Just because fish offers manyhealth benefitsdoesn’t mean it can’t be a tasty indulgence.
But which chain serves the absolute best fried fish?
Judging fried fish really comes down to two criteria: taste and texture.
Zoe Strozewski / Eat This, Not That!
Fried fish should also be a generous dusting of salt or other seasonings to round out the flavor.
After all, most tartar sauces are so flavorful that you might not notice when the fish is subpar.
Here’s what I thought about each option, starting with my least favorite and ending with my favorite.
Zoe Strozewski / Eat This, Not That!
The taste:Unfortunately, my opinion on Red Robin’s fish only got worse when I tried it.
To be clear, none of the other options I tried were perfect.
But they all brought something to the table in terms of flavor or texture that Red Robin didn’t.
Zoe Strozewski / Eat This, Not That!
This dish cost $18.27.
The look:TGI Fridays' fish immediately looked more promising than the fish from Red Robin.
It was a decently salty and had one of the crispiest layers of breading from any of the chains.
Zoe Strozewski / Eat This, Not That!
Still, it was a solid entry.
This dish cost $20.39.
It had the deepest golden brown color out of any the options I tried.
Photo: Zoe Strozewski / Eat This, Not That!
The battered outside stayed shatteringly crispy throughout the whole delivery process and the inside was perfectly moist.
My one critique that led me to place it lower in this ranking was the noticeable lack of seasoning.
This dish cost $19.29.
Zoe Strozewski / Eat This, Not That!
But aside from that, I couldn’t find anything to complain about.
The fish was cooked just right and wasn’t the least bit dry.
It was also perfectly salted so I didn’t really even need a tartar sauce to enjoy it.
I had high expectations for Red Lobster considering that it specializes in seafood, and it did not disappoint.
This dish cost $19.70.
The pieces of fish were generously thick and perfectly cooked on the inside.
They also had the best flavor out of the whole batch because Bonefish didn’t skimp on the seasoning.
