12 Of The Best Seafood Restaurant Chains In The US
The ocean is nothing short of a miracle. We owe much of our existence to the bounty of the seven seas. In fact, evidence suggests that some of the earliest meals that our ancestors ever ate consisted of seafood: researchers have discovered bowls of shellfish on the coast of Africa from around 165,000 years ago. In other words, it's fair to say that our love of seafood is ancient. And it's easy to see why — there's something undeniably alluring and deeply nourishing about a fresh plate of seafood.
The buttery sweetness of succulent lobster, the delicate brininess of plump shrimp, tender flakes of juicy salmon — there are so many varieties of seafood to enjoy. Because seafood can be prepared in so many different ways — like grilling, boiling, braising, steaming, or frying — there are also tons of textures to pick from. The bottom line is that when it comes to seafood, there's a little something for everyone.
And let's face it: when you're in the mood for some classic seafood like crab cakes, linguine with clams, or fish and chips, it's so much easier to let a restaurant do all the cooking. At the same time, it's good to know which seafood restaurant chains have a menu that you can count on for a delicious meal. Roll up your sleeves and strap on your lobster bib: here are 12 of the best seafood chains in the United States.
1. McCormick & Schmick's
McCormick & Schmick's offers quality seafood for a good value. The restaurant's prices are definitely a step up from more casual chains like Red Lobster, but diners get a lot more bang for their buck. McCormick & Schmick's menu offers a more sophisticated flavor profile, with dishes like Cedar Roasted Salmon in a red wine berry reduction and a Dungeness Crab Tower mixed with avocado and pineapple jicama salsa served in a luscious pool of agua de chili. At the same time, the restaurant isn't above serving simple classics like Chilled Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail or Buttermilk Fried Oysters.
The food here is prepared and plated with attention to detail. Customers looking for a more intimate setting can inquire about the restaurant's private booths for a more secluded dining experience. The restaurant is also a great destination for families of all sizes since it has a kids' menu with simple dishes like Crispy Chicken Tenders, Mac & Cheese, and Spaghetti. Diners who tag along for dinner but aren't necessarily craving seafood will be happy to pick from various cuts of beef like the Dry-Rubbed Black Angus ribeye or pasta such as the Blackened Chicken Fettucini. McCormick & Schmick's smartly curated menu with so many delicious options makes it one of the best seafood chains in America.
2. Ocean Prime
Ocean Prime has about 20 locations from coast to coast. The restaurant has an upscale feel and an extravagant menu that's best put to use for celebrations and special occasions. There aren't too many chain restaurants that consistently deliver this level of high-quality seafood dishes, which makes Ocean Prime feel like it inhabits a world all its own.
The menu is refreshingly diverse. At Ocean Prime, diners will find everything from shrimp in Tabasco cream sauce and lobster bisque to blackened snapper and teriyaki salmon. The restaurant also has some creative sushi rolls, including the Prime roll, which comes with tempura shrimp, scallions, cream cheese, and beef carpaccio. It's not every day that you see surf-and-turf sushi that features shrimp and thin slices of raw beef together, but Ocean Prime is the kind of place that's full of delightfully delicious surprises like this.
Ocean Prime's Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes are also a popular pick. Served with a horseradish mustard aioli that adds just the right amount of zip, these crab cakes are large and crispy. With tons of decadent sides to choose from like baked lobster mac and cheese and jalapeño au gratin, you can't really go wrong at Ocean Prime, making it one of the top-tier seafood chains in the country.
3. Chart House
One of the things that sets Chart House apart from the pack is the fact that all of its restaurants feature excellent views; many of them are situated on waterfronts. The menu at Chart House may not be quite as extensive as some of the other chains on this list, but that doesn't necessarily detract from the quality coming out of the kitchen. In fact, we would argue that having a more streamlined menu works in Chart House's favor since the chefs can focus on consistency with the food.
An all-star on the appetizer menu is the Shrimp, Avocado, and Mango stack. Plated in a colorful pillar with toasted chips, this dish is bright and fruity yet still rich and savory. Seafood entrees such as swordfish, grouper, and mahi, can be further modified by diners with blackening seasoning or citrus shallot butter, among other customizations. There are also plenty of options under Chart House's Land and Sea section of the menu, which is where the kitchen's talents may shine the brightest with an abundance of enticing flavor pairings. Blackened swordfish with blue cheese butter and grouper with pineapple habanero butter served with sticky mango rice are a couple of offerings that are bound to hit the spot when hunger strikes. Some diners have even reported that Chart House's peach bourbon glazed scallops and shrimp are the best they've had. When you really want to treat yourself, you'd be hard-pressed to find a seafood chain that's better than this.
4. Eddie V's Prime Seafood
Eddie V's Prime Seafood is more expensive than a lot of other chains on this list, but there's a time and place for fancier excursions in life — and that's where Eddie V's comes in. With restaurants located around more than a dozen states, Eddie V's is mostly just open for dinner service, although a few of its locations do offer lunch during select days of the week. Eddie V's is known for its extensive wine selection, top-notch seafood, and premium hand-cut steaks. Several of Eddie V's seafood dishes veer toward East Asian-inspired cuisine.
