’s
Long John Silver’s is a fast food chain and one of the few that specializes in seafood.
There are over 600 Long John Silver’s locations in 36 states.
The first Long John Silver’s location opened in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1969.
The restaurant was named after the character Long John Silver from Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate novel Treasure Island.
The Long John Silver’s menu features different kinds of seafood, including cod, Alaska pollock, shrimp, salmon, and clams.
Wild Alaska pollock is the most popular fish served at Long John Silver’s and is available on its own, in a taco, or as a sandwich.
No matter how you order your wild Alaska pollock, it’ll come with two hushpuppies and your choice of two sides, including fries, rice, coleslaw, corn, and green beans.
Long John Silver’s also serves several kinds of shrimp, including grilled shrimp, popcorn shrimp, battered shrimp, grilled shrimp rice bowls, and grilled shrimp tacos.
15. Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen
Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen is another fast food chain specializing in seafood.
There are over 500 Captain D’s locations in 24 states.
Their first restaurant was opened under the name “Mr. D’s Seafood and Hamburgers” in Donelson, Tennessee, in 1969.
In 1974, Mr. D’s Seafood and Hamburgers changed its name to what we know now, Captain D’s.
The Captain D’s menu includes various seafood, including catfish, wild-caught salmon, tilapia, shrimp, and white fish.
One of the most popular entrees at Captain D’s Seafood Kitchen is their batter-dipped fish, which comes with two batter-dipped fish fillets, hush puppies, and your choice of two sides.
The sides include coleslaw, fries, green beans, okra, broccoli, baked potato, corn, and mac & cheese.
If you’re super hungry or looking for a good meal to share, try Captain D’s “Deluxe seafood platter,” which comes with two fish fillets, six shrimp, two seafood stuffed crab shells, hush puppies, and your choice of two sides
14. Landry’s Seafood House
Landry’s Seafood House is a restaurant chain specializing in Gulf Coast-style cuisine, including seafood.
There are 14 Landry’s Seafood House locations in Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas.
Landry’s Seafood House has been serving Gulf Coast-style seafood since 1947.
The Landry’s Seafood House menu features delicious seafood entrees, including Southern fried fish, blackened redfish étouffée, crawfish étouffée, and New Orleans BBQ shrimp.
Landry’s Seafood House also offers “Daily Catches,” including snapper, mahi-mahi, redfish, Chilean sea bass, and Atlantic salmon, which can be broiled or pan-seared.
Finally, Landry’s offers great shellfish appetizers, including oysters Rockefeller, crab cakes, shrimp cocktails, and crab, spinach, and artichoke dip.
13. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company is a Forrest Gump-inspired casual restaurant chain specializing in seafood, especially shrimp.
There are 22 Bubba Gump Shrimp locations in California, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, and Texas.
The first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was opened in Monterey, California, in 1996.
Bubba Gump was the first (and is still the only) casual restaurant chain based on a motion picture property.
You can participate in Forrest Gump trivia competitions at Bubba Gump and buy Forrest Gump merch, including boxes of chocolates, recipe books, and t-shirts.
Of course, the Bubba Gump menu features many shrimp dishes, including coconut shrimp, shrimp New Orleans, shrimp scampi, fried shrimp, shrimp surf and turf, jambalaya, and crab and shrimp boil.
If you’re a big shrimp enthusiast, order the Shrimper’s Heaven, which comes with fried shrimp, coconut shrimp, tempura shrimp, fries, and a variety of dips for all kinds of shrimp!
12. Bahama Breeze
Bahama Breeze is a restaurant chain specializing in Caribbean-inspired food, including seafood.
There are over 40 Bahama Breeze locations in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.
All Bahama Breeze locations feature live music in the evenings, allowing you to experience a relaxing and joyful ambiance as you enjoy your food.
The Bahama Breeze menu features a variety of delicious, Caribbean-inspired seafood entrees, like coconut shrimp, grilled salmon, jerk shrimp pasta, seafood paella, and lobster and shrimp linguine.
The Jerk Shrimp Pineapple Bowl is one of the most popular seafood entrees at Bahama Breeze.
This dish is made from sauteed shrimp, white rice, diced pineapples, and sweet peppers, tossed in a jerk pineapple glaze, and served in a hollowed-out half-pineapple.
If you’re not a big seafood person, do not worry!
Bahama Breeze also serves non-seafood entrees like skirt steak churrasco, Jamaican jerk chicken, Jamaican stuffed plantain bowl, jerk chicken pasta, and a jerk chicken pineapple bowl.
11. King’s Fish House
King’s Fish House is a California-based restaurant chain specializing in seafood.
There are 12 King’s Fish House locations in Arizona, California, and Nevada.
The founders of King’s Fish House developed the restaurant’s menu after embarking on a cross-country road trip to find the best quality seafood and the best seafood recipes in the US.
The King’s Fish House menu features a ton of delicious, high-quality seafood and even notes where the seafood in each dish was sourced from.
The “Fish House Favorites” section of the menu offers delicious entrees like Grilled Wild Chilean Sea Bass Tacos, Parmesan Crusted Petrale Sole, Miso Yaki Wild Chilean Sea Bass, and Clams Linguine.
King’s Fish House also serves a variety of freshly grilled fish dishes, including wild Ecuadorian mahi-mahi, wild Californian swordfish, wild Ross Sea Chilean sea bass, wild California bluefin tuna, and wild Alaskan halibut.
If you love oysters, King’s Fish House offers a raw bar section of their menu, serving a wide array of Pacific and Eastern oysters served with habanero relish, cocktail sauce, and freshly grated horseradish.
10. Joe’s Crab Shack
Joe’s Crab Shack is a casual dining restaurant chain specializing in American seafood comfort dishes, especially crab and shrimp.
There are over 40 Joe’s Crab Shack locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
Joe’s Crab Shack was designed to be an informal, unpretentious, friendly restaurant that serves high-quality, Gulf-style seafood.
The Joe’s Crab Shack menu features a variety of delicious seafood dishes, including crab, mussels, clams, shrimp, lobster, and fish.
One of the most popular menu items at Joe’s Crab Shack is their crab buckets, which can be made with the king, queen, or snow crabs and are served with fresh corn and potatoes.
Joe’s Crab Shack also serves a variety of seafood steam pots, including “Joe’s Classic,” which comes with Dungeness crab, sweet snow crab, shrimp, and smoked sausage, seasoned with Old Bay seasoning.
If you prefer shrimp, you should try Joe’s shrimp sampler, which comes with seafood-stuffed, bacon-wrapped shrimp, grilled shrimp, and shrimp scampi served with garlic bread, rice, and seasonal vegetables.
9. Chart House
Chart House is a restaurant chain that specializes in serving seafood, prime rib, and steaks.
There are 24 Chart House locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
The first Chart House was opened by Hawaiian surfer Joey Cabell and US Navy man Buzzy Bent on the Fourth of July 1961.
Each Chart House location is designed to provide scenic views of its surrounding environment and to take advantage of the delicious local seafood that its area has to offer.
The Chart House menu features delicious seafood dishes, including wild-caught king crab, coconut crunchy shrimp, and macadamia nut mahi-mahi.
Chart House also offers a rotating array of fresh-caught fish, including salmon and mahi-mahi, which can be served baked, grilled, pan-seared, or blackened and comes with sides of sticky mango rice and seasonal vegetables.
Finally, for those who aren’t huge fish fans, Chart House also serves several cuts of steak, including a 10 oz prime rib, a 7 oz filet mignon, and a 14 oz New York strip steak.
8. Bonefish Grill
Bonefish Grill is a restaurant chain that serves seafood in a polished casual environment, perfect for any occasion.
There are almost 200 Bonefish Grill locations in 30 states.
The first Bonefish Grill was opened by Tim Curci and Chris Parker in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2000.
Curci and Parker were avid fishermen before opening Bonefish Grill and brought their passion and enthusiasm for fresh fish to the restaurant.