When it comes to the appetizer menu, Eddie V's leans into its proclivity toward seafood. Kung-Pao style calamari and yellowtail sashimi served with cilantro, red chilis, and ponzu sauce are just a few of the tasty offers on deck. To sample several dishes at once, diners can order the luxurious Shellfish Tower, which comes with Maine lobster, shrimp, oysters, and colossal crab. For entrées, the restaurant scallops sauteed with citrus, Norwegian salmon glazed in whiskey mustard, and seared ahi tuna served with Togarashi spice, pickled ginger, and soy sauce. Eddie V's culinary elegance and penchant for delivering remarkably flavorful seafood make it one of the finest seafood chains in America.
5. Legal Sea Foods
Legal Sea Foods started out as a family fish market and gradually bloomed into a small chain of seafood restaurants. The company started out with a humble menu, mostly just serving broiled or fried fish on paper plates. While the menu has certainly grown and improved over the years, there is still a simple approach to the restaurant's food.
Legal Sea Foods has everything from crispy calamari and blackened raw tuna tataki to salt and vinegar-crusted cod and Mediterranean swordfish. Diners also tend to rave about the scallops, shrimp, and crab cakes. Because scallops and shrimp are so delicate, in the wrong hands, they can easily be tough and overcooked — but Legal Sea Foods cooks them just right, serving them tender and succulent. Similarly, the restaurant has a magic touch with its signature crab cakes that are made with lump crab, mustard sauce, apples, greens, dried cranberry, and apple dijon vinaigrette. The fresh tang of the vinaigrette along with the notes of fruitiness make a delicious pairing with the lump crab meat. Crispy on the outside yet moist and flaky on the inside, Legal Sea Food's crab cakes deliver an exquisite wallop of tastiness.
6. Hook & Reel
Most of Hook & Reel's locations are concentrated in the Northeast, but the company has dozens of restaurants scattered all across the country. Hook & Reel specializes in Cajun seafood boils. The menu has tons of options to customize the boil; diners can pick some of their favorite seafood, like snow crab legs, lobster, scallops, mussels, shrimp, clams, and more. From there, diners pick a sauce and spice level for the boil, with choices like original Cajun and garlic butter. There are also extra add-ons, such as corn on the cob, sausage, and rice.
Hook & Reel also offers its own combos on the menu to simplify the ordering process for diners. Customers can pick from various boils, like The Perfect Storm, which comes with a cluster of snow crab, shrimp, and black mussels. The restaurant provides plastic bibs and gloves to diners so everyone can dig in without worrying about getting too messy. The sauces at Hook & Reel are thick and rich, which bastes the seafood boils in gravy-like flavorings that add an extra layer of tastiness. Between its easily customized menu and fair prices, Hook & Reel is definitely one of the best chains to chow down on a seafood boil.
7. Cousins Maine Lobster
Cousins Maine Lobster takes an interesting approach to reaching its customers. Rather than relying exclusively on brick-and-mortar restaurants, the company mainly deploys dozens of food trucks across the country. While the menus are fairly similar between the food trucks and the restaurants, there are some differences. As expected, the restaurants seem to have a slightly more expansive menu than the food trucks — but there is still a lot of crossover.
At Cousins Maine Lobster, the lobster is the star of the show. Lobster Grilled Cheese — made with Maine lobster, pepper jack cheese, and cheddar on Texas toast, is a hearty sandwich that diners are unlikely to see elsewhere. The same could be said of the restaurant's Lobster Quesadilla, which features chunks of Maine lobster, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, and cilantro lime sauce, on a grilled flour tortilla. There's also Lobster Tots, which nestles succulent chunks of sweet lobster meat over a bed of golden brown tater tots, drizzled in cilantro lime sauce and fresh pico de gallo. If all of this is a little too experimental for your liking, diners are also welcome to more traditional seafood dishes like fish and chips, grilled haddock, and New England clam chowder.
8. Bonefish Grill
With a name that evokes the imagery of fresh seafood picked clean, Bonefish Grill is another restaurant chain with locations all across the country. The company is dedicated to sustainable fishing practices to ensure high-quality seafood that's not only delicious but also environmentally conscientious. With its casual yet slightly upscale vibe, Bonefish has a mass appeal that's only further broadened by its eclectic menu.
Maryland-style crab cakes, ahi tuna poke, bang bang shrimp, stuffed cod, and lobster tails are just a few of the main attractions at Bonefish. Diners are often impressed with the generous portions at Bonefish; the fish and chips in particular are known to be especially plentiful. The restaurant also features a wood-fired grill, where its chefs cook everything from rainbow trout and scallop skewers to Chilean sea bass and the fresh catch of the day. Diners can pair their seafood with freshly grilled lemon or one of Bonefish's signature sauces that include options such as lemon-caper butter, mango salsa, and chimichurri. For those who love surf-and-turf, the restaurant also has some tempting choices like center-cut sirloin and lobster tail or citrus-marinated shrimp paired with flame-grilled chicken.