The Bonefish Grill menu offers a variety of seafood entrees, including fish & chips, blackened Baja fish tacos, and cold water lobster tails.
One of their most popular dishes is the Bonefish signature pasta, made with linguine, a creamy Creole sauce, red peppers, artichokes, and your choice of salmon, shrimp, or chicken.
If you’re just looking for a fresh, simply-prepared seafood dish, order something from their “Wood-fired Grill” menu.
This menu section features lightly seasoned, wood-grilled fish like Atlantic salmon, mahi-mahi, Chilean sea bass, and rainbow trout.
7. Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen
Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen is a Texas-based, family-owned, and operated restaurant chain specializing in seafood.
There are 44 Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen locations in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, and Texas.
Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen is part of the Pappas Restaurants family, founded by Chris and Harris Pappas in 1976.
The Pappadeaux menu is inspired by Creole and Cajun cooking, a cuisine that heavily features seafood.
Their Cajun-inspired seafood dishes include shrimp and crawfish étouffée, blackened catfish, Texas redfish pontchartrain, Mississippi catfish opelousas, giant shrimp and grits, and pasta Mardi Gras.
Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen also serves a variety of fried seafood dishes, like fried shrimp, fried oysters, catfish fillets, and the Pappadeaux Platter.
This extravagant platter contains fried catfish fillets, shrimp, oysters, stuffed shrimp, stuffed crab, and crawfish.
6. Weathervane Seafood Company
Weathervane Seafood Company is a New England-based restaurant chain specializing in lobster, chowder, and other classic New England seafood dishes.
There are five Weathervane Seafood Company locations in Maine and New Hampshire.
The first Weathervane Seafood Co. was opened by Ray and Bea Gagner in Kittery, Maine, in 1969.
Over 50 years later, it is still run by the Gagner family and serves fresh, locally sourced seafood.
The Weathervane Seafood Co. menu contains several seafood categories, including chowders, fried seafood dinners, lobster dinners, and broiled, baked, and stuffed seafood.
They also serve many kinds of lobster, including a single lobster dinner, a lobster pie, and a fried lobster tails dinner.
If you’re not a big lobster person, try a fried seafood dinner, which can be made from haddock, shrimp, scallops, or clam strips and is served with sides of fries and coleslaw.
Finally, Weathervane is well-known for its clam and fish chowders.
5. McCormick & Schmick’s
McCormick & Schmick’s is a restaurant chain specializing in seafood and steaks.
There are 26 McCormick & Schmick’s locations in California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Washington DC.
The first McCormick & Schmick’s was opened in Portland, Oregon, in 1974.
Before becoming McCormick & Schmick’s, the first restaurant was an iconic seafood place, Jake’s Famous Crawfish Restaurant, which was over 100 years old but was in danger of closing for good.
The McCormick & Schmick’s menu features a variety of fresh seafood dishes, from raw oysters to grilled fish to seafood pasta.
One of the most extravagant seafood dishes served at McCormick & Schmick’s is their crab & shrimp stuffed salmon.
This dish is made with salmon stuffed with a blend of crabmeat, shrimp, brie cheese, artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes and is served with sides of mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
If you’re looking for something a little lighter, try something from their “Signature Fish” menu, like the herb broth sea bass, Alaskan halibut, or Pacific rockfish.
Finally, if you’re a big oyster fan, take advantage of the oyster section of their menu, which features Kumamoto, Fanny Bay, and Kusshi oysters, each of which is sourced from British Columbia.
4. Ocean Prime
Ocean Prime is a high-end restaurant chain specializing in seafood and steaks.
There are 18 Ocean Prime locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington DC.
Ocean Prime is part of the Cameron Mitchell restaurant group, aimed at being a restaurant and a lounge.
Each Ocean Prime location is designed to reflect the unique culture and beauty of its respective city and state.
The menu varies slightly at each Ocean Prime location, but no matter where you are, you can expect a variety of high-end, luxurious seafood dishes.
Ocean Prime serves seafood entrees like blackened snapper, teriyaki salmon, ahi tuna, twin lobster tails, sea scallops, and crab cakes.
You can also order various sushi rolls at Ocean Prime, including the “Ocean Roll,” which has tuna, salmon, hamachi, avocado, and chili garlic oil, or the “Prime Roll,” which has tempura shrimp, cream cheese, scallion, and beef carpaccio.
Finally, Ocean Prime offers an array of seafood on ice, including oysters on the half shell, chilled crab meat cocktail, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and chilled whole Maine lobster.
3. Eddie V’s Prime Seafood
Eddie V’s Prime Seafood is a restaurant chain specializing in steak and seafood.
There are 29 Eddie V’s Prime Seafood locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Each Eddie V’s Prime Seafood location is also a live jazz lounge in addition to being a restaurant, so you can enjoy music while you eat!
Eddie V’s sources seafood from around the world, including swordfish from Rhode Island, scallops from Nova Scotia, and yellowfin tuna from the Caribbean.
The Eddie V’s Prime Seafood menu features a variety of high-quality seafood dishes, including Chilean sea bass, Mediterranean branzino, Norwegian salmon, South African lobster, and ahi tuna.
In addition, Eddie V’s offers an array of fresh shellfish, including raw East and West Coast oysters, chilled gulf shrimp, Petrossian caviar, and the Shellfish Tower, which comes with Maine lobster, shrimp, oysters, and colossal crab.
If you’re not a huge seafood fan, you can try Eddie V’s premium hand-cut steaks, like their center-cut filet mignon, prime bone-in New York strip, and prime bone-in ribeye.
2. Legal Sea Foods
Legal Sea Foods is an East Coast-based casual dining restaurant chain specializing in fresh, ethically-sourced seafood.
There are 23 Legal Sea Foods locations in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The first Legal Sea Foods was a fish market opened by the Berkowitz family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1950.
In 1968, Legal Sea Foods expanded to become a restaurant in addition to a fish store, serving unpretentious, simply prepared, and delicious seafood.
The Legal Sea Foods menu features many delicious seafood dishes, from simple grilled seafood to raw dishes to fried fish and shellfish.
The “Legal Classics” section of the menu contains a variety of traditional seafood dishes, like sole imperial, cioppino, baked lobster mac & cheese, and crab cakes.
Another popular section of the menu is “From the Grill,” where you can order grilled organic salmon, swordfish steak, sea scallops, rainbow trout, and more.
If you’re extra hungry or looking for a shareable dish, try the “Fisherman’s Platter,” which comes with fried jumbo shrimp, sea scallops, calamari, and local whitefish, served with fries and coleslaw.
1. Truluck’s Seafood Steak and Crab House
Truluck’s Seafood Steak and Crab House is a high-end restaurant chain specializing in fresh seafood and steak.
There are 11 Truluck’s Seafood Steak and Crab House locations in California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Washington DC.
The first Truluck’s Seafood Steak and Crab House was opened in 1992.
For the past three decades, Truluck’s has dedicated itself to never serving overfished or endangered seafood species and has followed Ocean Conservancy guidelines.
The menu at each Truluck’s location may vary slightly to reflect local seafood offerings, but you can always expect delicious, fresh, high-end fish and shellfish at every location.
Truluck’s offers a variety of prime seafood, which can be ordered pan-seared or broiled, like Norwegian salmon, sushi-grade tuna, Idaho rainbow trout, Texas redfish, and Dutch yellowtail.
If you’re a big shellfish fan, indulge in Truluck’s “Jewels of the Sea,” incredibly fresh shellfish dishes like prime king crab, fresh crab claws, South African cold-water lobster tail, and Black River Oscietra caviar.
Finally, Truluck’s also serves a variety of seafood entrees, like their miso-glazed sea bass, sesame-seared tuna, trout amandine, and jalapeno salmon bérnaise.
Conclusion
There are many ways to prepare and enjoy seafood, from grilled fish to raw oysters to fried calamari.
Whether you’re looking for an inexpensive but delicious meal or a sophisticated, high-end dining experience, use our list to find the best seafood restaurant near you.
Each of these popular seafood chains is sure to offer what you’re craving.