9. Mystic Lobster Roll Company
Mystic Lobster Roll Company has restaurants in Florida, New Jersey, and Tennessee. The company specializes in high-quality lobster rolls that feature Maine cold-water lobster meat. The menu at Mystic Lobster Roll Company is unique and refreshingly unafraid of veering away from tradition. While the restaurant offers classic regional lobster rolls from Maine (chilled lobster meat with mayo on a lightly buttered roll) and Connecticut (warm lobster meat with freshly melted butter), it also offers up some creative twists that diners are unlikely to encounter elsewhere.
The Deep South roll comes with fresh lobster, chipotle mayo, jalapeño aioli, and candied jalapeños for a spicy kick. The heat of the peppers and the smokiness of the chipotle mayo add some exciting complexity to a dish that's normally very simplistic. There is also a BLT lobster roll, served with lobster, bacon aioli, lettuce, tomato, and strips of smoky bacon. The crispiness of the bacon adds some textural contrast to the tender lobster meat, while the saltiness of the bacon and the brininess of the lobster are balanced in harmony with the sweetness of the tomato. A BLT lobster roll makes perfect sense, and Mystic is smart to fuse these two classic sandwiches together. Mystic Lobster Roll Company is definitely on the pricier side of the spectrum for a sandwich joint, but each order comes with huge chunks of top-notch lobster. Every delicious bite makes it clear that it's worth it.
10. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
Inspired by the Academy Award-winning film "Forrest Gump," Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. opened its doors just a couple of years after the movie was released. During a famous scene in the movie, Forrest Gump's best friend in the Army, Benjamin "Bubba" Blue, says: "Shrimp is the fruit of the sea," and rambles off a lengthy description of all the various ways that shrimp can be cooked. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. essentially tries to capture that scene on its menu, offering a wide variety of shrimp and many other dishes like gumbo, clam chowder, and surf and turf.
When it comes to shrimp, one of the restaurant's most popular dishes is also one of its simplest: shrimp steamed in beer, which gives the shrimp a tender and malty flavor. As one happy diner on Yelp puts it: "The star of this trip was the peel and eat shrimp. We got a half a pound of the Cajun and devoured it."
There's also fried shrimp, coconut shrimp, traditional shrimp cocktail, tempura shrimp, spicy New Orleans-style shrimp, and more. There's also Shrimp Shack Mac and Cheese, made with plump shrimp, cheddar, Monterey jack, and pasta topped with parmesan. When it comes to major seafood chains, you'd be hard-pressed to find another restaurant that has this many shrimp options.
11. Flanigan's
Flanigan's is a regional seafood chain based out of South Florida. Between the cozy wooden interior and mounted fish on the walls, Flanigan's conjures up the laid-back tropical vibes that Florida is so well-known for. The menu at Flanigan's offers everything from fried mahi-mahi and white-wine steamed clams to blackened tuna sandwiches and chargrilled ten-ounce filets of salmon.
One of the things that makes Flanigan's exceptional is the fact the restaurant is open so late. Flanigan's is open seven days a week and closes down between midnight and 1:00 in the morning, and there aren't many seafood chains where you can score food that late, which makes this restaurant a great spot for night owls. For locals and visitors, Flanigan's is regarded as one of the best spots to grab some grub and have a few drinks. As one diner sums it up on Yelp: "Best wings and tuna sandwich in town. Good happy hour specials also." Flanigan's is also a great place to have a salad since the restaurant makes its own croutons and bacon bits and offers add-ons like salmon, mahi-mahi, tuna, shrimp, and tilapia.
12. Red Lobster
Spanning over 40 states with hundreds of locations across the country, there's no doubt that Red Lobster is one of the most well-known seafood chains in America. The restaurant's success is thanks in large part to the company's causal approach and relatively reasonable prices, which gives Red Lobster's food mass appeal. Is it a super fancy, top-tier restaurant? Certainly not. But Red Lobster still offers some delicious seafood and great daily specials that are worth taking advantage of. Plus, Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits alone are worth the price of admission.
If you're in landlocked suburbia — as much of America is — and you're in the mood for fish and chips, Red Lobster is a safe bet. Red Lobster hand-batters each order of its wild-caught cod and fries it until it's a crispy golden brown. The meal comes with coleslaw, tartar sauce, and a side of your choice — though we wouldn't recommend straying from the fries for this dish. Paired with a cold glass of beer, you can't really go wrong with this one.
If you want to sample several dishes on the menu, the Admiral's Feast is a good call. This fried seafood platter comes with shrimp, bay scallops, clam strips, and crispy, golden brown flounder. Served with two sides along with cocktail sauce and tartar sauce for dipping, this banquet is perfect for a big appetite.